A WONDER OF EUROPE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 9, 20 June 1884, Page 27

A WONDER OF EUROPE.

[From the recent Lecture of Rev J. L. Andreis, of St. Leo's, on " Three Wonders of Europe]" AT the ncrth of the city of Turin, the traveller's attention is called by the inscription : " The charity of Christ urges us," and by a large group in white marble, representing an old man stricken down by poverty and. contagions disease, and lying in a suppliant position at the foot of a man of God, who lifts him up with the left hand, and pointing out heaven to him with the right, with expressions of sympathy and tender love, invites him to trust in Divine Providence. That inscription and that group tell the beholder what work is done in the institution which bears them. It was founded fifty years ago, and is called the " Little House of Divine Providence " under the auspices of St. Vincent de Paul. The origin of that institution was a heartrending spectacle to which the man of (rod was the principal witness. While passing through Turin on her way to France, a young woman, accompanied by her husband and three little children, was suddenly taken ill. Her disease was of such a nature as to preclude her admission into any of the hospitals. Upon being refused in one place, she triei another and another, but all in vain. Being brought back to her little room, she grew worse and died. Her husband almost became insane from grief, and the children were rending the air with their distressing cries. In a strange land, with scanty means, and struck by the great calamity, the justly grieved family found a benefactor and a friend in the man of God. Having filled their hearts with the balm of religious consolation, and made them them adore the hand of God in their afflictions, he gave a laige amount of money to the grieved widower tbat he might provide necessaries for himself and children. He was all charity and solicitude to help and console that afflicted family ; but his heart was steeped in anguish. The thought that dead young woman, who might have recovered and lived bad she received proper treatment ; the remembrance of the great desolation of her husband and children, being constantly in his mind ; he was saying within himself : " What would it be if another case of the like kind should occur to-morrow? What happened to that foreigner, might it not happen to some of our own people ? And what difference is there between a foreigner and a native ? Are we not all children of the same Father, and are we not all brethren ?" While these thoughts were pressing upon his mind, tears were rolling down his cheeks. But while he was giving vent to his feeling to charity, mercy and love, God was guiding him and using him as an instrument to draw infinite good from a seeming evil. Yielding to the divine inspiration, he resolved to open a home to receive all the afflicted people thatcould not find admission elsewhere. Without ioterposing any delay, he rented one room and had four beds fitted up in it. They were soon filled. Seeing that the demands were increasing daily, he rented more rooms, and then the whole house. There he was day and night, the Angel of Consolation ; there he would work, wait on the sick, go after choioe food for the most needy, and bring it to his little ho=pital with bis own hands. Those he could not accommodate he was wont to visit at their homes, and carry to them, with the spiritual consolations, food, medicine, bed covers, clothes and money. The fire of his charity was spreading so broad and fast that in a few years he built as many houses as required by the increasing demands made on him from every part of the province. The old and abandoned people given special quarters, an hospital was erected for those afflicted with contagious diseases, another for other kinds of infirmities ; here % place for the epileptics : there another for the deformed ; on the right there is the asylum for the blind, and on the left that for the deaf and dumb. Yonder are found schools and ! laboratories for the young. Above there is a reformatory asylum for strayed girls, another for penitent Magdalens. Next therj are several convents of different orders of Sisters and nuns. At the other end of the institution there are monasteries of lay priors, and close by there is a house for a congregation of saintly priests. Everything there is in perfect order ; the schools are taught, the sick are cared for night and day, medicines are prepared, linens washed, ironed, put away in wardrobes, and regularly.dispensed. Baking and cooking are incessant. The vis'tor who inspects the Little Hi mse of Divine Providence is amazed at its enormous extension, at its extraordinary cleanliness and perfect system reigning in every department. The sheltered in that immense institution number three tlwusand ! They are all consumers, and there never was, nor is there a cent of certain revenue. Not one of all those inmates ever gives himself a thought about his own shelter, food and clothiug, yet all always had and have all they need. Theie is one person only that sees to everything, the superior, whom all call by the endearing name of Father, on whom, after God, rests the whole institution. Everything comes from him ; he alone is the head and the heatt ; all others obey. But whence have the extraordinary means come to support such an immense family, not only for a single day. but for months, nay, during these last fifty years? We arc all well acquainted with toe miracles recorded in Holy Writ, specially of the manna which for forty years was sent from heaven to the people of Israel on every day except the Sabbath. Then the repeated multiplication of a few loaves of bread and a few fishes, to feed four thousand people on one occasion, and five thousand on another. Prayer by Moses, and prayer by Jesus did all that. The institution which forms the subject under consideration .is called the daily miracle of prayer, because it is r-.through constant prayer that it derives its constaut supply of all Vlaily necessaries. The spacious church which centres the institution • has day and night a band of one hundred people who pray for one hour. The moment the hour is up prayer ceases, to be immediately resumed by another band of equal number. This goes on all the time without any interruption. Tbat uninterrupted prayer is the inexhaustible mint from which all the necessaries come to the daily support of those thousands of helpless creatures. It has often happened that in the whdle institution there was not a loaf of bread nor the wherewithal to procure it. The bakers of the house would report that to the superior. He at once would double the number of

people to pray in church, and he himself, prostrated hefora the altar, would join them in prayer ; and lo I presently waggons foil of bread, and flour, and linen, and money, would come to the house. Such is the fruit of confidence in the Providence of God. You may be anxious to know the name of the man of God, the superior of that wonderful institution. His name is Canon Cottolengo ," a priest. The fame of his extraordinary charity and success soon spread broadcast over the city, the kingdom and the whole of Europe. The bishops were wont to speak of him as a saint. King Charles Albert would call him " a man of God and his sincere friend." The Monthyon and Franklin Society oE France, who3J object it is to publish and cast abroad portraits and histories of men useful to and benefactors of mankind, passed a resolution ihab Canoo Cottolengo deserved to be classed among the greatest benefactors of society, and had a large golden medal coined, and a biography describing hi 3 life, with his own portrait affixed to it. This tribute of high honor was p.esented to him by a royal prince, accompanied] by the French embassy. The humble servant of God received those personages with indifference, and showed his holy indignation for the present of the medal and of the biography, saying : >( But is it possible that they do not leave me in peace?" Being forced to accept the noble testimony sent to him by the French society, he hid it away, and never showed it to any one, not even to his two brothers, who were also highly respected priests. Pope Gregory XVI. wrote him a letter in which he praised his great piety and the extraordinary benefits he was bestowing upon the souls aad the badies of the afflicted, and encouraged him to continue in his enterprise, and, with the letter he sent him the Apostolic Benediction, and the gift of a large silver medal. But this testimony was also kept from others' gaze. He was an enemy of any demonstration of honor ; but the more he endeavored to hide his miraculous deeds and his own person from, outsiders, the larger was the number of high personages who craved to see him. Distinguished prelates, writers of. high repute from every country in Europe, deemed their travel through Italy incom--piete, had they not visited the Little House of Divine Providence. Upon the return to their respective countries, they would write about it what their gratitude and hearts dictated to them. Oa one occasion a band of non-Catholic gentlemen came to Turin from Geneva. The first thing for them was to visit the Little House, about which they had heard great wonders at home and abroad. They leisurely visited every part of that place, and though they found nothing elegant or beautiful, still they noticed the heavenly beauty and the magnificence of its evangelical charity. But they considered their 1 visit unsatisfactory until they could see and speak to Canon Cottolengo. They imagined they would see a man of stern commanding appearance. But, to their utter astonishment, they found him in the passage surrounded by a large number of poor who were presenting to him their certificates which they had obtained from their pastors or some other good persons to prove that they were worthy of admission. Being seated in a large antiquated chair, he was joking aud laughing with every one of those poor. That sight was so impressive to their hearts, and their joy so pure and great, that those gentlemen considered themselves exceedingly happy to have seen that holy man, to whom they presented a handsome sum of money upon leaving his place. His jokes are still proverbial ; among them, he was in the habit of saying to any one he wanted to go with him through and out of the city : •• Come with me. and I will treat you to a bottle of the best wine at such a hotel." The holy man would take his compauion to some poor afflicted family, and carry some provisions and medicines. The 7wtelhe meant was the home of the needy and distressed, and the wine was the work of charity by relieving and comforting them. Canoa Oottolengo died in the year 1842 ; but his institution outlivts him in the enjoyment of his spirit, and bids fur to last with the lasting of charity forever. His" sanctity is a byword, and is so wellgrounded that the immortal Pius IX. declared him venerable, and his canonization is in process. Before long the Holy See will proclaim Canon Cotto'engo a saint, whom I now present to you as a great wonder in the heart of Europe.