New! Leonie Martin as a Nun, Servant of God – Exclusive Restoration! – Vivid Photo – Sister of Saint Therese – Catholic Gift

The Martin family will probably all be canonized eventually, an enormously heartening thing for all parents to think upon. This is Leonie Martin later in her life, the sister of St. Therese, and the daughter of Sainted parents, Zelie and Louis. She was called "the troubled sister," and you can still see traces of that pain in her face, but overall, you can see the peace of someone who has spent decades attending upon the Lord.

She had endured many troubles in her youth. She suffered ill health as a child, was abused by a maidservant, expelled from school, and isolated even within her own family. She tried on several occasions over the course of 13 years to enter into a convent, but kept failing at that. You can get a hint of her family life with this picture of her and Celine, and her cousin Marie. At first, all we saw was the joke of Marie about to poke Leonie with a stick. It looked funny to us, and Marie looked playful and adorable, until we learned of Leonie's life. Leonie is being picked on. Ah! Marie's still playful and adorable, but none of us are perfect. Some people can take a little ribbing; others have a harder time with it.

While Leonie endured her troubles, she was greatly encouraged by the little one, Therese, who was also comforting Celine. Finally, in 1889 she entered the Visitation Sisters again, and in 1890 succeeded in becoming a member, taking the name "Françoise-Thérèse".

She was happy the rest of her life, even with continued health problems. She said "I am very happy--as happy as it is possible to be on this earth.... in this loveliest anteroom of heaven." (source: leoniemartin.org)

This picture makes us happy. While you can still see some of that wincing pain from her past, mostly you see kindness and love, and the contented face of a person deeply devoted to God. Servant of God is the first official step towards Sainthood. The next step is to be declared Venerable, then Beatified after that, called Blessed. Then Canonized as a Saint. We all want our families to be saints, canonized or not.


!!!IMPORTANT!!! THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER FOR THE SMALLER SIZES!!!!!
There is a blank white margin around the paper, 1/2" for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", and 1.6" for 11x14", and 1.75" for the 13x17" and 16x20".
For the poster sizes, 18x24" and 24x36", those are cropped and printed to the edge of the paper, without borders.

–Archival-quality print. Printed with archival pigments designed to last for generations when kept dry and out of the direct sun.
–Acid-free paper. Image is smaller than paper!!
–Cardboard backer.
–Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag
–Comes with the above story of the image.

You may also be interested in original Catholic art and jewelry by me, Sue Kouma Johnson—especially the several paintings I've done of St. Thérèse—here on Etsy at www.Etsy.com/shop/TreeOfHeaven

Also, check out our Catholic Quote site, complete with art! www.etsy.com/shop/CatholicQuote

Thanks!
Sue & John