I only know that he was very sweet and kind to me, holding out
the delicate white hand on which he wore the fisherman's emerald ring,
and smoothing my head after I had kissed it.
When I recovered myself sufficiently to look up I saw that he was an old
man, with a very pale and saintly face; and when he spoke it was in such
a soft and fatherly voice that I loved and worshipped him.
"So this is the little lady," he said, "who is to be the instrument in
the hands of Providence in bringing back an erring family into the folds
of Mother Church."
Somebody answered him, and then he spoke to me about marriage, saying it
was a holy state, instituted by the Almighty under a natural law and
sanctioned by our divine Redeemer into the dignity of a Sacrament, so
that those who entered it might live together in peace and love.
"It is a spiritual and sacred union, my child," he said, "a type of the
holy mystery of Christ's relation to His Church."
Then he told me I was to make the best possible preparation for marriage
in order to obtain the abundant graces of God, and to approach the altar
only after penance and communion.
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