The laywoman whose mission helped lead to the feast of Christ the King

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 22, 2025 / 13:00 pm

Marthe de Noaillat, called the “Apostle of Christ the King” by her biographer, had a singular mission in life that she believed had been entrusted to her: to promote the universal kingship of Jesus Christ.

“Marthe was the woman who single-handedly brought this to the Church. This is not unusual, indeed the hard lifting in many of these causes was done by women of profound faith,” Father Bernard McGuckian, SJ, host of a new EWTN Ireland television series, told CNA.

De Noaillat was the seventh child in a family of 12 whose parents, Jean-Baptiste Devuns and Anne Zélina, were pious Catholics.

After spending seven years discerning a cloistered vocation, de Noaillat was led instead into the heart of the world as a missionary. With the encouragement