Sr Marie of the Sacred Heart, OCD
(Marie-Louise Martin)

Marie-Louise Martin was born in Alençon, France on February 22, 1860. Marie was the first-born child of nine children of Louis and Azélie Martin. Her parents named their daughter Marie in honor of Our Lady. Sadly, four of the Martin children died during infancy. Marie was baptized by Fr Lebouc at the Cathedral of St Pierre-de-Montsort on February 23, 1860. In October 1868, Marie entered the Visitation boarding school in Le Mans, France at the age of eight. Her beloved aunt, Sr Marie-Dosithée Guérin VHM, was a nun who taught at the boarding school. Marie's aunt would give Marie spiritual and moral guidance over her life while Marie was a student at the school. Due to the severe illness of her beloved aunt, Marie's First Holy Communion was moved up one year. Marie constantly prayed to St Joseph to intercede for her aunt's cure and was not willing to accept her death as God's Will. Instead, she wanted to try and change it. On July 2, 1869, Marie's prayers were answered and her aunt was there to witness her First Holy Communion. Her aunt lived for 7 years more years. It was one of the happiest days of Marie's life for she was now in union with Jesus Christ. When this glorious day was over, she started to weep that it had all ended too soon. Azélie, Marie's mother, remarked in a letter to her sister, Sr Marie-Dosithée Guérin: "Marie appears to be reserved and shy; underneath her shyness is a heart of gold." In 1869, Marie received confirmation and chose the name of Josephine in gratitude to St Joseph for his intercession in healing her aunt. On August 2, 1875, Marie completed her studies. She made the Honor List several times and was awarded six first place prizes such as the "Cross of Excellence" during her years at the Visitation boarding school. Marie reflected upon her experience at this school: "Oh if I had not had my aunt, whom I did not want to hurt, I should have never had remained seven years behind those grilles."

Marie, her mom, and two of her sisters went on their last spiritual pilgrimage together to ask Our Lady of Lourdes to cure their mother's breast cancer. But it was not to be. Her mother's breast cancer was not cured and Marie made a promise to her mother before she died, that she would rear her younger sisters. Her mother told her to: "Continue to devote yourself increasingly to your sisters. Take care that in watching you, they have a good model to imitate." Marie was seventeen when her mother Azélie died on August 28, 1877. As Azélie's body was viewed by family and friends, Marie felt drawn to be near her mother several times and said: "I never got tired of looking at her, she seemed to be but twenty years old. I thought that she was beautiful. I felt a supernatural impression as I stood beside her. It struck me, which was quite true, that she was not dead, but more alive than ever." After Azélie's death, the family moved from Alençon to Lisieux in November 1878 to be closer to their mother's relatives. As Marie promised her mother, she took over the duties as mistress of the household and helped her aunt with their store's accounts while the younger sisters were attending school. Marie supervised her sisters' upbringing and set a good example for her sisters to follow, "she took constant and tender care of her youngest sister." Marie made an offering to God that her younger sisters would serve only Him. She taught them how to listen to his teachings, and how to allow oneself to be spiritually open to His will which he has placed before his children. Marie had a "mother's heart" and it was felt by all of her younger sisters. She would explain to them that the way of becoming holy is by fidelity in little things. Marie received a premonition that God would always carry her youngest sister like a baby rather than make her tread the path of suffering.

After Pauline, the second oldest of the Martin children, entered the Carmelite Monastery in Lisieux on October of 1882, Marie took full control of her younger sisters education, not only on spiritual matters but on basic school education as well. She would unite herself with her younger sisters and pray with them before they went to bed. She had a generous and loving heart towards them. When Marie's youngest sister, Thérèse was 10 years old, she suffered from an unknown life threatening illness. Marie never left her youngest sister's side and looked out for her and comforted her with a mother's tenderness. She never lost her patience in spite of all the trouble she gave her. Marie and her other sisters knelt at her sister's bedside and prayed before Our Lady of the Smile asking for her intercession in curing her sister. Afterwards, Marie observed her sister's physical appearance had changed for five minutes and she was convinced that her youngest sister was cured. The miraculous cure took place on May 13, 1883. Afterwards, her youngest sister remarked about Marie: "It was indeed to Marie and her prayers that I owed the grace of a smile from the Queen of Heaven" and she also said: "Marie showed wonderful resignation; by such resignation God was glorified. Marie suffered greatly because of me, and I am immensely grateful for all the care she showered on me. Her heart told her what I needed, and a mother's heart is far wiser than a doctor's: it can guess what is best for her sick child."

On October 7, 1886, Marie went with her family to visit her mother's grave for the last time in Alençon. On October 15, 1886, Marie entered the Carmelite Monastery of Lisieux at the age of twenty-six and was given the name Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart. On May 22, 1888, Marie was professed and her youngest sister placed a crown of roses on her head. After Marie made her final profession, it was for her "An assurance of her eternal crown in heaven." Marie wrote to her father thanking him for the beautiful gifts he had given to the Carmelite Monastery and promised him she would not let him down and also wrote: "Oh you, best of fathers, who give to God without counting the cost all the hope of your old age; yours is the glory, a glory that will not pass away. Yes, beloved Father, we shall glorify you, as you deserve to be glorified, by becoming saints. Less than that would be unworthy of you."

In December 1894, Marie asked Mother Agnes of Jesus (Pauline) to have her youngest sister Thérèse write her childhood memories. Marie's youngest sister started her manuscript in January 1895 and it was given to Mother Agnes of Jesus in January 1896. During this period, Thérèse approached her in the courtyard and asked her if she would become a "Victim to the Merciful Love of God." Marie's first instinct was to refuse her younger sister's request because as she stated: "Indeed not, for if I offered myself as a victim, God would take me at my word, and I have a great dread of suffering. Besides, far from inspiring me, the word victim has always repelled me." (MST) But soon after Marie's refusal to her youngest sister's request, Marie's younger sister explained to her that when you offer yourself as a victim to the Love of God it is different from giving yourself over to His justice: "It does not always mean an increase in suffering but gives you the ability to love God more. Marie was convinced and she made the Oblation to the Merciful Love of God." Marie's found her vocation and it was Love.

Marie held many positions in the monastery such as assistant infirmarian, gardener, refectorian and the office of bursar (procurator) from 1894 to 1933. Marie's task also was to initiate new postulants in the ways of Carmel. Even though Marie was united with her blood sisters in the Carmelite Monastery, there was very little time for them to interact with each other while taking care of the needs of other sisters.

Marie suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and on April 29, 1923, her arthritis attacked her muscles and severely constricted her ability to function normally. In the latter part of 1924, Marie suffered severely from pneumonia causing her sisters to think she might die. Marie knew she was not going to die but expected her life to be more difficult in the coming years. On January 25, 1929, she was moved from her cell into the infirmary. Her legs and feet became consistently swollen and she was riddled with sores for eleven years. Marie could be heard crying in her cell while she was praying for souls to be converted, using her physical pain as an offering to God to have mercy on souls that were lost. On October 15, 1936, Marie celebrated her Golden Jubilee. She received as a gift from one of her Carmelite sisters a watercolor painting of her youngest sister crowning her on her day of profession with an autograph from Pope Pius XI on the painting.

On March 8, 1937, Marie was given the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. She knew her time on this earth was almost over and strove valiantly to offer her suffering to God to save souls. In June of 1939, she wrote her last letter to her sister in Caen. In it she stated: "We shall go together side by side to heaven, and the road is so long that we feel the effects of the journey. Which of us shall enter heaven first? It will probably be I, the most infirm. But I am unwilling to ask anything of the good God, for now more than ever we have opportunities of saving souls. That is worth the pain of remaining here on earth for years more, if He wills it." (GV)

Sometime in the latter part of 1939, Marie contracted a cold with a severe cough, which eventually turned into pulmonary congestion. On January 18, 1940, while Marie was suffering from illness, she appeared to be in a trance, speaking very little but focusing on God and her using her suffering to save souls. On January 19, 1940, Marie's last audible words were "I Love Thee" as she kissed her crucifix. On that same day at 2:30am, while she was renewing her Oblation of Love and saying the Our Father and Hail Mary, she fixed her gaze on "Our Lady of the Smile", as she bowed her head and died. She was seventy-nine years old. The community was called immediately and they were struck by her look of great peace and joy.

After the community left the infirmary, her sisters prepared her body for burial. As Marie's body lay still in the infirmary, Pauline found the letter Marie had written to her. As Pauline sat beside Marie in tears, she opened the letter and read it out loud. Marie told her that she would spend her eternity making God known by many, "the only true God, and Him whom Thou has sent. Eternity is not long enough for us to know the infinite goodness of the good God, His infinite power, His infinite mercy, His infinite love for us. These are our eternal delights, which will never be exhausted. Our heart is made to understand them and to be nourished by them. My only desire is to loose myself in Him."

On the morning of her death, and in the week that followed, her younger sister, inundated by mysterious perfumes, understood how "the death of saints is precious in the sight of God." On January 23, 1940, Marie's remains were laid to rest in a vault within Carmel. She lived in the convent for 53 years and achieved great holiness. Marie never saw the outside world from the day she entered until the day she died "Her death, like her life, was very simple and very holy."