A month of married saints: July brings feast days of holy husbands and wives

Marriage is one of the Catholic Churchʼs greatest paths to holiness. From the first Christian missionaries to modern-day martyrs, married couples have shown that a shared life rooted in faith, sacrifice, and love can become a powerful witness to the Gospel.

Throughout the month of July, the Church celebrates the feast days of several holy husbands and wives whose lives continue to inspire Catholic families today.

Here are four of those couples:

Blessed Joseph and Wiktoria Ulma (Feast day: July 7)

Blessed Joseph and Wiktoria Ulma were a young married couple living in the small Polish village of Markowa during the Second World War. Devout Catholics, they were raising six young children and were expecting a seventh when they made the decision to shelter eight Jewish people in their home after Nazi Germany occupied Poland. They knew the penalty for helping Jews was death, but their Christian faith compelled them to protect their neighbors despite the grave risk.

On March 24, 1944, German police discovered those they were hiding. Joseph and Wiktoria, along with the eight Jews they had sheltered, were executed. The soldiers then murdered each of the Ulmas’ six children. During Wiktoriaʼs execution, she went into labor with her seventh child, who also died, making the entire family martyrs.

While they are not saints yet, the Ulmas were beatified together on Sept. 10 2023, becoming the first entire family — including an unborn child — to be beatified as martyrs. Today, they are honored as patrons of families and unborn children.

Sts. Priscilla and Aquila (Feast day: July 8)

Priscilla and Aquila, close collaborators of St. Paul, were among the earliest Christian married couples. Jewish converts to Christianity, they were forced to leave Rome after Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from the city around A.D. 49. The couple settled in Corinth, where they met Paul, who shared their trade of tent-making. They welcomed him into their home, and together they worked while spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.

The New Testament frequently mentions the couple together, highlighting the strength of their marriage and shared mission. They traveled with Paul to Ephesus, where they hosted a church in their home, which is also referred to as a “house church.” Paul also writes that the couple “risked their necks” for his life — however there is no biblical record of the occasion.

The couple is perhaps best known for mentoring the gifted preacher Apollos, gently explaining the fullness of the Christian faith so that he could become an even more effective evangelist.

Priscilla and Aquila are the patron saints of marriage, love, and strong Christian families.

Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin (Feast day: July 12)

Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin are best known as the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, but their own path to holiness began long before the birth of their famous daughter.

Both initially considered religious life before discerning that God was instead calling them to marriage. They were wed on July 12, 1858, in Alençon, France — the date that would become their feast day.

The Martins endured both profound joy and deep suffering. Of their nine children, four died in infancy or early childhood, while the remaining five daughters all entered religious life. Throughout these trials, Louis and Zélie remained steadfast in prayer, trusting Godʼs providence and making the practice of their Catholic faith the center of family life.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the time of their beatification in Lisieux in 2008, said in his homily: “Louis and Zélie understood that they could sanctify themselves not despite marriage but through, in, and by marriage, and that their nuptials would be considered as the starting point for a mutual rise.”

Canonized together on Oct. 18, 2015, by Pope Francis, Louis and Zélie became the first married couple in Church history to be declared saints together.

Sts. Joachim and Anne (Feast day: July 26)

Sts. Joachim and Anne are honored by the Church as the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus Christ. Although they are not mentioned in the canonical Gospels, their story has been preserved through ancient Christian tradition, particularly through the second-century “Protoevangelium of James.” According to tradition, the couple was advanced in age and had long suffered the sorrow of childlessness before God answered their prayers with the miraculous conception of Mary.

Today, Joachim and Anne are the patron saints of grandparents, married couples, and families. Their feast is a reminder of the indispensable role parents and grandparents play in passing on the faith to future generations.

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/vatican/a-month-of-married-saints-july-brings-feast-days-of-holy-husbands-and-wives