Mgr Habert with volunteers of the Shrine of Alençon outside the chapel of the Visitation at Caen

An historic pilgrimage in the footsteps of Léonie Martin and of her father, Blessed Louis Martin, took place in France today.  The volunteers of the newly organized shrine at Alencon, who welcome pilgrims who want to walk in the footsteps of the Martin family in and near Alencon, in the diocese of Séez, where Louis and Zélie Martin met, married, and spent their married life, and where Thérèse was born, made a pilgrimage as a group to Caen to visit the Monastery of the Visitation, where Léonie Martin lived from 1899 until her death in 1941, and the Bon Sauveur Hospital, where Blessed Louis Martin was confined from February 12, 1889 through May 10, 1892.

Mgr Habert, bishop of SeezThey were accompanied by Mgr Jacques Habert, bishop of the diocese of Seéz.  Father Thierry Hénault-Morel in the Visitation chapelFather Thierry Hénault-Morel, the rector of the basilica of Notre-Dame at Alençon, was their guide.

The Shrine at Alençon has already posted 94 photos of the pilgrimage.  [Note of 2/12/17: I'm so sorry; the Shrine appears to have removed these photos from their site].  Although the captions are still in French, it is a wonderful chance to see photos of the Visitation chapel and  the crypt,  Léonie's souvenirs and her tomb, and almost the first contemporary photos of the interior of the chapel at the Bon Sauveur where Louis Martin worshipped. 

On June 16, 2013, the Shrine at Lisieux announced that the beatification of  Léonie Martin, sister of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, is under consideration.  Mgr Jean-Claude Boulanger, bishop of the diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux, granted the imprimatur for a prayer that Léonie might be declared "venerable."  A person named "venerable" by the Church is considered to have practiced "heroic virtue."  St. Thérèse was declared venerable on August 14, 1921 by Pope Benedict XV, after her life had been examined by a diocesan tribunal (the "bishop's process") and by a tribunal appointed by Rome (the "Apostolic Process").    To be declared "venerable" is a big step in the cause for sainthood; the next two steps are to be named "blessed" and to be canonized.  Léonie Martin, born on June 3, 1863 (150 years ago this month),  became a Visitation nun, Sister Françoise-Thérèse, at Caen, where she died on June 17, 1941. 

Please feel free to offer the prayer below to  Léonie for your intentions.  Note that to be accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as the miracle that leads to a candidate's being beatified or canonized, a favor must be attributed to the sole intercession of that candidate.  So, if you want to receive the grace that might make Léonie a blessed or a saint, be careful to ask only her, no one else, to intercede with God for your intention.  Of course, if you invoke her with others, God may still send an "unofficial miracle!" 

 _________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Léonie our Sister,

You have already intervened with God on our behalf,
and we would  like to be able to pray to you officially,
so that many more might know you.

Come to the aid of parents who risk losing a child,
as you nearly died at a very young age.

Continue to uphold the families
where different generations have problems living together in peace.

Enlighten youth who question their future and hesitate to commit.

Show to all the way of prayer
which permits you to bear your limitations and your difficulties with confidence,
and to give yourself to others.

Lord, if such is your will,
deign to accord us the grace that we ask of you
through the intercession of your servant Léonie,
and inscribe her among the number of the venerable of your Church.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

Imprimatur: March 25, 2012

†  Jean-Claude Boulanger
    Bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux

Persons who receive favors by the intercession of Léonie Martin,
in religion Sister Françoise-Thérèse,
are asked to make them known to the Monastery of the Visitation:

Monastery of the Visitation
3 rue de l’Abbatiale
14000 CAEN
FRANCE

translated by Maureen O'Riordan

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________

To learn more:

1.  See almost all the information and photos available online in English about Léonie. 

2.  To learn about the spirituality of Léonie's religious community, the Visitation Order, I highly recommend the book "Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction," selected and introduced by Joseph F. Power, O.S.F.S. and Wendy M. Wright; translated by Péronne Marie Thibert, VHM; and with a preface by Henri J. M. Nouwen (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1988).  The Visitation was founded by Jane de Chantal; Francis de Sales, who shared its vision with Jane, was closely associated with the community.  The spirituality of the Visitation was important to the Martin family.  Léonie's aunt Elise was Sister Marie Dosithée at the Visitation of Le Mans, where Marie and Pauline Martin, the two oldest daughters, were boarding pupils.  Léonie was there for a short time, but was dismissed because of her special needs.  Later Léonie entered the Visitation Monastery at Caen several times; her third and definitive entry was in 1899.

This book contains letters Jane and Francis wrote over many years to persons to whom they gave spiritual direction.  It includes many letters from Francis to Jane.  "Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction" is one of my desert-island books.  Wendy Wright's comprehensive introduction is widely considered one of the very best English-language introductions to the spirituality of Jane and Francis and of the Visitation.  It is a remarkable book in its own right and a superb way to understand many of the influences that surrounded Léonie and Thérèse.

Today is the birthday of Leonie Martin, the sister of St. Therese, who was born at Alencon on June 3, 1863.  Leonie was a special-needs child.  When she was a child, Louise Marais, the Martins' maid at Alencon, abused her.  Leonie had a hard time  finding her place in the world, and entered religious life four times before she finally persevered.  She was an early disciple of the "way of confidence and love" of her little sister. 

In October 2008 I visited the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen and saw the door through which Leonie entered definitively on January 28, 1899, declaring "The next time I leave here, it will be in my coffin!"  Sister Francoise-Therese, the present-day archivist of the community, laughingly pointed out the irony that the body of Leonie, whose religious name was also Sister Francoise-Therese, has never left the Visitation because she was buried in the crypt, where I visited her tomb. 

Praying at Leonie's tomb, I received a unique grace.  Unexpectedly, I remembered the times in my life that I'd been deeply hurt, and I felt Leonie, who was treated so badly and yet grew into a loving, generative person, assuring me that the wounds these experiences had left were no obstacle to sanctity.  I understood why so many parents of special children commend them to her, and why so many people who struggle to find a place in life invoke her prayers. 

To learn more about Leonie's life, please see the "Letter from Clairval Abbey."  Or purchase her excellent biography in English, "Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life" by Marie Baudoin-Croix.

When Therese lay dying, Leonie, then 34, had failed three attempts at religious life and was living as a laywoman with her uncle and aunt. On July 17, 1897, in her last letter to Leonie, Therese wrote:

The only happiness on earth is to apply oneself in always finding delightful the lot Jesus is giving us. Your lot is so beautiful, dear little sister; if you want to be a saint, this will be easy for you since at the bottom of your heart the world is nothing to you. You can, then, like us [like her four Carmelite sisters] occupy yourself with "the one thing necessary"; that is to say, while you give yourself up devotedly to exterior works, your purpose is simple: to please Jesus, to unite yourself more intimately with Him. 

You want me to pray in heaven to the Sacred Heart for you.  Be sure that I shall not forget to give Him your messages and to ask all that will be necessary for you to become a great saint.

Leonie was born in the month of the Sacred Heart and died in the same month, on June 16, 1941.  In this month of the Sacred Heart, may she help us understand "the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus."