to lighten their sorrows; to increase their joys. Let me be a comfort and a stay to them in every need. Let me sustain and encourage them in all their duties. Let me prompt and strengthen all their good and holy thoughts. Teach me, my God, I beseech thee, to honour and revere them here, that, if they go before me to thy heavenly kingdom, they may kindly intercede for me, and obtain for us all a happy re-union, where we may together praise thee, our common Father, for all eternity. Amen.

FOR THE CONVERSION OF ANOTHER.

Incarnate God! my divine, my adorable Releemer! who art the way, the truth, and the life, ɔh bring him (or her) to the knowledge of thy truth.

O thou who art the Light of the blind, the Refuge of sinners, our Saviour and our Sacrifice, O thou who gavest thyself to be our daily bread, have mercy upon him.

Thou, O Lord, knowest what is in man, and thou knowest what trammels surround him. Thou knowest all his darkness, all his weakness, all his doubts: have pity, therefore, upon him, O my Saviour; and let the bright beams of thy eternal truth shine in upon his mind: clear away the clouds of error and of prejudice from before his eyes, and mercifully vouchsafe to teach him thy truth and to make him all thine own.

I know, O my Saviour, that thou hast

founded but one true Church, and hast promised to abide with it even unto the end of the world. O let not the soul for which I pray be shut out from thy blessed fold! May it abjure all error and schism; may it hasten back to thy church; and be received into her bosom ere death cut short its doubts.

O Lord my God, let no worldly, no unworthy motives, I beseech thee, mingle with his enquiries after truth. In all he hears, or reads, or speaks, do thou, who wast meek and lowly of heart, teach him to do it with the profoundest humility and in the spirit of prayer.

May no prejudices of education, no early national associations, no fear of censure or of ridi cule, have power to withhold him: may no affec tion or admiration for any created being check the spirit of enquiry within him: may nothing keep him away from thee, my God. May he feel a longing desire to know thee more perfectly, that he may serve thee and love thee better; and may this desire speedily lead him to that Communion upon earth where, by a spirit of penance and of prayer, by spiritual obedience, and by the blessed efficacy of thine appointed sacraments, he may learn to cultivate those dispositions which thou hast promised to crown with everlasting glory.

O God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, thrice holy God, mercifully vouchsafe to hear my prayer. Amen.

FOR THE FORGOTTEN DEAD

O merciful God, take pity on those souls who have no particular friends and intercessors to recommend them to thee; who, either through the negligence of those that are alive, or through length of time, are forgotten by their friends and by all. Spare them, O Lord, and remember thine own mercy when others forget to appeal to it. Let not the souls which thou hast created be parted from thee, their Creator. They are thy work; and, though they have sinned, they have been redeemed by thee; vouchsafe therefore to look upon them and to deliver them from the intolerable pain of absence from thee, the light and life and love of all thy creatures. Oh place them in the number of thy blessed saints and citizens, through Jesus Christ their Saviour. Amen.

TO RECEIVE THE HOLY VIATICUM.

O my God and my Lord, I praise and bless thee for having vouchsafed to me the grace often to partake of thy great mysteries; to be fed with the divine food of thy holy Sacrament; and comforted with thy great and blessed presence. O Father of mercies and God of all consolation, let every tongue bless thee, and every creature celebrate thy bounty for this inestimable gift.

Oh that I were worthy to praise and bless thee! But accept, I beseech thee, in my behalf, the praises of all the angels and blessed saints who continually adore thee and sing thy glory; accept them in thanksgiving for all the mercies thou hast vouchsafed to me in the holy communion of thy body and blood.

But, O glorious and most merciful Jesus, I beseech thee also to grant to me, before I die, the grace of true confession, contrition, and satisfaction, for all my offences; and, at the hour of my death, may I once more humbly adore and devoutly receive thee, God and man, Christ Jesus, Saviour of the world, in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar. And then, pardoned for all my sins and aided by thee, my God, may I end my life in peace, in the true faith of thy Holy Church, and in perfect love and charity with all the world. Amen.

A PRAYER for Knowledge.

Almighty God, who hast warned us against the danger of burying whatever talent thou mayest bestow upon us, and who hast taught us that much will be required of those to whom much is given-enable me, I beseech thee, so to improve myself in knowledge and virtue, that I may be ready to give an account of my stewardship whenever thou mayest call upon me for it.

Oh bestow upon me, I pray thee, such ability

and hope in study, and in the improvement of my mind, as may prepare me to take my place in the world, not only without shame, but in a manner that may redound to thy greater glory. Give me understanding: give me eagerness, method, and perseverance in the acquirement of knowledge; so that I may be qualified to advance myself and to exalt thy holy name, my God, to whom I will ever own myself indebted for every good and every perfect gift.

O Lord, thou wilt open my lips and my mouth shall declare thy praise. I desire to consecrate myself to thy service, to remember thee in every object of my life: make me, therefore, worthy of the high honour to which I aspire let not thy religion and thy eternal rights be lowered or brought to loss through any fault of mine. Oh no, my God; open thou my lips, I beseech thee: open my understanding, that it may behold the beauty of thy doctrine, and of that gracious providence which has appointed to me my walk in life.

Where my natural powers are wanting, do thou bestow them; where they are weak, do thou strengthen them. Do thou, my God, teach me to fulfil my duty towards thee and towards my fellow-creatures, by diligently perfecting whatever good inclinations thou mayest implant within me. May I be enabled to lead others in the way of salvation; or may I, at all events, learn to praise thee, my God, and to