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THE CORONATION 597
the families of the house of God, each one for itself, and
that this mourning shall be as for the death of the first
born, over which all are accustomed to weep. This mourn
ing which the prophet predicts for the Onlybegotten of
the eternal Father, was due in proportion also to the
death of the most pure Lady, as the first-born Daughter
of grace and of life. And just as the faithful vassals and
servants clothe themselves in mourning not only at the
death of their prince or their Queen, but also at the
prospect of their danger or of their loss ;
so the irrational
creatures anticipated the feeling and the tokens of their
sorrow, at the approach of the Transition of the most
holy Mary.
707. The Evangelist before all others shared in their
sorrow and in a special manner and more deeply than all
the rest felt this impending loss, without being able to
conceal it or dissemble it from the more familiar inmates
of the house. Two daughters of the master of the house,
who were much in attendance upon the Queen of the
world, and some other very devout persons, chanced to
see him shedding many tears in his sorrow. As they
knew the peaceful and tranquil disposition of the saint,
they conjectured that this unusual emotion was caused
by some very weighty event ;
and in their kind solicitude
they a few times urged him to tell them the cause of this
unusual sorrow in order to relieve him if possible. The
holy Apostle suppressed his grief and for a long time
concealed its cause. But not without divine dispensation
he finally yielded to their importunities and told them
that the happy Transition of their Mother and Lady was
approaching, for these were the titles the Evangelist ap
plied to the most blessed Mary in her absence. Hence,
some time before it really took place, this impending loss
of the Church became known to some of the more fa-
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