“I saw heartrending misery, playing, drinking, gossiping, even courting going on in the church”

September 27, 1822:

“I saw heartrending misery, playing, drinking, gossiping, even courting going on in the church [of Francis]. All sorts of abominations were committed in it; they had even set up a ninepin alley in the middle of it. The priests let things go their way and said Mass very irreverently; only a few of them were still a little intelligent and pious. I saw Jews standing around the doorways. All this grieved me deeply. Then my Heavenly Spouse bound me as He Himself had been bound to the pillar, and He said: ‘So will the Church yet be bound. She will be tightly bound before she shall again arise.’”