Lisieux 2026

From 16 to 31 July 2026, some sixty pilgrims from Sant Mateu, Sant Rafael and Sant Narcís travelled from Barcelona to Paris and walked 260 kilometres to Lisieux. They were sixteen days with a single common thread: the Martin family. Every morning, the pilgrim’s book carried a letter signed by Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St Thérèse, a watchmaker and a lacemaker from Alençon, saints since 2015, who offered to “walk beside us”.

A week in Paris

On 15 July two vans set off by road before dawn, and on the 16th the group arrived in Paris by plane. On the first day they didn’t go to the most touristy places, but to Notre-Dame des Victoires, with its thousands of marble plaques saying “Thank you”: there, in 1883, the Martin family asked for a novena for Thérèse, who was seriously ill and was cured when she saw Our Lady smile. The following days took them to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, Versailles, the Louvre, Montmartre and Notre-Dame. In the morning, meditation and Mass; in the evening, a get-together and guitar.

On 22 July the group grew: at the foot of the Eiffel Tower they were joined by the young people of the second phase, making 56. That day they climbed the tower on foot, step by step, and the Martins’ letter recalled Thérèse’s favourite image: you don’t need high towers to reach Heaven; the lift is the arms of Jesus.

260 kilometres through Normandy

On 23 July they shouldered their rucksacks and left Paris on foot, passing beneath the Eiffel Tower, with the alarm set for before dawn. Through Poissy, the great scout camp at Jambville, Vernon (the longest stage, 37 kilometres), Évreux, Le Neubourg, Brionne and Bernay, they were days of country lanes and green fields, of rosaries prayed while walking, of Masses in French and of the welcome of some nuns who invited them to come back. Each stage ended with Mass, meditation and a get-together, with the groups taking turns at the cooking, the showers and the laundry.

Lisieux, the finish

On 30 July, after the last thirty kilometres, they entered Lisieux at midday praying the Angelus and went straight to the tomb of St Thérèse to leave everyone’s intentions there. They celebrated Mass in the crypt where Louis and Zélie rest, and on the last day they visited the Carmel where she lived and died, the house of Les Buissonnets and the cathedral of Saint-Pierre, where she went to Mass as a little girl; at the archbishopric they venerated relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, which will travel to Korea for WYD. On the 31st they flew back to Barcelona.

The Martins’ last letter left them three simple tasks: a good confession, some time for prayer every day, even if it’s only five minutes, and someone to accompany them spiritually; and one more: to bring the fraternity of the way home with them. As Thérèse said, the shortest way to God is to become little.

Prayer for the pilgrimage

O St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, model of humility, trust and love!

From Heaven let fall upon us the roses you carry in your arms: the rose of humility, so that we may surrender our pride; the rose of trust, so that we may abandon ourselves to the Will of God and rest in his Mercy; the rose of love, so that during this pilgrimage we may fulfil the one purpose for which God created us: to love him and to make him loved.

You who spend your Heaven doing good on earth, help us to make the fruits of his Love blossom in us, for the glory of God and the good of my soul. Amen.