J.M.J. Saint Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870) promoted devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Who could seriously argue that Our Lady did not play a decisive role in the following story, whose author is unknown?
"In December of 1850, St. Anthony Claret was saying good-bye to friends
in Spain before leaving to take charge of the Archdiocese of Santiago,
Cuba. At dawn one day he took a stagecoach to go to visit the Archbishop
of Tarragona. When the coach drew into Villafranca del Panades, about seven
A.M., all the priests of the town were there to meet it and begged Archbishop
Claret to interrupt his journey and come to their aid. As soon as he heard
their story he dismounted and sent word to his host that he had met with
a delay.
"Four criminals were to be executed there that morning--three boys
in their late teens and a man of forty--and all four had absolutely refused
to confess and receive Communion.
"The pastor of the town pressed Archbishop Claret to have a quick cup
of hot chocolate and hurry over to the prison. No, said the Archbishop,
they must first go to the church and place the affair in God's hands. When
they had done this, they went to the prison, and the missionary was at
once admitted to see the condemned men.
"St. Anthony Claret's warm, fatherly pleas soon conquered the three
younger criminals. They made their Confessions, and the chaplain prepared
to administer them Viaticum, the last Communion. He asked the young men,
according to the custom, if they forgave all who had injured them. Two
replied yes. The third said 'yes,' he forgave everyone except his mother.
Archbishop Claret prostrated himself and kissed the boy's feet. 'My
son,' he said, 'if you do not pardon your mother you will be
damned. For God's sake and for my sake I beg you to forgive her.' 'No,' the young man said, 'it is on her account that I am
in this trouble. If she had punished me in time I would not be here. I
do not forgive her.' The four prisoners were covered with execution
robes, mounted on mules, and led to the scaffold. The moment before his
sentence of death was carried out, the unforgiving youth shouted, 'I
forgive my mother from my heart. Pray for me!' Then the older man,
the toughest of the four, held up his arms and asked to confess. Seated
on the bench, with his head covered, he confessed and was absolved. Then
the four men were put to death. Some time after, God revealed to Anthony
Claret the judgment the four had received. In a public conference he emphatically
stated: 'The four criminals of Villafranca were saved.'
No comments:
Post a Comment