|
|
|
CHAPTER II.
EDUCATION AT SAINT APOLLONIA; FIRST COMMUNION. The home of Ignatius Redi was a garden of Christian virtues, where bloomed gracefully and sweetly the flower of this beautiful soul. Nevertheless the Divine Gardener willed to transplant it to His own parterre, where His choicest flowers were better tended. For this reason He inspired her pious parents to have her educated in the noble monastery of Saint Apollonia, in Florence. To be separated from so lovable a child was for them a great sacrifice. She also keenly felt the separation. Her only consolation came from the thought of obeying her father and the hope of serving Our Lord more perfectly in a house consecrated to Him. Immediately on her arrival, Anna Maria commenced to breathe around her the good odor of Jesus Christ, which, veiled by profound humility, became only the more noticeable. The holy religious who had care of her and the young girls of the school, considered her a model of all virtues. She displayed charming gaiety and evenness of disposition. All her good qualities were in perfect harmony. Even her obedience was marked by happy dispositions of sweetness. In one word, she was the joy of her mistresses as well as of her companions, and knew how to edify the latter by mingling with their familiar ordinary conversations little remarks full of piety, revealing plainly where her heart dwelt. Sometimes in the midst of a joyful recreation she would check herself and say to her little companions: "While we are amusing ourselves Jesus is thinking of us." Her eyes would fill with tears, then she would sweetly and joyfully continue the interrupted game or pastime. In that moment she had betrayed her secret, and the perfume of her holiness escaping from her soul delighted all near her. Her devotion was sweet and attractive; nothing extreme could be remarked in her. When she could, without being noticed, take a little time for her exercises of devotion, she would seize the occasion with the greatest eagerness. To see this predestined child in the chapel one would have thought her an angel; her whole person was a reflex of the divine beauty which captivated her soul. Often her eyes were wet with tears, gentle sighs escaped from her breast and carried to the Most Holy Sacrament her ardent and secret desires. She dared not manifest her longings; humility forbade it. But oh, how she envied her companions receiving the Bread of Angels — her tears spoke for her; she was understood. And at ten years of age she was permitted to make her first Communion. Her happiness was indescribable. Anna Maria prepared herself for it with a fervor proportioned to her ardent desires. Knowing, however, how to conceal her treasures of virtue under the veil of simplicity, everything in her seemed natural and ordinary. But the abundant fruits of perfection, always increasing at each communion, showed plainly the dispositions with which she performed this sublime act. The extreme delicacy of her conscience, which made her so attentive in watching over herself in order to avoid all that could wound, even slightly, the Well Beloved of her heart, is the most beautiful proof of her charity. One day, fearing to have committed a fault, she grieved so deeply that she could take no repose, and passed the night shedding tears of contrition; when morning came she hastened to the feet of her confessor. After having listened to her he consoled her, assuring her that she had not committed the least imperfection. She went away perfectly contented, peace having been restored by the sacerdotal blessing.
|
|
|