Painting of two Sisters of Charity by Armand Gautier.
Archbishop Ryan, in the course of a sermon, related this incident: “During our Civil War in America two Sisters of Charity, walking together through the streets of Boston, were insulted by a wretched man through hatred of the religious garb they wore. Subsequently this man went into the army as a substitute for someone who had been drafted into it. He was wounded in one of the battles in Missouri, and brought to a temporary hospital in charge of Sisters, and, of course, was most kindly treated. When about to die, the Sister in attendance on him begged him to ask pardon of God for the sins of his life, and to prepare to meet his Judge.
“Sister,” replied the dying soldier, “I have been a bad man, but there is one act of my life that weighs more heavily upon me than all the others. I once insulted a member of the Order which has now treated me so kindly, and, sick as I am, were she only here now I would fall at her feet, beg her pardon, and die in peace.”
“She has already pardoned you,” replied the Sister; “the moment you were brought in here I recognized you by that mark on your forehead, and I long ago pardoned you from my heart.”
“And why,” rejoined the soldier, “have you been more kind to me than to the others?”
“It is because you insulted me so much, and for His sake,” she added, kissing her crucifix.
“Send immediately for your priest,” said the dying man. “The religion that inspires such fortitude must be from God.”
And the priest and the Sister knelt together as the soldier peacefully died.
The Catechism In Examples Vol. V, By the Rev. D. Chisholm Pg. 137-138
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 485
