Sr. Chantal Leroux

In Memorium
1921 – 2010

Sister Chantal was born Louise Leroux at Saint-Mars-du-Locquenay, in the department of the Sarthe on March 25, 1921.  She had one sister and two brothers.  Later her parents and her sister Martha moved to the neighborhood of Pontlieue in Le Mans.

Louise’s vocation blossomed with the sisters at the Marianite Clinic in Le Mans around 1940.  On September 7, 1941, Louise left with three companions to make her postulancy and novitiate at Précigné.  There she received the name “Sister Jeanne de Chantal” which later became simply “Sister Chantal.”  Sister chose December 12 for her patronal feast.  She made her temporary vows on August 8, 1943 and her perpetual profession on August 10, 1946.

From 1943 until 1962 Chantal worked as a nurses’ aide in the operating room of St. Jospeh Clinic in Le Mans.  She continued this same profession in 1962 at the clinic Notre Dame de Vire and from 1963 to 1969 at St. Pierre Fourier Clinic in Epinal.

In 1969 she was assigned as nurse at St. Joseph Clinic in Le Mans and stayed there until 1973 when the clinic was moved to the hill of the Solitude and was known thenceforth as Clinique Sainte-Croix.  Sister Chantal was appointed general supervisor charged especially with cardiology and then with the pharmacy until 1986.  In 1987 she was named official chaplain and spent her days visiting the sick.

In 1997 Sister Chantal formed community with her elderly sisters at the new Notre Dame de la Solitude.  There she served as sacristan and continued her mission of visiting the sick both at the Clinique and at the home she shared with the senior sisters.

Sister was an attentive nurse, respectful of the sick and of their families.  Devoted to her ministry as chaplain, she took the time to listen and to encourage.  She always had a word from the gospels to aid the sick in confiding themselves to the Lord.  Hadn’t she kept in her heart and in her prayer her favorite poem:  The one thing needed and essential in all the hours of life is to love?  “Lord, grant me always the grace of loving.”

Sister Chantal loved life, celebration, joyous company.  Her sense of humor invited a lot of laughter and friendly banter during games and community recreation.  She tasted with pleasure an occasional little glass of champagne!  She loved to promenade in the Solitude and even beyond and spoke often of visiting the chateaux.  She knew how to admire beautiful sites: the countryside, the forests, and the sea.  Her six years in the Vosges gave her so much happiness that she was always ready to return there for a visit.  Brittany attracted her: Dinan, Lanvallay, Erquy, Roscoff.  Family vacations at Lavandou with her brother delighted her.  How wonderful the works of the Lord!

During her cures at Vichy, Sister had become friends with a Carmelite and her mother from Le Mans, and in their free time, the three would go out together.  Since then, they would come to visit at the Solitude where they spent happy days together.  Sister Chantal made friends easily and remained very faithful to them.  She was a good and agreeable companion.

In the course of a generous life where she shared the sufferings of others as if they were her own, Sister Chantal also experienced her own physical illnesses.  Following her last stay at the hospital, she returned home to her community very happy on Tuesday, February 23.  This joy was short-lived; Sister Chantal died the very next day at the Solitude.  During the following several days, Sisters, family and friends came to visit and to pray for her.  They all returned for the funeral Mass which was concelebrated by the priests of the parish, our chaplain, and Fr. Duval from Solesmes.  A large and fervent crowd was united both in sorrow and in prayer.

Sister Chantal lived the hope announced in the reading from Isaiah 25 that Fr. Pascal, CSC, commented with conviction, “Yahweh prepares for all a messianic festival.  He prepares a feast of rich food and choice wines.  He lifts the mourning veil and makes death disappear forever.  All will say, ‘See it is our God from whom we hoped for salvation.  Let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us.’ ” Father continued, “Since you invite us to the feast, Risen Lord, we have come to praise you.  The flowers are here, the table is ready, the bread of our lives, wine of the feast.  Let us come to share them in the Eucharistic celebration we are going to live with Sister Chantal.”

Following the liturgy, the Sisters accompanied the family and friends to Holy Cross Cemetery where Sister Chantal was laid to rest.

May her soul rest in the joy and peace of the Lord.