To Mary the moment seemed to rain blessings. God was operating miracles of grace in her favour. From the midst of perils that had surrounded her from her childhood upwards, from ignominy such as the lowest in the land had never known, she had been raised to the throne. Those who had taken up arms against her had been twice signally defeated. By a marriage which she had contracted in spite of the most violent prejudice and opposition, she had allied her beloved country to the most powerful empire in the world, and now she had been the means, not only of restoring to it its birthright, but had thereby, in a certain sense, expiated and undone her father’s sin. To crown her glory, she was about to become a mother, and secure a long succession of Catholic monarchs to the throne. She had longed for it, and had hoped for some time; on the day of the Legate’s arrival she thought that she knew it as certain, and applied to herself the words of St. Elizabeth, on hearing the salutation of the Blessed Virgin. Philip lost no time in informing the Pope of the happy issue of his solicitude for the conversion of England. On the very day of the reunion he wrote as follows:— “TO OUR MOST HOLY FATHER, “Most holy Father, I have already written to Dom John Manrique, to inform your Holiness of the good condition of religious affairs in this kingdom, and of the manner in which all things were tending to render you obedience, and which I hoped for with the help of our Lord. Now that the matter is accomplished, I must rejoice with you, and inform you that to-day, feast of St. Andrew, in the assembly which represents the kingdom, all have unanimously testified deep regret for the past, and have declared their obedience to your Holiness, and to the Holy See, afterwards by the intercession of the Queen, receiving the absolution which the Cardinal Legate pronounced. He will tell your Holiness all that passed. As for me, the devout son of your Holiness, I confess that I have never felt more joy than in seeing how, during the life of your Holiness, a kingdom like this has returned to the bosom of the Church, and I can but give thanks to God, to whom I also pray to preserve and prosper your Holiness. “London, 30 November 1554. Your Holiness’s very humble son, PHILIP.”[487]