Letter 2-To all his family.(1)

Aston Hall. 16th September. 1853.

My dear brothers and sisters, aunt and uncle,
From your last letter, dated 8th May 1853, I learnt that you are all in good health and that everything is going well, thanks be to God. I am still very well and am happy here in England Everything is fine; I am in this country of my own free will. Although we may never see each other again in this world, we must never lose hope of meeting once more in Heaven,(2) if we have lived good lives. It is for this that I pray during Holy Mass, which I celebrate every day.

My dear brothers and sisters, aunt and uncle, let us pray often; from the bottom of my heart I beg you to pray frequently for my dear brother Peter Joseph, that God, in his loving mercy, may fill him with every grace so that he may become a holy priest after God's own heart, a priest full of zeal for his glory.

And you my dear brother, Peter Joseph, prepare yourself for this great sacrament of the holy priesthood by long and frequent prayer, since the more you prepare yourself, the greater will be the graces you receive from God.

At present I am no longer at St. Wilfrid's. I have been sent by our provincial to the Aston Hall Monastery.(3) Formerly there was a chapel in this house; we, the Passionists, have had a new church built, having been given the money by benefactors.

We are two miles away from the town of Stone. There is also a new Catholic church being built there.
Pray for the Protestants of England and Holland, that God may grant them the grace of a sincere conversion. Our blessed founder, Father Paul of the Cross, prayed for fifty years for the conversion of England.(4) The life of our founder has been translated from Italian into English-(5) and in time there will also be a Dutch translation. It is a wonderful life to read. I ask you to invoke our blessed founder; pray to him with faith and you will obtain many graces through his intercession.(6)

I have been here at Aston Hall for some time now. There are seven of us here: three Italian priests and myself, a lay brother from the province of Limburg near Venlo, a lay brother from Bois-le-Duc, and another from Ireland.

If you wish to write, here is my address:
Reverend Father Charles,
St. Michael's Retreat,
Aston Hall, near Stone,
Staffordshire, England.

Give my best wishes to the family, and also to the parish priest and Father Duzzings, etc.
from your ever-loving brother,
Fr. Charles of St. Andrew.

Letter 2-Notes

1. Summ. p.324, L.2.
2. Although not yet two years in England, Charles realises that he will probably never see his family again. His hope of "meeting once more in heaven" never leaves him and will be expressed more intensely towards the end of his life.
3. According to-the administration book of St. Wilfrid's Retreat, Charles went from St. Wilfrid's to
Aston Hall on 5th February, 1853.
4. As a son of St. Paul of the Cross, Charles is often moved to pray "for England and the neighbouring kingdoms." During his stay at Aston Hall, on 3rd May 1854, the community were visited by John
Henry Newman. Newman had come over from Dublin to preach at the opening of the new church in
Stone, where, according to the chronicles of St. Michael's Retreat, "he alluded to the labours and zeal
of the lamented Father Dominic (Barberi) of the Mother of God, who was sent from Rome to continue or rather reassume the work once so happily accomplished by St. Augustine and his associates in the conversion of England." Newman did not forget his personal debt to Blessed Dominic, who had received him into the Catholic church; the chronicler adds: "Doctor Newman came on the same day with great inconvenience to visit the tomb of Father Dominic, where he prayed for a little while."
5. The life of Blessed Paul of the Cross (3 vols) published by Father Faber of the London Oratory in 1853 was a translation of the biography written, by Father (now Saint) Vincent Mary Strambi c.p. The preface to the English edition was written by Blessed Dominic (Barberi) c.p.
6. St. Paul of the Cross was beatified on 28th April, 1853.