THE SEVENTH SACRAMENT.
Margaret was unwilling to leave New York; but the doctor insisted,
and a compromise was effected. She was to stay through July, and
complete the preparations for her marriage; for that was to take
place in August, and they would go for their wedding journey to visit
Mrs. James in Maine. Margaret expressed a strong wish to be married
at Sealing, and the plan was very pleasant to Dr. James; so a week
before the day appointed, she went to her aunt, Miss Spelman's. There
she spent a happy week, visiting her friends among the poor, and
hearing from them about the goodness and kind deeds of their favorite
doctor, whom they seemed to regard in the light of a good angel.
Martha Burney was also at Miss Spelman's, and the doctor came two
days before the fifteenth, so it was a very merry and happy household.
The feast of the Assumption of Our Lady was as beautiful a day as
ever shone on a happy bride; the bells rang as if for a public
celebration; for Dr. James was beloved by every one and Margaret was
very popular. The time was nine o'clock; for the bride and bridegroom
were fasting. Margaret's dress was white, with veil, orange-blossoms,
and every thing as it should be; she had inclined very much to be
married in her travelling dress; but the doctor wanted white, and she
thought besides, that a gay, showy wedding would give pleasure to
many of the guests.
Father Barry said that it was like the marriage feast in the Gospel;
for the deaf, the halt, and the blind were well represented.
Margaret's "friends" were many, and the more aristocratic inhabitants
of Sealing and Shellbeach were rather surprised to find themselves in
close neighborhood with the McNallys, O'Neills, and O'Flahertys, who
were put in the best places, and were perfectly at home in their own
church.
The high altar, and those of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, were
covered with flowers; and a fine new set of vestments and sacred
vessels, presented by the bride and bridegroom elect, were used for
the first time.
It seemed to Margaret and to Dr. James a beautiful circumstance,
though a natural one, that they had neither of them ever seen a
nuptial mass before this, their own. Nor had they realized what
marriage might be, until they studied the wonderful office of that
church that has elevated the natural union of man and woman to the
dignity of a sacrament, which St. Paul declares to be typical of the
union of our Lord with his spouse, the church. They were profoundly
impressed with the thought that the holy of holies was to be offered
upon the altar on that day, the happiest of their lives--for them,
for their happiness and blessing; and that, as God was to descend
from heaven, as it were, in their honor, so they should offer their
new life for his greater honor and glory.
How is it possible that Catholics should ever forego this privilege
of the nuptial mass, and avail themselves only of the form absolutely
required by the church? Do they not realize that in sanctifying the
first day of their wedded life by assisting together at the sacrifice
of the mass, and as their first united action, receiving their Lord
unto their hearts, they draw down a blessing on all that is to follow?
Never had Margaret felt so pure a joy as when, kneeling beside the
one she loved best in the world, she heard the solemn benediction
pronounced upon them, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
besought to "himself fulfil his blessing" upon them. Never had Dr.
James realized so fully his happiness as when he heard the beautiful
prayer offered for his bride, and the virtues of Rachel, Rebecca, and
Sarah invoked for her.
And when, in the little instruction which Father Barry gave them, he
said they might indeed hope that Jesus and Mary had been present at
their wedding, as at that of Cana in Galilee, they felt as if they
had received a favor similar to the one then bestowed; for, as the
water was turned into wine, was not their natural rejoicing changed
into a joy more pure and sublime than earth can bestow?
The married couple, and every Catholic in the church, remained on
their knees for some time after mass was ended, and, as one of the
spectators afterward said, "The happy pair behaved as if they were by
no means the most important persons present." Martha Burney heard the
remark, and immediately replied,
"You must remember that they recognized the presence of the Lord
Jesus, surrounded by legions of holy angels;" to which remark the
first speaker was too much astonished to make any answer.
On his return to Miss Spelman's house, Dr. James was greatly
surprised to find standing at the gate an elegant little doctor's
chaise, with a very beautiful horse; a plainly dressed man stood by
its head, whom the doctor recognized as a mechanic whose life he had
saved when he was lying at death's door with smallpox. As he spoke to
him pleasantly, the man took off his hat and said,
"If you please, doctor, this is a present from all your patients."
It was the kind thought of a kind heart, and the author of it,
himself indebted to the doctor's devoted care, had gone in person to
every house within twenty miles, inquiring who had been treated by
Dr. James, and proposing to each a small contribution.
"They only wanted to give too much," he said to the doctor afterward;
"but all, even the very poorest, gave something."