Catholics and people around the world associate Valentine's Day with love and romance. Here are five couples who are saints today because they lived a vocation of love for each other and for God. And a sixth as a gift.
- Katie Yofer, OSV News
On February 14, the Church and the popular culture celebrate the day of Valentine's Day, and its feast is associated with love and romance. They have here five holy couples who lived a vocation of mutual love and love for God.
1. Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (Zélie)
Pope Francis canonized the French couple formed by Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Celia Guérin (1831-1877) in 2015. Louis, a watchmaker, and Celia, a lacemaker, attempted to enter religious life before discerning their marriage. They are perhaps best known for being the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, their youngest daughter.
St. Therese was one of nine children in the Martin home. Four died in infancy, the other five - all girls - joined religious orders (four Discalced Carmelites). The couple's journey to sainthood embodies the “little way” for which St. Therese is famous: doing little things with great love.
“The holy spouses Louis Martin and Marie Azélie Guérin practiced Christian service in the family, creating day by day an atmosphere of faith and love that nourished the vocations of their daughters,” Pope Francis recalled at their canonization.
His feast day is July 12.
2. Saints Aquila and Priscilla
Saints Aquila and Priscilla played an important role in early Christianity. Jewish weavers who converted to Christianity, they traveled to Corinth after being exiled from Rome. There they met St. Paul, a fellow weaver, whom they welcomed into their home.
The first century Christian couple appears several times in the Bible because of their faithful witness.
“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus, who laid down their lives for me. To whom not only I am grateful, but also all the churches of the Gentiles,” writes St. Paul in Romans 16:3-4.
The Acts of the Apostles, 18, reveals that the two saints accompanied St. Paul from Corinth to Syria and then to Ephesus, where they instructed others in “the way of God.” They also opened their home as a church to the local Christian community, where together they read the Scriptures and celebrated the Eucharist.
From their example, said Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, the faithful can learn how “every home can be transformed into a small church.”.
According to some traditions, they died as martyrs. Their feast day is July 8.
3. St. Mary and St. Joseph, parents of Jesus
Catholics honor St. Mary and St. Joseph as the parents of Jesus. Throughout their lives, they always said “yes” to God's plan: from the time Mary consented to be the Mother of God until Joseph, a carpenter, took Mary as his wife after the appearance of an angel.
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, is celebrated on January 1. The feast of St. Joseph is March 19.
4. Saints Joachim and Anne
St. Joachim and St. Anne are revered as the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Although their story does not appear in the Bible, tradition remembers them as a faithful and holy couple who struggled with sterility before becoming parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
His feast day is July 26.
5. Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth
Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth are the parents of St. John the Baptist. The couple also had difficulty conceiving until the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and promised them a son in their old age.
When Zacharias doubted the angel, he was unable to speak until after the birth of his son, when he confirmed in writing that his name was John. His first words were words of praise to God.
Before giving birth, Elizabeth is visited by her kinswoman, Mary, while they are both pregnant. Today, Catholics repeat her words of greeting in the Hail Mary: «Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.».
The couple's holiday is November 5.
Blessed Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Blessed Maria Corsini
Luigi (1880-1951), a lawyer, and Maria (1884-1965), a catechist, were the first marriage beatified at the same time by the Catholic Church. They had four children at home, three of whom entered the consecrated religious life.
When doctors recommended they abort their youngest daughter, Enrica, due to pregnancy complications, they refused. Today, she too is on the road to sainthood.
The couple lived “an ordinary life in an extraordinary way,” said Pope St. John Paul II during their beatification in 2001, even embracing a rich spiritual life.
“At the center of their life was the daily Eucharist, as well as devotion to the Virgin Mary, to whom they prayed every night with the rosary, and consultation with wise spiritual directors,” he said.
His example, he said, serves as an inspiration to all.
“Dear families, today we have the clear confirmation that the path of holiness lived as a couple is possible, beautiful, extraordinarily fruitful and fundamental for the good of the family, the Church and society,” he added. “This impels us to pray to the Lord that there may be many more couples who can reveal, in the holiness of their lives, the ‘great mystery’ of spousal love, which is born in creation and fulfilled in the union of Christ with his Church.”.
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Katie Yoder is a correspondent for OSV News. She writes from Maryland.
This article was originally published in English in OSV News, and can be found at here.
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