Deepertruth: Little Nellie of Holy God -The Life of Nellie Organ (1903-1908)

As December came, the Sisters had begun a ten-day retreat which was to end on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Bury, S.J., was the director. Naturally, the Sisters mentioned to him the longing for Holy Communion of the "extraordinary child"upstairs. Nellie was only 4 years old, and at this time children generally were not admitted to Holy Communion until ten or twelve years of age.

Father Bury, far from dismissing the Sisters' account, gave his sympathetic attention. "St. Alphonsus," he said, "gave Holy Communion to a tiny child who longed for it. If the Bishop permitted me, I would do the same by Little Nellie."

So that day Fr. Bury went up and had a talk with Nellie. "What is the Blessed Eucharist?" he asked. Nellie's reply was all her own: there was not a touch of coaching or catechism about it. "It is Holy God," she lisped; "it is Him that makes the nuns and everybody else holy." On another occasion she would say, "Jesus comes on my tongue and goes down into my heart." The words were indeed the words of an infant, but the doctrine was profound.