It was a matter of divine favor, evidence that God had chosen to preserve this person for reasons that might not be immediately apparent.

This framework does not translate easily into modern secular understandings of survival, which tend to emphasize physical capability, psychological resilience, and the role of circumstance and luck.

The modern reader approaching the Heptaméron’s account of Marguerite’s survival may find the emphasis on faith as the primary sustaining force difficult to engage with sympathetically, or may be tempted to reframe it as psychological coping mechanism rather than theological reality.

Both readings miss something.