Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and EducationAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
France -- Church history -- 19th century; Italy -- Church history -- 19th century
was seen by Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was ready to throw himself on his
knees in adoration to God. Nothing was known of my brother at Rome,
and at first great apprehensions were entertained as to what his
character might turn out to be. He had never read two pages of the
Bible, never received any religious instruction whatever, was
altogether of a light and superficial character. The Blessed Virgin
appeared to him as close as I am to you; she made a motion to him that
he should remain quiet under the divine influence. On rising out of
his ecstacy he had received intuitively the knowledge of the Christian
faith. He came and lived three months with me; I never talked with him
as to what he should do; I carefully abstained from exercising any
influence over him. I had, indeed, great apprehensions of him, as to
what his future life would be. At the end of that time I said to him,
I am going to offer mass for you, to know what your future vocation
will be. He replied, without the slightest hesitation or emotion, I am
in no doubt about that. Two courses are open to me: one is to become
a priest and live here with you; we should be two brothers
together,--that would be, indeed, a delightful life: the other is to
enter the Company of Jesus. I do not know what that is, but I shall
become a Jesuit. I was very much astonished. As tu bien réflechi, je
lui dis?--Je n'y ai pas réflechi, mais la S. Vierge me l'a dit.--Alors
je me tus, je ne dis plus une parole. He knew so little what the
Jesuits were; he had so great an apprehension what would happen to
him, that when he left me he agreed that, if he was unhappy, he would
put a certain mark in his letter for me to come and see him. I went
after a time to see him: I found him engaged in cleaning the
dirtiest parts of the house. They had put him on the severest trials
to test his resolution; he surmounted them all, and now, since he has
been three years among them, he has never had even l'ombre de peine.
_I believe that he has more than once received a repetition of the
grace he had at Rome_, but I have never asked him on the subject. His
vocation has been marked out by the Blessed Virgin for the conversion
of the Jews. My uncle is worth from six to seven millions of francs:
he has disinherited my brother, who has renounced every thing. He
built a small church near here: before going into the order of the
Jesuits he distributed all his property to the poor, as is their
custom; previous to his conversion he had never had vision or anything
of the kind.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account