Amen._
There followed prayers that the peace of God might be granted to the
professed monk to enable him worthily to perform the vows which he had
made, and before the blessing and imposition of the scapular the Bishop
rose to speak in tones of deep emotion:
"Brethren, I scarcely dared to hope, when, now nearly ten years ago, I
received the vows of your Father Superior as a novice, that I should one
day be privileged to be present at this inspiring ceremony. Nor even
when five years ago in the far north-west of Canada I professed your
Father Superior and those two devoted souls who will soon be with you,
now that their work in Malta is for the time finished, did I expect to
find myself in this beautiful Oratory which your Order owes to the
generosity of a true son of the Church. My heart goes out to you, and I
thank God humbly that He has vouchsafed to hear my prayers and bless the
enterprise from which I had indeed expected much, but which Almighty God
has allowed to prosper more, far more, than I ventured to hope. All my
days I have longed to behold the restoration of the religious life to
our country, and now when my eyes are dim with age I am granted the
ineffable joy of beholding what for too long in my weakness and lack of
faith I feared was never likely to come to pass.
Pages:
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449