Once you begin to delve deeply into the writings and life of this extraordinary couple, it becomes clear that they are indeed saints, and now, from Rome Reports, comes word that a beautification process could soon begin.
The story.
“February 8, 2011. The sainthood process is a lengthy procedure. It's even longer and more complicated when you are dealing with the sainthood of a couple, like these two French intellectuals. Born into a Protestant family, Jacques Maritain and his wife, Raissa, a Russian Jewish émigré, converted to Catholicism, after studying the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Their sainthood would serve as an enduring example of a holy marriage.
“They met in 1900 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Together they searched for life's truths through philosophy. Every time they pondered a philosophical notion, they thought they had come closer to the truth, only to find that they had converted themselves into what Raissa Maritain called a “metaphysical opium”. It was this desperation that led them to consider suicide.
“The truth that they were looking for was described in the philosophical christian studies of Saint Thomas Aquinas and this is the main reason why they converted to Catholicism.
Víctor Soldevila
Pont. John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family
“That unrelenting pursuit of the truth of God from an intellectual standpoint and how they met with friends, in the same search, at times from different points of view, but always with this longing to find the Truth of God. Who is God? And doing so as a couple. That is, not only him as a teacher, but also her as a true intellectual in this search.
Mons. Jean Laffitte
Pontifical Council for Families
“More than 50 people, celebrities, artists, writers converted themselves at their own homes. They met once a week at home with these artists and writers and friends talked about all issues. They had spiritually fruitful intellectual thought.”
"The relationship they lived in their marriage was also reflected in their philosophical reasoning. Raissa Maritain completed the entries that her husband Jacques made. This profound quest for deep, theological and philosophical answers to the main questions surrounding faith, is the main reason why this couple is being considered for sainthood.
Víctor Soldevila
Pont. John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family
“In couple life, John Paul II spoke of conjugal love. It's in this dedication to another that God reveals Himself. The measure of this dedication to another is based on the divine life in the sacraments in the life of the Church, like this dedication to another that there creates a structure, a building block of holiness that is very different, depending on each person.”
A building block of holiness that might just lead this couple to the altar in marriage once more.”
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.