A little six-year-old Protestant boy had often heard his Catholic
companions reciting the prayer "Hail Mary." He liked it so much that
he copied it, memorized it and would recite it every day. "Look,
Mommy, what a beautiful prayer," he said to his mother one day.
"Never again say it," answered the mother. "It is a superstitious
prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think Mary a goddess. After
all, she is a woman like any other. Come on, take this Bible and read
it. It contains everything that we are bound to do and have to do."
From that day on the little boy discontinued his daily "Hail Mary" and
gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead.
One day, while reading the Gospel, he came across the passage about
the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full of joy, the little boy
ran to his mother and said: "Mommy, I have found the 'Hail Mary' in
the Bible which says: 'Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou amongst women.' Why do you call it a superstitious
prayer?"
On another occasion he found that beautiful Salutation of St.
Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary and the wonderful canticle MAGNIFICAT in which Mary foretold that "the generations would call her blessed."
He said no more about it to his mother but started to recite the "Hail
Mary" every day as before. He felt pleasure in addressing those
charming words to the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.
When he was fourteen, he one day heard a discussion on Our Lady among
the members of his family. Every one said that Mary was a common woman
like any other woman. The boy, after listening to their erroneous
reasoning could not bear it any longer, and full of indignation, he
interrupted them, saying:
"Mary is not like any other children of Adam, stained with sin. No!
The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND BLESSED AMONGST WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and consequently Mother of God. There is no higher dignity to which a creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on her.
Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which you
proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion."
So deep was the impression which the boy's talk had made that his
mother many times cried out sorrowfully: "Oh my God! I fear that this
son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of
Popes!" And indeed, not very long afterwards, having made a serious
study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found the latter
to be the only true religion and embraced it and became one of its
most ardent apostles.
Some time after his conversion, he met his married sister who rebuked
him and said indignantly: "You little know how much I love my
children. Should any one of them desire to become a Catholic, I would
sooner pierce his heart with a dagger than allow him to embrace the
religion of the Popes!"
Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his
conversion. However, she would change her ways, just as St. Paul did
on his way to Damascus. It so happened that one of her sons fell
dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery. Her brother
then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying:
"My dear sister, you naturally wish to have your child cured. Very
well, then, do what I ask you to do. Follow me, let us pray one 'Hail
Mary' and promise God that, if your son recovers his health, you would
seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should you come to the
conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you would
embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be."
His sister was somewhat reluctant at the beginning, but as she wished
for her son's recovery, she accepted her brother's proposal and
recited the "Hail Mary" together with him. The next day her son was
completely cured.
The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic
doctrine. After long preparation she received Baptism together with
her whole family, thanking her brother for being an apostle to her.
The story was related during a sermon given by the Rev. Fr. Tuckwell.
"Brethren," he went on and said, "the boy who became a Catholic and
converted his sister to Catholicism dedicated his whole life to the
service of God. He is the priest who is speaking to you now! What I am
I owe to Our Lady.'
taken from http://www.olrl. org/stories/ prothm.shtml
