Letter from Mrs. Martin CF 87
To his brother Isidore Guérin
March 1, 1873.
Since you left Alençon, my little Thérèse has been perfectly well. She was visibly getting stronger and I was proud of it. But today, things have changed a lot, she is in very bad shape and I have no hope at all of saving her. That poor little thing's been suffering horribly since yesterday, it breaks my heart to see her. However, she sleeps well; last night I got her up once, she drank and then slept until ten o'clock this morning. But now it's up to ten o'clock tonight.
The doctor comes out of here; I don't know why, I don't have much confidence in his remedies.
I must now tell you a story, it dates from the child's first illness. The evening you arrived, I had just had a letter posted for my sister from Le Mans [Marie-Dosithée], in which I announced that little Thérèse was dying, that she was only two days old to live.
Here is my sister who begins to pray to Saint Francis de Sales with extraordinary fervor and who makes a vow, if the child recovers, that he will be called by his second name, Françoise. The wish made, she goes to find Marie and Pauline who were very sorry and says to them: "Don't cry any more, your little sister will not die". And she announced to them what she had just done. The Superior added: “You must write to your sister immediately, so that she begins to call her Françoise. »
When I received the famous letter, I was overwhelmed. My sister told me that she had made this vow thinking well that I would ratify it, that she had told Saint Francis that if I did not agree to call the child by his name, he was free to take her back and, in In that case, she added, I had only to have a coffin made.
This made an impression on me in spite of myself, and yet I have not decided to give my little girl another name than that of Thérèse. So I wrote to Le Mans that Saint Francis had not cured her, because she was already much better before my letter arrived. And that's true, because if you remember, as of Sunday morning, the child was, so to speak, recovered and only slept all day; however, St. Francis had not yet been prayed to.
Finally, what do you say to all this? Was I guilty? Should I have called her Francoise? Me, I had not been the inspiration for this wish and, moreover, what does it matter to Saint Francis de Sales that she is called by one name or another? My refusal could not be a reason for him to kill her!
If I hadn't had the misfortune to give her, in her name, that of Françoise, my sister wouldn't have had that idea. Already, before the child was born, she had written to me, believing that it would be a boy, so that I would not give him the name of Joseph, but of Francis, as if she suspected the good Saint Joseph of m took my children!
I answered him that he would die of it or not die of it, but that his name would be Joseph.
However, I will confide to you that I still had a vague anxiety about “this coffin that I had to make for her, if I didn't want to consent to my sister's wish. Please write me post for post, because if you delay, my little Thérèse will probably be dead. I'd rather call her Françoise or whatever and not make a coffin, it makes me shudder just to think about it!
You will write me a long letter and you will tell me what to call her so that she does not die. If anyone saw this letter, they'd think I've lost my mind! I would like my sister not to know what I am writing to you, because I would not want to hurt her, she is so good, and she loves us so much! But this time, she surprises me.
Often I think of mothers who have the joy of feeding their children themselves; and I must see them all die one after the other!
