The Eternal Father
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In 1741, a serious illness endangered the days of M. Louis Normant du Faradon (1681-1759), the spiritual guide of Marguerite d’Youville. She turned to the Eternal Father with the promise, if the venerable patient was brought back to health, to have “a painting representing the Eternal Father brought from France. This time, God allowed himself to be touched: health was restored to the sick reverend and soon the pious ex-voto testified to the gratitude of the little society.” (General Hospital, p. 120)
Immediately after her request was granted, she had this picture painted in Paris. Another painting, in the Louvre Museum, is very similar to the one owned by the Grey Nuns. This painting was saved from the fire of the General Hospital on May 18, 1765 by M. de Féligonde, a priest of Saint-Sulpice, helped by a sister.
The Eternal Father was, along with the Holy Family, one of the greatest devotions of the foundress of the Grey Nuns, Marguerite d’Youville.
