She was born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium, in 1933, the daughter of a pâtisserie owner, and was educated in a 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). When she was fifteen she had a premonition that she would become a nun. She became an avid 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.Éliane Gubin (2006). "Jeanne Paule Deckers". Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles. Lannoo Uitgeverij. pp. 146–47. 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, where she took the religious name "Sister Luc Gabriel".
