, what they are doing, or what they are thinking, and all say in unison if it is five o''clock, for instance, "At five o''clock and at all hours praised and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar!"
If it is eight o''clock, "At eight o''clock and at all hours!" and so on, according to the hour.
This custom, the object of which is to break the thread of thought and to lead it back constantly to God, exists in many communities; the formula alone varies.
Thus at The Infant Jesus they say, "At this hour and at every hour may the love of Jesus kindle my heart!" The Bernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga, cloistered fifty years ago at Petit-Picpus, chant the offices to a solemn psalmody, a pure Gregorian chant, and always with full voice during the whole course of the office.
Everywhere in the missal where an asterisk occurs they pause, and say in a low voice, "Jesus-Marie-Joseph." For the office of the dead they adopt a tone so low that the voices of women can hardly descend to such a depth.
The effect produced is striking and tragic.
The nuns of the Petit-Picpus had made a vault under their grand altar for the burial of their community.
The Government, as they say, does not permit this vault to receive coffins so they leave the convent when they die.
This is an affliction to them, and causes them consternation as an infraction of the rules.