Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/205

Rh elderly nuns attired the young girls, covered their heads with little white night-caps, and put on them white jackets, and so on. Finally the Cardinal placed over their heads a large, white, stiff cloth, which, like a pyramid, enveloped the upper part of the body, and above that, he placed a large crown of silver filigree and red roses. The choir again sang a hymn to the Holy Ghost, the two young girls rose and went slowly out through a side door in the chancel, the Cardinal following them. After a little while, they again entered; again they knelt in the chancel before the Cardinal, who spoke to them thus:

“Thou, who in the world art called Carlotta, shalt henceforth, nella religione, be named Maria Nazarena di San Luigi!” “And thou, who in the world art named Marietta, shalt henceforth, nella religione, be called Maria Anna di Gesu!”

After which, the Cardinal having spoken the blessing, the ceremony was at an end, and the assembly dispersed. The newly-dedicated young girls, their friends, the Cardinal, and the elder nuns, might now be seen walking about the convent-cloisters and halls confidentially, and in family-fashion, engaged in cheerful conversation. The mother of the girls, however, pressed them to her breast, weeping violently. She seemed quite overcome with grief, and appeared, indeed, to be the only one, who experienced nothing but sorrow from this scene. And I, for that reason, blessed her maternal heart. A young nun, habited in black, hastened with joy-beaming countenance to the Cardinal, and kissed his hand.