Léonie would visit the Carmelite monastery on a daily basis to get an update on her sister’s
condition. On September
30th, as the hours for Thérèse were drawing to a close, Léonie and
her aunt Céline and uncle Isidore went to the
Carmelite chapel to pray for her. Pauline wrote a
small note and gave it to a lay sister, which in turn handed it to
Léonie in the chapel that told
her that her sister’s soul had ascended to heaven.  A few days later, Léonie led the
funeral
procession at the Carmelite chapel.
Thérèse’s body was laid to rest at the local cemetery in
Lisieux.

During this course of time, Léonie continued to stay in contact with the sisters at the Visitation
monastery.  She would
visit them periodically in Caen when she went to stay with her cousin
Jeanne.  Between Léonie’s second departure
from the monastery and her final entrance, a lot
of the sisters at the monastery had passed away. This led the
Visitation monastery, in Caen, to
accept a couple of sisters from the Visitation monastery in Boulogne-sur-Mer. A few
months
later, one of the new sisters from Boulogne-sur-Mer was elected Mother Superior. Mother
Jeanne-Marguerite
Decarpentry brought a different adaptation to the Visitation Rule, which in
turn allowed Léonie and her fellow sisters
that left previously an opportunity to come back.

Weeks prior to
Thérèse's death, Thérèse had a conversation with her sister Marie. She stated
that after her death,
Léonie would be reunited with her sisters at the Visitation in Caen. She also
stated that Léonie would be there serving
God until her death. This vision that Thérèse had
stated to
Marie had came true years later on January 28, 1899.

Léonie, escorted by her uncle Isidore, entered the doors of the Visitation monastery after her
religious ceremony took
place and she entered the monastery for the final time on January
30th.  Léonie stated to her new Mother Superior: “I
am here for always, this is my sole
ambition: to hide myself like a humble violet under the leaves of perfect
submission, so that my
superiors can do with me whatever the wish.” (GV)

On June 30,1899, Léonie received her holy habit and took the name Sister Françoise-Thérèse.
The ceremony took
place under the direction of Canon Levasseur. She then continued on with
her novitiate under the direction of Sister
Louise Henriette Vaugeois. Léonie was very attached
to her due to her humility, simplicity and gentleness towards her.
Unfortunately, Sister Louise
was requested to return back to her old monastery in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Sister Marie Aimée de Songnis took over the reins of Léonie’s training. Sister Marie Aimée

was much different than her predecessor. She was more stringent on following the Visitation
Rule. This in return led Léonie into a depressed
state of mind.  It was very difficult for Léonie
to learn the Rule quickly enough so that she would not fall into the
dismay of her directress.
Léonie’s sisters
Marie, Pauline and Céline were once again alarmed and dreaded the thought
of history repeating itself. They were fearful that Léonie would be forced to leave the
monastery once more.
Through the encouragement of her sisters at Carmel and the intercession
through her beloved aunt Sister Marie-Dosithée and her sister
Thérèse, Léonie survived this
trial. Léonie stated in a letter to her sisters at Carmel: “Surviving
the pressures of the earth: To
win heaven, it is necessary to suffer and to suffer greatly. True peace is the acceptance
of each trial given. After we have completed our exile, there will be heaven eternally, while we
wait, it is necessary
that we attach ourselves to the cross. From the cross to heaven is only one
step.”  (GV)

Sister Marie Aimée decided that Léonie was ready to become a professed nun. On July 2,
1900, Léonie’s novitiate
ended and she professed her final vows. The ceremony took place
under the direction of Canon Levasseur. Léonie
received her profession cross, the cross that
cost her so many tears, however, Léonie was content on living the rest
of her life as a Visitation
nun.

It was decided by the Mother Superior of the community that Léonie’s jobs would be to
assistant Bursar, nurse, to
assistant in the refectory and assistant in the sacristy. Léonie’s duties
to assistant Bursar were to ensure that
everything in the convent was arranged accordingly. Her
nursing duties in the infirmary were taking care of the needs
of the sick and aged nuns. She
assisted the sisters in the refractory who prepared the two meals that the community
received
daily. Léonie’s duties in the sacristy were prepping the linens, corporals, palls, and purificators
for Mass.  

Léonie lent her support and attention to the needs of the new postulants who were, as she did,
having difficulties in
adhering to the Visitation Rule. Even though her duties were not always in
a leadership role, she accepted her tasks
joyfully. Léonie was forced to make many sacrifices in
her work. With great humility, she used these opportunities to
offer them to God and use them
for the opportunity of saving souls, in particularity for priests.

Léonie was given a brief opportunity to see her sister
Pauline in 1902.  Pauline and Mother
Marie de Gonzaga were
traveling to a city called Valognes located in the northwestern part of
Normandy on business. This was a special gift
for Léonie because she thought she would never
see her sister ever again after she entered the Visitation.

During the early part of the 1900’s,
Thérèse had come to be well known by many people in
France. The book “Story
of a Soul” was widely read by many people and they had sought out
her protection and intercession. The process for
Thérèse’s canonization for sainthood had
started. In 1910, Léonie was asked by Bishop Lemonnier of Bayeux and
Lisieux to prepare a
deposition on the virtues of
Thérèse. On November 27th, Léonie and her Mother Superior
Jeanne-Marguerite Decarpentry traveled to Bayeux to see the Bishop. Léonie testified on her
account of
Thérèse’s virtues.  During this event they both stayed at the Benedictine Monastery.

The interest in
Thérèse also brought interest in Léonie as well as her surviving sisters. People
would come to the
Visitation monastery and ask to see Léonie and see if she would pray to her
sister
Thérèse for intercession on their behalf. Léonie would always honor their requests.

As 1914 approached, the threat of war was eminent. As World War I started it had major

effect on the Visitation community as well as other religious communities. The Germans
advanced into France through Belgium’s border and
occupied the northeastern half of the
country. Even though during this time, Léonie and her sisters were miles away
from the front
lines, they were asked to make sacrifices for the war effort. Food was rationed for everyone

as well as medicines and other much needed supplies. The majority of the supplies were sent
to the front lines for the support of the French soldiers. Léonie was very concerned about the
health and safety of her sisters
Marie, Pauline, and Céline at the Carmelite monastery in
Lisieux due to the rationing of supplies. Her sisters reassured Léonie, that they were all right.  
When the war came to the end, all of them survived the horrors.

On September 30, 1912, while Léonie was chanting the Holy Office, an apparition of her sister
Thérèse’s hands appeared to her on her book. This apparition affirmed to Léonie that her sister
was always with her. Léonie and
Thérèse had a very close relationship. She looked upon
Thérèse as being a guiding light to the way of perfection. This experience encouraged Léonie
to work harder at becoming a saint.

The canonization process for
Thérèse progressed rapidly on April 9, 1915. A second
examination of
Thérèse’s virtues was required for the Apostolic Process. The examination of
these virtues would take place at the Carmelite
monastery in Lisieux. To this great joy, Léonie
and her Mother Superior Jeanne-Marguerite traveled to the Carmelite
monastery. Léonie had
not seen her sisters in seventeen years. It was an exciting eight days for Léonie and what a
blessing it was to see her beloved sisters
Marie, Pauline, and Céline. It was also a great joy to
see where her sister
Thérèse lived and worked. Léonie remarked: “As we were sitting down
together on the steps of Carmel, it was like
nothing had changed. It was as if we were together
at Les Buissonnets once more.” The time came for Léonie to
depart the Carmelite monastery
and the examination of
Thérèse’s sisters was over. Léonie, yet again, had to say her
goodbyes to her sisters. This time it was to be forever until they all saw each other again in
heaven. The Carmelite
sisters arranged a song for Léonie’s departure, which was a very
touching gift for her to receive.

Once Léonie returned to the Visitation monastery in Caen, it was very difficult for her to

adjust. The separation from her sisters and the challenges of practicing the “Little Way” were
taking a huge toll on her emotionally.  She was
fearful of letting herself down as well as her
sisters. Léonie remarked: “I belong to a family of saints and I must not
blemish that heritage.”
(GV)  Léonie always looked upon her sister
Pauline as a saint. She revered the Carmelite
prioress as a person with such great virtues. Moreover, Léonie persisted and returned to the
practice of being hidden,
following the footsteps of her sister Thérèse one step at a time.
Léonie’s main objective was to be a living example of God’s love, the same love that he has
for each and every one of us. She sought out her own measure of obedience to God to further
her practice of humility, a virtue that was one of her favorites to practice. She devoted many

of her prayers for the Pope, the Church, her communities, and others that suffered.

Léonie constantly examined the progress of her way to perfection and came to the conclusion
about where she was
by stating: “I am so poor, so little, so weak-but I rejoice in being so, for
it makes me more open to His consuming and transforming love and I could not be more self-
abandoned. I believe I have reached the point where God wishes me to
be, for I love what He
does above all else; I do not want to choose anything at all.” (L) However, Léonie continued

to work feverishly on her goals of becoming more humble. She made every opportunity to  
withdraw herself more and
more from the spotlight working harder to be counted as nothing.
Described by her Visitation sisters, Leonie displayed
pure gentleness, exuberant joy, and great
humility with much simplicity.

Reflecting back on her difficult childhood, there was one person who sought forgiveness from
Léonie, Louise Marais,
the maid. She had inflicted both emotional and physical abuse on
Léonie when she was a child.  Louise was not
allowed to have any contact with Léonie.
However, Louise was able to communicate to Léonie in an effort to receive
Léonie’s
forgiveness through
Marie. Léonie thanked her for helping take care of her mother when she
had breast
cancer and also forgave her for the way she was treated by her.  

On August 10, 1917, a second exhumation of
Thérèse’s remains took place. Léonie had always
hoped for a relic of
her sister Thérèse since her death. Thankfully, while her sister Céline was
wrapping
Thérèse’s relics in silk linens, a molar had fallen out of its place. It was decided that
the molar would be given to Léonie. The arrival of the relic, from
Thérèse to the Visitation
monastery, was a joyous blessing for Léonie and her sisters in Caen.

On March 26, 1923,
Thérèse’s relics were brought to the Carmelite Monastery in Lisieux. A
beautifully decorated
carriage carrying her relics rode from the Lisieux cemetery in a procession
down the streets of Lisieux to be interned
at the Carmelite chapel. Thérèse’s beatification was
going to take place on April 29th. As a kind gesture to Léonie, the
carriage was brought to the
Visitation monastery in Caen to include her in the ceremony and to show her the beautiful
carriage where her sister’s relics were placed.

Shortly after the beatification process,
Thérèse’s canonization was taking place. On May 17,
1925, Léonie’s sister
became St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. A beautiful ceremony took place
in Rome to celebrate the newly canonized
saint. Pope Pius XI extended an invitation for
Thérèse’s sisters Marie, Pauline, Léonie, and Céline to attend the ceremony in Rome. The
invitation was declined by all of them. The decision to decline the invitation was so that they
could continue their work in the monastery as a cloistered nun thus not interfering with
community life. But in the
place of their absence, two Tourière sisters from the Visitation
monastery went to Rome to represent them.  Léonie
had a special request for one of the
sisters. She asked the sister if she would kiss the foot of Pope Pius XI, a demonstration to the
Pontiff a sign of her faith in him.  

On September 28th, Cardinal Vico, a representative of Pope XI, came to Caen to visit Léonie.
Léonie knelt before him
as an act of her faithfulness to him and the Pope. Léonie, like her
sisters, prayed in particular for the Pope, priests and
also the preservation of the sovereign
Church. Cardinal Vico delivered a portrait of Pope Pius XI to celebrate Léonie’s
twenty-five
years as a Visitation nun. The portrait contained an inscription of a blessing for her to honor this
occasion.
Pauline had sent a statue of Thérèse to the Visitation convent, which was placed in
the garden. Cardinal Vico had the
honor of blessing the statue while he was there.

Due to the overwhelming interest in
Thérèse, many visitors came to the Visitation monastery to
see Léonie. Léonie,
being an assistant portress, would answer the door without acknowledging
to them that it was she who they were
speaking to. For Léonie, it was an opportunity for her to
practice her humility.  Most of them would request for her to
pray to her sister Thérèse for
their intentions and she would always honor their requests. Léonie never sought out
intercession from her sister
Thérèse for herself.  She knew that all that she received was
enough for what she
needed.  A visitor who wanted to interview Léonie approached her at the
monastery. He wanted to find out more
information about her mother Azélie. Léonie complied
with his request and she stated that it was her mother, Azélie,
who taught her humility,
simplicity, and detachment from worldly things. Léonie always viewed her as a saint. Léonie
was then asked to write the forward to the book:
The Little Flower’s Mother.  Léonie also
wrote a message to the
Little Flower Society: “If we must please the Little Flower, we must be
humbled as she was, and we will be humble if
we will repeat frequently every day: Jesus, meek
and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.” (CW) Léonie
vowed to pray every day
for sister
Thérèse to watch over them.

In her interview, she was asked why she too did not become a Carmelite nun like her sisters.
Léonie replied she was
where God wanted her to be and one of the graces that her sister
Thérèse gave her was to preserve her devotion to the Visitation Order. Léonie's first affiliation
with the Visitation Order was through her aunt, Sister Marie-Dosithée.
There was a great
connection and admiration between Léonie and her aunt and she looked forward to following
her in
her footsteps, thus initially taking the name Sister Françoise-Dosithée in one of Léonie’s
early attempts at religious life.
It was Léonie’s goal for herself as she explains: “I want to be
little, so little! This is the example I want to follow. I
can feel that this is what Jesus expects of
me.” (L)

During the month of December 1930, Léonie was plagued by an acute contagious viral
infection characterized by
inflammation of the respiratory tract and by fever, chills, muscular
pain, and prostration. It is also called grippe.  This
in return eventually led to her catching
pneumonia.  It was thought by her Visitation sisters that Léonie would not
survive her illness.  
As a result she was given the “Last Sacraments”.  
Pauline sent a telegram to a Carmelite
brethren
in Rome about her sister’s condition. Unexpectedly, Pope Pius XI responded back to
Pauline's telegram. In this telegram, he gave Léonie his papal blessing as well as asking for her
sister
Thérèse’s intercession. Sister Marie Aimée, who was very close to Léonie in the
monastery, prayed before the statue of St.
Thérèse in the monastery garden asking for
Thérèse’s intercession too.

Soon after Léonie received blessings upon her, she started to recover from her illness. Many

of Léonie’s Visitation sisters were impressed by Léonie’s continued devotion to the love of
God and also by her ardent desire to be in His presence throughout her difficult suffering.
Sister Joseph Gabriel de Formigny, Léonie’s infirmarian, stated: “What edification Léonie gave
during her days of great suffering! I had of admiring her faith, her love of the good God, her
profound delicacy of sentiment; she does honor her sister
Thérèse, whose virtues she
reproduces…” (DL)

Throughout the rest of Léonie’s life, she was plagued with a number of illnesses. Her weak
immune system did not
help her to fight against colds and influenza, which passed through the
monastery each year. She also suffered from
eczema, a non-contagious inflammation of the
skin, characterized chiefly by redness, itching, and the outbreak of
lesions that may discharge
serous matter and become encrusted and scaly.  This ravaged her entire body making it
very uncomfortable for her. Like her mother Azélie, Léonie too suffered from migraine
headaches. She also lost many
of her teeth causing her to wear dentures. If not enough
Rheumatism arthritis stayed with Léonie until her death
leaving her body whittled and frail.
Should Léonie never be able to walk, she would, without any hesitation; crawl on
her hands
and knees to receive the Blessed Sacrament. It was the true center of her religious life. (GV)

Prayer was an important part of Léonie’s life.  It is prayer that Léonie’s heart desired
constantly, because in prayer
she replies: “How I love the words, the good God operates in us;
there is no need to see or feel Him! Happily for me,
that is true for I always have been and am
increasingly a blockhead, a log, and I ask Jesus to set the log on fire with
the Spirit of Love.”
(GV)   Multiply the hours of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, Léonie states, “It is
before
the Blessed Sacrament that our hearts and minds are prepared to receive Him. Let us
also sow many “Hail Mary’s” for
it is our Immaculate Mother in heaven that will be there to
save us all.”

In December of 1939, Léonie’s sister
Marie contracted a cold with a very severe cough. Her
illness continued on into
January and sadly her illness worsened to the point of no return.
Léonie was notified, by her other sisters
Pauline and Céline, that Marie’s mortal life on earth
was coming to an end. On January 18, 1940, Léonie’s beloved sister
Marie breathed her last
breath on earth. As customary, two Visitandine sisters from Léonie’s monastery were sent to

the Carmelite monastery with flowers in hand for Marie’s funeral in Lisieux.

In April of 1940, Léonie wrote a letter to her dear sisters
Pauline and Céline. In this letter she
describes to her sisters
how she feels about herself approaching death: “I feel that I am
approaching eternity. What joy! There is nothing
sound in me except for my eyes, my heart,
and my head, thanks be to God! Complete abandonment is what I desire
most... Let us, as
spouses of Christ, not fear death which we must undergo to find true life in Him.”(GV)

A ruthless German dictator named Adolph Hitler decided to invade France on May 10, 1940.
The French army
thought that the Germans would attack them on the French and German
border where they had a strong line of
defense. But the Germans decided to attack France
through Belgium instead. The French army made an enormous
effort to stop the German army
from penetrating the front lines. However, they were no match to the German arsenal
of weapons. On June 22, 1940, the French and German governments signed an Armistice
agreement that called for
two different zones. One zone occupied by the Germans and the
other zone occupied by the French. Unfortunately, Caen and Lisieux were both positioned in
the German occupied zone. Léonie and her Visitation sisters could no longer
ignore what was
going on outside the walls of their monastery. The Germans setup outposts in most of the major
cities in France, Caen being no exception.

Léonie made every effort to comfort her sisters who were fearful of the outcome of the
German existence. Léonie
would pray ardently for the safety and security of their family
members and ask her Sainted Sister
Thérèse to protect them.

As 1940 was coming to a close, Léonie’s health had become ever more deteriorated. She was
no longer able to roam
the halls of her beloved monastery on her own. Mother Jeanne
Marguerite de Carpentry decided it was time for Léonie
to be moved into the infirmary after
she contracted bronchitis. Léonie helped her other sisters that were also
summoned to stay in
the infirmary especially the ones who were near death. Léonie was content on continuing her
duties even though she was hindered by her physical impairments as she states to one of her
sisters: “Yes, I suffer
much, but I don’t want to stop, I wish to go on until the end.” (DL)

During May of 1941, Léonie contracted the grippe again. This time she was not going to be
able to defeat it. She
suffered severely from the physical symptoms of the grippe along with
the addition of rheumatism arthritis. Léonie writes to her sisters Pauline and Céline: “I have
become so little that I have the audacity to believe that I will not go to purgatory. I ask my
Jesus to prepare me Himself for His coming. I, though a great sinner, can have no fear of the
good God. On the contrary, it's my extreme need of Him that gives me such confidence in

Him that I dream that when I leave the arms of our beloved mother (Mother Superior) that I
will fall quite naturally into the arms of Jesus
and of my heavenly Mother. What audacity!”
(GV)

At the end of May, Léonie started to show signs of improvement in her health. It was a golden
opportunity for her
Visitation sisters to celebrate Léonie's birth and profession. Mother Superior
took full advantage of this opportunity
and they celebrated Léonie's birthday as well as her
fortieth anniversary of her profession on June 3, 1941. Léonie
joyfully celebrated with her
Visitation sisters.

One of the gifts Léonie received was a message that
Pauline obtained from Pope Pius XII. In
the Pope’s message he
states: “We are blessed with all of our hearts, on the occasion of her
40th anniversary of religious profession, our dear
daughter in Jesus Christ, Françoise-Thérèse
of the Visitation of Caen, and through the intercession of her blessed
sister Saint Thérèse of
the Child Jesus, we implore for her the grace of the highest sanctification in the most fervent
humility.” (DL)  As the celebration came to a close, Léonie was taken back to the infirmary.
Her sisters filled
the halls of her beloved convent with the verses: “By thy sweet way, Guide us
we pray,
Thérèse to heaven, to heaven, to heaven.” (DL)  Léonie was filled with joy and
happiness from the celebration. Mother superior took the
opportunity to escort her “living relic”
back to her room.

Due to the occupation of the German army in France, the message from the Pope was delayed
by almost a year.
Léonie’s 40th anniversary was in 1940. After the celebration, Léonie sent a
reply to Pope Pius XII’s message and
thanked him for his gift.  But the greatest gift Léonie was
to receive was from her beloved sister
Pauline. Years ago, Pauline sent Saint Thérèse’s
profession cross to Léonie upon the condition that the cross would be returned after
Léonie’s death.
Pauline decided to allow the Visitation convent to keep Saint Thérèse’s
profession cross. She also
provided a reliquary to house the cross in so that it could be
venerated.

Pauline, knowing her beloved sister was nearing an end to her life, contacted the Pope and
requested permission to
allow Léonie’s body to be interned at the Carmel in Lisieux. It was an
expression of faith for all the sisters to be buried
side by side in the crypt next to their beloved
sainted sister
Thérèse.  But Léonie wanted to be buried in the crypt of her Visitation convent.
Léonie’s feeling on this issue was that after her death that there would no longer be any
communication between the Visitation and the Carmel.  Mother superior felt this same fear
because the Carmel was
helping them in several ways during the German occupation of France.
Pauline reassured her sister in a message sent to Léonie: “Fear nothing, my little Léonie, if you
fly to heaven, I will not fail to fly often to your Visitation; besides, I
myself will feel the need
of it.” (DL)

As the weeks in June progressed, Léonie’s eyes were solely on heaven. In a conversation
between her and her mother
superior she said: “The divine thief is at the door, dear mother,
but do not be troubled if He takes me in the middle of the night for I am ready; all is given,
abandoned.” (DL)  It was painful for some of Léonie’s sisters to see her while she
was in an
enormous state of agony over the complications from her illness. Léonie reassured them,

“That it was necessary to suffer a lot before dying because there was still more for her to
climb to Calvary.” (DL)  She wanted to ascend to heaven like infants do.

On June 12th, as she did each day, Léonie started to rise for Morning Prayer. She was met
with a sudden weakness
and numbness in her arms and legs on one side of her body, which
caused her to collapse onto the floor of the
infirmary. When Léonie’s infirmarian arrived to
help her change into her clothes, she found her lying on the floor
unconscious. The infirmarian
summoned other sisters to help her place her back into her bed. A doctor was called to
examine her condition and a priest came to deliver her the “Last Rites”. Hours after Léonie
collapse, she woke up and
saw her infirmarian and other sisters beside her. Léonie immediately
realized that she was paralyzed on one side and
was not able to speak anymore.

Mother Superior sent an urgent message to
Pauline and Celine about their sister’s dire
condition. Later that
afternoon, Pauline sent two Tourière sisters to the Visitation convent
bearing flowers with prayers and blessings.
When the sisters entered into the infirmary, Léonie
was visibly overjoyed to see them. They went over and sat at her
bedside giving the messages
from her sisters
Pauline and Céline.  Mother Superior gave Léonie her sister Marie’s
rosary and her sainted sister
Thérèse’s profession cross. Léonie bore each relic in both of her
hands. She then took a
rose, removed the petals from it and scattered them over her sister’s
profession cross.

Léonie’s condition slowly deteriorated for the next five days. She was very week, however, she
clasped onto her
sister Marie’s rosary and Thérèse’s cross close to her heart.  Every day the
priest would come and give her the
“Last Rites”.

On the 16th of June, Léonie held out her hands with a weak smile on her face, when her
Visitation sisters brought in a
replica of the statue of Our Lady of the Smile. They recited to
her some verses her sainted sister Thérèse echoed: “To die of love, what martyrdom more
sweet, I long for it, my heart’s desire! Soon is my exile over, Oh, I entreat,
Ye Cherubim, tune, tune your lire.” (DL)  That evening it became more evident that there were
only hours left of her
life, as the physical signs of death were visible. Mother Superior gave
Léonie a blessed candle to hold in her hand as
they prayed to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Our
Lady of the Visitation and to St.
Thérèse.

A few hours before she ascended to heaven, on the 17th of June, Léonie again scattered rose
petals that
Pauline and Céline had gathered in the Carmelite garden. She placed them over
Thérèse’s profession cross. Mother Superior brought Léonie up into her arms and hugged her
twice, once for
Pauline and once for Céline. She placed Léonie’s head back on her pillow.
Léonie sighs a couple of times as her soul was starting its ascension to heaven. The Lord she
loved called her home.

Léonie’s Visitation sisters gathered around her bed and sang the “Magnificat”. They prepared
her body for her funeral.
Léonie’s hands were placed together clutching St. Thérèse’s
profession cross and her head laid upon a white pillow.
The sisters placed a ring of white roses
around her head and wrapped a garland of flowers all around her body. Léonie’s beautiful

smile still encompassed her face as she lay peacefully. Her body was carried to the chapel
choir where those that came to pay their respects could see her in all her splendor.

As news spread throughout the world of Léonie’s Holy Ascent, people came from all over the
world.   As the days
leading up to her funeral came, more and more people turned out to pay
their respects, even though the Germans
occupied Caen. Numerous letters of condolences were
sent to the Visitation monastery and also to the Carmelite
monastery in Lisieux where Pauline
and
Céline lived.

The funeral for Sister Françoise-Thérèse, Marie Leonie Martin was held on June 21, 1941
conducted by Monsignor
Germain.  A large crowd of mourners surrounded Léonie’s coffin and
followed the procession to the end, as the
Visitation sisters looked on.  Léonie’s body was then
carried into the Visitation monastery and placed in an interior
crypt where her body still lies
today.      







Written by: R. Hann     
                                      
Bibliography

Abbé Combes, ed. Collected Letters Of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux . (CL)
New York: Sheed & Ward, 1949.
Dolan, Albert H. Rev.. Collected Little Flower Works. Chicago: Carmelite Press, 1929.
---. The Little Flower’s Mother. Chicago: Carmelite Press, 1929. (CW)
---. God Made The Violet Too: Life of Léonie, Sister of St. Thérèse. (GV)
Chicago: Carmelite Press, 1948.
Piat, Stéphanie Fr. The Story Of A Family: The Home of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. (SF)
Trans: Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey. Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1948.
Death Announcement of Sr Francoise-Therese Martin, UnpubIished transcript from the Monastery of the Visitation in Caen, France. 1941 (DL)
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Sister Francoise Therese
Sister Francoise Therese
Marie Leonie Martin
"God's Little Violet"
"O Adorable Face of Jesus, which will fill the just with joy throughout eternity, bestow upon us Thy Divine Glance" - Sister Francoise Therese
Page II
June 3, 1863 - June 17, 1941
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Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life
By: Marie Baudouin-Croix
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Veritas
Publications; illustrated edition
edition (December 31, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1853902810
ISBN-13: 978-1853902819
www.aquinasandmore.com
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