DEATH OF A CHILD OF MARY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 73, 19 September 1874, Page 14

DEATH OF A CHILD OF MARY.

M . a young person of eighteen years of age, who, from her tender years, had always entertained an ardent desire of becoming a religious, -and would for tliafc purpose have remained with the Good Mnrist Sisters in London, by whom she had been educated, had not her father found the sacrifice too great to separate himself from so dear a child. She came out here with her parents, and knowing how to suffer, did so in silence ; and devoted herself for her family with the more disinterestedness, that God alone occupied her heart. Since her arrival in Ifapier, sho gained the esteem and affection of all those who had the liappiness of making her acquaintance. The Children of Mary, understanding how: forcible her good example would be, desired so much to liave ber for their companion ; and the dear child saw with happiness the day approaching on which 3he was to be received into that Society, •while awaiting some future time for the realisation of her first desire, ■which daily grew more ardent. The Feasl of tho Assumption was the day appointed for her reception, -when, with four of her companions, she was to have knelt »t the foot of the altar to rend her consecration ; bu,t the Divine Spouse wns awaiting her ; two days previously she fell sick, and on the day of the Feast was unable to come to the church. The bisters of the Monastery of St. Joseph being occupied on that and the following day, were unable to visit her until the 17th ult., when they found her •very ill indeed. The Superioress, knowing the dpar child's desire, and what a consolation it would be to her to die in the convent, proposed that she should be carried thither, provided her mother consented. To that effect all was arranged, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the dear child was placed under the care of the Sisters, who were only too liappy to bestow all their attention on a soul so pure and so inflamed ■with fhe lore of God. She had already received the Last Sacrament ; only one thing was wanting : she was not yet a Child of Mary. An hour was fixed for her reception. The reverend Father came, but some unforeseen circumstance caused delay. On the 18th ult., however, at three o'clock in the afternoon, sh? was prepared for the ceremony. A Child of Mary was there to assist her ; the community was around her bed. TJie reverend Father performed the ceremony, during which the dear c'nld replied to all the questions therein ; and ■when asked if she would receive the scapular, replied in the affirmative, and expressed her thanks. The moment the reverend Father presented her tho medal and scapular, the dear child without doubt Baw, at least in spirit, the Blessed Virgin, holding out hor arms to receive h.r and present her to Jesus, for with an angelic smile she breathed her last sigh, and left imprinted on her countenance, as it ■were, the reflectien of the happiness of which she was already in possession. . le . P aren^ s > w »° had been unable to resign themselves to give their child to God before, are now plunged in the most profound affliction ; but the angel of the family will protect them, and complete »boy« what she had, by the offering and sacrifice of her life, commenced here below. The interment took place on the 19th inst. Several Children of JVlarv, dressed in white, attended, and will, it is hoped, profit by the .pood reflections that were made by the reverend Father over thebody of thnt dear child. We would also add that at the same time a young Maori girl, Pinia P , the daughter of a chief, who had only been received as a <Jhild of Mary a few daj's ago, was very ill, and hourly expected to die. She hud greatly edified her companions by her great patienue during her sufferings. ll>e Maori relatives, notwithstanding the poor .girl's entreaties to be allowed to end her days in the convent, insisted on canning her off in her dying state to the tribe. She then begsed that she muy be dressed reudy to be placed in her coffin, saying C that £he wished no one to touch her after she left the Sistei-3. The wish was granted j she was dressed in wbite, and prepared as though dead. All her companions came to bid her farewell, and the scene was -touching in the extreme, as the deav child had the use of all her senses amidst all these preparations of death. The instant the vehicle which conveyed the poor girl drove off from the convent door, the reverend Father gave her the last absolution.