Sister Saint-Pierre and the work of reparation : a brief history by the Very Rev. P. Janvier ... Translated by Miss Mary Hoffman Chapter 8. Her Last Sickness-Her Death.

THE mission of the Sister was accomplished. According to the designs of God there remained for her but to perfect the sacrifice which she had so often made of herself. Already her health was beginning to fail. At the close of the Lent of 1848 she entered upon those sufferings which, uniting her more and more to Jesus Crucified, were to crown her pure, holy life by an admirable death.

On Good Friday, at three o'clock, when prostrate on the ground adoring Jesus Christ dying on the Cross, it was revealed to her that the divine wrath was about to descend upon men.
Immediately, renewing her act of perfect abandonment, she offered herself to God as a victim to appease his irritated justice. It seemed as if the Lord had awaited this last and generous offering before immolating his courageous victim, for immediately was developed that long and painful sickness which caused her final dissolution. She was consumed by a burning fever; her throat became ulcerated ; her tongue and mouth were as if incessantly pierced by cruel thorns—a noticeable fact, since our Lord had told her she must pray and suffer for blasphemers. Night after night she was unable to take the slightest repose; each change of position on her bed became a new martyrdom; ulcers were formed, which added to her sufferings. This frightful state for human nature she bore without the least injury to her interior disposition; her patience never waned, her union with God was continual, her spirit of sacrifice entire and without reserve, her docility, innocence, and simplicity like that of a child.

Early in June she received the Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction with a fervor and rapture that made it seem that she already had a foretaste of the eternal joys in store for her. On Friday, the 16th of June, they thought her dying, and began the Prayers for the Agonizing. Perfectly conscious, she united with the pious nuns by making frequent aspirations. Suddenly she entered into a supernatural state, the effects of which were very apparent. When, after the recommendations of the departing soul, they pronounced these words, " Maria, mater gratiæ, mater misericordiæ" she impulsively threw up her arms toward heaven with the eagerness of a child at the sight of its mother. She remained a long time in this position, although a few moments before so weak and stiff were her arms that they seemed immovable. Afterwards she extended them in the form of a cross, in order to expire as a victim. When the dear nuns attempted to prevent it she said: " Leave me thus; for me it is a duty." Alternately taking her crucifix and the little statue of the Infant Jesus which never quitted her, she covered them with kisses and pressed them to her heart. Then, holding the little statue as high as possible, she pronounced in a low, solemn tone these words : " Eternal Father ! once more I offer this Adorable Child, thy Divine Son, in expiation of my sins and those of the human race, for the needs of the Holy Church, for France and the Reparation. Amiable Jesus, I abandon this work into thy hands; for it I have lived, for it I shall die." Then, placing the statue on her head, she said: " Divine Child, cover my criminal head with the merits of thy Precious Blood; renew in my soul grace and innocence; clothe me in thy purity and the spirit of thy humility. Oh! hasten unto me! When shall I leave earth? Come, O my Jesus, and delay not! Mary, my tender Mother, come for my soul! "

She said to the Mother-Prioress : " My career is finished, as our Lord has made known to me; for the Work of Reparation which is to save France is established. It was for this God placed me on earth. Now I have but to suffer; it is necessary for the accomplishment of his designs. Ah! how true it is that he has means of satisfying his justice unknown to man."
Her agony was long and painful. As death approached she recollected that our Lord had promised to restore to her soul at the last hour the image of God, and she wished to renew her baptismal vows; as a symbol of the grace she desired to receive, she asked for some holy water, made the sign of the cross upon her head, and pronounced these words: " Child, I baptize thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Then, joining her hands, she added: " I renounce Satan and all his works and pomps; I desire to belong for ever to Jesus Christ." After this little ceremony her face assumed such an expression of heavenly beauty that one might readily have imagined her a child just from the waters of Baptism or an angel about to re-ascend to its celestial home. From that moment till her last sigh she never ceased praying. The sweat of death covered her brow, its chill had already benumbed her pain-worn frame, and yet the cold, livid lips continued to murmur: " Jesus, Mary, Joseph! Come, Lord Jesus ! Sit Nomen Domini benedictum! " These were her last words. Soon her eyes closed, and, as a last trait of resemblance to her Divine Master, she uttered a cry, and sweetly expired. It was on Saturday, a day consecrated to Mary. The mortal remains of this admirable daughter of St. Teresa have been, through the care of M. Dupont, deposited within the enclosure of the Carmel of Tours, in the Chapter-Hall where they now repose, which corresponds to that part of the chapel which is on the right of the entrance. A mural stone near the holy-water font bears this simple inscription:

Here rests

Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre of the Holy

Family,

A Professed Religious of this Monastery,

Who died July 8th, 1848,

Aged 31 years and 9 months,

Having been a Religious 9 years and 8 months.

Lord, thou wilt conceal her in the secret of thy Face.

Sister Saint-Pierre and the work of reparation : a brief history by the Very Rev. P. Janvier ... Translated by Miss Mary Hoffman Chapter 7. Her Virtues.

IT is time to speak a few words of the virtues of our dear revered Sister. We shall only mention those which were the most characteristic. Above all, she possessed charity in an eminent degree; the glory of God and the conversion and salvation of sinners were the sole objects of her thoughts and the motive of all her actions. The loss of souls made so vivid an impression upon her that she could not repress her sorrow. More than once she was heard weeping and sobbing. Her tender and solid piety also inspired her with a great zeal to relieve the souls in purgatory, especially those that were the most forlorn.

Her heart expanded with love for our Lord; she honored his Sacred Humanity in all its mysteries, but those of his Birth and Hidden Life had for her inexpressible charms. Her devotion to the Divine Infancy and to the Holy Family was manifest on all occasions. Being Portress, it was a source of joy to her to open the door to carpenters, whose occupation reminded her of the labors of the childhood of Jesus and St. Joseph, One day a wagon drawn by an ass entered the courtyard of the monastery. Approaching the animal, the good Sister began to tenderly stroke it in remembrance of the service rendered Jesus and Mary by the humble beast in their flight into Egypt. At Christmas-time she testified her joy and piety in various ways; she contemplated with a radiant countenance the statue of the Infant Jesus in the Crib, took it in her arms, lighted tapers before it, and sang for the Divine J3abe her sweetest songs of praise ; sometimes, even, like David before the Ark, she began to dance, inviting her companions in the Novitiate to do the same. The Mother-Prioress expressed astonishment and warned her against dissipation. " Oh ! no, Reverend Mother," she answered. "I do it to honor the Infant Jesus, and to make amends for all the guilty dances that offend him."

Her affections were also directed to Jesus in the Eucharist. In the choir, before the Blessed Sacrament, the expression of her face, her manner, her looks, made it seem that, piercing the Eucharistic veil, she really saw Jesus on the altar. Quitting the sanctuary, she left there her heart; and in whatever part of the house she happened to be, she turned towards it, transported with joy when she could catch a glimpse of the altar. She had attained to a rare degree of humility. She sincerely believed herself the least in the community, the
most miserable, an unworthy sinner, and reproached herself for the slightest imperfections as if they were grave faults. One day a Sister found her weeping and asked the cause. Sister Saint-Pierre reminded her of a fault she had committed the day previous in her presence. The Sister assured her she had not noticed it, it was so very trifling. " Nevertheless," she answered, " God may have been offended, and that is the cause of my tears." Self-complacency found no place in her mind. She ingenuously avowed it. Once ; when she was still a novice, the Mother-Prioress during recreation asked her to sing for a newly-arrived postulant the canticle, "Blessed be God, I am his spouse." She did so with so sweet a voice and so lively an accent of piety that her young companion was delighted. When she had finished the Mother-Prioress said aloud: " Eh, well, my Sister Saint-Pierre, how many thoughts of vanity had you whilst singing ? " Lowering her eyes, she modestly answered: " If I have had any I have banished them."

Her obedience was prompt, implicit, and perfect. She complied in the simplicity of a child with all that was required, stimulated thereto by the example of the Child Jesus at Nazareth. The words of the Gospel, " He was submissive to them" were ever on her lips. She rendered a blind obedience not only to her superiors, but to the Sisters upon whom she was dependent, and, in fact, to all, regarding them as her mistresses and making it a duty to acquiesce in their wishes, just like a child who has no will but that of its guardians. Thus she was able in her last sickness to say in all truth and candor: " It is my consolation in death that I have always been obedient."

Her recollection was so profound that merely to see her was sufficient to raise one's thoughts to God. She seemed unconscious of what was going on around her, so much so that even after her Profession she was ignorant of the various places assigned the different nuns in the choir and refectory. One of the nuns, whose cell was so situated that she had an opportunity of seeing her when she thought herself unseen by human eye, assures us that during the time she occupied this cell, which was for several years, she never saw her raise her eyes from her work but to cast them on the little statue of the Infant Jesus which she always kept near her.
After any supernatural communications she would appear pale, trembling, and bathed in tears; especially was this the case when they revealed the woes impending over France. Then her tears flowed, yet calmly and silently. She would then appear so absorbed in recollection that it was difficult to draw her therefrom; and this would last for hours, though without hindrance to the performance of her duties. Her union with God was intimate and continual; she never lost sight of him, and, according to her expression, her soul, closely united to our Lord, was " happily bound at his feet." But this life, apparently so heavenly and sweet, was not exempt from interior trials and sufferings. The Mother-Prioress was convinced that these were so great that, whilst serving to purify her soul, they shortened her days in this world.
She also possessed in an eminent degree that sweet liberty of spirit which distinguishes a true Carmelite. She knew perfectly well how to blend with the practice of the most exalted virtues the charms of charity, and even gayety. One day a friend brought to the convent as a present a piece of cake. Sister Saint-Pierre, then Portress, was very much fatigued. On receiving the cake she immediately carried it to the Mother-Prioress, and, presenting it to her, said
with her usual simplicity: " "What a providence—the ass of the Infant Jesus is hungry !" , The good Mother smiled, and gave a piece of the cake to her little Portress, who, giving thanks to God, gaily partook of it.

During recreations she spoke but little, always preferring to listen; nevertheless she was cheerful and amiable, expressing herself to the point and taking part in all that was said, though it was often necessary for her to make extremely violent efforts to break off her interior converse with God. Her companions loved to be near her, because they always found it to their spiritual benefit. Her reserve was especially noticeable in matters pertaining to charity; she excused every one, palliated their defects, and this with tact and cordiality.
During her last illness, having passed a night of extreme suffering, she said to a nun who was from the same part of the country as herself: "You remember that in Brittany our little excursions ended with a feast, each person furnishing his or her share, one paying for the cream, another for the sugar. The good Jesus last night assigned to me the furnishing of the sugar by making me suffer very much."

When, in 1848, she fell sick, it was at the time of the government elections, and the Carmelites had had more than one alarm. One day the Mother-Prioress said half-jestingly: " Since you cannot pray any more, you will be the spiritual drum, and whenever you hear the National Guard beat the call to arms, do you call the holy angels to our assistance " She accepted her new mission, and the next day presented the Reverend Mother with a little drum, upon which was inscribed the Holy Name of God and that of each of the choirs of holy angels. Unable to make vocal prayers, she would take the little drum on her bed, and, striking it with her fingers, thus call the heavenly militia to their aid. The world may laugh at this trait of childish piety, but those not of the world will see in it the admirable simplicity of a soul transformed by the science of the Crib and the virtue of obedience. This drum, after the death of the Sister, was sent to a friend of Carmel as a plaything to amuse his little boy. But in his family it was richly encased under a glass globe and is preserved as a precious relic.
Until the last our dear Sister cherished a special devotion to the Divine Infant Jesus and the cares which at that period of his life he received from his august Mother. She was richly rewarded by the ineffable communications graciously vouchsafed to her concerning the Divine Maternity, whence she drew greater and still greater confidence for the triumph of the Church and the salvation of France.

Sister Saint-Pierre and the work of reparation : a brief history by the Very Rev. P. Janvier ... Translated by Miss Mary Hoffman Chapter 5. Her Prayers For France.

THE year 1846 had dawned upon the world, and yet there was no outward indication that the ardent wishes of Sister Saint-Pierre would be realized. On the 23d of January she was favored with a communication which she hastened in tears to make known to the Mother-Prioress. These are the fearful words the Divine Saviour used : " The face of France has become hideous in my Father's eyes, and she provokes his justice. To obtain mercy for her, offer him the Face of his Son, in whom he takes complacency. Unless this be done she will feel the weight of his wrath in well-merited chastisements. The Holy Face of her Saviour is her salvation. Behold the proof of my goodness to France, who only repays me with ingratitude." Henceforth, docile and frightened, the pious Sister began to say this prayer, which she continually repeated:

"Eternal Father, we offer thee the Adorable Face of thy well-beloved Son for the honor and glory of thy Holy Name and for the salvation of France."

It was now with great anguish that she received new lights. Those warnings of God and the apparent impossibility of seeing his commands obeyed filled her with sorrow and desolation. " My poor heart," she says, " is pierced by a sword of grief. Again has our Blessed Lord centred all the faculties of my soul upon his precious thorn-crowned Head and his Adorable Face, which is made a butt for the outrages of the enemies of God and. his Church. Again have I heard his sorrowful plaints, 'that he seeks souls to atone for the outrages inflicted upon him, and to heal his Divine Wounds by applying to them the wine of compassion and the oil of charity."

Four days later the Divine Master made known to his servant that two persons had rendered him signal service during his Passion: the first, as already mentioned, was the pious Veronica, who glorified his humanity by wiping His Adorable Face on the painful road to Calvary; the second was the " good thief," who from his cross, as from a pulpit, openly defended the Saviour's cause and confessed his divinity, blasphemed by the other thief and the hardened Jews. He presented both as models in the Work of Reparation—Veronica to those of her own sex who are called to defend his cause, not by preaching, but by wiping his Holy, August Face with the veil of prayer, praise, and adoration ; and the " good thief '* as the special model of men and the ministers of his Church, who are called upon to publicly defend the honor of God and to proclaim his glory before those by whom it is outraged. To St. Veronica our Lord gave the impression of his divine features; to the ' ' good thief" an immediate entrance into his celestial kingdom. And he promised the Sister to be no less munificent to those who by their "prayers, words, adorations, or writings defended his cause; he will defend their cause before his Father in heaven and give them his kingdom." And he enjoined her to make these promises known to all, adding: " If you keep these things hidden, without speaking of them, you will commit an injustice." In another communication the Lord urged her to offer herself as a victim for the sins of France. " Pray for her," said he; " immolate yourself for her. I give you anew my Face: offer it to my Father to appease his justice. Ah! if you but knew its power, its virtue.

And wherefore ? Because I have taken upon my Head all the sins of mankind, in order that my members may be spared. Therefore offer my Face to my Father, for this is the means of appeasing him." And he added: "I desire the Work of the Reparation; rest assured it will be firmly established, but the fruit you bear is not yet matured."

In the mission assigned to the daughter of Carmel we see the salvation of France closely linked with the "Work of Reparation ; hence for both our Lord offers the same exterior signs, the same efficacious means—namely, the cultus of his Adorable Face. Such is the subject of the following communication: " My daughter, I take yon for my steward and anew place my Holy Face in your hands, that you may unceasingly offer it to my Father for the salvation of France. Use to advantage the divine talent which in my Holy Face I entrust to you. By so doing you will obtain the conversion of many sinners. Nothing that you ask in virtue of this offering will be refused you. Ah! if you but knew how pleasing to my Father is the sight of my Face." Again, displaying to her the boundless treasures of the infinite merits of his life and Passion, the loving Saviour added: " My daughter, I give you my Face and my Heart, I give you my Blood, I give you my "Wounds; draw from them and pour out upon others; buy freely, for my Blood is the price of souls. Oh! what sorrow for my Heart to behold remedies which have cost me so dearly despised by men. Ask of my Father as many souls as I have shed drops of blood in my Passion."

The prayers of Reparation seemed to the Sister a wall which protected France against the shafts of divine justice; a hundred times daily she offered to God the Adorable Face of Jesus.
Another communication, made on the 27th of January, 1847, binds together
two excellent devotions which in the "Work of Reparation .occupy an essential place. " Our amiable Saviour," says the pious Carmelite, "has made me hear his sighs upon his unappreciated love in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar from the lack of faith among Christians, and he has happily bound my heart and mind at his feet, in order that I may bear him company in this abandonment by adoring his Most Holy Face hidden under the Eucharistic veil. Yes, it is by this august Sacrament that Jesus, our Saviour, wishes to communicate to souls the virtue of his Most Holy Face, which is there more dazzling than the sun. And he has promised me anew to imprint on the souls of those that honor it his Divine Likeness."

Then suddenly our Lord gave to her mind a clear perception of the connection existing between his Most Holy Name and His Adorable Face. "He made me understand," says she, "by a comparison as simple as it is appropriate, how the impious, by their blasphemies, attack his Adorable Face, while the faithful glorify it by the homage and praise they render to his Name and his Sacred Person.

" Behold a man, distinguished for his name and merits, in the presence of his enemies; they do not lift a hand against him, but they heap insults upon him, treat him with contempt, and call him by injurious epithets instead of the titles that justly belong to him. Observe now the face of this injured man; does it not seem that all the opprobrious words uttered against him by his enemies are reflected there and make him suffer a veritable torment? See how his face burns with shame and confusion. Is not the ignominy inflicted upon it harder to bear than physical tortures in other parts of his body? This is a faint picture of the Face of our Lord outraged by the blasphemies of the impious!

" Let us represent to ourselves this same man in the presence of his friends, who, hearing of the insults he has received, hasten to console him by treating him according to his dignity, paying homage to the greatness of his name, and addressing him by all the titles due his exalted rank; does not the face of that man express the sweetness of these praises? Happiness rests upon his brow and beams on his radiant countenance, joy sparkles in his eyes, and a smile is on his lips. In a word, his faithful friends have cured the burning anguish of that Face outraged by his enemies ; glory has taken the place of opprobrium. This is what the friends of Jesus do by the Work of Reparation; the glory they render to his Name rests on his august brow and rejoices his Most Holy Face in a special manner in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar."

In our days the crimes which most outrage our Lord in his Sacraments spring from secret societies. They are designated to the Sister under the general name of Communists, as being the greatest enemies of the Church and France. " He has commanded me," she says, "to make war against these wicked men, who for the most part were born in that Church of which they are now the declared enemies. He has given me to combat them the arms of his Passion, his Cross, and the other instruments of his tortures. i My daughter,' said he, 'they have dragged me from my Tabernacles, they have profaned my Sanctuaries and laid hands on the anointed of the Lord. Have they not committed the crime of Judas ? Have they not sold me for money? Let not this knowledge be without fruit. I make it known to you in order to animate you for the combat. March towards them with the simplicity of a child and the courage of a valiant soldier.'" And the virgin of the cloister repeated with the prophet: " Let God arise and his enemies be dispersed, and let all that hate him flee from before his Face."

This was in 1847. The governments of the period did not appear to be uneasy about the intriguing of these enemies of social order who have since over-turned thrones and brought confusion to Europe. " Alas ! " said the pious Carmelite, unable to restrain her tears, " days of wrath are approaching, and yet this Work of the Reparation, which I have borne for nearly four years under sorrows that God, alone can know, has not appeared. O my God! arise; it is thy cause as well as ours ; we pray thee to defend France with the protection of thy Holy Face, and grant her mercy for the glory of thy Adorable Name. Yes, enlightened from on high, I firmly believe that on this Work of Reparation depends the future of France. I see it always linked to France as the means of salvation that God in his infinite mercy has
chosen for her. Wherefore I would give the last drop of my blood to obtain its establishment, for then the Lord would be appeased and innumerable souls would be saved"

Sister Saint-Pierre and the work of reparation : a brief history by the Very Rev. P. Janvier ... Translated by Miss Mary Hoffman Chapter 2. Her Mission.

IN the Carmelite convent Perrine gratefully felt she was in her proper place. The fire of divine love filled her soul. From the first her companions recognized in her a solid judgment united with a cheerful, equable disposition; she was reserved and very discreet; she shunned all self-seeking and singularity; her modesty, mortification, and obedience were most exemplary. The candor and tranquillity of her face mirrored the innocence and serenity of her soul. A sweet simplicity characterized this elevated nature, as may be judged by the following trait.
On the day of her arrival, during the hour of recreation, she was invited to sing. Without waiting to be urged, she at once began to sing a canticle which, she says, "I had sung in advance while awaiting the fortunate day of my entrance into Carmel; it commences with these words: ' Blessed be God, I am in a refuge.' . . . They were composed of some fifteen stanzas, and I sang them in so joyous a manner that no one thought of interrupting me." The new-comer did not seem disposed to leave one stanza unsung, when suddenly the Mother-Prioress, at first absent, came in. Finding one singing and the others attentively listening, she judged it a fitting opportunity for giving the new postulant her first trial. " Indeed, you have been in a hurry," said she to the latter, "to show off your little talent!" An embarrassing silence followed, which was broken only when the Mother-Prioress turned to the singer and said : " Let us see if you know any more." "Oh! yes, Reverend Mother," she answered; "I have kept the best for you." And without betraying the least annoyance or ill-nature, she began anew. They knew then that the little girl from Brittany, by virtue and temperament, was not one ready to take offence or be easily depressed; that she possessed the cheerfulness which St. Teresa held as one of the proofs of a vocation to Carmel.

Her first interior attraction was a tender devotion to the Divine Infancy of Jesus. " I looked on myself," she says, " as a little servant of the Holy Family, and consecrated myself to them in that capacity." She mentions having still another ambition, which, with a charming candor, she thus explains: " The Reverend Mothers were making their annual retreat, and during that time the postulants and novices took their recreation in the novitiate. One evening during recreation, when we were all collected before a picture of the Holy Family, I proposed to make a little Bethlehem for the Holy Family, each of us to especially consecrate ourselves to serve it in the capacity of that beast of burden which should fall to her lot; for instance, one would represent the ass, another the ox, and so on. The proposal was unanimously adopted.'' The lots were drawn, and, to her great satisfaction, she was chosen to represent the ass of the Infant Jesus. " Thus," she says, "I was his ass in prayer, striving to warm him by my love; and his little servant in my actions, imagining myself in the house of Nazareth, and performing as if for the Holy Family all the daily duties of my state of life."
She was inspired to honor the Infant Jesus each day of the month by meditating, one after another, 'on the different mysteries of this period of his life. Thus the thoughts of the Divine Child followed her in all her actions, and rendered every occupation easy and agreeable.
On the 8th of June, 1841, she made her profession. To the names which she had borne since her novitiate, and which placed her under the protection of the Queen of Angels and the Chief of the Apostles, her devotion for the Holy Family suggested an additional title. Henceforth Perrine Elnere will be known as Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre of the Holy Family.

The Prioress of the Carmelites of Tours at this time was Mother Marie of the Incarnation, a religious as eminent fa' her prudence as for her exalted virtues. She at once employed the newly-professed in different manual labors, and afterwards gave her the office of portress. This office, so contrary to her natural inclinations, was the means Providence used to elevate her to the highest degree of perfection. The pious Sister dreaded its duties, fearing she would not be able to unite with them the spirit of recollection which was so dear to her. Respectfully she made known to the Reverend Mother-Prioress her distaste and fears; notwithstanding which the Mother-Prioress retained her in this employment, and she kept it all her life. This disposition was providential; for thus the humble daughter of the cloister in the performance of her duties frequently found herself in relation with pious secular persons who later on were not slow to aid her in her Work of the Reparation.

This mission, for which, during the four years she had been in the convent, grace was secretly preparing her, was to be conferred on her by our Lord himself. It was the 26th of August, 1843, the day after the Feast of Saint Louis, King of France; in the evening the Sister was meditating at the foot of the cross, when the Saviour said to her:
"I have heard your sighs; I have seen the desire you have to glorify me. My Name is everywhere blasphemed; even the children blaspheme! This frightful sin more deeply than all others wounds my Divine Heart, by blasphemy the sinner scorns me to my face, openly attacks me, annihilates my Redemption, and pronounces his own condemnation and judgment. Blasphemy is an impoisoned arrow which wounds my Heart continually. 1 will give you a Golden Arrow, that with the delicious wounds of love you may heal the wounds of malice which sinners give me" And lie dictated to her the following formula:

"May the most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible, and most ineffable Name of God be praised, blessed, loved, adored, and glorified in heaven, on earth, and in hell, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen."

Such was the Golden Arrow that the Lord gave to his servant, assuring her that every time she repeated this formula of praise she would wound his Heart with a wound of love. "Be watchful of this favor," said he to her; "I shall ask of you an account of it." At that moment it seemed she beheld issuing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, wounded by this arrow, torrents of graces for the conversion of sinners, which inspired her .with confidence to say: " My Lord, dost thou then give me charge of blasphemers ?" She did not fail to make known all this to the Mother-Prioress, who, being as prudent as she was experienced, wished to prove and assure herself it was not an illusion. She consulted pious and learned ecclesiastics, and closely watched the conduct of the Sister. Far from encouraging her in this extraordinary way, she endeavored to turn her from it. She even forbade her to recite certain prayers which had been recommended. But several incidents which she could not but look upon as miraculous—among them her own cure, obtained by the prayers of the Sister in accordance with the order of our Lord, and in the manner he himself willed—decided her to relax her severity towards her and to permit her at least to say the prayers of Separation.

Our Lord continued to reiterate his orders to his servant. The poor Sister would sometimes exclaim: " Ah! if the Divine Master could suffer bitterness, he would be sorrowful unto death on beholding men, instead of making up for their insufficiency by uniting themselves to him and thus glorifying our Heavenly Father, continually blaspheming his holy Name and united with Lucifer and his reprobates. How satisfied, on the contrary, he would feel to see at least a few faithful and grateful children joined to him to love and bless the Name of that Father whom he so tenderly loves!"

This view of the question brought her to make a heroic act of entire abandonment. "I feel myself," she says, "interiorly urged to make to God the sacrifice of my whole being and all the merits which I can acquire." But she submissively awaited the consent of her Prioress.
On the festival of St. John of the Cross, one of the patrons of Carmel, our Lord made his spouse hear these momentous words: " Till now I have only shown you in part the designs of my Heart, but today I wish to show you them in their entirety. The earth is covered with crimes. The violation of the first three Commandments of God has irritated my Father y the holy Name of God blasphemed, and the holy day of the Lord profaned, fill the measure of iniquities. These sins have mounted to the throne of God and provoked his wrath, which will soon burst forth if his justice is not appeased. At no time have these crimes ascended so high. I desire, with an ardent desire, that there be formed an association, well approved and organized, to honor the Name of my Father" Here the object of the Work of Reparation is clearly indicated: it is to repair the violation of the first three precepts of the Decalogue, which include all crimes that have a special character of hostility against God and the profanation of the Lord's day.

Amazed and confused, the humble .daughter of Carmel hesitated. But our Lord said to her: " Take good care; for if, wanting in simplicity, you put obstacles to my designs, you will be responsible for the salvation of many souls; if, on the contrary, you are faithful, they will embellish your crown." In conclusion lie said: " And to whom should I address myself, if not to a Carmelite, whose very vocation enjoins on her the duty of unceasingly glorifying my Name?"

Thirteen days after, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception (7th of December), the Blessed Saviour returned to the same subject, and this time the culpable nation is named. He made the Sister see how greatly he was incensed against France on account of her blasphemies. " He has declared to me," she says, " that he cannot longer dwell in this France, which, like a viper, tears the bowels of his mercy. He still patiently bears the contempt shown himself, but the outrages committed against his Eternal Father provoke his wrath. France has sucked unto blood the paps of his mercy; this is why justice will now take the place of mercy, and his wrath burst forth with greater fury for having been longer delayed. Filled with terror, I tremblingly said: ' My Lord, permit me to ask if this Reparation which thou desirest be made, wilt thou yet pardon France ?' He answered me: ' I will pardon her once more; but, mark well, once. As this crime of blasphemy extends over the whole kingdom, and as it is public, so also must the Reparation be public and extend to all her cities. Woe to those who will not make this Reparation!'"

What Frenchman's heart could hear unmoved warnings so severe, so solemn ? The reproach, alas! is but too well merited, for the crime is evident and incontestable. Everywhere among us do we hear incessantly uttered with impunity that blasphemy designated by our Lord to his servant as a frightful sin. France is pronounced the most guilty of all nations, because she is the most highly favored by Heaven, the most loved of Christ, and the eldest daughter of the Church. Having become in Europe the principal centre of the spirit of revolution by the practical atheism she professes in her laws and government, she exerts in regard to blasphemy a kind of universal proselytism, as baneful to individuals as it is to society. Is it astonishing, then, that she is especially threatened with the strokes of Divine Justice? After receiving this communication Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, as we learn from one of the other Carmelites, came from the choir in a state difficult to describe. She was deathly pale and bathed in tears; her countenance, usually so cheerful, bore an impress of suffering which it long retained. She appeared as if crushed, annihilated beneath the weight of divine wrath.
In the midst of her anguish a great consolation was vouchsafed her. She learned that the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XVI., had, by a brief dated August 8, 1843, permitted the establishment of pious Confraternities for the Extirpation of Blasphemy. "I no longer doubted," she says, "that the work entrusted to me came from God. What particularly struck me and awakened my admiration was the following happy coincidence in this manifestation of Divine Providence: On the 8th of August the Sovereign Pontiff issued Ms brief at Rome, and on the 26th of the same month, and in the same year, the day after the festival of Saint Louis, our Lord revealed to an obscure little Carmelite this great Work in Reparation for blasphemy with which he wished to enrich France as a means of salvation, to snatch her from the hands of his offended and irritated justice."