It is in such scenes as these that the Roman Catholic clergy knit
themselves so strongly into the affections of the people. All men are
naturally disposed to feel the offices of kindness and friendship more
deeply, when tendered at the bed of death or of sickness, than under
any other circumstances. Both the sick-bed and the house of death are
necessarily the sphere of a priest's duty, and to render them that
justice which we will ever render, when and wheresoever it may be due,
we freely grant that many shining, nay, noble instances of Christian
virtue are displayed by them on such occasions.
When the violence of grief produced by Ellish's death had subsided, the
priest, after giving them suitable exhortations to bear the affliction
which had just befallen them with patience, told Peter, that as God,
through the great industry and persevering exertions of her who had then
departed to another world, had blessed him abundantly with wealth and
substance, it was, considering the little time which had been allowed
her to repent in a satisfactory manner for her transgressions, his
bounden and solemn duty to set aside a suitable portion of that wealth
for the delivery of her soul from purgatory, where, he trusted, in the
mercy of God, it was permitted to remain.
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