[Footnote 25: Letter of a Sister, September 29.] * * * * * "The three patients whose confessions I heard were poor Irish. They manifested great resignation in their sufferings; all three asked for, and gratefully received a medal of the Immaculate Conception. An English officer (a Catholic), who wore with pious confidence the medal of Mary, told me that several of his colleagues, though Protestants, had accepted the medal and preserved it respectfully, and that the cholera and balls of the Russians had, so far, spared them."[26] [Footnote 26: Letter of Mr. Boré, October 25.] * * * * * "Even amidst the turmoil of war, and in spite of the multitude of sick and wounded, the Catholics of Constantinople celebrated solemnly the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Mr. Boré wrote as follows, March 22d, 1835: 'The _triduum_ of thanksgiving for the declaration and promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was fixed for the Feast of Saint Joseph. We have endeavored to unite, in the expression of our joy, with that of the faithful throughout the Catholic world, and to imitate, to the best of our ability, those magnificent and most consoling manifestations that have taken place in France, who in this has shown a true love for the Mother of God, a love already repaid by a new development of national strength and vigor. The zeal and skill of our dear Sisters in charge of the adjoining establishment have greatly contributed to the splendor of the feast. The good taste and experience of one of them suggested to her the idea of substituting for the large picture over the main altar a figure of the Immaculate Conception; the Blessed Virgin was crowned with golden stars, her dress and drapery were rich and radiant in a glory of gauze, the whole framed in lilies. The head, borrowed from the portrait of a Circassian lady, and the golden crescent under her feet, were happy indications, both in color and emblem, of the events transpiring around us. A Catholic Armenian lady lent a set of diamonds, which flashed back the myriad flames of tapers and candles contained in candelabras, hidden in the abundance of lilies. This illumination, improvised by our pupils in imitation of those they knew would take place throughout France, was indeed an honor to their taste and piety.'" * * * * *