Dedicatory Letter to Fr. Coffin

MY DEAR FATHER COFFIN,

The following pages, if they serve no other purpose, will at least convey to you my loving veneration for St. Alphonsus and my affectionate attachment to his sons. To St. Alphonsus, more than to any other Saint of these later times, is due the glory of having made the Sacrament of Penance sweet to Penitents. He was wont to say, against the rigorism of those who made the way of absolution difficult, u 0, poor Blood

IV of Jesus Christ!" and these great words contain a whole treatise of theology. They are a warning to the Priest to be generous of that which was given to the last drop so freely for our salvation, and to the Penitent to be generous in the use of the liberty which that most Precious Blood has purchased for us.

It was on one of those peaceful Feasts of Saint Alphonsus, in your church and garden at St. Mary's, that the outline of the following thoughts came upon me with a new distinctness, and what I then said briefly at your bidding, I have here endeavoured to enlarge. But adequately to represent the Sacrament of Penance as an object of love, would need not only more than all I have written, but more than all I could write. Nevertheless, such as it is, accept it as a token of love to your Patron and to yourself, and pray that our dear

Lord, who with clay can open the eyes of the blind, may use it for the light and healing of at least one soul. Commending myself to your prayers and to the intercession of Saint Alphonsus,

Believe me,

My dear Father Coffin, Always affectionately yours,

CONTENTS.