LEONIE MARTIN A Difficult Life The Sister of St. Therese of Lisieux by MARIE BAUDOUIN-CROIX

Description

Leonie Martin (1863-1941) was one of the five daughters of Zelie and Louis Martin, who were canonized by Pope Francis. She was the least gifted of the five Martin sisters, an emotionally disturbed child who suffered much and caused much anguish in her family. After three valiant but unsuccessful attempts to enter consecrated religious life, Leonie was finally accepted by the Visitation Order in Caen. As a Visitation nun she succeeded in conquering a difficult temperament and other personal challenges, so that by the time of her death at seventy-eight years old she was regarded by many as a saint. Her convent at Caen has been inundated with letters testifying to her posthumous intercessory aid. How did this troubled child turn into a nun who was kind, serene, and happy? She discovered God within herself, in her weakness and suffering, and she became a great disciple of Therese’s “way of confidence and love”. Leonie practiced the Little Way so deeply that in 2015 the cause for her sainthood was officially opened by the Church. Paper.