In 1897, a young French women died in a Carmelite Monastery in Northern France. Virtually unknown to the outside world, Therese Martin would go on to become Saint Therese, arguably the most revered saint of the subsequent hundred years. Despite only being 24 at the time of her death, her short life was profound her enough to see her named ‘The Greatest Saint of Modern Times’ by none other than Pope Pius X.
Pope Pius X had dealt the the saintly life of another sickly young girl, an Irish child by the name of Ellen Organ, who was born 6 years after Saint Therese’s death and died 11 years after the French nun. Her short life was marked by suffering, both physical and, it would appear, spiritual. The latter is not something to be expected in such a young life, yet it appears as though this were the case, leading to Pope Pius X seeing her life as the instigation for changes in the First Holy Communion of children.
William Organ married Mary Aherne in 1896, both of them Catholics living in County Waterford, in the South of Ireland. They had four children, of whom Ellen was the youngest. Nellie, as she came to be affectionately known, would often talk about ‘Holy God’ in a manner that suggested a deep affiliation with her Creator. She moved to Spike Island, where her father was stationed as a soldier. Her life quickly became tragically affected by the poverty of the time however, with her mother dying when Nellie was three, due to tuberculosis.
Struggling to maintain care of the family, William Organ placed Nellie and her siblings into the care of religious orders, the Good Shepherd Sisters in Cork welcome Nellie and her sister Mary into their care.
Under the care of the nuns, Little Nellie showed an understanding of the faith that made them startled. She had a fixation with Our Lord’s crucifixion and asked why it had been allowed.
Nellie became enchanted with the statues of the Little Child of Prague, stating that she could see images of him dancing for her amusement and becoming excited.
In late 1907, it became clear that Nellie would not have a long life. So sick was she that Bishop O’Callaghan administered the Sacrament of Confirmation upon her, in preparation for her inevitable death. Her response was striking, something that one might have expected from Saint Therese of Joan of Arc, she said ‘I am now a Soldier of Holy God’.
It was after this that she started to develop her most mystical insights, particularly in relation to the Blessed Sacrament. She repeatedly stated that God was ‘imprisoned’ and instinctively knew upon first seeing a monstrance that ‘there is Holy God’.
The Mother Superior decided to approach the priest to ask if she could receive Communion, which was an unusual request for one so young. The Jesuit priest quizzed the little girl on her knowledge of the Eucharist, with Nellie affirming that it was ‘Holy God’. She said that He ‘makes the nuns and everyone else holy’, before stating that ‘Jesus rests on the tongue then goes into the heart’. The bishop, hearing this report from the priest, agreed to let her receive her First Holy Communion.
Nellie would often claim to be talking to Holy God, with a peace coming upon her near the end of her short life, with serenity surrounding her as she gleefully told of God’s love for her.
Shortly before her death, she was praying the Rosary with one of the nuns when she asked to say a prayer for ‘The Pope, my Holy Father’.
On February 2nd 1908, the short yet profound mortal life of Little Nellie Organ came to an end, but her impact upon the world was only beginning.
Hearing of her life, the pope for whom she prayed, Pius X, said ‘She was an angel’.
Only two years after her death, Pope St. Pius X wrote Quam Singulari, his encyclical bringing about radical changes in the age of First Holy Communion.
The great pope wrote:
After careful deliberation on all these points, this Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, in a general meeting held on July 15, 1910, in order to remove the above-mentioned abuses and to bring about that children even from their tender years may be united to Jesus Christ, may live His life, and obtain protection from all danger of corruption, has deemed it needful to prescribe the following rules which are to be observed everywhere for the First Communion of children.
1. The age of discretion, both for Confession and for Holy Communion, is the time when a child begins to reason, that is about the seventh year, more or less. From that time on begins the obligation of fulfilling the precept of both Confession and Communion.
2. A full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine is not necessary either for First Confession or for First Communion. Afterwards, however, the child will be obliged to learn gradually the entire Catechism according to his ability.
3. The knowledge of religion which is required in a child in order to be properly prepared to receive First Communion is such that he will understand according to his capacity those Mysteries of faith which are necessary as a means of salvation (necessitate medii) and that he can distinguish between the Bread of the Eucharist and ordinary, material bread, and thus he may receive Holy Communion with a devotion becoming his years.
4. The obligation of the precept of Confession and Communion which binds the child particularly affects those who have him in charge, namely, parents, confessor, teachers and the pastor. It belongs to the father, or the person taking his place, and to the confessor, according to the Roman Catechism, to admit a child to his First Communion.
5. The pastor should announce and hold a General Communion of the children once a year or more often, and he should on these occasions admit not only the First Communicants but also others who have already approached the Holy Table with the above-mentioned consent of their parents or confessor. Some days of instruction and preparation should be previously given to both classes of children.
6. Those who have charge of the children should zealously see to it that after their First Communion these children frequently approach the Holy Table, even daily if possible, as Jesus Christ and Mother Church desire, and let this be done with a devotion becoming their age. They must also bear in mind that very grave duty which obliged them to have the children attend the public Catechism classes; if this is not done, then they must supply religious instruction in some other way.
7. The custom of not admitting children to Confession or of not giving them absolution when they have already attained the use of reason must be entirely abandoned. The Ordinary shall see to it that this condition ceases absolutely, and he may, if necessary, use legal measures accordingly.
8. The practice of not administering the Viaticum and Extreme Unction to children who have attained the use of reason, and of burying them with the rite used for infants is a most intolerable abuse. The Ordinary should take very severe measures against those who do not give up the practice.
Just as had been the case with Saint Therese a decade earlier, the brevity of life was no obstacle to the breadth of her influence nor to the depths of her holiness.