that all of them may be dedicated to Thee."

God gave ear to her prayer, and His Finger was visible in the
circumstances which led to her becoming the wife of Louis Martin,
on July 12, 1858, in Alençon's lovely Church of Notre Dame. Like
the chaste Tobias, they were joined together in matrimony--"solely
for the love of children, in whom God's Name might be blessed for
ever and ever." Nine white flowers bloomed in this sacred garden.
Of the nine, four were transplanted to Paradise ere their buds had
quite unfolded, while five were gathered in God's walled gardens
upon earth, one entering the Visitation Convent at Caen, the
others the Carmel of Lisieux.

From the cradle all were dedicated to Mary Immaculate, and all
received her name: Marie Louise, Marie Pauline, Marie Léonie,
Marie Hélène, who died at the age of four and a half, Marie Joseph
Louis, Marie Joseph Jean Baptiste, Marie Céline, Marie Mélanie
Therèse, who died when three months old, and lastly, _Marie
Françoise Thérèse._

The two boys were the fruit of prayers and tears. After the birth
of the four elder girls, their parents entreated St. Joseph to
obtain for them the favour of a son who should become a priest and
a missionary. Marie Joseph soon was given them, and his pretty
ways appealed to all hearts, but only five months had run their
course when Heaven demanded what it had lent. Then followed more
urgent novenas.

The grandeur of the Priesthood, glorious upon earth, ineffable in
eternity, was so well understood by those Christian parents, that