Quebecer Marie-Léonie Paradis canonized by Pope Francis

The founder of the Petites sœurs de la Sainte-Famille de Sherbrooke was canonized Sunday by Pope Francis during a mass held in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Quebecer Marie-Léonie Paradis is now recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.

During a ceremony with strict protocol, the sovereign pontiff, in front of bishops, priests, nuns and dignitaries, canonized a total of 14 new saints, states a Vatican press release.

In addition to Marie-Léonie Paradis, the pope canonized eleven martyrs of Damascus, the Italian missionary Joseph Allamano and another founder of a religious community, the Italian Hélène Guerra.

The Pope spoke about the journeys of the new saints, emphasizing that they “did not harbor worldly desires and lusts for power, but, on the contrary, they made themselves servants of their brothers and sisters, creative in good, firm in difficulties, generous to the end.”

Marie-Léonie Paradis founded the religious congregation of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in 1880. Today, it has nearly 250 sisters across Canada, the United States, Honduras and Italy.

She is the third Quebecer to be canonized, after Marguerite D’Youville and Marie de l’Incarnation.

The nun had already been beatified by Pope John Paul II during his trip to Canada in 1984.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews