My sisters stayed that night making me a white dress and a wreath of flowers. As for me, I was so happy that I could not sleep, and it seemed as if the hours would never pass! I kept on getting up to ask them if the day had come, or if they wanted me to try on my dress or my wreath, and so forth.
The happy day dawned at last; but nine o’clock—how long it was in coming! I put on my white dress, and then my sister Maria took me into the kitchen to ask pardon of my parents, to kiss their hands and to ask their blessing. After this little ceremony, my mother gave me her last recommendations. She told me what she wanted me to ask Our Lord when I had received Him into my heart, and said good bye to me in these words: “Above all, ask Him to make you a saint.” Her words made such an indelible impression on my heart, that they were the very first that I said to Our Lord when I received Him. Even today, I seem to hear the echo of my mother’s voice repeating these words to me.
I set out for the church with my sisters, and my brother carried me all the way in his arms, that so not a speck of dust from the road would touch me. As soon as I arrived at the church, I ran to kneel before the altar of Our Lady to renew my petition. There I remained in contemplation of Our Lady’s smile of the previous day, until my sisters came in search of me and took me to my appointed place. There were a large number of children, arranged in four lines—two of boys and two of girls—from the back of the church right up to the altar rails. Being the smallest, it happened that I was the one nearest to the Angels on the step by the altar rails.