CHAPTER IX
DEATH OF MAMMA MARGARET
Don Bosco's heart overflowed in thanksgiving to God, when, in November, 1856, his new boarding-school was completed free from debt, and filled to its limit with his joyous children.
But a cross was coming; the health of his beloved mother was visibly failing.
A violent inflammation of the lungs had set in, and her sufferings were intense, borne with the heroic patience which had characterized the whole life of this remarkable woman. "The boys prayed fervently for her cure," writes Father Bonetti, "for she was to all of us a second mother, and by her kindness and maternal care made us forget that we had lost our own mother or were far away from her. At almost every hour of the day some were at the patient's room to inquire after her health. In the evening after prayers all awaited with anxiety some news from Don Bosco. The sorrow was general when the last rites of Holy Church had been administered, for we knew that death was fast approaching."
Margaret would not be removed to the new home. "It is too splendid for this poor old woman," she said; "let me die poor, as I have always lived poor."
After giving her last advice to Joseph and his
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