Page:Purgatory00scho.djvu/343

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celebrated for the repose of his soul. " It is superfluous," replied the Father; " we must rather thank God and rejoice, for I declare to you that his soul has not even passed through Purgatory." Another day, whilst engaged in some work, he suddenly stopped, his countenance changed, and he looked towards Heaven; then he was heard to cry out, "O happy lot I O happy lot!" And when his companion asked him an explanation of these words, " Ah! my dear Father," he replied, "it was the soul of that condemned man which appeared to me in glory. Oh, how profitable to him has been his resignation! "

Sister Mary of St. Joseph, one of the four first Carmelites who embraced the reform of St. Teresa, was a Religious of great virtue. The end of her career approached, and our Lord, wishing that his spouse should be received into Heaven in triumph on breathing her last sigh, purified and adorned her soul by the sufferings which marked the end of her life.

During the four last days which she passed upon earth, she lost her speech and the use of her senses; she was a prey to frightful agony, and the Religious were heart-broken to see her in that state. Mother Isabella of St. Dominic, Prioress of the convent, approached the sick Religious, and suggested to her to make many acts of resignation, and total abandonment of herself into the hands of God. Sister Mary of St. Joseph heard her, and made these acts interiorly, but without being able to give any exterior sign thereof.

She died in these holy dispositions, and, on the very day of her death, whilst Mother Isabella was hearing Mass and praying for the repose of her soul, our Lord showed her the soul of His faithful spouse crowned in glory, and said, " She is of the number of those who follow the Lamb." Sister Mary of St. Joseph, on her part, thanked Mother Isabella for all the good she had procured for her at the hour of death. She added that the acts of resignation which she had sug-