“On the night of January 19, I woke up with a start and saw before me a huge black cross, of extraordinary appearance and without Christ. I tried to chase away the image, but I could not, even by looking away. I cannot tell how long this lasted. Finally, I fell asleep, and when I woke up I did not think any more of it. […]
“Had someone said to me that morning, ‘You got up a Jew and you will go to bed a Christian,’ I would have thought him the craziest person in the world. […]
“I went to a café on the Piazza di Spagna to read the newspapers. […] On leaving, I saw the carriage of Theodore de Bussières. He stopped and invited me to climb aboard for a drive. I accepted with pleasure. Then he asked me if he could stop for a few minutes at the Church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. […]
“I entered the church: small, poor and deserted. There I was almost alone. No piece of art attracted my attention. I walked, mechanically, looking around. I remember only a black dog that ran and jumped around my feet. Then the dog disappeared, the whole church disappeared, I no longer saw anything. O my God, I saw only one thing.
“Human words are totally incapable of expressing that which is inexpressible; any description, however sublime, would only be a profanation of the ineffable truth. I was there prostrate, bathed in my tears, when Monsieur de Bussières recalled me to life. I was unable to reply to his questions. […] I felt something solemn and sacred in me that made me ask to see a priest. […] What I had to say could only be said on my knees. […]
“I had just entered the church when I was suddenly seized with an indescribable emotion; I looked up and found that the rest of the building had disappeared. One single chapel seemed to have gathered all the light and concentrated it. In the midst of this radiance, the Virgin Mary appeared, standing on the altar, a lofty, shining figure, all majesty and sweetness, just as She looks on the [Miraculous] Medal. Some irresistible force drew me towards Her. The Virgin motioned to me to kneel down and when I did so, She seemed to approve. Though She never said a word, I understood Her perfectly.”
He was baptized on January 31, 1842, in the Church of the Gesù, of the Jesuit Fathers, in Rome.
PEÑA BENITO, OAR, Ángel.
Santa Catalina Labouré y la medalla milagrosa.
[St. Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal.]
Lima: Libros Católicos, [s.d.], p.45-49
