CHAPTER LV.
Advantages — Salutary Instruction — Blessed Mary of the Angels— St. Peter Claver and the Sick Negro — The Negro and the Rosary.
Besides the holy thoughts which devotion to the holy souls suggests, the latter sometimes contribute directly to the spiritual welfare of their benefactors. In the Life of Blessed Mary of the Angels, of the Order of Mount Carmel, it is said that it is almost beyond belief how frequent were the apparitions of the souls of Purgatory who came to implore her assistance, and afterwards to thank her for their deliverance. Very often they conversed with the blessed sister, giving her useful advice for herself or for her sisters, and revealing things relating to the other world. " On the Wednesday within the Octave of the Assumption," she writes, " whilst saying the evening prayers, one of our good sisters appeared to me. She was clad in white, surrounded with glory and splendour, and so beautiful that I know of nothing here below to which I could compare her. Fearing some illusion of the devil, I armed myself with the sign of the cross; but she smiled, and disappeared shortly after. I begged our Lord not to permit me to be deceived by the demon. The following night the sister again appeared, and calling me by my name, said, C I come on the part of God to let you know that I am in the enjoyment of eternal bliss. Tell our Mother Prioress that it is not the design of God to reveal to her the destiny that awaits her: tell her to place her confidence in St. Joseph and in the souls in Purgatory.' Having said this, she disappeared."
