A month after the death of our holy Mother, a flu epidemic broke out in the community. I was on my feet alone with two other sisters; I will never be able to describe everything I saw, how life seemed to me, and everything that passes. The day of my nineteenth birthday was marked by one death, soon followed by two more. At that time, I was taking care of the sacristy by myself, my superior in this work was very seriously ill, and I had to prepare funerals, open the choir gates for the Holy Mass, etc.
God granted me many graces and strength during that time; today I wonder how I could do everything I did without fear. Death reigned everywhere, the most ill sisters were cared for by those who could barely drag themselves along, when a sister breathed her last, we had to leave her alone… But in the midst of this desolation, I felt that God was watching over us.
(St. Therese of the Child Jesus, manuscript A;
Therese mentions the return of the epidemic at the turn of the year 1891 and 1892 – the mentioned Mother Genevieve died on December 5, with three more sisters following in early January;
the main wave of 1889/90 had 70,000 victims in France alone; for comparison: today the French report just over 70,000 COVID victims.)
