Une Minute avec Marie
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In 1928, 16-year-old Henriette Lemoine was affected by a paralysis of the vocal cords. For two and a half months, the girl was unable to utter a single sound. After several consultations in Paris hospitals, all the doctors declared her condition uncurable.
It was tubercular laryngitis, and she was given only a few months to live. The poor mother, devastated by this hopeless diagnosis, having heard of the famous Father Lamy (1) and the many graces he obtained from the Blessed Virgin, decided to take her daughter to Notre-Dame des Bois, the pilgrimage place the holy priest had founded. She went there with her daughter on June 4, 1928.
After praying for a long time with great trust, and receiving Father Lamy's blessing, the mother turned to the humble priest in a gesture of sorrow and said: "Father, we're leaving, but my daughter isn't cured". The good Father replied with a smile: "Sometimes you get cured, but it happens after you leave."
Filled with faith, mother and daughter set off on their return journey. When they were between Chalindrey and Langres (eastern France), Henriette felt a choking sensation and signaled to her mother that she was suffocating. Distressed, her mother urged her to get some fresh air: "Stand by the coach's window!" But Henriette suddenly said: "Mama, Mama, I think I am cured, it's a miracle!... I am able to speak!" The Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of the Woods, had indeed answered her child's humble and trusting prayer. Imagine the mother's joy!
From that moment on, Henriette was able to return to her normal life. Today, Henriette is still in perfect health, having never felt the slightest after-effects of her former illness, and she loves sharing the story of how she recovered.
Henriette Lemoine had been working since October 1926 at the Ecole Professionnelle, at 32 rue Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, Paris. I personally witnessed her illness and her sudden recovery.
Sister Augustine, Daughter of Charity
Paris, January 19, 1929
J. Contrastin
(1) Jean-Édouard Lamy, born in Le Pailly in 1853 and died in Jouy-en-Josas in 1931, was a French priest. He had many mystical visions of the Virgin Mary and the Angels. He was the founding priest of the Community of the Servants of Jesus and Mary.