Virgin Saints and MartyrsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Virgin Saints and Martyrs
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Christian women saints; Martyrs
Among the members of the Basilian Order in the Eastern Church, it is the
rule, as soon as one of the brothers or sisters is dying, that all
should leave the room. The last office performed is to screw an ikon or
representation of the Saviour to the foot of the bed, that the dying may
in the supreme moment not think of any earthly tie, any earthly comfort,
but look only to the Rock of his Salvation. Of this, Sister Dora knew
nothing. In her last sickness she had a large crucifix hung where she
could constantly gaze at it, and when she found her end approaching, she
insisted on every one leaving the room,—it was her wish to die alone.
And as she persisted, so was it, only one nurse standing by the door
held ajar, and watching till she knew by the change of attitude, and a
certain fixed look in the countenance, that Sister Dora had entered into
her rest.[15]
Mr. Welsh says: “It was Christmas Eve when she passed away, and a dense
fog, like a funeral pall, hung over the town and obscured every object a
few feet from the ground. Under this strange canopy the market was being
held, and people were busy buying and selling, and making preparations
for the great Christmas Festival on the following day; but when the deep
boom of the passing bell announced the melancholy intelligence that
Sister Dora had entered into her rest, a thrill of horror ran through
the people, who, with blanched cheeks and bated breath, whispered, ‘Can
it be true?’ Although for eleven weeks the process of dissolution had
been going on before their eyes, they could not realise the fact that
she whom they loved and revered was no more.”
The funeral took place on Saturday, the 28th of December. “The day was
dark and dismal, the streets, covered with slush and sludge caused by
the melted snow, were thronged with spectators.... There was general
mourning in the town; and although it was market day nearly every shop
was closed during the time of the funeral, and all the blinds along the
route of the procession were drawn.... On reaching the cemetery it was
found that four other funerals had arrived from the workhouse; and as
these coffins had been taken into the chapel there was no room for
Sister Dora’s, which had consequently to be placed in the porch. This
was as Sister Dora would have wished had she had the ordering of the
arrangements; for she always gave preference to the poor, to whom she
was attached in life, and from whom she would not have desired to be
separated in death.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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