Louis and Zélie Martin, parents of Saint Thérèse, had a little daughter named Marie, who was preparing for her First Communion. At the same time, Sister Marie Dosithée, the child’s aunt, was suffering from tuberculosis.
One of the most insistent counsels Zélie gave her daughter was to obtain from God the healing of Sister Dosithée. “On the day of First Communion,” she would often repeat, “one obtains whatever one asks.”
The child understood this well. She studied the catechism with enthusiasm and undertook a true campaign of prayers and sacrifices. She was certain of the miracle, as if she already saw it accomplished. In her innocent persistence, she even wished, if necessary, to change the will of God. Saint Joseph served as her advocate.
At last, the great day of First Communion arrived: July 2, 1869. The little girl had not yet reached nine and a half years of age. Speaking of the communicant, her mother said:
— Oh! how well prepared she was; she seemed like a little saint. The chaplain told me he was very pleased with her and awarded her first prize in catechism.
After receiving Communion, Marie said she had prayed so much for her aunt Dosithée that she was certain God would hear her.
Indeed, the aunt began to improve: the lesions in her lungs healed rapidly. Later, not without a certain melancholy, she would say to her niece:
— It is to you that I owe these seven years of life.
The little girl, for her part, attributed the healing to Saint Joseph and, at her Confirmation, wished to add the name Josephine to her own.
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