Marie-Léonie Paradis
Canadian Catholic religious nun, master of novices and saint (1840-1912)
Feast: 4 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 24 January 2024 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2024)
Who they were
Virginie Alodie Paradis was born in Acadia, in Canada, on 12 May 1840, the third of six children. She became a religious sister and taught in convents in Canada, then for eight years in New York.
She founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family to support priests in their work and daily life. Weak in health and suffering from cancer, she died on 3 May 1912, aged 72, on the very day she received permission to print the little rule for her sisters that she had awaited for twenty years.
The miracles
A religious sister — Canada — 1912
A sister was healed of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1912. The Vatican's medical board found the healing unanimously 'not naturally explicable' in 1983. The cardinals recognised it as a miracle on 7 February 1984.
A newborn baby girl — Montreal, Canada — 1986
A newborn girl suffered prolonged asphyxia at birth and the failure of several organs. She recovered, and on 20 May 2021 the Vatican's medical board found the healing unanimously scientifically inexplicable.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of a religious sister was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle, opening the way to beatification. The case of a newborn baby girl was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 24 January 2024, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 20 October 2024 by Francis.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of St Marie-Léonie Paradis, with both miracles
- Holy See - homily at the canonisation, 20 Oct 2024
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q3292109 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Marie-Léonie Paradis (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.