Sherbrooke resident Marie-Léonie Paradis was elevated to the rank of saint by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday. She is the founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, a religious congregation established in Canada, Honduras and Guatemala.
Published at 9:25 p.m.
Updated at 10:38 p.m.
The ceremony took place in St. Peter’s Square, in the Vatican, in front of thousands of faithful from all over the world. Cardinals, bishops, priests, dignitaries and nuns participated.
Among them, Sister Rachel Lemieux, who read a prayer in front of the gathered crowd. Sister Lemieux directs the Marie-Léonie-Paradis center in Sherbrooke. Ten other nuns from the center came to the Vatican to accompany her to the ceremony. Members of the 4e5e et 6e Generations of the Paradis family also made the trip, as did the federal MP for Sherbrooke, Élisabeth Brière.
Marie-Léonie Paradis was born in 1840 in L’Acadie, Quebec. She founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family 40 years later, in New Brunswick. Through her prayers, she is known for healing patients suffering from tuberculosis, through the invocation of her spirit. In 1984, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
She died in 1912. Her tomb, still located at the Saint-Michel basilica-cathedral in Sherbrooke, has remained a place of pilgrimage ever since.
PHOTO MAXIME PICARD, LA TRIBUNE ARCHIVES
The tomb of Marie-Léonie Paradis, declared a saint on Sunday by the Pope, is still in Sherbrooke.
Marie-Léonie Paradis therefore becomes the third Quebecer to be canonized, after Marguerite D’Youville and Marie de l’Incarnation. Canonization follows beatification. This is the final step towards holiness. To obtain it, you must have performed at least two miracles, have led an exemplary Christian life and have been dead for at least five years.
A ceremony will be held in Sherbrooke on October 26, at the Saint-Michel basilica-cathedral, to celebrate the canonization of Marie-Léonie Paradis.
A fourth Quebecer could be canonized. This is Father Frédéric Jansson, from Trois-Rivières. His file was submitted to the Catholic Church in Rome. Father Frédéric Jansson founded the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Sanctuary in Trois-Rivières.
Besides Marie-Léonie Paradis, 13 figures of the Catholic Church have been canonized. Among them, 11 martyrs murdered in Syria in the 19the century and symbols of the persecution of Christians under the Ottoman Empire. These martyrs, including eight Franciscans and three lay people of the Maronite rite, the Massabki brothers, were beatified in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.
The other two canonized are founders of religious communities: the Italian missionary Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926) and the Italian nun Elena Guerra (1835-1914).
See excerpts from the canonization ceremony
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