Sky above the place where Nationale 13 enters Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

"Blue and orange" sky near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Morning near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Rising of King Sun on the heights of Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Winter near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Apple trees near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky from the heights of Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Pays d'Auge countryside from the heights of Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

View from the heights of Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The Touques River, a little above Lisieux, after an icy night

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The Touques River near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Valley of the Touques River near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Valley of the Touques River near LIsieux, in color

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Mists in the valley of the Touques near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Bucolic Basilica

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

On the banks of the Touques River

As a child, Therese accompanied her father. While he fished, she meditated.

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

View of Lisieux from the sky

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Morning sky in the valley of the Touques near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Countryside around Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Marguerites near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Morning between Lisieux and LIvarot

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Livarot is the name given to one of the cheeses of Normandy. When Therese entered the Carmelite Monastery at Lisieux, it was on the rue du Livarot, since renamed "Rue Carmel."

St. Hippolyte road near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Distant view of Saint Hippolyte Manor, St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Clouds above St. Hippolyte Manor at St. Martin de la Lieue near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Panoramic view of St. Hippolyte's Manor at St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

South entry to St. Hippolyte's Manor, St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

St. Martin de la Lieue: St. Hippolyte's Manor in the morning

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

St. Hippolyte's Manor, St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Covered alley, St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky above Saint Hippolyte

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The sky above St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Between day and night: trees at St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Autumn alley at the Manor of Bray between Glos and Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Autumn sun on the heights of Glos near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Grapes, Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Morning in Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

from the heights of Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The moon before an eclipse at St. Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

First flowers of spring, Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Cyclamens at the Chateau de Vendeuvre near Saint Pierre-sur-Dives

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky above Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The country around Saint-Desir, near LIsieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Flowers, Saint Desir, near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Country in the pays d'Auge at Saint Desir

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Abbey at Saint Pierre-sur-Dives

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Cemetery of Saint Jean de LIvet near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Apple country between Lisieux and Livarot

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The road between Ouilly-le-Vicomte and LIsieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky between Paris and Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Pays d'Auge countryside

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The countryside of the pays d'Auge

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Country in the pays d'Auge with horse

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

A narrow lane near Moyaux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Strange sky: summer in the pays d'Auge

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Morning above the pays d'Auge

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky above the pays d'Auge

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Pays d'Auge: evening in the country

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Apple trees in the snow near Lisieux

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Valley between Fervaques and Saint Martin de la Lieue

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Notre Dame d'Estrees

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

The sky on fire at Honfleur

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Notre Dame d'Estree on the plain near Caen

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Valley between rain and sun en route from Saint Martin de la Lieue to Fervaques

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Starry Night

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Harbor at Honfleur

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Bird on the beach at Deauville

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Sky above Deauville

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Jetee at Deauville

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Jetee at Deauville

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

Jetee at Deauville

courtesy of L'instantané Normandie

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Léonie Martin, Disciple and Sister of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Léonie Martin, the sister of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, became Sister Françoise-Thérèse of the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen in northern France. Léonie led a challenging life: ill from childhood; abused by a maidservant; expelled from school; isolated within her family. She tried religious life three times before she succeeded: in 1899, at the age of 35, she entered definitively the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen, where she died in 1941 at the age of 78.

How did the troubled child and unhappy teenager turn into the sister everyone remembered as so kind, so serene, and so happy that they could not believe she had had a difficult childhood? As a laywoman, Léonie lived at the margins of her family and her society. She found Christ there and made him the center and the source of her life. She discovered God within herself, in her woundedness, and she became the first disciple of Thérèse's "way of confidence and love."

After her death, Léonie was almost forgotten for a long time. But, about 1960, the nuns of her monastery began to receive letters from all over the world asking them to pray that Léonie might obtain graces for those who wrote. Many of these letters came from the parents of special children, from families in conflict, and from persons who, like Léonie, struggle to find and to fulfill their vocations. These were followed by letters of thanksgiving. Pilgrims come to pray at her tomb, to ask for graces and to give thanks. Now she is being considered for beatifcation. Mgr Jean-Claude Boulanger, bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, the diocese where Léonie lived most of her life and where she died, has granted the imprimatur for a prayer asking that Léonie might be declared "venerable" (that is, declared to have practced heroic virtue).

Léonie's mission is to draw souls, especially the wounded, the broken, and those who have not found a place in the world, to God. Invite her to accompany you and to lead you to surrender yourself, as she did, to God's "consuming and transforming love."