pastoral experiences

"There was here - I ignored it - a young man of Capelle... He lost the whole fortune his parents had left him. For several months he has been sick... Two days ago he heard that I was in St. Quentin. He said that he wished to see me. He remembered that he had made his first communion with me and since then he hadn't worried about religion anymore.

He made a good confession and converted very sincerely. He prayed a lot. He asked me to be with him in his last moments and to bury him. Yesterday evening I visited him once again and this morning I was there to receive his last sigh. I think that he made a very good death. The poor boy leaves three little children... " (to his parents June 12th, 1872)
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