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
straight line all down the face, as if she were erect, not as it would
naturally flow from the position in which she was lying, that is, off
the middle to the sides of the face. And what is strangest of all,
there is a space all round the face, from the forehead down to the
jaw, by the ears, quite free from blood, and of the natural colour:
which is just that part to which the blood, as she lies, ought most to
run. After about three-quarters of an hour we took leave, intending to
return the first thing in the morning. Don Michele Santuari, the
parish priest, on whom we called, was out; he returned our visit for a
minute or two, very early the next morning, but was going to his
brother's again.
_Friday evening, July 30th._--When we visited Domenica at half-past
five this morning, the change was very remarkable. The hard scars on
the outside of her hands had sunk to the level of the flesh, and
become raw and fresh running wounds, but without indentation, from
which there was a streak of blood running a finger's length, _not_
perpendicularly, but down the middle of the wrist. The wound inside
the left hand seemed on the contrary deep and furrowed, much blood had
flowed, and the hand seemed mangled; the wound of the right hand
inside could not be seen. The punctures round the forehead had been
bleeding, and were open, so that the mask of blood was thicker,
and very terrible to look at. The darkest place of all was the tip of
the nose, a spot, which, as she was lying, the blood in its natural
course could not reach at all. It must be observed again, that the
blood flows as it would flow if she were suspended, and not recumbent.
The sight is so fearful that a person of weak nerves would very
probably be overcome by it; indeed, Signor Stampa and his servant were
both obliged to leave the room. While we were there Domenica's sister,
who lives alone with her, stood at the head of her crib with her hands
under her head, occasionally raising her. We fanned her alternately
with a large feathered fan, which alone seemed to relieve her; for she
is in a continual fever, and her window remains open day and night,
summer and winter, in the severest cold. She seemed better this
morning, and more able to speak, and at intervals did speak several
times. I asked her to pray for us, she replied, "Questo farò ben
volentieri." "Prega che l'Inghilterra sia tutta Cattolica, che non ci
sia che una religione, perchè adesso ci sono molte." She replied, I
believe in the very words of the Catechism, "Si; non vi é che una sola
religione Cattolica Romana; fuori di questa non si deve aver
speranza." She observed, that other English had asked the same thing
of her. She has light and sparkling grey eyes, which she fixed
repeatedly on us, looking at us severally with great interest.
We told her that the Bishop of Trent had requested us to call on him,
and give him a report of her; and asked her if she had anything to
say.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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