Blessed Marie Leonie

Marie-Leonie Paradis was named Elodie Paradis when she was born.  She was born into a poor but very Catholic family.  Even though they were poor, her parents sent Elodie to a boarding school when she was 9 years old, because they wanted her to get a good education.  The teachers at the school were the Sisters of Notre Dame.  In order to make more money, Elodie’s father went to California because he heard that there was Gold there.  He came back with no gold and found out that his daughter had joined the convent with the Sisters of Notre Dame.  He loved his daughter so much that he didn’t want her to stay in the convent; he wanted her to come home to be with her family.  He begged her to leave and go back home to be with him and her mother, but Elodie really loved God and wanted to become a nun.  Her father saw how much she loved God and agreed to let her stay; she became a nun in 1857 and chose the name Marie-Leonie.  She taught in many schools in many different cities in Quebec until she felt like God was asking her to start her own order of Sisters.  She started the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; and their mission is to care for Priests in their homes, so they can concentrate on taking care of the people in their parishes.  There are now 67 convents of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in Canada, the USA, Rome and Honduras.  Sr. Marie-Leonie served the priests, her sisters and God’s people until she died at 71 years old.