THE BAPTISM OF DESIRE.
Sometimes it may happen from various reasons that it may be impossible to be baptized with water. In these circumstances, if a person has the desire in his heart of receiving that Sacrament, and is re solved to receive it if ever possible, this desire will be sufficient to secure his salvation if he were to die before he could receive it. It is called the " Baptism of Desire."
THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.
The Emperor Maximinus Daia, in his desire to make Catherine, a noble and learned lady of Alexandria, apostatize from the Faith, and having failed, sent for the most learned men in his dominions, that in a public assembly, by their arguments they might convince the Saint of the errors of the religion she professed.
Fifteen of these learned men accordingly assembled for this purpose ; but the very opposite result was obtained from the one the Emperor expected. In stead of convincing her that her Faith was wrong, she showed them that the religion of the empire and the worship of the gods they adored were false, and besought them to renounce all their errors, and embrace the true Faith, which alone could save their souls.
History tells us that several of them (some authors record that they all) forsook the religion of the pagans, and manifested their desire to profess that which St. Catherine had so clearly proved to them to be the only one revealed by God.
The Emperor became mad with rage at witnessing this failure of his plans, and condemned them all to instant death. They received the sentence with joy; but a sudden fear fell upon them : they had not yet received the grace of Baptism, which they knew to be so essential for obtaining the possession of Heaven. They asked St. Catherine to tell them what would become of them in eternity, seeing that they could not be baptized.
St. Catherine made over them the sign of the Cross, and said to them: "Let not this thought disturb you, since you so earnestly desire to receive that Sacrament; soon also by your martyrdom you will be baptized by your own blood."
Encouraged by those consoling words, they walked joyfully to martyrdom, and, washed from their sins in their own blood, they entered the eternal repose of Paradise.
Sometimes it may happen from various reasons that it may be impossible to be baptized with water. In these circumstances, if a person has the desire in his heart of receiving that Sacrament, and is re solved to receive it if ever possible, this desire will be sufficient to secure his salvation if he were to die before he could receive it. It is called the " Baptism of Desire."
THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ALEXANDRIA.
The Emperor Maximinus Daia, in his desire to make Catherine, a noble and learned lady of Alexandria, apostatize from the Faith, and having failed, sent for the most learned men in his dominions, that in a public assembly, by their arguments they might convince the Saint of the errors of the religion she professed.
Fifteen of these learned men accordingly assembled for this purpose ; but the very opposite result was obtained from the one the Emperor expected. In stead of convincing her that her Faith was wrong, she showed them that the religion of the empire and the worship of the gods they adored were false, and besought them to renounce all their errors, and embrace the true Faith, which alone could save their souls.
History tells us that several of them (some authors record that they all) forsook the religion of the pagans, and manifested their desire to profess that which St. Catherine had so clearly proved to them to be the only one revealed by God.
The Emperor became mad with rage at witnessing this failure of his plans, and condemned them all to instant death. They received the sentence with joy; but a sudden fear fell upon them : they had not yet received the grace of Baptism, which they knew to be so essential for obtaining the possession of Heaven. They asked St. Catherine to tell them what would become of them in eternity, seeing that they could not be baptized.
St. Catherine made over them the sign of the Cross, and said to them: "Let not this thought disturb you, since you so earnestly desire to receive that Sacrament; soon also by your martyrdom you will be baptized by your own blood."
Encouraged by those consoling words, they walked joyfully to martyrdom, and, washed from their sins in their own blood, they entered the eternal repose of Paradise.
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