CONVERSION OF A SINNER.
Hospital of Gratz (Austria).
An artist whose life had been far from edifying, was an inmate of our hospital. One morning the Sister was greatly surprised at his expressing a desire to confess. Perceiving her astonishment, he said: "This morning, Sister, the chapel door was slightly open, and from my bed I could see the Blessed Virgin's statue." (It was that of the Immaculate Conception.) "It appealed so strongly to my heart, that I have had no peace since. I must put my conscience in order." He did go to confession, not once, but several times, and he often expressed great regret for his past life. "Ah!" he would say, "what a life I have led, and how sad the state of my soul when Mary came to my aid." When asked what he supposed had attracted Mary's compassion, he answered: "I was merely looking at the statue, no thought of religion was in my mind; when suddenly, recollections of my past life filled me with fear, and Mary at the same time inspired me with a horror for sin." In this instance, repentance and reparation were the immediate consequences of the Immaculate Mary's merciful and maternal glance.
CONVERSION OF A GREEK SCHISMATIC.
Hospital of Gratz (Austria.)
A Greek schismatic, attacked by a mortal malady, was brought to the hospital. He declared his intention of remaining attached to the errors in which he had been educated, and the Sisters, seeing his determination, entrusted him to the Blessed Virgin, consecrating him to her by placing under his pillow a medal, which for him proved truly miraculous. One day, a Franciscan Father visited the sick, and the young man asked the Sister to bring the good Father to see him. He conversed a long time with the latter, but manifested no intention of becoming a Catholic. Meanwhile, he grew worse, and, one day, when taken with a hemorrhage, he asked for this Father, "because," said he, "I wish to embrace the Catholic religion." The Sister was surprised, for she had said nothing to persuade him, but the Blessed Virgin had accomplished her work without earthly assistance. He confessed and made his abjuration; he even requested the Reverend Father to announce, in a loud voice, to the other patients that he entered the Church of his own free will. His attacks of vomiting made the priest hesitate to give him the Holy Viaticum, but he insisted so strongly, and had so ardent a desire to receive, that the good God permitted these spells of vomiting to become less frequent, so that he could make his first and last Communion at the same time, which he did with inexpressible fervor and consolation. Interrogated on the subject of his conversion, he answered: "For a long time I felt that everything earthly was of little value, and I sought for the true and lasting." During the delirium of his last moments, he spoke continually of a white robe. The grace of Baptism had clothed his soul in spotless raiment, and to Mary's intercession was he indebted for it.
CONVERSION OF AN APOSTATE.
Austria, 1866.
In one of the prisons confided to the care of the Daughters of Charity, was a young man belonging to a respectable Catholic family, whose shame and disgrace he had become. After a short stay, he fell sick, and his condition necessitated removal to the infirmary; faithful to his principles of impiety, he absolutely refused all spiritual succor, and whenever he saw one of the chaplains pass, he either turned away his head or concealed it under the bedclothes. All the Sisters begged the Superioress to make one last effort for his soul. She paid him a visit, and was received politely, but to rid himself of her importunity, he avowed himself a Protestant, and related how he came to forsake the Faith, after making the acquaintance of several very bad characters, his companions in crime and his counselors in advising him to become a Protestant. The Sister asked him if he felt no remorse for such conduct, but he became enraged and exclaimed aloud: "I am a Protestant, and I wish to live and die a Protestant!" Seeing it impossible to do anything with the miserable creature, she interiorly recommended him to the Refuge of Sinners, and merely asked him to accept the medal she offered, to wear it and sometimes kiss it. He seemed quite pleased to get rid of her so easily, and placing all her confidence in Mary, she withdrew.
The poor man passed a sleepless night, our Blessed Mother touched his heart, and very early next morning he sent word to the Sister that he wanted a priest to receive his solemn profession of Faith, in reparation of his scandalous apostasy and crimes. But his reputation was such that the prison chaplain doubted his sincerity, and would not go to him except upon repeated solicitations of the Superioress. He was deeply affected at witnessing the change grace had wrought in this soul, and the consequent compunction with which the prodigal confessed his sins. The dying man then made a public abjuration of his errors, and expired a few minutes after, in the grace of God and under the protecting smile of Mary.