Part 10 (1/2)

In presence of WM GREENLEAF

Sworn to before me, the 13th day of March, AD 1855

WM GREENLEAF, Justice of the Peace

(TESTIMONY OF Z K PANGBORN)

When it was known that the Narrative of Sarah J Richardson was about to be published, Mr Z K Pangborn, at that time editor of the Worcester Daily Transcript, voluntarily offered the following testimony which we copy from one of his editorials

”We have no doubt that the nun here spoken of as one who escaped from the Grey Nunnery at Montreal, is the same person who spent some weeks in our family in the fall of 1853, after her first escape from the Nunnery

She came in search of e that she had traveled on foot from Montreal, and her appearance indicated that she was poor, and had seen hardshi+p She obtained work at sewing, her health not being sufficient forunder soh industrious and lady-like in her deportular in her manner After awhile she revealed the fact to the lady of the house, that she had escaped froed her not to inform any one of the fact, as she feared, if it should be known, that she would be retaken, and carried back A few days after one out one evening, and failing to return, much inquiry was made, but no trace of her was obtained for soentleman froard to this saiven by herself She states that on the evening when she so mysteriously disappeared from our house, she called upon an Irish family whose acquaintance she had fored, and thrust into a close carriage, or box, as she thought, and on the evening of the next day found herself once ned to the tender mercies of the Grey Nunnery in Montreal

Her capture was effected by a priest who tracked her to St Albans, and watched his opportunity to seize her She was subjected to theaway, and kept in close confinened penitence and submission, when she was treated less cruelly, and allowed more liberty

”But the difficulties in the way of an escape, only stimulated her the more to etting out of that place which she described as a den of cruelty andher pursuers, and in reaching this city, (Worcester,) where she re to avoid notoriety, as she feared she ain betrayed and captured She is noever, in a position where she does not fear the priests, and proposes to give to the world a history of her life in the Nunnery The disclosures shecharacter, but of her veracity and good character we have the most satisfactory evidence”

This stateborn, a sister of the late Mrs Branard, the lady hom Sarah J Richardson stopped in St Albans, and by who an inborn states that she had every opportunity to becoirl and learn her true character The fah they knew nothing of her secret, until a few days before she left She speaks of her as being ”quiet and thoughtful, diligent, faithful and anxious to please, but ht be able to acquaint herself more perfectly with the Holy Scriptures She could, at that time, read a little, and her es froht in repeating She was able to converse intelligently upon ale to express her thoughts No one could doubt that nature had given her a ious and intellectual culture, and that, with the opportunity for improvement, she would becoe she was certainly quite ignorant, but she had evidently studied huborn also corroborates many of the statements in her narrative She often visited the Grey Nunnery, and says that the description given of the building, the Acade ladies school, are all correct The young Smalley mentioned in the narrative ell known to her, and also his sister ”little Sissy Smalley,” as they used to call her Inquiries have been itive passed in her hasty flight, and we are told that the description is in general correct; that even the mistakes serve to prove the truthfulness of the narrator, being such as a person would be likely tofrom memory scenes and places they had seen but once; whereas, if they were getting up a fiction which they designed to represent as truth, such mistakes would be carefully avoided

APPENDIX I

ABSURDITIES OF ROMANISTS

Itnarrative contains s too absurd and childish for belief ”What rational ure to represent the devil, for the purpose of frightening young girls into obedience? And those absurd threats! Surely no sane man, and certainly no Christian teacher, would ever stoop to such senseless mummery!”

Incredible it may seem--foolish, false, inconsistent with reason, or the plain dictates of common sense, it certainly is--but we have before us well-authenticated accounts of transactions in which the Romish priests claimed powers quite as extraordinary, and palmed off upon a credulous, superstitious people stories quite as silly and ridiculous as anything recorded in these pages Indeed, so barefaced and shameless were their pretensions in some instances, that even their better-informed brethren were ashamed of their folly, and their own archbishop publicly rebuked their dishonesty, cupidity and chicanery In proof of this we place before our readers the following facts which we find in a letter froers, addressed to the Union de l'Ouest:

”So occurred upon a mountain called La Salette, in the southeastern part of France, where the Virgin Mary appeared in a veryshepherds The story, however, was soon proved to be a despicable trick of the priest, and as such was publicly exposed But the Bishop of Lucon, within whose diocese the sacredto relinquish the advantage which he expected to result froly, in July, 1852, it was again reported that no less than three in The details were as follows:

”A young pupil at the religious establishment of the visitation of Valence, who had been for three utta-serena, arrived at La Salette on the first of July, in coue which she had undergone in order to reach the summit of the mountain, at the place of the apparition, caused so until the conclusion of the mass, which had not yet commenced, and the Abbe Sibilla, one of the missionaries of La Salette, was requested to adan

She had scarcely received the sacred wafer, when, impelled by a sudden inspiration, she raised her head and exclaimed, 'ma bonne mere, je vous vois' She had, in fact, her eyes fixed on the statue of the Virgin, which she saw as clearly as any one present For ratitude and love, and afterward retired fro the assistance of those who accompanied her At the sae, who for the last nineteen years had not had the use of her right arm, in consequence of a dislocation, suddenly felt it restored to its original state, and swinging round the once paralyzed liratitude, 'And I also ah not instantaneous, is not the less striking

Another wo paralytic, could not ascend the reatest difficulty, and with the aid of crutches On the first day of the neuvane, that of her arrival, she felt a sensation as if life was co ti, and the last day of the neuvane, after having received the communion, she went, without any assistance, to the cross of the assu up her crutches She also was cured

”Bishop Lucon must have known that this wasa fraud so base, he not only permits his people to believe it, but he lends his whole influence to support and circulate the falsehood And why? Ah! a church was to be erected; and it was necessary to get up a little enthusias the people in order to induce them to fill his exhausted coffers, and build the church In proof of this, we have only to quote a few extracts from the 'Pastoral' which he issued on this occasion

”'And now,” he says, ”Mary has deigned to appear on the su to them the secrets of heaven But who attests the truth of the narrative of these Alpine pastors? No other than the men themselves, and they are believed They declare what they have seen, they repeat what they have heard, they retain what they have received commandment to keep secret

”A feords of the incomparable Mother of God have transforht between the similar to what they relate, each is the witness to a vision which has not found hi; each is its historian These two shepherds, dull as they were, have at once understood and received the lesson which was vouchsafed to theraven on their hearts They add nothing to it, they take nothing from it, they modify it in nowise, they deliver the oracle of Heaven just as they have received it

”An adular sagacity made theested to them a thousand responses, not one of which betrayed their secret; and when at length the time came when it was their duty to make it known to the common Father of the Faithful, they wrote correctly, as if reading a book placed under their eyes Their recital drew to this blessed rims

”They proclaimed that 'on Saturday, the 19th of September, 1846, Mary lorious day is henceforth and forever dear to Christian piety Will not every pilgrim who repairs to this holyshepherds? Mary halted near a fountain; she communicated to it a celestial virtue, a divine efficacy Fro, today so celebrated, becaies which she works When the afflicted are in despair, the infirm without remedy, they resort to the waters of La Salette, and cures are wrought by this reainst every evil Our diocess, so devoted to Mary, has been no stranger to the bounty of this tender Mother We are about to celebrate shortly the sixth anniversary of this miraculous apparition NOW THAT A SANCTUARY IS TO BE RAISED on this holy ht to inform you thereof

”'We cannot doubt that many of you have been heard by our Lady of La Salette; you desire to witness your gratitude to this ladly BRING YOUR STONE to the beautiful edifice that is to be constructed WE DESIRE TO FURTHER YOUR FILIAL TENDERNESS WITH THE MEANS OF TRANSMITTING THE ALMS OF FAITH AND PIETY For these reasons, invoking the holy name of God, we have ordained and do ordain as follows, viz: