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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine EmmerichFrom her early youth, and wherever she went, she had frequent symbolical visions, which showedher in parables, as it were, the object of her existence, the means of attaining it, and her futuresufferings, together with the dangers and conflicts which she would have to go through.1920She was in her sixteenth year, when one day, whilst at work in the fields with her parents and sisters,she heard the bell ringing at the Convent of the Sisters of the Annunciation, at Coesfeld. This soundso inflamed her secret desire to become a nun, and had so great an effect upon her, that she faintedaway, and remained ill and weak for a long time after. When in her eighteenth year she wasapprenticed at Coesfeld to a dressmaker, with whom she passed two years, and then returned toher parents. She asked to be received at the Convents of the Augustinians at Borken, of the Trappistsat Darfeld, and of the Poor Clares at Munster; but her poverty, and that of these convents, alwayspresented an insuperable obstacle to her being received. At the age of twenty, having saved twentythalers (about 3l. English), which she had earned by her sewing, she went with this little sum—aperfect fortune for a poor peasant-girl—to a pious organist of Coesfeld, whose daughter she hadknown when she first lived in the town. Her hope was that, by learning to play on the organ; shemight succeed in obtaining admittance into a convent. But her irresistible desire to serve the poorand give them everything she possessed left her no time to learn music, and before long she hadso completely stripped herself of everything, that her good mother was obliged to bring her bread,milk, and eggs, for her own wants and those of the poor, with whom she shared everything. Thenher mother said: ‘Your desire to leave your father and myself, and enter a convent, gives us muchpain; but you are still my beloved child, and when I look at your vacant seat at home, and reflectthat you have given away all your savings, so as to be now in want, my heart is filled with sorrow,and I have now brought you enough to keep you for some time.’ Anne Catherine replied: ‘Yes,dear mother, it is true that I have nothing at all left, because it was the holy will of God that othersshould be assisted by me; and since I have given all to him, he will now take care of me, and bestowhis divine assistance upon us all.’ She remained some years at Coesfeld, employed in labour, goodworks, and prayer, being always guided by the same inward inspirations. She was docile andsubmissive as a child in the hands of her guardian-angel.Although in this brief sketch of her life we are obliged to omit many interesting circumstances,there is one which we must not pass over in silence. When about twenty-four years of age, shereceived a favour from our Lord, which has been granted to many persons devoted in an especialmanner to meditation on his painful Passion; namely, to experience the actual and visible sufferingsof his sacred Head, when crowned with thorns. The following is the account she herself has givenof the circumstances under which so mysterious a favour was bestowed upon her: ‘About four yearsprevious to my admittance into the convent, consequently in 1798, it happened that I was in theJesuits’ Church at Coesfeld, at about twelve o’clock in the day, kneeling before a crucifix andabsorbed in meditation, when all on a sudden I felt a strong but pleasant heat in my head, and I sawmy Divine Spouse, under the form of a young man clothed with light, come towards me from thealtar, where the Blessed Sacrament was preserved in the tabernacle. In his left hand he held a crownof flowers, in his right hand a crown of thorns, and he bade me choose which I would have. I chosethe crown of thorns; he placed it on my head, and I pressed it down with both hands. Then hedisappeared, and I returned to myself, feeling, however, violent pain around my head. I was obligedto leave the church, which was going to be closed. One of my companions was kneeling by my10
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichside, and as I thought she might have seen what happened to me, I asked her when we got homewhether there was not a wound on my forehead, and spoke to her in general terms of my vision,and of the violent pain which had followed it. She could see nothing outwardly, but was notastonished at what I told her, because she knew that I was sometimes in an extraordinary state,without her being able to understand the cause. The next day my forehead and temples were verymuch swelled, and I suffered terribly. This pain and swelling often returned, and sometimes lastedwhole days and nights. I did not remark that there was blood on my head until my companions toldme I had better put on a clean cap, because mine was covered with red spots. I let them thinkwhatever they liked about it, only taking care to arrange my head-dress so as to hide the bloodwhich flowed from my head, and I continued to observe the same precaution even after I enteredthe convent, where only one person perceived the blood, and she never betrayed my secret.’21Several other contemplative persons, especially devoted to the passion of our Lord, have beenadmitted to the privilege of suffering the torture inflicted by the crown of thorns, after having seena vision in which the two crowns were offered them to choose between, for instance, among others,St. Catherine of Sienna, and Pasithea of Crogis, a Poor Clare of the same town, who died in 1617.The writer of these pages may here be allowed to remark that he himself has, in full daylight, severaltimes seen blood flow down the forehead and face, and even beyond the linen wrapped round theneck of Anne Catherine. Her desire to embrace a religious life was at length gratified. The parentsof a young person whom the Augustinian nuns of Dulmen wished to receive into their order, declaredthat they would not give their consent except on condition that Anne Catherine was taken at thesame time. The nuns yielded their assent, though somewhat reluctantly, on account of their extremepoverty; and on the 13th November 1802, one week before the feast of the Presentation of theBlessed Virgin, Anne Catherine entered on her novitiate. At the present day vocations are not soseverely tested as formerly; but in her case, Providence imposed special trials, for which, rigorousas they were, she felt she never could be too grateful. Sufferings or privations, which a soul, eitheralone or in union with others, imposes upon herself, for God’s greater glory, are easy to bear; butthere is one cross more nearly resembling the cross of Christ than any other, and that is, lovinglyand patiently to submit to unjust punishments, rebuffs, or accusations. It was the will of God thatduring her year’s novitiate she should, independently of the will of any creature, be tried as severelyas the most strict mistress of novices could have clone before any mitigations had been allowed inthe rules. She learned to regard her companions as instruments in the hands of God for hersanctification; and at a later period of her life many other things appeared to her in the same light.But as it was necessary that her fervent soul should be constantly tried in the school of the Cross,God was pleased that she should remain in it all her life.22In many ways her position in the convent was excessively painful. Not one of her companions, noreven any-priest or doctor, could understand her case. She had learned, when living among poorpeasants, to hide the wonderful gifts which God had bestowed on her; but the case was altered nowthat she was in familiar intercourse with a large number of nuns, who, though certainly good andpious, were filled with ever-increasing feelings of curiosity, and even of spiritual jealousy in herregard. Then, the contracted ideas of the community, and the complete ignorance of the nunsconcerning all those exterior phenomena by which the interior life manifests itself, gave her much11
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