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Show BILOCATION. Extraordinary Example A' Nun's Zeal for Conversion of American Indians Her Prayers Heard An Estatica Expounds Christianity to a Barbarous Tribe Delegation Del-egation Visit Mission of San Agustin de Isleta, Ask for a Missioner What the Priest Discovered Almost Incredible. (Foreign Correspondence of Intermountain Catholic.) Cath-olic.) When Frederick Yillasenor returned from his expedition into New Mexico in'174-S, he printed in his "Teatro Americano" a brief, but a very satis- ' factory, report of the stare of the Indians then living liv-ing in New Mexico. "The natives," he tells us, "were comfortably clothed in garments woven by the women; they were an industrious and contented con-tented people. The churches, built under the di- rection of the Franciscan Fathers, were as fine j and imposing as those in the rural districts of Southern Europe and the -services for the Indians as grand and scrupulously carried out as in Spain. There were twenty-seven parishes established, averaging aver-aging one hundred families to a mission." (Yillasenor. (Yilla-senor. 411-422 ). Included among th names of the zealous and fearless missionaries who accomplished these wonderful won-derful results is. singularly enough, that of a SPANISH XUN. whom the fathers bad never seen. Sh was known in her community as Maria de .Jesus, and was one. of I that privileged class in whom the effects of orig- inal sin, or thfj first transgression, seemed to be al- j most effaced, and who are admitted, while yet in I the flesh, to that intimate union with God whi-h I the rest of the elect only attain in another life. I In the lives of the saints we notice that each one 1 of them, when he or she was. by the Miblimity and intensity of prayer, admitted into privileged union f with the Creator, was distinguished for what is known among ascetical writers as a "particu- j lar devotion." Maria de Jesus, or. as she is j sometimes termed by spiritual writers. Maria 1 d'Agreda. was daily offering trr-God her prayers f and sufferings for the conversion of the Amor- I ican tribes, among whom the Franciscan Fath- i ers were then laboring with zeal, self-denial J and a fair measure of success. The conversion of 1 these Indians was the" special devotion of Maria de 1 Jesus. In her prayers it was revealed to her that I God was about to bestow upon the missionaries and I the tribes of New Mexico an exceptional favor. ' j - Then it was that this pious nun experienced lor the first time these visitations, or as Dom Gueranger j writes, "phenomena." of grace, which entitled her to be ranked among the apostles of these idolatrous I lands. She became an "estatica." and in her estatic repetitions she experienced the sensations of one who was being transported into unknown and dis- tant regions. The climate was no longer that of Castile. She was surrounded by men, women and children the like of whom she had never looked upon. Under some mysterious influence she began I to make known to them the doctrines of Chri3tian- ! it-, and though she expounded the mysteries of re- ligion in Spanish, her audience listened attentively and understood her speech. Many times she fell f into the ecstatic state and on each occasion she was transported across the sea and into the terri- tory occupied by the people to whom she preached. f She succeeded at last in winning to Christianity i the entire tribe, including the chiefs and shamans, j or "demon priests." as she thought them to be. j WThile among these Indians she saw afar off the I Franciscan missionaries reaping a harvest of souls. f among a people like unto those whom she was ad- dressing. She counseled her converts to dispatch messengers to these missionaries and ask that they would send them a priest. 1 COMING OF THE MESSENGERS. j . It wa3 during the year of 1622 that Maria de J Jesus, while in these estatic conditions, experienced j the sensation of aerial transportation and visits among a foreign race. "Until now." writes Don: j Gueranger, "the Franciscans laboring among the New Mexican tribes had not reaped the harvest of souls equal to their hopes." ! One morning, when oue of the prices, on the I mission of San Agustin de Isleta, was coming out f from the church where he had just said mass, he wa3 met by five Indians whom he had never before seen. Their speech was the language of his own mission tribe, with dialetic variations. They claimed f to be ambassadors of their distant tribe, asked to be baptised, and presented the request of their peo- t pie for a resident priest. The missionary asked I (Continued on page 5.) BILOCATION. (Continued from page 1.) who they were, in what direction their country laid, and told them he could not accede to their request to be baptised until they were instructed in the faith. They replied that they and the members of their tribe were already instructed. They added that on many occasions a woman strangely dressed visited vis-ited their people and made known to them the law of Jesus Christ. . That her visits were many, and that she it was who directed them to come to the missionaries. Where she lived or Avhence she came from they did not know. The priest. Father Alonzo de Benavides. examined exam-ined them in the doctrines of the church and found them well instructed. He pressed them for a description of this MYSTERIOUS WOMAN, bllt the Tndimis offer ilecnrlkiiifr lior rlresc anA an. pearance. could only add they had never seen any one like her. Benavides that very day set out, accompanied ac-companied by another priest, with the Indians for their distant village. On arriving at the village, they were received with the most lively manifesta-j tions of joy, and, to their amazement, found that, among all the members of the tribe, the instruction in the tenets of Christianity was complete. "But, I hear you say, 'this is incredible, if not absurd.' Well, read on. Father Alonzo de Benavides was satisfied, from the description he received, that the lady was a Spanish nun. In IGUO he was in Madrid on business of his order, and he took advantage of his visit to discover if possible the personality and the dwelling of the miraculous being. He made known to the Superior General of the Franciscan Order, the Very Rev. Bernadin de Sienne. then in Madrid, the history of the wonderful apparition and his desire to trace the identity of the nun. The superior had some time before made the acquaintance acquaint-ance of Maria de Jesus and had heard of hcr extasies. It occurred to him that possibly this saintly nun might be the person chosen by God in association with the prodigies mentioned by Father l T? Tt 1 . "iL li X ' UCUOHUtJ. AUl 111011C.U 111111 Willi itHiiris 01 111 troduction to the nun, in which he begged her to give to the missionary any information in her possession pos-session touching the subject of his investigations. 1 N. B. Owing to the limitations of space I must 1 reserve till next week the interview between the missionary and the estatica. Meanwhile, I ask your readers not to form any judgment touching the merits of this extraordinary case until the evidence is submitted in its partial entirety and the authorities authori-ties produced. ... ( Mexico City. ' jVRlr- NOT AS I WILL. """! (By Helen Hunt Jackson.) "Not as I will" the sound grows sweet Each time my lips the words repeat; "Not as I will" the darkness feels More safe than light when this thought steals Like whispered voice to calm and bless All unrest and all loneliness. "Not as I will" but because the One Who loved us first and best has gone Before us on the road, and still For us must all His love fulfill "Not as I will." Blindfolded and alone I stand, WitK nnlrnrvom tVirecTinlds rm eneb hflTld. The darkness deepens as I grope, Afraid to fear, afraid to hope; Yet this one thing I learn to know Each day more surely as I go, . That doors are opened, ways are made, Burdens are lifted or are laid By some great law unseen and still, Unfathomed purpose to fulfill, "Not as I will." Blindfolded and alone I wait; Loss seems too bitter, gain too late; Too heavy burdens in the load, Too rough and wearisome the road; And joy is weak and grief is strong; And years and days so long, so long; Yet this one thing I learn to know Each day more surely as I go, That I am glad the good and ill By changeless law are ordered still. "Not as I will." |