delicacy. Peter Christian’s diary contains a retrospective consideration of
the period after the burial: “My mood became increasingly somber. But
thank God, after some hesitation I tookcommunionwith Father and Søren
on the fifteenth [of August]....Ifitbepossible, as much as lieth in you,
livepeaceablywithallmen![Romans12:18]”Therewerestrainedrelations
between the two brothers who despite much theological goodwill simply
could not abide one another.
On December 12, 1834, the merchant Kierkegaard celebrated his sev-
enty-eighth birthday. There was not much to celebrate, but his youngest
daughter,PetreaSeverine,whowasverypregnant,camebytocongratulate
him. She had fiery strawberry blonde hair and was Søren Aabye’s favorite
sister. The next day she gave birth to a healthy and robust boy, but three
days later she suddenly fell ill. Despite the fact that she was able to nurse
her son, it was feared that her milk would go up into her brain and make
her mad. But a boil on one of her legs was a sign that the emetics that the
doctor had prescribed for her in order to drive the milk back down were
taking effect. They were mistaken, however. Two days before the year’s
end she died amid violent convulsions. She was thirty-three years old.
Mynster buried her on January 4, 1835. Left behind in the quiet rooms on
Blegdamsvej were her husband Henrik Ferdinand Lund, two years her ju-
nior; plus Henriette, age five; Vilhelm, age three; Peter, age one; and a
sixteen-day-old baby boy who, in memory of the mother he never knew,
was given the name Peter Severin.
The day before Petrea Severine’s burial the merchant Kierkegaard paid
forty-six rixdollars for a gravestone for Niels Andreas. He had now lost five
of his seven children. And little Ane, too.46 {1813–1834}