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410 CITY OF GOD
holy faith. There were seventy-three of them, many
of them virgins, among whom were also the nine saved
from the ruins of the temple of Diana. These and many
others Mary herself had converted and .catechized in the
faith ;
and She had formed of them a community in the
house of their hostesses. Through this congregation of
women the heavenly Lady had begun to atone for the
sins and abominations, perpetrated in the temple of
Diana for so many ages, and She established the observ
ance of chastity in community life in that very city of
Ephesus where the devil had profaned
it. Of all this,
these women had been informed, though they did not
know that She had destroyed the temple of Ephesus; for
this remained a secret, in order that neither the Jews
should find a pretext, nor the heathens be stirred to
anger against the gentle Mother by their insane love of
Diana. The Lord provided that the ruin of the temple
should be looked upon as an accident and be soon for
gotten, so that profane authors wrote nothing about it,
though they had written much concerning the burning
of the first temple.
462. The most blessed Mary, in her desire to console
them for her absence spoke to these disciples in
sweetest words. She left them a paper, in which She had
written with her own hand :
"My daughters, the will
of the Almighty calls me back to Jerusalem. In my ab
sence keep in mind the doctrine, which you have received
from me and which I heard from the mouth of the Re
deemer of the world. Look upon Him always as your
Lord and Master and as the Spouse of your souls, serv
ing Him and loving Him with all your heart.
the commandments of his holy law,
Remember
in which you shall
be instructed by his ministers and priests, reverence and
obey them in humility, without ever accepting other
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