"You were sent by the Mother of God!" (I)

Dr. Louis Granpas, renowned for his medical skills and kindness towards the poor, lived in the suburbs of Paris in the 1950s. Born into a wealthy family, he had married the heiress to a large fortune. He was a devout Catholic, who made it his duty to treat all the poor free of charge. Even on his rare vacations, he found ways to practice his profession pro bono.

One Sunday, he was returning from a medical conference in the middle of the night. Carrying a heavy suitcase, he hailed a cab and gave his address. The grim-faced driver grabbed the large bag, placed it on the seat beside him and said curtly, "Get in!" The doctor didn't usually judge anyone by their looks, but the man's behavior struck him as odd. Especially when the driver took off at full speed in the opposite direction!

Opening the door, Granpas ordered the driver to stop. But the latter ignored him, sped out of town and took a long, bad road... Grandpas looked for his handgun, but he'd left it in the trunk next to the driver! So he took out his rosary, which he always carried with him, and asked Mary for help.

Finally, the car stopped in front of a house. The driver opened the door and said, "Come in quickly, doctor, my child is dying." The doctor immediately understood: the fear of arriving too late had pushed the driver into this mad race. He entered and found the mother bent over the cradle of a small child squirming in incessant convulsions.

"Hurry, go get my bag!" Using all his resources, the doctor soothed the little child, nursed him back to health, then waited for the result of his intervention. Sobbing, the father then apologized for having "kidnapped" the doctor at this late hour: "You see, doctor, I had called on three doctors, but all three were absent. With a heavy heart, I had to leave my child to take the night shift. When I saw you, I had only one thought: to save my child."

- "Yes, but how did you know I was a doctor?
- It was written on your bag.
- It's true, I didn't think of it."

The mother then said, "I don't know if you're a believer, but when you came in, I had just finished praying a fervent Memorare." Then, smiling, the doctor pulled his rosary from his pocket: "Here," he said, "is the weapon I wielded during our mad race!"

- "You were sent by the Mother of God," said the mother, visibly moved.

Suzanne Voiteau, testimonial published in Recueil Marial by Brother Albert Pfleger