And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

In a rural mountain town off the southwest coast of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a community of 13,000 ethnic Croats who have found the secret to a successful, lifelong marriage. Throughout the centuries of war and famine, of cultural and political strife, not one single divorce has been recorded amongst the inhabitants of Siroki Brijeg.

The residents of this town believe that the crucifix is the greatest symbol of the love God has for His children. While preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, the couple chooses a cross together, one that will soon occupy an honored place in their new home. During the premarital meetings with the priest, the couple is told they have found their cross – not their partner – and this cross is to be loved, to be carried, not to be thrown away, but to be cherished.

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Pope Francis canonized Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, on Mission Sunday, October 18, 2015. They are being canonized during the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which is focusing on “the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world.”

The couple is the first to be canonized together as husband and wife, giving testimony to their “extraordinary witness of conjugal and familial spirituality,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. He said that their lives “positively impacted their historical context through witness to the Gospel for the renewal of the face of the earth.”

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