Hearing the child say this, the mother immediately replied: “Those are superstitious Catholic prayers . They pray to idols and think that Mary is a goddess. But she is just a woman like other women. Now, take your Bible and read it. The Bible contains everything that we are required to do.” From that day on, the boy no longer said the Hail Mary, but on the contrary, he made time to read the Bible.
One day, while reading the Gospel, the boy came to the passage where the Angel announced the message to Our Lady. Filled with joy, the boy ran to his mother and said, “Mom! I found the Hail Mary in the Bible. The Bible says: "Hail, full of grace, God be with you, blessed are you among women." Why do you say this is a superstitious prayer?”
On another occasion, the boy found Elizabeth's wonderful greeting to Mary and also the Magnificat, which Mary had prophesied that "all generations will call her blessed." The boy said nothing more to his mother but began to say Hail Mary every day again as he had done before. The boy found it amusing to offer those tender loving words to the Mother of Jesus, the Saviour.
One day when the boy was 14 years old, he heard family members discuss about Our Lady. People say that Mary is an ordinary person like any other woman. After hearing their false arguments, unable to take it any longer, the boy got angry and interrupted their argument. He said: “Mary, unlike all the children of Adam, suffered from original sin. No! The angel called her blessed and blessed among women. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God. There is no higher dignity than that a creature can be consecrated. The Gospel says that generations will call her blessed and everyone here is scorning her and putting her down. The Spirit of the people is not the Spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible that people profess to be the foundation of Christianity.”
So impressed by the boy's words, his mother repeatedly cried out in anguish, "My God! I fear that this boy will one day become Catholic, the religion of the Popes!” And indeed, not long after that, after seriously studying Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found Catholicism to be the only true religion, and he fell in love and became one of the apostles. Catholic fervor.
Some time after he converted to Catholicism, his married sister rebuked him severely. The older sister said: “Does this kid know how much I love my child? If anyone is a Catholic, I'd rather stab him with a knife than let him follow the popes!" She was just as angry and hated as Paul before her conversion. But when one of her children became seriously ill and the doctors gave up hope, her brother came to her and said to her lovingly: “My dear sister, naturally, you want to let her child be healed. Very good! So do what you ask me to do. Follow me! Let's say a Hail Mary and promise the Lord that, if her baby gets well, she will seriously study Catholicism and she will conclude that Catholicism is the only true religion, I will love the religion no matter what sacrifices I have to make. The older sister was a bit hesitant at first, but wanting her son to recover, accepted her brother's offer and said the Hail Mary with her brother. The next day, her son was completely cured. The mother kept her promise, studied Catholic doctrine. After a long time of preparation, the sister and her whole family received baptism and thanked her brother for being an apostle of the Hail Mary.
Protestant boy reading Hail Mary
The story was told in a lecture by Father Tuckwell. The father is that boy. Father said: “I am a priest today because of Our Lady. You too, dedicate yourself completely to Our Lady and don't let a day go by without saying the beautiful Hail Mary and the Rosary."
ST
Claret Peter del Rosario Missionaries.