Out of love for Mary, Refuge of Sinners

Eve Lavallière (1866-1929) is mostly known as a once famous French actress.

She had a tragic childhood. Her father, a workman who was also a gambler, a drinker and womanizer, shot and killed his wife. Eve witnessed the scene from a balcony where she had taken refuge, and barely escaped with her life, while her unfortunate father committed suicide. 

But she pushed all of this in the past. She told herself: "Now I have forgotten what it feels like to be cold," having attained a life of refined luxury.

One day she heard a country priest preach. She was on vacation in a rented castle. The great actress made fun of the priest. Eight days later, she had an irresistible encounter with Jesus Christ. She had found Christ. She spoke to him like a poor sinner would to the man about to get her out of his misery.

After her conversion, she spent seventeen months in Lourdes, a proof of her love for the Immaculate, refuge of sinners.

She fell ill: one day she had to have her left eyelid stitched without anesthesia. "I'm thirsty to get up there, to see Jesus," she said.

She died on July 10, 1929, faithful to Christ whom she had discovered twelve years earlier.

Collection of Marian Stories (Recueil Marial) N° 12, 1980