Heritage Days
In the footsteps of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin
At Maison Martin (50 rue Saint-Blaise 61000 Alençon)
Guided tour of Maison Martin
Saturday September 19, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 14 p.m. to 18 p.m.
Sunday September 20, from 14 a.m. to 18 p.m.
The extraordinary in simplicity: discover the home and life of Saints Louis and Zélie and their children, the most famous of whom is Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
Come visit the house of the Martin family, in which Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus was born and spent her early childhood.
After discovering a gallery in which portraits and objects that belonged to the family are exhibited, an 18-minute film is offered to visitors. Created from the family correspondence of the saints, it allows us to better understand this family, extraordinary and yet simple.
Visiting the rooms of the house, restored as in the family's time, is an opportunity to better understand the Martins' daily life and times.
This visit ends with the Sainte-Thérèse chapel, built in the 1920s.
This house is the very heart of the sanctuary. This is where you can discover in depth the life and message of Saints Louis and Zélie and their family.
Guided tour of the House of Rose Taillé
Le Carrouge 61250 Semallé
Saturday 19 September, from 14h to 17h
Sunday September 20, from 14 a.m. to 17 p.m.
House of Rose Taillé, nurse of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, renovated and decorated, you will discover the places of her early childhood, as well as an overview of peasant life in the 19th century.
Shortly after her birth, Thérèse experienced serious health problems and her mother was unable to breastfeed her. Entrusted to a nanny, she benefits from the pure air of the countryside. In the small farmhouse of Rose and Moïse Taillé, Thérèse regains her health and takes her first steps. The house, the garden and the barn recreate the peasant world of the 19th century. An exhibition allows you to better understand the era and the destiny of the people who lived in these places.
Guided tour of the Pilgrims' Hostel and its chapel
16 rue etoupée 61000 Alençon
Saturday 19 September, from 14h to 17h
The pilgrims' hostel of the Sanctuary, inaugurated in 2019 under the name "Maison d'accueil Louis et Zélie" (Louis and Zélie Reception House), is a former dispensary of the Sisters of Mercy of Sées, a congregation founded in 1823 to welcome poor young girls into religious life and to care for the sick. Alençon was their first foundation (1825). They welcomed the sick who could not find a place in the hospice. The installation in rue Etoupée dates from 1843, and the construction of the chapel adjoining the building from 1855. In August 1860, an agreement with the city allowed the sisters to hold a "welfare office" there until 1914. In the 1950s, the premises were transformed into a care center and social shelter. The Misericorde community left the premises in 1979 and sold its monastery to the city, which established a house of associations and unions as well as a day nursery there. The municipality parted with this building, which was very dilapidated at the time, by transferring it in 2016 to the Diocese of Séez, which renovated it from top to bottom.
The chapel, restored in 2018-2019, contains a very fine program of stained glass windows, evoking the different names of the Virgin Mary, contained in her litanies or in the Song of Songs: “ Spiritual Vase, Morning Star, Walled Garden, Sealed Fountain, Cedar of Lebanon, etc. »
Today, the pilgrims' hostel welcomes approximately 6000 people a year for meals and accommodations, and to visit the Alençon Sanctuary. Around ten events and retreats offered by the Sanctuary take place there. Extended families also celebrate their wedding anniversaries there.
Visit to the Louis Martin Pavilion
26 rue du Pavillon de Sainte Thérèse 61000 Alençon
Saturday 19 September, from 14h to 17h
When Louis acquired this small tower on the banks of the Sarthe in 1857, it was to have a place of meditation where he could indulge in his favorite hobby: fishing. After his marriage to Zélie, the spouses will come, with their children, to spend quiet hours there.
Purchased by Louis Martin in April 1857, the Pavilion was for him a place where he liked to go. At the corner of a garden, this small hexagonal tower has a ground floor and two floors to which an exterior stone staircase gives access, for the first and then interior for the second.
Louis installed, first of all in the Pavilion, the statue of the Virgin given to him by Miss Félicité Baudouin, a pious woman from Alencon very involved in social works. Copy of that of Bouchardon, at Saint-Sulpice in Paris, (original in silver, cast during the Revolution, this Virgin represents the Immaculate, her hands open as if to spread her graces).
As later at the Belvédère des Buissonnets, in Lisieux, Louis made the Pavillon the place of his readings. Notes kept during his life make it possible to discover his tastes. Son of his time, he liked, among many others, to feed on Lamartine or Châteaubriant (whose complete works he bought on October 21, 1846 “at the price of 25 f. the 10 volumes ».)
