Elisabeth Leseur: Life, Work, and Prayer

Elisabeth Leseur is a 19th-century French mystic, famous for the posthumous publication of her Journal. She is known for her intelligence, her great culture, and her deeply rooted faith. Surprisingly, she was married to a convinced atheist and anti-clerical, Félix Leseur. The couple was, however, very happy and in love. The Church opened a process for the beatification of Élisabeth Leseur in 1936. For the moment, she is considered a Servant of God.

Biography of Elisabeth Leseur

Elisabeth Leseur was born on October 16, 1866 in Paris, under the name Pauline Elisabeth Arrighi. Her father, Antoine Arrighi, was the general councilor of Corsica.

Pauline Elisabeth Arrighi married Félix Leseur on July 31, 1889, in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Her husband is profoundly atheistic, anti-clerical, and rationalist. This contrasts with Elisabeth's great faith and overflowing piety. Her husband was president of a radical newspaper, La République Française, and a friend of many secular personalities of the Third Republic. Even though they did not see eye to eye on faith, they were deeply united and brought together by their shared love for music, literature, and travel. They loved each other enormously.

Unfortunately, Elisabeth fell ill very shortly after their marriage, only two months later. Despite phases of remission, this illness would follow her all her life. A second misfortune then afflicted her: she could not have children. This was a great trial for the couple, who nevertheless remained very close. Elisabeth then devoted her time to cultivating her mind (she learned Latin and Russian) and invested enormously in charitable projects, notably the education of children in poverty. Elisabeth consecrated all the sufferings she experienced to the conversion of the souls she encountered, especially those in her husband's anti-clerical circle. She prayed daily for their Salvation. During all these years, balanced between the sufferings of her illness and the love of her husband, she wrote a journal, her Notebook of Resolutions. One can see in it that she begged the Lord to convert her husband.

Elisabeth Leseur gave her soul to the Lord on May 3, 1914, as a result of her illness, just as they were about to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Mad with sadness and pain, Félix, her husband, immersed himself in reading her journal. He discovered his wife's regular prayers for his conversion. Shattered, he converted. He then entered a Dominican monastery as Brother Marie-Albert and then became a priest on July 8, 1923; he was now Father Leseur. He also organized the publication of Elisabeth's Journal. The success was immediate, twenty-six thousand copies in 1918, reaching one hundred and fifty thousand in the following decade. Later, the journal was translated into more than thirty languages.

Two Excerpts from Elisabeth Leseur's Journal

"Resolution to place a veil between my suffering and the external world. The illness, the sadness, the deprivation so keenly felt by my heart and my spirit of a Christian atmosphere; even more the grief which, stripped of its first acute and so intense sensations, is nevertheless and will remain the chronic malady of my heart, this deprivation of a dear presence and a tenderness which has been my joy; all this must henceforth be the hidden treasure, inaccessible to indifferent glances. No one, except the rare affections who see beyond appearances, no one must know my suffering, nor even the sacrifice I accomplish in concealing it. I must become all things to all men, concern myself only with the miseries of others, sadden or bore with my own none of those around me. Let only the works inspired by my faith be seen of it; reveal of my pain only its sanctifying action in my soul. Know how to smile, to sympathize, to share; but keep for God alone my burden, whose weight all shall ignore. Do not be ungrateful; simply enjoy, with gratitude, the great affections and the sweetnesses that Providence has granted me.

Ask God that He may draw, for the sake of souls and those I love, from this intimate reserve of sufferings, buried in the depths of my soul. Constantly welcome trial, small or great, accept it and offer it. Then be silent and continue to act in all gentleness and serenity".

"I believe that suffering was granted by God to man in a great thought of love and mercy.

I believe that Jesus Christ transformed, sanctified, almost deified suffering.

I believe that suffering is for the soul the great worker of redemption and sanctification.

I believe that suffering is fruitful, as much and sometimes more than our words and our works, and that the hours of Christ's Passion were more powerful for us and greater before the Father than even the years of His preaching and His earthly activity.

I believe that there circulates among souls, those here below, those who are expiating, those who have attained true life, a vast and incessant current made of all these souls, and that our most infinitesimal pains, our lightest efforts can reach, through the divine action, dear or distant souls and bring them light, peace, and holiness.

I believe that in Eternity we will find again the beloved ones who knew and loved the Cross, and that their sufferings and ours will be lost in the infinity of divine Love and in the joys of the definitive reunion.

I believe that God is love and that suffering is, in His hand, the means His love takes to transform us and save us".

Works of Elisabeth Leseur

• Journal et Pensées de chaque jour, Paris, 1917 (Journal and Thoughts for Each Day)

• Lettres sur la souffrance, Paris, 1921 (Letters on Suffering)

• Lettres à des incroyants, Tours, 1923 (Letters to Unbelievers)

• La Vie spirituelle - (followed by) Une âme, Paris, 1919 (The Spiritual Life - (followed by) A Soul)

Two Beautiful Prayers by Elisabeth Leseur

Prayer for the Conversion of Souls

"May the will of God be done. Lord, be blessed for everything and give me your pardon and your grace. Bless my beloved ones, all of them, give their souls conversion and holiness. Give your grace to the souls dear to me, to every soul light and supernatural life. Bless and guide your Church and sanctify its priests. And take me entirely to yourself, in life, in death, for eternity".

Prayer from July 18, 1912, extracted from Journal and Thoughts for Each Day

"My God, I lay at your feet my burden of suffering, of sadnesses, of renunciations; I offer everything through the Heart of Jesus, and ask your Love to transform these trials into joy and holiness for those I love, into graces for souls, into precious gifts for your Church. In this abyss of physical exhaustion, of disgust and moral weariness, of darkness into which You have plunged me, let a gleam of your triumphant brightness pass. Or rather (for the darkness of Gethsemane and Calvary are fruitful), make all this evil serve the good of all. Help me to conceal the inner stripping and spiritual poverty under the richness of a smile and the splendors of charity. When the Cross becomes heavier, place your gentle hand under the burden placed by Yourself upon my soul and my aching body. Lord, I adore You and am still, always your debtor, since as a divine counterpoint to my sufferings You have placed the Eucharist and Heaven. Amen."

Prayer for the Beatification of Élisabeth Leseur

"O God, who in your faithful servant, Élisabeth Leseur, have given us such an admirable example of intense interior life amidst the distractions of the world, as well as of acceptance and love of suffering, 'the perfect form of prayer' and, 'a powerful means of apostolate', grant, we pray You, that through her intercession we may imitate her strong virtues and continue her great action.

And, if it is in accordance with your merciful designs that your servant should be glorified by the Church, deign to manifest by increasingly signal heavenly favors the power she enjoys with You.

We earnestly ask this through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ who, with You and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen."

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