Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and PoeticalSadlier, J., Mrs.
Religion
Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, and Poetical
Sadlier, J., Mrs.
Purgatory
A missionary priest at B---- (in England), a very few years ago,
promised to say Mass for a woman in his congregation who had died.
Among other engagements of the same kind, he unconsciously overlooked
her claim upon him. By and by her husband came to him, and begged him
to remember his promise. The missionary thought that he had already
done so. "Oh! no, sir," the man replied; "I can assure you that you
have not; my poor wife has been to me to tell me so, and to get you to
do this act of charity for her." The priest was satisfied of his
omission, and immediately supplied it. Soon after, the poor man
returned to thank him, at the woman's desire. She had told her husband
that now she was perfectly happy in heaven; her face, which had
appeared much disfigured at her first visit, was surrounded with a halo
of light when she came again. This anecdote reached the author through
a common friend of his own and of the missionary.
A similar anecdote is told of a nun in the English convent of Bruges,
between thirty and forty years ago. A relation of Canon Schmidt had
died in the house, and Miss L----, another nun, much attached to her,
saw her friend one night in a dream. She seemed to come with a serious
countenance, and pointed to the Office for the Dead in an office-book,
which she appeared to hold in her hand. Her friend was much perplexed,
and consulted Miss N----, a third nun, who suggested that perhaps Miss
L---- had not said the Office three times, as usual, for her deceased
sister. Miss L---- was nearly sure that she had; but as she had a habit
of marking off this obligation as it was discharged, it could be easily
ascertained. On examining her private note-book, it turned out that she
had not said the three Offices. Miss N----'s sister, who was educated
in the same convent, told the author this little story, and afterwards
was good enough to revise his narrative of it. So that this account is
virtually her own. Though seeming to have passed through two channels
on its way to this book, that is, through the author's memory and his
friend's, yet having, submitted to the latter a written memorandum of
the narrative, and received and adopted his friend's corrections, the
story is as authentic as if it had passed through only one intermediate
channel. For there is no doubt that the value of a story diminishes
rapidly with every additional hand through which it passes.--
_Footsteps of Spirits_, 113-14.
A TRUE STORY OF THE "DE PROFUNDIS."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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