[6] In her childhood Emilie came to learn about Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, and developed a devotion to him, as well as to both the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.

In 1833 she went to live in Rome with her parents due to her father's diplomatic assignment and later moved there again from 1839 to 1846 (with her husband in tow this time), while going back to Belgium each summer.

On 19 October 1837 she married Victor van der Linden d’Hooghvorst (1813 – 10 August 1847); the couple had four children (two males and two females).

[4] On 8 December 1854 (the day on which Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception) – while reflecting at a chapel in Bauffe – she described having experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1857 Emilie established a convent at Strasbourg and saw the approval of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix by Church authorities on 1 May 1857; she made her religious vows on 2 May 1858.

The informative process opened in Liège on 16 April 1913 and concluded in December 1918 after World War I, since the conflict posed a slight disruption to the cause.

Pope John Paul II declared her to be Venerable on 23 December 1993 after he confirmed that she had lived a model life of heroic virtue.

The miracle required for beatification was investigated and then validated on 12 February 1994 which allowed for a medical board to approve it on 5 October 1995 and for theologians to do so as well on 19 January 1996, while the C.C.S.