Most of Cornelia’s life as foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus was spent at St. Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. Here she established schools on her own principles and philosophy. Here too she endured her greatest personal sufferings—Pierce’s abandonment of the Roman Catholic priesthood and estrangement from her children. Pierce renounced both his priesthood and his Catholic faith, removed their three children from the schools they were attending and denied Cornelia all contact with them, hoping thus to force her to return to him as his wife. He even pressed a lawsuit against her that gained notoriety in England, but he eventually lost the case.

In this suffering, Cornelia clung steadfastly to God, her strength. She wrote in her notebook, “I belong all to God,” and this total belonging freed her to give herself to others. Her love for God grew and she sought joyfully to live her life as one continuous act of love. She endured suffering and learned not to be embittered by it. Joy became one of her hallmarks and a hallmark of Holy Child education.