Our pal Jim Martin up at America magazine has a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about why more married couples aren’t recognized as saints in the Catholic Church. You may think your husband or wife is a saint, but getting them recognized as such isn’t easy, and Jim explains why:

“Religious orders and dioceses know how to navigate the canonization procedures on behalf of bishops, priests, brothers and sisters. By contrast, how many families have the resources to embark on the decades-long process on behalf of even the holiest mother or father? As a result, married Catholics have few exemplars other than Mary and Joseph, whose situation was hardly replicable.”

(photo info: Louis and Zélie’s youngest daughter, Thérèse, became one of the church’s most popular saints. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the “Little Flower.” The couple will be beatified in Lisieux on Sunday).