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piety, and the love of their duties. Thus you see, Mr. President, that here our erring brethren themselves do not shrink from the idea of confiding their children to the direction of ecclesiastics, since the first of our young Americans, even Protestants, frequent their schools, and do not fear to entrust themselves to the salutary influence of their knowledge. There, also, the youth of our parish receive solid and religious instruction, at the same time that they are prepared for their first communion; a valuable garden of our Church, in which these delicate plants are cultivated with zeal, and grow prosperously under our own eyes! One of the fathers of the college is, besides, charged with the hospital of the city; an employment that gives him every year frequent occasion of administering the Sacraments of the Church to several hundreds of Catholics.

"In our German schools, we already reckon six hundred children of both sexes; the piety and application of these little ones of our family is an everpowerful motive, which stimulates us to undertake everything for their happiness, by procuring for them the benefits of education.

"Within a few months, the Sisters of Charity, as zealous and indefatigable here as in Europe, have taken under their amiable guardianship the German orphan boys, amounting to thirty-seven in number: this asylum was indispensable in our city, where difficulty of circumstances places many parents in the cruel necessity of confiding to strangers the care of the children that they cannot support.

"You know, also, that within the last two years the Sisters of Our Lady, whose chief house is at Namur, are established at Cincinnati ; the place which they occupy costs them not less than 24,000 dollars: all my desire would be to assist them largely to discharge this enormous debt; but my pecuniary means do not allow me to aid them, except in a very small degree. The establishment prospers, in spite of the pamphlets that the ministers of error have not ceased to circulate, in order to impede its progress. The Protestants, even, are forced to acknowledge the solidity of the instruction given by these ladies; consequently a considerable number of them, and of the most respectable families of the city, have confided to them their children. The pupils who pay amount to seventy.

"These nuns do not devote themselves solely to the upper class: they adopt, also, the humbler ranks; and whilst they labour to form the mind and heart of the rich young persons, they endeavour, also, to procure for the poor, the cherished portion of the flock of JESUS Christ, the instruction that they could not find elsewhere. The Sisters have, moreover, a Sunday School, composed of about a hundred and fifty little girls, who, besides the explanation of the truths of religion, which they receive every Sunday, have also the advantage of assisting at the divine offices which take place in the private chapel. A second Sunday class has also been opened by these religious in favour of the grown persons who, on account of their want of means, have not been able heretofore, to receive the first lessons in reading, writing, &c. We have a

well-founded hope that, by the means of this establishment, joined to that of the Sisters of Charity, ignorance will soon disappear, and that our holy religion will shine in all its brilliancy, in spite of error, which endeavours to embarrass the work of GOD.

"Such, Mr. President, is the sketch, very imperfect, no doubt, of this important mission, for which we all ardently labour. This exposition is sufficient to make you acquainted with the numerous and pressing wants of my diocese, -of its churches, its hospitals, its two asylums of charity, its schools, and its college. You have, undoubtedly, given much already, and we shall never cease to remember it. The inexhaustible charity of the members of the admirable Society for the Propagation of the Faith, will be for ever engraven on our minds and hearts. But how many things remain still to be done! and, in the sight of so vast a harvest already ripe, we should be tempted to lose courage, if we were not persuaded that our generous brethren in Europe will soon, yes! very soon, fly to our relief; and that being able to assist us only with their purse, they will hasten to fulfil this sacred duty with a truly Catholic zeal.

"In effect, what flattering hopes have we not of a complete success! The Catholics now constitute a fourth of the population of Cincinnati, which is estimated at fifty thousand souls; and nevertheless, it is not yet twenty years since we could assemble only a poor little flock within the narrow space of an ordinary room. The Protestants who have abandoned their different sects to unite with the great family of JESUS Christ, and those who seek sincerely the truth, and are prepared to walk in the light of the Gospel, would alone be sufficient to fill a large church.

"But where could we assemble these numerous children of our common mother? Where must we gather them, to feed their souls with the bread of the word? Into what temples shall this multitude, that would follow us even into the desert, come to partake of the table of the Lord, and to sit at His sacred banquet? Our college already requires a maintenance of two thousand piasters a year; the orphans and the poor have such a right to our commiseration, that we cannot refuse their demands, and we would prefer to deprive ourselves of the bread procured with our toil, than to see them in sufferings and want. The difficulty of the times is extreme; and several of those whose former ample means gave us the most hope are now themselves reduced to claim our assistance: the numerous faithful that gather around us to receive our instructions have very often no less urgent need of our alms.

"Thus we have, then, after GOD, no other hope but in you-but in the inexhaustible charity of your Association. This thought relieves us. Full of the confidence that our frequent experience of your liberality should inspire, and assuring you of our lively gratitude, we are, clergy and faithful, fectionate brethren in JESUS Christ,

"In the name of all,

"J. B. PURCELL,

your af

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Our concluding extract is from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Lepavie, missionary of the congregation of St. Vincent to the members of the Central Council of the Propagation of the Faith, dated Smyrna, June 29, 1843.

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In half-an-hour after, we arrived at Ayasalouk, or Ephesus; I stopped for a day to examine its ruins and to write my first letter on the seven Apostolic Churches. On the next day, I departed for Scala-nova, which Strabo calls Neapolis. I left my horses in this city, in order to take a bark and to row towards Patmos. 'Ego Joannes, frater vester et particeps in tribulatione et regno, et patientia in Christo JESU, fui in insulâ quæ appellatur Patmos, propter Verbum DEI et testimonium Jesu.'*

"The name of the island where I landed, that of Apocalypse, which the grotto still preserves, in which I retired to write to you, the little chapel and the monastery attached to it, all reminded me that I stood upon the ground which received St. John, exiled from Ephesus by Domitian, and that I was in the mysterious asylum in which he had his prophetic visions. It is, then, there that the Beloved Apostle, in spite of the torments which he had just endured at Rome, where he had been thrown into boiling oil, continuing to announce the Word of God, and to render testimony to JESUS Christ, promised happiness to those who should keep the oracles of which he was the organ! It was from that place that he said to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, and to those which, after them, all over the globe, were to be united to the first, in order to form but one body, 'Grace be unto you, and peace from him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and from the Seven Spirits which are before his throne, and from JESUS Christ, who is the Faithful Witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.' (Apoc. i. 4,5.) It was from this retreat, that he foretold the terrible and glorious coming of the Messiah upon the clouds of heaven: 'Every eye shall see him, those even who have pierced him, and all the people of the earth who have not known him, shall then breathe at his appearing. At the end of the grotto there is an Altar, upon the steps of which are Seven Candlesticks; above, is placed a picture, which would have here a grand effect if it was better executed. It represents the vision of the Apocalypse: our Lord is dressed in a long tunic, with a gilded girdle; his head and hair are white; his feet resemble brass; from his mouth there issues a two-edged sword; his right hand, in which are painted seven stars, rests lightly on St. John, fallen down at his feet. To be able to prostrate myself at the feet of JESUS Christ, to adore Him with his beloved Disciple, and to obtain from him some special grace in this holy retreat, I had an

* "I, John, your brother and your partner in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience in Christ JESUS, was in the island, which is called Patmos, for the Word of GOD, and for the testimony of JESUS."-Apoc. i. 8.

ardent desire of offering the holy sacrifice; but two heretical priests, and a dozen of children, that accompanied me, observed all my movements, and forced me to retire without being able to give almost any sign of devotion.

"The grotto, which has been, perhaps, enlarged and cut into the rock, since it sheltered the holy Evangelist, is now about twenty feet long, ten broad, and eight high, in its greatest elevation. The entrance is divided by a square pillar; the rock is indented in this place by three clefts; a small chapel is built on the left of the grotto, which is lighted through the latter: the chapel is eighteen feet long, and five broad.

"The house or hermitage of the Apocalypse is near the sea, half-way up the mountain, between the port called Scala and the monastery of St. John, around which arises the city of Samos. The hermitage is now a small college, which contains thirty pupils; the superior appears to be tolerably well informed, and receives visitors with politeness.

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Although the object of my journey to Patmos was to visit the Grotto of the Apocalypse, I should not quit the island without communicating to you a few other observations upon subjects not less interesting. Patmos, now called Patino, is one of the most dangerous rocks in the Archipelago, although it has five ports. It is bare, without wood, and appears quite barren. A Greek governs it in the name of the sultan. There are more than three hundred chapels on it. I did not meet there a single Catholic. The city, which is at half-a-league's distance from Scala, is built upon a very elevated rock, the top of which is surmounted by the convent of St. John. The monastery is, as it were, a citadel with several irregular towers; they ascend to it by a staircase of fifty steps, without taking into account that from the port to the first step; the way forms a very steep slope. It was there that I found, for the first time in a Greek establishment two large bells hung over the door of the building: as the Turks profess a great veneration for Saint John, they have always allowed Patmos to enjoy this privilege. It is said that the monastery was founded by the emperor Alexis-Comnenus, on the advice of one Christodulos, whose body is preserved in the chapel. The latter place is like almost all the Greek churches, loaded with pictures and gilding in bad taste. There are in the convent fifteen monks or caloyers; they have in their library, which is very ancient, a great number of manuscripts, and they even show a reputed autographical Gospel of St. John; but the best informed of them acknowledge that its writing is of a more recent date.

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THE LIFE OF DOM. FLORENTIUS.

BY THE B. THOMAS À KEMmpis.

CHAP VI.—OF HIS CONVERSION BY MEANS OF MASTER GERARDUS.

1. Nor was the pity of our Saviour long deferred, in bringing succour to his wandering lamb, which was straying, not without much peril, amid the haze of worldly glory. For when the time of mercy had come, the pious Shepherd of souls, withdrew warily, this his own sheep, which he had dearly purchased with a price, and brought it back graciously to the fold of that holy congregation over which he was one day to rule.

For while Master Gerardus Magnus was preaching the Evangel of Christ through the diocess of Utrecht, many clerks and laymen, on hearing from him the Word of God, forsook the vanities of this world, anxiously seeking to escape the pains of eternal fire, and to gain the kingdom of heaven by penance and mourning. Now such was the effect of that master's preaching, the more strongly his living voice prevailed in touching the hearts of his hearers, the more did he surpass others in the way of all virtues, and the more did his holy conversation, displayed in his works, give surety to those that hearkened to him of the truth of his words.

2. Now whilst he was preaching oftentimes at St. Marie's of Daventry, it happened, also, that Master Florentius was a diligent listener to what he said; and being thereby wisely instructed from without, by external means, he presently was inwardly enlightened and pricked in heart. It was the wont of this preacher occasionally to direct his eyes on the bye-standers; and for the nonce and profit of his hearers, through his mighty fervour to shape his discourse, now in depth, now in length, just as greedy fishermen there cast longer nets, where they judge the more fishes to have flocked together. Thus, by divine inspiration, it came to pass, that Master Florentius, comely in youth, and fairly endowed, turned not away with a deaf ear from the tuning of his heavenly pipe, but drew profitably to himself all that the mouth of that great preacher had spoke generally for all; for he was one of those sheep of whom our Saviour foretold, saying, "My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me." (St. John x. 27.)

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