Theresian places

This house, located rue Saint-Blaise, was the scene of the Martin family life from 1871 to 1877. This is where Saint Thérèse was born (1873). She lived there with her parents and sisters until the death of his mother Zélie Martin (1877).

Zélie Martin ran a lace workshop from her home with about twenty workers. Louis Martin owned a watchmaking business which he sold to help Zélie in the management of his workshop.
The family lived there a life rich in friendly and family relations. Very pious, they went to mass every day and were careful to bring up the children in the love of God and the poor.

The house, managed by the Sanctuary of Alençon can be visited. Other places in the city recall important moments of the Martin family.

Alençon sanctuary
Alencon Tourist Office

In November 1877, shortly after Madame Martin's death in Alençon, the family moved to Lisieux to be closer to the Guérins, of whom Isidore was Zélie Martin's brother. She becomes a tenant of the house of Buissonnets located a little outside the city. Thérèse will spend eleven years of her life there until she enters the Carmel.

This small bourgeois house with a garden at the back makes us discover the setting that was that of the Martin family and the story that Thérèse gives of her childhood in her first Autobiographical Manuscript (Ms A).

The first impression that seizes the pilgrim, when he enters Les Buissonnets, is an impression of calm. In this peaceful setting, he spontaneously imagines Thérèse happy to live, surrounded by the affection of her father and her four sisters.

Known worldwide because Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face lived her Carmelite life there from 1888 until her death in 1897, it is part of the Order of Carmel, which is widespread throughout the world.
The Carmel of Lisieux is not a museum, but the place of life, silence, prayer of a community. It is therefore not visited.

The Carmelite chapel and prayer services are open to everyone.
A side chapel in the chapel houses the reliquary of Saint Thérèse which welcomes the devotion of pilgrims.

The cathedral was built in the 12^rd century, when Lisieux was the seat of a bishopric.
It is, in fact, to the Cathedral that, for more than ten years, Thérèse went, every Sunday and often during the week, with her father and her sisters, to participate in the Eucharist in this cathedral for more than ten years old. Mr. Martin offered the main altar there.

The construction of the Basilica erected in honor of Saint Thérèse, canonized in 11925, began in 1929 and was completed in 1937. The stained glass windows and mosaics were finished in 1954.
It can accommodate 3 people and welcomes more than 000 visitors a year from all over the world.