Friends of Saint Marie-Leonie
Dear Friends of Saint Marie-Leonie,
We continue our reflection on the life of Saint Marie-Leonie Paradis, whose faith continues to inspire us and guide us on our own journey.
The summer holidays are approaching, and they are essential for disconnecting from our daily routine, recharging our batteries, and promoting physical rest. We sometimes impose obligations on ourselves that are unnecessary for our well-being and that of those around us.
Let’s take the time to explore, create, invent, and simply take the time to live and be!
Living in the present moment allows us to enjoy time with family and create pleasant memories, rather than following a packed schedule. Since life moves so quickly, the brain needs breaks to regenerate and develop properly.
Taking the time to contemplate God in the creation that surrounds us is a source of great inner joy and comfort. Nature is a place of prayer and renewal, where we can feel loved because it is a sanctuary that whispers of God’s love and calls us to take responsibility for protecting it.
Sometimes, due to their physical condition, some people can only see the sun or the stars through their window. No matter how small the part of nature they can contemplate, God reaches them deeply.
God has left traces of His beauty in His creation to draw us to Him. It invites us to return to our hearts and teaches us to dwell there, so that we may remain in solidarity with those around us. In fact, the joy of vacation is being with Him and our loved ones. So, happy summer holidays to everyone, without exception.
Saint Marie-Leonie Paradis is on vacation with us, she who loved people, nature, flowers, animals, and even insects. Everything spoke to her of God.
Rachel Lemieux, p.s.s.f. May 2026
For those who would like to make a donation, Mass offering or lamp, you can now do so in 3 ways.
- Online: with a credit card
- By Interact transfer
- In person: at the reception desk of the Centre Marie-Leonie Paradis in cash, debit or credit card.
ONLINE:
Go to our website on this page:
https://www.centremarie-leonieparadis.com/fr/dons-et-services-en-ligne/index.php
INTERACT TRANSFER:
- For mass fees and lamp offerings:
It is essential to e-mail us the details of your order and your intentions. Send to: centre.marie-leonie@videotron.ca
- For donations with tax receipt:
It is essential to e-mail us your full postal address, as for all donations received during the current year, we issue an annual tax receipt in February of the following year.
Send to: centre.marie-leonie@videotron.ca
Once you've sent us your e-mail with your requests, we'll send you the information you need to make the Interac transfer.
SERVICES OFFERED
(no tax receipt, as the money does not stay at the Centre Marie-Leonie Paradis).
- Masses announced with their intention: $25 (new price)
- Masses read with intention: $10 (new price)
- Large lamp offering with intention: $7 (new price)
- Small lamp offering with intention: $2 (new price)
*The Centre Marie-Leonie Paradis sends the money for the Masses and the intention to missionary priests. It is impossible to have a mass celebrated on a fixed date.
*The Centre Marie-Leonie Paradis will light your lamp for you, along with your intention, at Saint-Michel’s Cathedral in Sherbrooke. The lamp will burn for 6 days or for one day (depending on the size) with Mother Marie-Leonie.
Woman of great faith and action June 2026
Matthew 25:34-40
Then the King will say to those on his right: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
Then the righteous will answer him, saying: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?”
And the King will answer them: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Persevere or give up?
Other trials were still to befall Sister Leonie, and one of them was the intolerance of Bishop Sweeney of Saint John, N.B. He never accepted to give the young community canonical recognition: he was afraid to have to support the sisters once they became sick or elderly. He wrote to Father Lefebvre: “Is good Sister Leonie still nursing the project of a new community, independent from her own? I told her every time she mentioned it to me, as I also told you, that I did not approve of it.”
His position was clear: yes, perhaps, to a Third Order affiliated to Holy Cross... but no, absolutely no, to any new and distinct religious community. When Father Sorin came to Acadia in 1890, Mother Leonie took the opportunity to request, once again, of Bishop Sweeney, the approval of her community, showing a financial report in support of her cause. She even asked Father Sorin to intercede for her. He met with Bishop Sweeney, but his efforts were fruitless. At the very most, the Bishop authorized Mother Leonie to open a novitiate of the Little Sisters in Memramcook... but still, he never approved her Institute. Several serious young women, tired of always having to make private vows because of the absence of an episcopal approbation, went to other communities... This led Mother Leonie to seek another diocese willing to receive them in order to obtain, at last, the episcopal approbation and the right to make public vows. Book: A Mother who was “All Heart”, p. 70-71
How did your faith help you realize one or more of your projects?
“Friends of Mother Marie-Leonie”?