*AUGUST 28, 1877* – *Saint Zélie Guérin* , mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, died when Thérèse was four years old. Zélie had wanted to be a nun. When she was not accepted, she married Louis E. Martin, who was also not admitted to religious life. As a married woman, she prayed, “Give me, Lord, many children, and may they all be consecrated to You.” She was a Franciscan tertiary. Her confessor said of her, “I have known many strong souls, but none as strong as you.” She was declared Venerable, along with her husband, in 1994 by Pope John Paul II. All of her daughters became nuns. Among them was St. Thérèse of Lisieux. She was proclaimed a Saint along with her husband, Louis Martin, and canonized in Rome on October 18, 2015.