Moral problems – Suicide for love

The following article, about the suicide of a boy, in an act of uncontained emotions, was published in the Revista Espírita of November 1858. In full:

Seven or eight months ago, Luís G…, a shoemaker, was dating the young Vitorina R…, a boot stitcher, who he was supposed to marry soon, as the banns were being published. Things being at this point, the young people considered themselves almost definitely united and, as a cost-saving measure, the shoemaker came to have meals at the bride's house.

Having come last Wednesday, as usual, to have dinner at the seamstress' ((seamstress)) house, an argument ensued about something futile. They were obstinate, on both sides, and things got to the point where Luís left the table and went away, swearing never to return.

However, the next day, the shoemaker, very confused, came to ask for forgiveness. It is said that the night is a good advisor, but the worker, perhaps foreseeing, after the scene the night before, what could happen when there was no longer time to go back, refused to reconcile and neither the protests, nor the tears, nor despair could overcome her. However, as several days had passed since that outburst, hoping that his beloved would be more tractable, the night before last Luís wanted to try one last explanation: he arrived, knocked on the door in order to make himself known, but she refused to open. New pleas from the abandoned poor, new protests through the door, but nothing moved the implacable elected official.

“Then goodbye, oh wicked one!” finally exclaimed the poor boy, “Goodbye forever! Look for a husband who wants you as much as I do!”

At the same time, the girl heard a kind of muffled groan, then the sound of a body sliding along the door, and everything went silent. She thought that Luís had sat on the doorstep to wait for his first exit, but she promised herself not to set foot on the street while he was there.

After just a quarter of an hour, one of the tenants who was passing through the courtyard with a light shouted for help. Soon the neighbors arrived and Miss Vitorina, having also opened her door, let out a scream of horror when she noticed the body of her fiancé on the floor, pale and inanimate. Everyone rushed to help him and look for a doctor, but they soon found that everything was useless, as he had already ceased to exist. The unfortunate young man had buried the shoemaker's knife in his chest and the iron remained in the wound.

The fact that we found in Le Siecle April 7th awakened in us the idea of asking a superior Spirit some questions about its moral consequences. Here they are, with the respective answers, given by the Spirit of São Luís in the Society's session on August 1, 1858.

1. ─ Is the girl, the involuntary cause of her boyfriend's death, responsible? ─ Yes, because I didn’t love him.

2. ─ To avoid this misfortune, should she marry him, even though she didn't love him? ─ She was looking for an opportunity to separate from him; He did at the beginning of his call what he would have done later.

3. ─ So the guilt consists of having harbored feelings in him that he did not share and which were the cause of the boy's death? ─ Yes. That's right.

4. ─ In this case, your responsibility must be proportional to the fault, which must not be as great as if it had, in any case, caused death. ─ This is obvious.

5. ─ Is Luís’ suicide justified in the madness into which Vitorina’s obstinacy plunged him? ─ Yes, because his suicide, provoked by love, is less criminal in the eyes of God than that of the man who wants to free himself from life out of cowardice.

NOTE: Saying that this suicide is any less criminal in the eyes of God, evidently means that there is criminality, even though it is minor. The lack consists of the weakness that he did not know how to overcome. It is undoubtedly a test to which he succumbed. Now, the Spirits teach us that merit lies in fighting victoriously against tests of all kinds, which are the essence of earthly life.

Evoked on another day, the Spirit of Luís C… was asked the following questions, to which he responded:

1. ─ What do you think about the action you took? ─ Vitorina is ungrateful. I was wrong to kill myself for her, because she didn't deserve it.

2. ─ So she didn’t love you? ─ No. At first I thought so, but I was deluded. The scene I made opened his eyes. Afterwards, he felt happy with this pretext to get rid of me.

3. ─ And do you sincerely love her? ─ I had a passion for her. I believe it was just that. If I loved her with pure love, I wouldn't have wanted to hurt her.

4. ─ If she had known that you really wanted to kill each other, would she have persisted in refusing? ─ I don't know. I don't think so, because she wasn't bad. However, it would have been unfortunate. For her it was better that way.

5. ─ When you arrived at your door, did you intend to kill yourself if you were refused? ─ No. I didn't even think about that. I didn't think she was so obstinate. Only when I saw his stubbornness did I feel dizzy.

6. ─ It seems that you only regret the suicide because Vitorina did not deserve it. Is it your only feeling? ─ Right now, yes. I still find myself disturbed. It seems to me to be on your doorstep. However, I feel something that I cannot define.

7. ─ Will you understand later? ─ Yes, when I'm free... What I did was bad. I should have left her calm... I was weak and I suffer the consequences... As you see, passion leads man to blindness and to make absurd mistakes. He only understands when it is too late.

8. ─ You said you suffer the consequences. What punishment do you suffer? ─ I made a mistake by shortening my life. I shouldn't have done it. It should resist instead of ending everything prematurely. That's why I'm unhappy. I suffer. She's always the one who makes me suffer. It seems to me that I'm still on your doorstep. How ungrateful! Don't tell me about this anymore. I don't want to think anymore, because it hurts me so much. Goodbye.