Quote of the day, 19 February: St. Zélie Martin
The Last Days of Sister Marie-Dosithée, VHM
Sister Marie-Dosithée (Marie-Louise Guérin, 1829–1877) was the elder sister of Saint Zélie Martin and aunt to the Martin children, including the future Saint Thérèse. Born in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon near Alençon, she helped sustain her family in youth, co-directing with Zélie the Alençon lace enterprise and even traveling to Paris to secure buyers. After recovering from an early bout of tuberculosis, she entered the Visitation of Le Mans in 1858 at the age of twenty-nine, persevering there for nearly nineteen years in religious life, while remaining closely united to her family until her death on February 24, 1877.
In the final week of her life, three letters preserve the essential facts of her decline and Saint Zélie’s response.
On February 19, 1877, Sister M.-Louise de Gonzague Vétillart wrote from the Visitation of Le Mans to Madame Martin:
“For the past two days our dear invalid has grown considerably weaker, and this morning she was unable to rise to receive Holy Communion. Our beloved Sister is in a state of weakness, oppression, and anxiety that leads us to think the end may not be far off… She was deeply touched by your parcel, but she now eats so little that she only tasted it; she asks us to express to you her gratitude for this new kindness, which has greatly moved her.”
Five days later, the Mother Superior announced her death. Zélie transmitted the contents of that letter to her brother:
“It was this morning (February 24), at seven o’clock, that our dearly beloved Sister Marie-Dosithée ended her so edifying life with a death worthy of envy… She lost nothing of her peace, her perfect resignation, and she felt more and more the desire to go and see Our Lord. Yesterday she had the consolation of receiving Holy Viaticum… Her presence of mind and her serenity were admirable to the end… It would be difficult to end more saintly a life so virtuous… This very night… she blessed you all from the depths of her heart. Oh! how she will pray for her two dear families whom she loved so tenderly!”
Zélie added her own response in the same letter of February 26:
“When I received this letter, I never had the courage to open it—I knew too well what it contained… Now I no longer wish to part with it… There are a few lines in my sister’s own hand—the last she wrote—I would like to see them again.”
These letters record Sister Marie-Dosithée’s physical decline, her reception of the sacraments, her serenity at the end, her blessing of her family, and Saint Zélie’s attachment to the last lines she wrote.
We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications.
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
#deathAndDying #familyLife #illness #SrMarieDosithée #StZélieMartin
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