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."

The relics of St. Therese will make their first visit to England and Wales from September 16 through October 16, 2009.  To see a video with interviews with Bishop McMahon, the bishop patron of the visit; Sister Patricia Marie; and a young woman named Leonora, please visit this page and click on the first link.  For details about the visit of the reliquary, please visit the bishops' site.

To honor the anniversary of the canonization of St. Therese on May 17, 1925, I am happy to present the link to an online exhibit of 116 photos of Lisieux "au temps de Therese."  The photographer, Francois Bidet, operated a pharmacy near that of Isidore Guerin, Therese's uncle. The exhibit is presented by La Bibliotheque Electronique de Lisieux; the photos are the property of the Musee d'art et de histoire de Lisieux, and the accompanying text was written by Jean Bergeret.  You can see the Cathedral Saint-Pierre on the Place Thiers during the bitterly cold winter of 1895; a man begging who could be one of the people helped by the Martin family; a Eucharistic procession in the town square; market day, and many other photos.

"Louis and Zelie Martin of Alencon" shows scenes familiar to the Martin family in Alencon, interviews in French, and the first film footage of the Pavilion, Blessed Louis Martin's watchtower and walled garden on the outskirts of Alencon.  Until the beatification of Zelie and Louis in October 2008, this property had been closed to pilgrims for decades. 

"The Inauguration of the Martin Family Home in Alencon" films the event in late April 2009 at which Louis and Zelie Martin's house on Rue Saint-Blaise, where St. Therese was born, was reopened to the press after having been closed for restoration.  Most of the film is interviews in French with Mgr. Jean-Claude Boulanger, bishop of Seez, and artists who worked on the restoration.  I thank the diocese of Seez WebTV for permission to post the films. To see them, please visit this page.

"The Basilica of St. Therese at Lisieux" features an exhaustive tour and history of the basilica of St. Therese, background about the saint's life, and interviews in English with Mme. Laurence Panontin, a long-time and knowledgeable member of the staff of the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux.  I thank "Catholic Destinations," a TV show produced by Catholic TV in Massachusetts, for allowing me to post their film.