cause of this change, she perceived the Queen of Heaven surrounded by a multitude of angels, to whom she gave orders to liberate those souls who had honoured her in a special manner, and conduct them to Heaven.
If such takes place on an ordinary Saturday, we can scarcely doubt that the same occurs on feast-days consecrated to the Mother of God. Among all her festivals, that of the glorious Assumption of Mary seems to be the chief day of deliverance. St. Peter Damian [1] tells us that each year, on the day of the Assumption, the Blessed Virgin delivers several thousands of souls.
The following account of a miraculous vision illustrates this subject: — " It is a pious custom," he says, " which exists among the people of Rome, to visit the churches, carrying a candle in the hand, during the night preceding the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady." Now it happened that a person of rank, being on her knees in the basilica of the Ara-Cceli in the Capitol, saw before her, prostrate in prayer, another lady, her god-mother, who had died several months previous. Surprised, and not being able to believe her eyes, she wished to solve the mystery, and for this purpose placed herself near the door of the church. As soon as she saw the lady go out, she took her by the hand and drew her aside. "Are you not," she said to her, "my god-mother, who held me at the baptismal font?" "Yes," replied the apparition immediately, "it is I." " And how comes it that I find you among the living, since you have been dead more than a year? " " Until this day I have been plunged in a dreadful fire, on account of the many sins of vanity which I committed in my youth, but during this great solemnity the Queen of Heaven descended into the midst of the Purgatorial flames and delivered me, together with a large number of other souls, that we might enter Heaven on the Feast of her Assumption. She exercises this great act of clemency each year;
- ↑ Opusc. xxxiv. c. 3, p. 2.
