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By Éloi Leclerc
Jeanne Jugan, also known as Sister Mary of the Cross, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2009. Saint Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, was not recognized as such until after her death. Jeanne lived through repeated betrayals and transformed these trials into a path toward holiness that helped her connect with the suffering of Christ.
Within four years of founding the Little Sisters of the Poor, Jeanne Jugan's authority was annulled by a trusted advisor. She was not recognized as the superior or foundress of the order until after her death. For 36 years she remained silent -- left alone, set aside, abandoned -- but she transformed these trials into a path toward holiness that helped her connect with the suffering of Christ. In her journey of suffering she herself became poor with the poor.
"There is in [Jeanne Jugan] something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears"
--Charles Dickens, Victorian author and contemporary of Jeanne Jugan
"Éloi Leclerc has provided us a window into Saint Jeanne's soul."
--Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston
"Today in 32 countries on five continents, the Little Sisters of the Poor continue the work of our foundress, Jeanne Jugan. Éloi Leclerc has shown us the life of service to the elderly in need which Jeanne Jugan lived in humility, simplicity, and with total confidence in God."
--Sr. Celine de la Visitation, Superior General, Little Sisters of the Poor
"A son of the poor man of Assisi, Father Leclerc proves himself well-equipped to open up for his readers the vast horizons of Jeanne Jugan's spiritual poverty. He convinces us, through his almost poetic prose, that deep spiritual growth is possible at every stage of life and in all circumstances."
--Sr. Mary Richard, lsp, Formator, St. Ann's Novitiate, Queens, NY
- Binding: Paperback
Pages: 96
Éloi Leclerc entered the Franciscan novitiate in Amiens, France. At the age of 22 he was drafted into the Compulsory Work Service, which sent French citizens to work in German factories during World War II. Arrested and deported, he lived through the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.
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