A story for every day...
Schoolchildren under the tree.
On April 20, 1890, the schoolchildren of a village near Reichenberg in Bohemia took a trip to the forest and promised to have a good time. But a storm spoiled the party, and as soon as it started to rain, the 31 children took shelter under a thickly grown tree. They devoutly invoked their guardian angel, and suddenly one little girl instinctively felt compelled to leave the tree and took several children with her. The others followed spontaneously, and no sooner had they moved away from the tree than lightning split it and partially consumed it. The parents of the children, who attributed their salvation to their guardian angels, gratefully erected a cross in that memorable spot.
A priest providentially saved.
A village priest, who had a great devotion for his guardian angel and the souls in purgatory, was studying his sermon for the following Sunday. Suddenly he remembered that he had been saving hyacinth bulbs for his father’s grave for more than a week, many of which already had long shoots. “I must plant them this very afternoon,” he said to himself, “otherwise they will not grow next year.” The priest went out and went to the cemetery which was next to the church. While he was busy arranging the grave, he heard a cracking sound followed by a thud, and no sooner had he stood up to realize what had just happened, than the maid came running up shouting, “Father, the ceiling has collapsed.” The old massive ceiling with seven large beams running through it had collapsed.
It was undoubtedly the good angel who had suggested to the priest the idea of planting his hyacinths to honor his father, and had thus preserved him from a certain death.
