1. How Great a Blessing Is the True Faith.
3. The Blessed Fruits of Patience.
1. Sursum Corda!—Lift up Your Hearts!
2. Let the Love of God Dwell in Your Heart.
5. In the Bright Days of Youth.
The Rose—Love of Our Neighbor.
2. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
3. An Earnest of Future Blessings.
5. What Friendship Ought to Be.
6. It is Difficult Yet not Impossible.
3. Obedience the Christian’s Ornament.
4. Some Objections Which May Be Urged.
2. Humility is Essential to Salvation.
3. Let Your Speech Be Always with Charity.
4. There Is no Great Harm in It!
7. A Small, but Dangerous Member.
The Lily in Untarnished Splendor.
1. How Beautiful Is the Chaste Generation!
2. Blessed Are the Clean of Heart.
1. The Enemy in Our Own Heart.
3. The Enemy in Finery and External Attractions.
5. The Enemy in What We Hear and Read.
2. The Consequences of That Misfortune.
3. The Lily Fades! To What an End Does this Lead!
The Lily Protected and Cared For.
1. The Sentinels Who Guard the Lily of Chastity.
“The virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.”
—1 Cor. 3:34.
“Be thou an example of the faithful, in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity.”
—1 Tim. 4:12.
“Listen attentively, my daughter, to the words of thy teacher, incline the ear of thy heart to them, receive with a good will the admonitions of a loving father, and strive earnestly to put them into practice.”
—St. Benedict.
To the Gentle Reader
The Child of Mary
O Maiden! let thy heart like a fragrant garden be;
Flowers fair of virtue thy Mother loves to see;
Then sweet thy prayer shall sound in that fond Mother’s ear,
And when thou needest help, that Mother will be near.
She strengthens thee to conquer in the arduous strife;
And when thou standest at the crossways of thy life,
Thou shalt feel a heavenly breath to guide thee right;
The rough ways shall be smooth, the dark ways be made light.
O Child of Mary! in thy youth’s springtide,
Go to that Mother dear, and without fear
To her thy joys, thy grief, thy hopes confide.
In life, in death, whatever may betide—
If foes assail, let not thy courage fail,
Her arm will thee protect, her wisdom guide.
The Maiden’s Wreath
The Sunflower—Faith.