bout to leave it!

In Venice the scene changed completely. Instead of the bustle of a
large city, silence reigned, broken only by the lapping of the
waters and the cries of the gondoliers as they plied their oars;
it is a city full of charm but full of sadness. Even the Palace of
the Doges, splendid though it be, is sad; we walked through halls
whose vaulted roofs have long since ceased to re-echo the voices
of the governors in their sentences of life and death. Its dark
dungeons are no longer a living tomb for unfortunate prisoners to
pine within.

While visiting these dreadful prisons I fancied myself in the
times of the martyrs, and gladly would I have chosen this sombre
abode for my dwelling if there had been any question of confessing
my faith. Presently the guide's voice roused me from my reverie,
and I crossed the "Bridge of Sighs," so called because of the
sighs uttered by the wretched prisoners as they passed from their
dungeons to sentence and to death. After leaving Venice we visited
Padua and there venerated the relic of St. Anthony's tongue; then
Bologna, where St. Catherine's body rests. Her face still bears
the impress of the kiss bestowed on her by the Infant Jesus.

I was indeed happy when on the way to Loreto. Our Lady had chosen
an ideal spot in which to place her Holy House. Everything is
poor, simple, and primitive; the women still wear the graceful
dress of the country and have not, as in the large towns, adopted
the modern Paris fashions. I found Loreto enchanting. And what
shall I say of the Holy House? I was overwhelmed with emotion when
I realised that I was under the very roof that had sheltered the
Holy Family. I gazed on the same walls Our Lord had looked on. I
trod the ground once moistened with the sweat of St. Joseph's
toil, and saw the little chamber of the Annunciation, where the
Blessed Virgin Mary held Jesus in her arms after she had borne Him
there in her virginal womb. I even put my Rosary into the little
porringer used by the Divine Child. How sweet those memories!

But our greatest joy was to receive Jesus in His own House, and
thus become His living temple in the very place which He had
honoured by His Divine Presence. According to Roman custom the
Blessed Sacrament is reserved at one Altar in each Church, and
there only is it given to the faithful. At Loreto this Altar was
in the Basilica--which is built round the Holy House, enclosing it
as a precious stone might be enclo