Élie D’Anjou—Mathilde D’Anjou

Élie D’Anjou and Mathilde D’Anjou were father and daughter, but their bond was broken by the death of Mathilde’s mother in childbirth and the religious authority Élie invoked in refusing a Caesarean section. Mathilde’s departure turned that family tragedy into a permanent estrangement: he renounced and cursed her, while she left the household and disappeared from the family’s view.

The death that precipitated the rupture

In 1889, Mathilde’s mother died in childbirth after Élie refused a Caesarean section, which the Church forbade. Mathilde rebelled against her father over that decision. The account presents the conflict not as an ordinary disagreement but as a break rooted in grief and anger at the circumstances of her mother’s death.

Renunciation and flight

Élie, identified with the Founder, rejected Mathilde and declared that he would not endure a pagan in his house. Mathilde ran to take refuge in the bed shared upstairs by her two elder sisters, trembling with fear and anger. By the following morning, she had disappeared. Élie’s renunciation and curse made the separation explicit; her flight made it lasting.

Estrangement and the hidden trace

For the family, Mathilde became an absence whose whereabouts were uncertain. Marthe D’Anjou alone had received news of her in secret: Mathilde had been living in Cuba for a long time. Even so, Marthe did not know whether her estranged sister was still alive. The private knowledge preserves a fragile thread between Mathilde and her family, but it offers no evidence of reconciliation with Élie or of any later change in their relationship.