draws nigh. Wherefore the
Psalmist declared: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of His Saints.'[16] For then it is that the rivers of love burst
forth from the soul and are whelmed in the Ocean of Divine Love."

No sooner had her spotless soul taken its flight than the joy of
that last rapture imprinted itself on her brow, and a radiant
smile illumined her face. We placed a palm-branch in her hand; and
the lilies and roses that adorned her in death were figures of her
white robe of baptism made red by her Martyrdom of Love.

On the Saturday and Sunday a large crowd passed before the grating
of the nuns' chapel, to gaze on the mortal remains of the "Little
Flower of Jesus." Hundreds of medals and rosaries were brought to
touch the "Little Queen" as she lay in the triumphant beauty of
her last sleep.

. . . . . . .

On October 4, the day of the funeral, there gathered in the Chapel
of the Carmel a goodly company of Priests. The honour was surely
due to one who had prayed so earnestly for those called to that
sacred office. After a last solemn blessing, this grain of
priceless wheat was cast into the furrow by the hands of Holy
Mother Church.

Who shall tell how many ripened ears have sprung forth since, how
many the sheaves that are yet to come? "Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, die, itself
remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."[17]
Once more the word of the Divine Reaper has been magnificently
fulfilled.

THE PRIORESS OF THE CARMEL.
_____________________________

[1] Dom Gueranger.

[2] Mother Mary of Gonzaga died Dec. 17, 1904, at the age of 71.
Mother Agnes of Jesus (Pauline) was at that time Prioress. The
former--herself of the line of St. Antony of Padua--recognized in
Soeur Therese "an heroic soul, filled with holiness, and capable
of becoming one day an excellent Prioress." With this end in view,
she trained her with a strictness for which the young Saint was
most grateful. In the arms of Mother Mary of Gonzaga the "Little
Flower of Jesus" was welcomed to the Carmel, and in those arms she
died--"happy," she declared, "not to have in that hour as
Superioress her 'little Mother,' in order the better to exercise
her spirit of faith in authority." [Ed.]

[3] As will be remembered, this was Marie, her eldest sister. [Ed.]

[4] The Blessed Theophane Venard was born at St. Loup, in the
diocese of Poitiers, on the