IV–VI. To an Irish nun; to an Irish Sister of Mercy; to his future abbot

I had the happiness of assisting at a most beautiful death in the Redemptoristine Convent;* & as the details are edifying, I will give you some of them. However, they are only for yourself & the Sisters, as the nuns here don’t like to have such things spoken of.

One of the novices, who was about a month from her profession, was taken ill last week; although the malady appeared insignificant, she knew from the beginning that she would never recover. Her confessor, (F. Walsh, S.J.), happening to be away, I was delighted to hear her confession, assist her in her agony, & if necessary receive her religious profession. On Sunday evening I heard her confession & anointed her. She was enjoying great peace & consolation; & though suffering intensely, did not seem near death. I slept in the extern house

• Cardinal Satolli had died in 1910.

® Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians. See another mention of this visit in Section XIX, Letter 41.

• Father Marmion was at this time chaplain of the Redemptoristine convent in Dublin. ao of the convent, & about 314 on Monday morning, I was called, as she had become much worse; it happened most providentially that just at that time she had a good interval, without vomiting, so I was able to give her the H. Viaticum; & she made her holy profession, received the black veil & ring. Her agony commenced then & lasted till 1014 on Monday night. Although enduring the most intense pain, (the doctor said it was the most terrible that could be borne), she was filled with consolation. She made the most beautiful acts of love & resignation, & never showed a shadow of impatience. She displayed in the midst of her greatest agony a most wonderful obedience on the minutest things to Rd. Mother, & was as simple as a little child.

I very frequently got her to make a general accusation of her sins, & gave her absolution; & prayed quietly with her; as she was perfectly conscious all through. This lasted till about 6. in the evening, when she seemed to lose consciousness for a short time. I thought she was departing; after a little she recovered & turned to us with a smile, & said she had seen our Lord & His B. Mother; she asked them why they did not take her with them then, but Jesus said: “You have had too much consolation, you must suffer now”; almost immediately after, all consolation was removed, & from that till a few minutes before she died (10!4) she endured such sufferings of body & soul as I never witnessed before. Four strong nuns & I had sometimes to hold her down in the bed; & the expression of her face, (which before had been very beautiful), completely changed, & was replaced with one of intense terror & anguish; but never a shadow of impatience &, as consciousness returned after each paroxysm, absolute obedience & resignation. I stood by her all the time, sprinkling holy water & applying the relic of St. Alphonsus, which seemed to give her great peace.

A few moments before death, complete peace returned; & with great happiness, calmly, as though going to sleep, she breathed forth her soul as we were reciting the Hail Mary round her. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,” * & she was truly one. R.I.P. She was admitted on the very day of her espousals to the nuptials of the Lamb. |. . .] 3

Pstcra ssa 5. * The rest of this letter is missing.

Vo "TLOVAN IRISH SISTER OF MERCY?

THREE LETTERS

Holy ‘F College. April 29, 1885 My dear Child,

As you have got no name of your own yet,” I suppose you consider tomorrow your feast.* I will pray very specially for you, that you may receive the grace of resembling your holy patron, especially in the generous oblation she made of herself to her Divine spouse. Your life at present should be a perpetual oblation of yourself to the S. Heart, & as the Holy Sacrifice is being offered at every moment during the day, you can unite yourself with our Lord at every moment, & thus be sure your offering will be accepted.

When you have got the habit of nuns living in a state of perpetual oblation, it becomes a matter of absolute indifference to you, what you are engaged at; as your only desire is to accomplish the will of God, which is manifested to you at every moment by obedience. The more generous you are in endeavoring to arrive at this state of holy indifference & detachment from your own inclinations, the more perfectly you will taste that peace, which is the “hundredfold” which our Lord promises to those who have left all things for His love.*

Your father is persevering in the same fervent life; or rather making rapid advances in sanctity. He never omits Benediction nor Mass, etc. Duff is getting a fine big girl, & just as prim as ever; she won’t be a nun. I fear Patrick has changed his mind about coming to Clonliffe. I am tormenting all the saints for Rev. Mother. I hope she will soon get better. My nuns had commenced a novena for her, & are very much concerned about her illness; tell her she must take care of health, as it is not God’s will she should die till she has been able to do something for Him.

• Three of Dom Marmion’s sisters were members of this congregation.

*T.e., a name in religion.

• St. Catherine of Siena (April 30), patron of Mother Catherine McAuley and her foundation, the Sisters of Mercy. (MEE) * Matt. 19:29.

SI

Tell the other Sr. Katie that I will put her name in my message to heaven tomorrow. Give my love to Rev. Mother & all. Believe me, your very sincere friend in J.S. Joseph A. Marmion EDM

Holy # College Clonliffe.-Nov. 27, 1885. My dear Child,

I must not let Advent commence without letting you have a line. I have been so occupied that I found it difficult even to send a line to Rd. Mother, & I knew that she would let you know the contents as far as they could be of any interest to you. I pray very fervently for you daily at Mass, that God may give you the grace to persevere; as I don’t think you are suited for a life in the world. You must do your part generously with God, & He will not fail to assist you.

Each religious order is like a flower in the garden of Jesus, & just as each flower has its own peculiar odour & beauty, so each order has its own beautiful spirit & characteristic virtues which delight the S. Heart. Therefore, no matter how good or virtuous we may be in ourselves, if we have not the peculiar spirit & training of the order to which we belong, we are out of joint in the community, & can never be a good religious, nor truly delight the Heart of Jesus. It was because our Lord saw all the sisters in the little convent of Avila animated with the one, true spirit of their order that he said to St. Teresa: “daughter, this convent is the paradise of my delights, in which my Heart finds delightful repose & protection from the outrages of men.”

But, you ask me, “how am I to gain that spirit, how am I to know if I really have it?” Well, I answer, this is precisely the purpose of the novitiate; the spirit of the order of Mercy is handed down from the holy founders, through the Superiors; & all you have to do, is to leave yourself absolutely in their hands, like wax in the hand who moulds it; & at the end of the novitiate, the germs of that spirit will have been planted in your heart to bud forth into perfection later on.

This, with prayer, is the only means of acquiring the spirit of your state. It is often hard to nature, to be thus cut, & plumed; but otherwise we can never hope to be pleasing to the S. Heart.

If I were joining religion tomorrow, I would enter with the determination of leaving myself absolutely in the hands of my superiors, to let them cut away mercilessly all the excrescences of my character, so that I might be fit to be presented, as a clean oblation on the altar of God’s love; & even though nature might repine, I would try to bear all for the love of Jesus crucified; & I presume, that if I were but faithful, I would soon acquire the true spirit of my order & thus “reap with joy, what I had sown in tears.” + Our Lord makes no exception: “if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross & follow me.” * This is specially true of religious, who try to follow our Lord so closely; & consequently, if we reject the cross, if we repine when it presses on us, we are not following Jesus, but ourselves.

These, my dear child, are a few thoughts which strike me when I pray for you, as I know your character so well, I think, if you reflect on them. And the other sisters might like to know “Uncle Joe’s” views about a novice. Well, in a word, my idea of a good novice is this: — A good novice is one:

1. who enters religion in order to glorify our Lord, by rendering her soul, & those of others as pleasing to the S. Heart as possible.

2. who, in order to effect this, will spare herself in nothing; & consequently is ready to suffer pain, & humiliation, & even death itself to please God.

3. who is not content with ordinary christian virtue, but through fidelity to her spouse, aspires to render her heart a very furnace of divine love; & who does all this under the guidance of obedience in accordance with the spirit of her order. Oh, how the S. Heart would rejoice, if He could behold such a paradise as this! That Dunmore * may be the realisation of this, is my constant prayer.

Matty & I dined yesterday in D’Olier St.; all are well. Your father

• Ps. 12535.

• Matt. 16:24. * Convent of the Sisters of Mercy. never was better in every way. You have great reason to rejoice & to thank God. I hope to be with you at Xmas; but you must pray that God may arrange matters. Love to all. Your very sincere friend in J.C.

J. A. Marmion EDM

Pax Louvain. July 2, 1896 My dear sister Alphonsus,’

I received your letter this morning just before starting for Louvain where I am to stay for a few days. I was very sorry to hear of poor Sr. Stanis. death. I say sorry, because you are so few in number that you cannot afford to lose anyone. For her, it is a favour to be for all eternity with God, in peace & love, free from sin, secure from temptation, knowing none of those miseries which dog our steps as long as we remain here below. I shall pray for her, & have had her recommended to the prayers of my brethren; for although hers was a simple, holy soul, yet God’s sanctity is so great that even “in His angels He finds imperfection.” ? Please tell Rev. Mother how sincerely I condole with her in this trial; & that I shall beg God to send you others to take her place & do His work. I was very much pleased to see by Mother Columba’s® letter that Sr. Evangelist was so much better. God grant her the grace to use this new term of life which He gives her, solely for His glory & for His love.

Every day I live, I see more & more that there is but one thing which is worth living for, & that is God’s glory. In all that He does, He seeks His own glory, (to do otherwise would be contrary to His sanctity, & an imperfection); & for us, what can be nobler than to unite our will with His in seeking His glory purely in all we do. In seeking His glory, He seeks our good, for God’s glory as regards His creatures consists in communicating His love & grace & joy to

• This is probably to the same sister.

2 Job 4:18. *Dom Marmion’s sister, founder of the Dunmore Convent of Mercy. (MEE) them. And we can glorify God by our actions, for although in themselves they are very little & mean, united with those of Jesus Xt, they give an infinite glory to the B. Trinity. And all the infinite riches of His S. Heart are ours, more truly than any thing we possess in this world, if we are united to Him by divine grace. Oh, my dear child, I would wish to engrave on your heart, in letters of gold, this truth, that no matter how great our misery, we are infinitely rich in Jesus Christ, if we unite with Him, if we lean on Him, if we realize constantly by a firm living faith that all the value of our prayer, & of all that we do, comes from His merits in us. All this is contained in two texts: “Without me you can do nothing.’ * “J can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.”®

Try, then, to become a saint, by acknowledging to yourself the full extent of your past miseries, present unworthiness, & the possibility of future infidelity; & at the same time, honouring “the Father through Jesus Xt” by reposing with the most absolute confidence on His infinite merits: “By Him, & in Him, & with Him,” as we say daily in H. Mass, all glory is given to the B. Trinity. And even the praises of the angels do not ascend to God except through J.C., as we sing daily in the preface of the Mass “by whom the angels praise Thy Majesty.” Therefore the acts of praise, of oblation, of adoration, of acceptance of humiliations & contempt, made in union with Jesus, especially after H. Communion, are infinitely agreeable to the H. Trinity.

August 4. This letter has been interrupted for more than a month, we have been up to our ears in examinations, university, etc., so you must excuse. We have had two of our young people ordained priests last Sunday, your feast. They are to say their first masses on August 6 & 7th. I shall have your name put on the pat. They are full of fervour; & as they came here quite young, they know very little of the world’s wickedness except from books. What a joy for Jesus to enter into such pure hearts entirely consecrated to Him, knowing no other affection, & yearning to make Him known & loved by others.

We old fellows, after our long years of priestly life, are nearly

*John 15:5. * Phil. 4:13.

dried up like old cabbage-leaves; but these young hearts are full of unction & fervour; so I'll get them to pray for you & for dear Dunmore.

From what I hear, I am to have very little to do next year. These young people will take up some of our work, & the old pots will be laid up on the shelf as rare specimens of antiquity; so I will bury myself in the S. Heart, & try to make some little progress in prayer & the interior life; pray for me for that intention.

My affect. love to M. Columba; & my affect. regards to R. Mother, & all the sisters.

Your father in J.C. Dom Columba Marmion

O.S.B.

VI. TO'HIS FUTURE ABBOLE

Dunmore East,! Co. Waterford, Ireland. Very Rev. dear Father ?

The Archbishop has now appointed my successor who is to take my place in the college tomorrow. I have obtained the necessary paper ad ingrediendam religionem® which I enclose. I will be retained here for some days to arrange some business matters, and will, D.V., arrive in Maredsous about the middle of this month.

Dear Father, continue to pray for your child, till I am safe in the house of St. Benedict.

I remain, most respectfully, your obedient child in J.C.

Joseph Aloysius Marmion, EDM. P.S. My present address is: Rev. J. A. Marmion Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland.

• Convent of Mercy founded by his sister Mother Columba. See Letter to a Young Priest (Section IX).

? Dom Placid Wolter, first abbot of Maredsous. This undated letter must have been written in 1886, at the beginning of November, for Father Marmion entered Maredsous on November 21, 1886. * “To enter religion.” This is an expression of a definite decision on his part.