Abbess and soon made acquaintance with our kind hostesses. What was our delight to find that they were secularised Ursuline nuns, and that the house had formerly been a convent of La Sainte Union. It is therefore unnecessary to state that we were received with the greatest charity, a bed being even carried down to the room where we were for Lady Abbess, so that she should not be obliged to go upstairs. Poor Edmund had once more to be sent off, being conducted to almost the other end of the town, much to his distress. After a good supper, we retired to rest in what had once been the children’s dormitory, and fatigued by such an eventful day we slept well. Next morning we were awakened by the deep tones of church bells. They were ringing the 6 o’clock Mass in the cathedral, which was quite close to the convent. We arose, and arrived in time for a late Mass. We were shown to seats almost at the top of the church. After a few moments we heard the sound of soldiers marching, and soon we had to give place to them, for we had come to a Military Mass, celebrated by an Army Chaplain. Two by two the soldiers advanced, being marshalled to right and left by an officer. It was an Irish regiment, and there were altogether about seventy soldiers who attended devoutly to Holy Mass, and more than one, when the moment of Holy Communion came, mingled with those who approached the altar. After Mass, we were conducted back to the convent, promising ourselves a visit during the day to see the many objects of devotion and interest in the venerable cathedral. We were not disappointed. Amongst other antiquities is a ‘Descent from the Cross’ by Rubens, and oil-paintings in memory of a visit which holy King Louis IX and Charles X paid to the cathedral, in thanksgiving for the success of their arms. The sacred vessels, also, were for the most part of great antiquity, especially a very ancient pyx ornamented with filagree work. Besides the high altar, in the middle of the sanctuary, having the stalls for the bishop and canons behind, there were numerous side-altars, among which the most remarkable was that dedicated to Our Blessed Lady of Miracles. This miraculous statue was held in great veneration by the inhabitants of the town; and in the great peril they had gone through some weeks past, when the Germans were advancing on St. Omer, and when the British had saved it by arriving only just in time--for had they come but half an hour later, the enemy would have been before them--in the moment of peril, the people had promised Our Blessed Lady, to give a new bell to the cathedral if she kept the dreaded invaders from entering the city. ‘Ex-votos’ without end hung all round the altar, besides numberless engravings in thanksgiving for miracles and cures obtained through Our Lady’s intercession.