Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/86

 quiet; the man  is  quite  right,  for  I would  actually be what  he  says  I am,  did  I not  apply  myself  to  the study of  philosophy  and  the  practice  of  virtue.”  If a heathen  by  natural  means  can  so  overcome  his  evil inclinations, how  much  more  in  this  respect  can  and should Christians  accomplish  by  grace!

''Q. Was  any  one  ever  preserved  from  original  sin? ''

''A. The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  through  the  merits  of her  Divine  Son,  was  preserved  free  from  the  guilt  of original  sin,  and  this  privilege  is  called  her  Immaculate Conception. ''

Even at  the  present  day  apparitions  take  place  in order  to  corroborate  the  truth  of  our  religion. In the south of  France,  there  is  a small  town  called  Lourdes, situated at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees. In the  year 1858, that  is,  four  years  after  the  promulgation of the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  the Mother of  God  appeared  there  no  less  than  eighteen times. The following  is  an  account  of  how  she was seen  by  Bernadette  Soubirous,  a girl  fourteen years old,  the  child  of  poor  parents,  who  had  brought her up  piously  and  taught  her  to  say  the  rosary. This she  often  did  when  keeping  sheep  on  the hills. About midday  on  the  11th  of  February,  1858, Bernadette went  with  some  other  girls  to  pick  up sticks  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Gave,  which  flows at the  foot  of  the  mountains. While the  Angelus was being  rung  from  the  church  tower,  she  saw  in  a niche  in  the  rocks  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  the