Page:Life and life-work of Mother Theodore Guerin Foundress.djvu/31

Rh therefore, fell into great disfavor with his friends by choosing a wife from the legitimist party; and Madame Guérin, likewise, in ignoring political prejudices incurred bitter enmity from her family and friends; thus were both deprived of the social privileges that were theirs by inheritance, and of the resources they might have otherwise enjoyed. Domestic felicity compensated for the sacrifice, and as Monsieur Guérin was a naval officer commanding a good salary there was no other sentiment on the part of the young couple than that of contentment in the simple life they had voluntarily embraced. God blessed their union with four children — two sons and two daughters. One son died in infancy; the other, having attained the age of seven years, accidentally set fire to his bed-clothing and perished in the flames before the awful accident was discovered. The daughters lived to an advanced age, adding lustre to the name and reflecting great credit on religion.

The first daughter granted to Monsieur and Madame Guerin was the child of grace and benediction to whom this narrative refers. She was born, as we have said, on October 2d, the feast of the Guardian Angels; and it seems significant, as the sequel will show, that the date of her birth should be the day set aside by the Church to honor with a special office those celestial spirits whose guardianship was exercised in so remarkable a manner throughout her eventful life.

She was taken to the church the same day to be baptized and was called Anne-Thérèse. Added to the joy of the parents upon receiving her back, now in the beauty of her baptismal robe, was a sort of premonition