From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   October 12th - Blessed Jeanne Leber, Recluse   
    (1662-1714)   
      
   Blessed Jeanne Leber is a native Canadian Saint, born in January 1662 at   
   Montreal. She was the only daughter of a young immigrant couple from   
   Normandy in   
   France, and the godchild of two of the city's founders, Monsieur de   
   Maisonneuve   
   and Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance, foundress of the city's first hospital. The   
   little girl often asked her godmother profound questions concerning   
   religion,   
   such that the Hospital nuns were amazed. Her parents cultivated the   
   excellent   
   qualities of their daughter, and she was sent to be educated in Quebec City   
   by   
   the Ursuline nuns.   
      
   Jeanne spent hours praying before the Blessed Sacrament, thus showing from   
   her   
   early years her tendency toward a purely contemplative life. She used to   
   talk   
   with the Angels, and she charmed everyone by her gentleness and simplicity.   
   She   
   was gay in company and accepted willingly the roles she was assigned to play   
   in   
   the little dramatic presentations of her school. One day, as Christmas was   
   nearing, she asked to play the role of the Infant Jesus. The others were   
   surprised and questioned her as to her reason. She answered gravely: "The   
   Divine   
   Child does not say a word and does not move, and I would like to imitate Him   
   in   
   all things!" At the age of fifteen she returned to Montreal, to continue her   
   formation under the supervision of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, the foundress   
   there of another new missionary Community, The Congregation of Notre Dame,   
   for   
   the training of the young.   
      
   In 1680 Jeanne's vocation was studied, after she had made a private vow of   
   perpetual virginity at the age of seventeen, which a priest ratified. A   
   close   
   friend who like herself had wanted to serve God alone, died suddenly; and   
   Jeanne's resolution was strengthened at the sight of the profound peace on   
   the   
   countenance of her deceased and dear companion. She wanted to imitate   
   Catherine   
   of Siena, and make herself a recluse in her father's house. She refused the   
   offer of a brilliant marriage; her confessor felt he could not oppose her   
   pious   
   intention but required that she obtain her parents' consent. They did not   
   long   
   oppose her, for her director from childhood, a priest of Saint Sulpice,   
   Monsieur   
   Seguenot, favored her vocation. She remained submissive to her director   
   until   
   her death, and never sought any other.   
      
   Never would her determination be altered. Jeanne said: "I must die to the   
   world.   
   Long live Jesus!" But the emission of solemn vows which she ardently desired   
   to   
   pronounce, was prudently deferred for several years. After the death of her   
   mother, as a recluse in a house of the Congregation of Notre Dame she was   
   lodged   
   very close to the Tabernacle, the source of her hope and her strength; her   
   room   
   adjoined the Chapel wall against which it was placed. She observed a very   
   strict   
   poverty in clothing, shoes, furnishings; she took a common and rude   
   nourishment,   
   often limiting herself to bread and water, or taking scarcely enough to   
   sustain   
   her life. During her twenty years in this convent, she rose every day at 4   
   o'clock, from Easter until November 1st, and the rest of the year at 4:30.   
   She   
   recited the Office of the Blessed Virgin and heard Holy Mass; she did   
   spiritual   
   reading twice and offered several hours of mental prayer every day. She rose   
   every night for another hour of prayer. To avoid any idleness she did   
   handwork,   
   sewing or knitting for the poor, or made sacerdotal vestments or altar   
   decorations. She was very expert in embroidery, and worked with wool, silk,   
   gold   
   and silver thread with equal competence, making her own patterns without   
   ever   
   having studied drawing and design. She was said to have furnished all of   
   Montreal with chasubles, copes, dalmatics, altar cloths and other precious   
   articles for its churches.   
      
   In 1714 she fell ill with an oppression of the chest and fever, and was   
   obliged   
   to remain in bed and commanded to use sheets and a mattress, which she had   
   never   
   done. She recognized that her last hour was at hand and disposed of   
   everything   
   in her usage. She begged pardon when her cough became uncontrollable and   
   despite   
   her efforts not to do so, disturbed those in the chapel adjoining her humble   
   cell. She died on October 3, 1714, at the age of fifty-two years.   
      
   Sources: Jeanne LeBer, Première Recluse du Canada Français by Marie Beaupré   
   (Editions ACF: Montreal, 1939); Dans le nid d'Aiglons, la Colombe, by   
   Leo-Paul   
   Desrosiers (Fides: Montreal, 1963); Jeanne LeBer, by Juliette Lavergne.   
   Brochure   
   (Fides: Montreal, 1947).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The most powerful weapon to conquer the Devil is humility. For as he does   
   not   
   know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself   
   from   
   it.   
   - St Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the strength of Christ may dwell   
   in   
   me.  (II Cor 12:9)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The fourth prayer of St. Bridget:   
      
   O Jesus, true liberty of angels, paradise of delights, remember the grief   
   and horror which Thou didst endure when all Thy enemies surrounded Thee   
   like fierce lions, and tortured Thee by buffets, by spitting upon Thee, and   
   by tearing and other unheard-of pains. By these pains and all the   
   contumelious words and most severe torments whereby, O Lord Jesus Christ,   
   all Thy enemies afflicted Thee, I beseech Thee to free me from all my   
   enemies, visible and invisible, and grant me to reach the perfection of   
   eternal salvation under the shadow of Thy wings. Amen.   
      
   Through this great Mercy, and in memory of this suffering, grant that the   
   remembrance of Thy Most Bitter Passion may effect in us a perfect   
   contrition and the remission of all our sins. Amen.   
      
   Pater noster... Ave Maria...   
      
      
   <<>><<>>   
   The fifth prayer of St. Bridget:   
      
   O Jesus, mirror of eternal brightness, remember the grief which Thou didst   
   endure when Thou didst behold, in the mirror of Thy most serene Majesty,   
   the predestination of the elect to be saved by the merits of Thy Passion,   
   and the reprobation of the wicked to be damned by their own demerits; and   
   by the abyss of Thy mercy, whereby Thou didst then compassionate us lost   
   and hopeless sinners, and which Thou didst show the thief on the cross,   
   saying, "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise," I beseech Thee, O   
   merciful Jesus, show mercy on me at the hour of my death. Amen.   
      
   Pater noster... Ave Maria...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)