Amelie Deluil Martiny (1845-1872) was the younger sister of Blessed Marie Deluil Martiny, Mother Marie of Jesus (Born in 1841, during her life Mother Marie consecrated herself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and ultimately was martyred. She was beatified by St. Pope John Paul II in October 1989).
Amelie Deluil Martiny followed her older sister Marie in example and in life. Born November 22, 1845 Marie entered the warm and welcoming home of a strong Christian family man and his wife, Mrs. Deluil Martiny in the pleasant environs of Marseille, France. The child was fragile at birth and barely clung to life in her early years. By age 12 in 1857, a stronger Amelie was living in the shadow of her sister, Blessed Mother Marie, though Amelie herself was charming and equally worthy of the honors of the altar. Vivacious, witty and intelligent, she initially resisted the sacrificial example of her older sister, but as her faith grew she became aware of the presence of God in the Chapel. She soon eschewed playfulness and a less serious approach to life. In 1858 she noticeably withdrew from the world in preparation for her first Communion and confession, gaining wisdom and vision in the silence.
Her family, fearing for her delicate health, transferred Amelie to the Sacred Heart Academy in the more crisp climate of Avignon, Still easily emotionally swayed, only the grace of God permeating her soul led her to enter the “Daughters of Mary”(a lay society). It was there that a tender love of the Holy Virgin and of the Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament overtook her affections and, upon her return to Marseille, she became known as a pillar of holiness. Gradually she was drawn to a hidden and solitary existence at the feet of Jesus, her Host and love.
Like her sister Marie before her, Amelie writes, “I have a deep desire to live hidden and unknown so that only Our Lord and my director can pierce my soul.” (Mademoiselle Amelie, Una Giovinezza Davanti All’Altare donbosco-torino.it p2). Used to giving and receiving great affection at the hands of her family, Amelie made a conscious effort to deprive herself of these joys.
She said, “I feel more and more that Jesus guards me for Him alone. I have all sorts of faults, but I think I can say that never another, now that you alone, Jesus, has entered my heart! Thank you, Jesus!” (Ibid, p 2).
Amelie’s continuous union with the Sacrifice of Jesus in the holy Mass was the essence of breath to her soul. Amelie expressed a desire for the greatest glory of God from the princes of the church – from priests and others consecrated to our Lord. A few writings from her small “Journal d’Ame” (journal of love) include:
1869: “My attraction is more and more for Jesus, Victim on the holy altar. Everything in me is directed there: it is there that I seek Him, there that I adore Him, there that I love Him. I have nothing but one occupation in my prayers and during my days: to offer Jesus with all His blood, especially that of the wound of His Heart, and to offer myself with him. I would like to spend my days participating in all Masses. How I love to follow the precious Chalice of the Blood of Jesus continually raised to Heaven, in the hands of the priests… The desire of my soul is to offer it without rest for the priestly souls and those consecrated to God. I join to His my poor and imperfect immolation.” (Ibid, p 2).
December 19, 1870: “It is necessary that the Heart of Jesus be exhausted to give to His priests, to enrich them, to give them what he has most precious and that His divine Blood does not cease to descend on them. I do not have to be busy to humbly draw priests to the Heart of Jesus. I understand that it is above all with my sufferings that I will draw them more effectively to the Heart of Jesus to enrich them; this is the surest way. My soul is like a small chalice, always lifted up towards heaven for them. When I feel weak and incapable, I offer the Blood of Jesus in my little cup and I await everything from His love.” (Ibid, p 2).
January 5, 1871: “Oh, how my soul is touched by the beauty of the Catholic priesthood!… If the cup and the altar do not belong to me, or Jesus, I will at least exhaust myself to ask you the perfection of those who possess it. I address myself to Maria at the foot of the cross: did she not have a special remembrance for those who later had to resubmit every day and perpetuate in history the great Sacrifice that was being performed before her eyes? Did not Jesus, before dying, entrust his Mother to, his favorite apostle and priest, St. John?” (Ibid, p 3).
June 21, 1870: “It seems to me that on the cross Jesus was all heart. The voice, the merits of His sufferings, His wounded body, His precious blood, His soul full of anguish, all flowed back to His heart and from there rose to HisHeavenly Father the offering, reparation, glory, love… This divine Heart is really a priest and a host. What to do with oneself, in one’s own nothingness, if not to renew this sublime offering without posing?” (Ibid, p 2).
January, 1871. “The priest must not live except in the world of souls and must consider anything that regards the earth as unworthy of him. What glory is called to render to God! The priest is the depository of and the dispenser of the Blood of Jesus Christ… He must offer it to the Trinity, not only during Mass, but in every heartbeat. His life must be a continuous Mass. Every morning he goes to the altar to fill his cup of this divine Blood: Jesus entrusts it to him so that he can nourish his souls; what he does through the sacraments, spiritual direction and all the works of his ministry. When I think of the sublimity of this vocation, I seem to see the priest surrounded and revered at every step by the invisible Seraphim and assisted by them in all his actions.” (Ibid, p 3).
March 16, 1871: “The Mass! Whatever the state of my soul, even in aridity, Mass is always the best moment of my day. Jesus, coming from Heaven on the altar, to make Himself available to His priest to offer Him to the Father, how beautiful He is! I cannot get tired in admiring the greatness of the priest; at the altar with the Host and the Chalice he makes God the purest glory, the only glory the Most Holy Family Trinity can receive as worthy of it. What a privilege! The Seraphim themselves envy him a joy, a power that was not given to them. The ‘delegate’ of the Holy Spirit is at the altar, the Trinity to represent the sacrifice of Calvary and spread the blood of Christ to the world.” (Ibid, p3).
July, 1871: “I can hear five, seven, even eight Masses every day. I cannot say what I feel, my soul is lost in the soul of Jesus the Supreme and Eternal Priest who offers His Sacrifice. It is strong, so intimate that I do not understand how my soul does not leave to go to the altar.” (Ibid, p 3).
On May 1, 1867 Amelie consecrated herself to Jesus with a vow of virginity – while remaining within her family, and in the world. In 1868 she suffered two illnesses, which, while not life threatening, forced her to endure months of isolation and immobility. She retained her peace and serenity. At this time she began to enjoy painting images of the Sacred Heart open in welcome, which she then distributed among the members of the Guard of Honor of the Sacred Heart and others desiring the sacramental. Amelie had long been active within the group, acting as secretary to her older sister, and given the title “Zealatrix.”
In 1870 the Jesuit fathers of Marseille – including Fr. John Calage – were imprisoned by revolutionaries. At the time the Deluil-Martiny family offered the prisoners what comfort they could and rejoiced with them upon the liberation of the priests. When Fr. Calage was released, he celebrated Mass in the private chapel of the Martinys.
Amelie noted at the time that, “During these Masses I was as if outside of myself, I felt as if one with Jesus, sacrificed on the altar, under the roof of my house.” (Ibid, p 3).
In June of 1871 she offered these words of immolation to our Lord on the altar:
“O Jesus, my beloved Savior, wishing to sacrifice myself for your dearest friends, the priests, I dare present myself to you to make the whole giving of my whole being and to obtain for you the greatest possible glory in these souls (…). O Jesus, I place myself with You, on the altar… Every heartbeat of my heart made victim, it will be an act of offering of your most precious Blood and will tell you for your priests that ‘sitio’ [I thirst] that you pronounced on the cross, an ardent thirst to see your priests love and glorify you immensely.” (Ibid p 3).
In the following weeks Amelie became but a shadow of her former self. She suffered greviously, feeling all the wrath of hell unleashed against her. Only certain heavenly words could restore her peace and joy – “priesthood,” “priest,” “victim,” – these words immediately returned her to calm and celestial joy.
On the evening of February 25, 1872 Amelie kissed the medal of the Madonna and glowing with joy, went to meet her Blessed Lord. She had lived a simple life as a humble lay person, yet a shining example of the infinite value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, witnessing to the sublime mission of the Catholic Priest, before God and before Man.
Jacqueline Mary Beh, member of the Guard of Honor