Marthe Robin was born on March 13, 1902, in Châteauneuf-de-Galaure (Drôme), France, to a family of peasant farmers. She spent her entire life in the family home where she passed away on February 6, 1981. Her entire existence centered on Jesus in the Eucharist, who was for her “He who heals, consoles, revives, blesses—my All.” As early as 1928, following a severe neurological illness, it became virtually impossible for her to make any movement; in particular, she could not swallow because the muscles of her throat were paralyzed. Moreover, owing to an eye disease, she had to live in absolute darkness. Father Finet, her spiritual director, left this testimony:
When she received the stigmata at the beginning of October 1930, Marthe had already been living her Passion since 1925, the year in which she offered herself as a victim of love. On that same day, Jesus told her that He had chosen her, after the Blessed Virgin, to live the Passion intensely. No one else would live it with that same intensity. He added that each day she would suffer even more and would never sleep again at night. After receiving the stigmata, Marthe could neither eat nor drink. Her ecstasy lasted until Monday or Tuesday.
Marthe Robin accepted all her afflictions out of love for Jesus the Redeemer and for the conversion of sinners whom she longed to save. The distinguished philosopher Jean Guitton, recalling his encounter with the mystic, wrote: “I found myself in that dark room, introduced by one of the most controversial minds of the era, the personal physician of Anatole France, Dr. Couchoud. He had been a disciple of Alfred Loisy and director of a collection of anti-Christian books.
From our very first meeting, I understood that Marthe Robin would always be a ‘sister in charity,' just as she was to thousands of visitors.” Indeed, beyond the extraordinary mystical phenomena, the work of evangelization that Marthe accomplished despite her physical condition was immense. To this end, she relied heavily on the support of Father Finet, with whom she founded sixty “Foyers de Lumière, de Charité et d'Amour” spread throughout the world. In one of her ecstasies, Jesus said to Marthe:
My priests, my priests, give everything for them. My Mother and I love them so dearly. Give me all your sufferings, everything you endure at this moment, everything that longs to be immersed in my Love; give me your isolation and your solitude, and the silence into which I place you; everything and without respite for my priests. Offer yourself to the Father with me for them; do not fear if you suffer too much for my priests, for they have an urgent need of everything I am about to accomplish in you for their sake...
House where Marthe lived her entire life, Châteauneuf-de-Galaure (Drôme)
Text and photographs: international exhibition «The Eucharistic Miracles of the World», by Saint Carlo Acutis. Original panel at miracolieucaristici.org.