Alix Le Clerc

Blessed Alix Le Clerc, C.N.D.
Religious, educator and foundress
Born	(1576-02-02)2 February 1576 Remiremont, Duchy of Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire
Died	9 January 1622(1622-01-09) (aged 45) Nancy, Duchy of Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire
Venerated in	Catholic Church (Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Congregation of Our Lady)
Beatified	4 May 1947, Vatican City, by Pope Pius XII
Major shrine	Cathedral of Our Lady, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France
Feast	9 January

Alix Le Clerc (2 February 1576 – 9 January 1622), known as Mother Alix, was the foundress of the (French: Notre-Dame), a religious Order founded to provide education to girls, especially those living in poverty. They opened Schools of Our Lady throughout Europe. Offshoots of this Order brought its mission and spirit around the globe. She was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1947.

Alix (the local form of Alice) Le Clerc was born into a wealthy family in Remiremont in the independent Duchy of Lorraine, part of the Holy Roman Empire. She was a vivacious, lively girl, who loved music and dancing. She would spend her evenings partying with her young friends. When she was about 18, her family moved to Mattaincourt, a manufacturing center. Three years later, a sudden illness confined her to her bed. While there her only reading material was a devotional book. This book would change her life.

From the reading and reflection she was able to do while recuperating from her illness, Le Clerc began to feel the need for a dramatic change in her life. She approached the pastor of the town, Dom Peter Fourier, C.R.S.A., with whom she shared this growing conviction about the need for a new direction in her life, but that none of the religious Orders appealed to her. This left her doubtful about the validity of her struggle.

A vision of Our Lady answered her questioning and gave her the direction she sought, as she felt called to care for the daughters of the poor of the region, who had little or no access to education. Supported in this by Fourier, who himself had seen the desperate need for this among the rural populace of his parish, she resolved to commit her life to this goal. She was joined in this enterprise by four of her friends, with whom she established a community where they could follow lives of simplicity, prayer and respecting the presence of God in each girl whom they would receive for instruction.

On Christmas Day 1597, Le Clerc and her companions made private vows in the parish church to Fourier. The small community opened their first school the following July in Poussay, where they offered free education to the girls of the duchy. Expansion of their work developed quickly, with communities being opened in Mattaincourt (1599), Saint-Mihiel (1602), Nancy (1603), Pont-à-Mousson (1604), Verdun and Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (1605). All the schools took the name of Notre-Dame.