This is Eve Lavalliere. She was the toast of the town in Parisian society and 'reigned as the undisputed Queen of the light comedy stage" from 1901- 1917 a creative and talented actress. She had a great power to fascinate with her wit and charm. She was enigmatic and full of life. And she became a saint.
I found her quite by mistake when I was flipping through the pages of a book on modern saints. There were pictures of nuns in habits, as you might assume, there were priests, brothers, and then.....Eve. I sat down and read her life as soon as I saw her face.
She was born Eugenie Fenoglio. She was the only girl among three children born to a working class family. Her father was a violent and moody alchoholic who often beat her mother. She grew up in fear. Her mom would often escape with the children but then return to him. Eugenie was sent to a boarding school run by nuns. Away from the family, she was able to find stability and love in this convent of pleasant and cheerful nuns. She was able to receive her first communion, a day on which she "felt a rare and beautiful peace"...the only peace she would have for many years to come.
When she returned home after school, her mother found the strength to leave her husband. She and Eugenie set up shop as seamstresses and were quite content. But her father wheedled an invitation to come and see them. Her mom made him his favorite dinner. All was going well. He even gave Eugenie some money to throw down to a singer in the street. While at the window, she heard a loud explosion and when she returned to the room, her mother was dead on the floor and her father pointed the gun at Eugenie. He changed his mind and turned the gun on himself. There was this 17 year old child who witnessed the death of her parents.
She suffered loneliness and depression the rest of her life because of that father. As an orphan living with relatives, she seriously considered suicide one night walking home. She was just about the jump into a river near the town, but a kind gentleman passing by convinced her to come and dine with him and he also got her a room for the night. He suggested she look into acting, and he got her an interview.
From that point on, she rose to stardom. She had furs, jewels, beautiful apartments, many lovers. She became witty, engimatic, and fascinating Eve Lavalliere. On the outside. But in her own words, which left me crying there in my living room chair, "I never enjoy myself anywhere. I always withdraw into myself wherever I am, except when I am on stage".
She found love, of a sort, with a man named Samuel and they had a child together named Jeanne. Jeanne hated her mother and was spoiled and petted by her father.
Just before an American tour, Eve went to rest in a little town.
Enter Fr. Chasteigner. A simple parish priest who cared about her soul. He noticed she wasn't coming to Mass, and he visited her. He also gave her a book about Mary Magdalene. She remembered the peace of her first communion and came back to the faith of her youth, making her confession to this kind, kind priest.
From that time on, she suffered. She tried to enter Carmel but none of the monasteries would take her. Once again, she had to carry the cross of loneliness. She was delicate of health but made a vow of poverty as a third order Franciscan. She became ill while nursing with a group in Africa. Being sent back to France, she finally had the courage to give up her last attachment: make up and hair color. She developed peritonitis and had painful stomach problems. Her daughter gave her cocaine, not to help her, but to get her hooked so she would pay her for the drugs and she could get out of a tight money situation. In the end, her teeth all fell out, her hair became thin, and her eyes, blinded by disiese had to be sewn shut. And she was able to say that since all her senses had sinned, it was so good that they suffered to redeem themselves.
Here was this beautiful, sensitive woman, battered by hate, lustful men, abandoned, carrying the heavy cross of loneliness, who rose up and returned to the Father, who DID love her. She found Jesus and love at last, in suffering. I closed the book and just cried. Eve Lavalliere, pray for us.
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