Editing The Singing Nun (section)

== Early years ==
She was born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, in [[Laeken]], [[Brussels]], Belgium, on 17 October 1933.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/soeur-sourire-mn0000038958|title=Soeur Sourire – Biography & History|website=AllMusic|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref> The daughter of a [[pâtisserie]] owner, she was educated in a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] school in Brussels. Her mother thought of her as a "tomboy" and was pleased when she decided to join the all-girl [[Guides Catholiques de Belgique]] (GCB).<ref>{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=20 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}</ref> When she was fifteen she had a premonition that she would become a nun.<ref>{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=23 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}</ref> 

She became an avid [[Girl Guides|Girl Guide]] who bought her first guitar to play at Guide evening events. While studying for three years after high school, to obtain a diploma for teaching sculpture, she considered dedicating her life to religion in a [[Catholic convent]]. From the age of 21, between 1954 and 1959, she taught sculpture to youngsters. At scout camp in the summer of 1959 she met sixteen-year-old Annie Pécher, with whom she would develop a close relationship.<ref>[[Éliane Gubin]] (2006). "Jeanne Paule Deckers". Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles. Lannoo Uitgeverij. pp. 146–47. {{ISBN|978-2-87386-434-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=28 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}</ref> She became convinced, however, that her new teaching profession did not suit her and she resigned. 

In September 1959 she entered the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of [[Fichermont]], headquartered in the city of [[Waterloo, Belgium|Waterloo]], where she took the religious name Sister Luc Gabriel.<ref name="entertainmentweekly">{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,312689,00.html|title=The Singing Nun's Story|last=Purtell|first=Tim|date=18 December 1992|publisher=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=26 July 2008|archive-date=3 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203162451/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,312689,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Gubin2006">{{cite book|author=Éliane Gubin|title=Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIPj8NRvuNAC&pg=PA146|year=2006|publisher=Lannoo Uitgeverij|isbn=978-2-87386-434-7|pages=146–47|chapter=Jeanne Paule Deckers}}</ref>