Though Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin were hailed as “the first married couple canonized together,” married saints have been a part of Catholic devotion for as long as there have been saints. Many were sainted before there was an official canonization process, others canonized at separate ceremonies, still others canonized together but as part of a larger group. In recent years, the Church has focused more and more energy on drawing attention to ordinary holiness, leading to even more canonization causes for couples who were led to holiness through their married life. From converts with shady pasts to the nearly immaculate, the married saints (and soon-to-be saints) of the Catholic Church will remind you that God is working through your marriage to sanctify you — even when it seems impossible.

Sts. Nonna and Gregory the Elder of Nazianzus (305-374, 276-374) had a legacy of holiness that has resounded down through the generations. Nonna was raised a Christian, but Gregory was a fire-worshipping pagan at the time of their marriage. This caused his wife no end of grief; their son, St. Gregory of Nazianzus later wrote, “She could not bear this, being half united to God, because he who was part of her remained apart from God. She wanted a spiritual union in addition to the bodily union. Day and night she turned to God with fasting and many tears, entreating him to grant salvation to her husband.” Despite being many years his junior, Nonna knew she had her husband’s respect. She prayed for her husband and witnessed to him and was soon rewarded for her faithfulness when Gregory had a vision that led to his conversion. After that, Gregory didn’t hang back, passively following his wife’s lead in matters of faith. Instead, he began to run after Jesus as well, becoming a bishop only three years after their marriage. The couple had three children, each of whom was so thoroughly formed by their parents’ Christian witness that all three are Saints: St. Gregory of Nazianzus (a bishop and Church Father), St. Caesarius (a physician), and St. Gorgonia (a wife and mother). The couple was married for 50 years before their deaths.

Sts. Charles Cho Shin-chol and Barbara Choe Yong-i (1795-1839, 1819-1840) were an unlikely couple, given that Charles was 24 years older than Barbara. But Barbara had been raised by saintly parents (St. Magdalena Son So-byok and St. Peter Choe Chang-hub) and when the time came for her to marry, she was insistent that she wanted not merely a Christian man but a holy one. Fortunately, Charles had been evangelized years earlier and had become instrumental in bringing priests to Korea after decades without any clerics in the country. So Charles and Barbara decided to marry and seek holiness together. The two had a holy but brief marriage; less than two years after their marriage, a new persecution broke out, leading them to flee to Barbara’s parents’ house. Charles returned home one day to find that his wife, infant son, and in-laws (with their toddler daughter) had all been arrested. Rather than fleeing, he presented himself at the police station, insisting that he be arrested alongside them. The adult members of the family entrusted the children to others to raise and (after months of torture) gave their lives for Christ as martyrs.

Bl. Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma (1900-1944, 1912-1944) might never have been noticed if their lives hadn’t ended so dramatically. They were an ordinary Polish couple, working on their farm, raising their six children (with one on the way), and trying to serve God by praying together and loving their neighbors. Jozef was an amateur photographer whose interest in technology not only led him to build his own camera but also to work toward the introduction of electricity into their village. Wiktoria, meanwhile, was a member of an amateur theater troupe and worked to introduce Polish culture to her children. It was a beautiful, ordinary life — until the German occupation called them to be heroes. When their Jewish neighbors’ lives were endangered, Jozef and Wiktoria offered to hide them. For over a year, they concealed eight of their Jewish neighbors, contriving to feed the Goldman family along with their brood of children. When the Nazis got wind of it, they killed all eight Goldmans and then the nine Ulmas. The Ulma family was beatified all together, including their unborn child.

Servants of God Takashi and Midori Nagai (1908-1951, 1908-1945) knew what it was to suffer, but their suffering always brought them closer to the heart of Jesus. Midori’s family had been Catholic for centuries (often in secret to evade their persecutors) but Takashi was raised with the Shinto religion. When he moved to Nagasaki for medical school, he lived with Midori’s family. It was through falling in love with Midori that he first became open to the faith, but it was study and grace that brought about his conversion. The couple married not long after Takashi’s baptism and had four children, one of whom died as a toddler (while Takashi was away at war) and another of whom died a few days after birth. Takashi worked at the leading edge of radiology research, eventually contracting leukemia from his exposure to radiation. Though Midori was devastated by the diagnosis, she chose to trust in God, saying, “We said before we were married that if our lives are spent for the glory of God, then life and death are beautiful.” Takashi was strengthened by her faith, saying, “I can now face death because Midori is beside me.” But Midori was incinerated in the bombing of Nagasaki and Takashi had to learn to trust God without her by his side. He lived another 6 years, writing poetry calling his people to forgive and teaching his two remaining children how to be people of peace and mercy because of God’s redeeming love.

Servants of God Adela Abbo de Calvani and Aristides Calvani Silvia (1919-1986, 1918-1986) were both spiritual and political powerhouses; Adela was the first woman to preside over the municipal council of Caracas while Aristides served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for Venezuela. Though Adela was born in Colombia and Aristides in Trinidad, both lived most of their lives in Venezuela, where they met and married when they were 29 and 31. The couple went on to have seven children, whom they raised together while working hard outside the home as well. Aristides worked as a professor of social science and a member of parliament, while Adela taught at the Catholic School of Social Services and was appointed by the president of Venezuela to work to encourage the participation of marginalized peoples in society. Aristides and Adela were killed in a plane crash along with two of their daughters and were mourned throughout the country.