About Alphonse Marie

Profiles and Virtues

The spiritual life of Blessed Alphonse Marie is a unified whole, in which the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues and the virtues of the religious vows interweave and lead to a single goal: complete surrender to God.

Biographical profile

Before we begin to speak about Elisabeth Eppinger (Bl. Alphonse Marie), it will be good to know the places where she spent her childhood and youth and where she later founded her work.
Niederbronn, a strikingly situated little town in the Alsatian countryside, nestles against the eastern foot of the Vosges, where the road from Strasbourg to Bitche runs. It links Alsace with Lorraine. The surroundings of Niederbronn are rich in variety.

Spiritual profile

“Everything for God’s honour and for the salvation of the world!”
To paraphrase the historians, Alphonse Marie (Elisabeth) Eppinger belongs among the great spiritual figures of the France of the 19th century in which she lived; she was tireless in the praise of God.
A precious flower of Alsace, Elisabeth Eppinger was born on 9 September 1814 in Niederbronn, in the north of Alsace (France).
The first-born of eleven children of a modest peasant family, she grew up in simple circumstances in a family setting where she shared the everyday hardships and took part in the life of the parish.