Wednesday 20 August 1862

I would like tell you a dream I had a few nights ago (it would have been the night of the Feast of the Assumption). I dreamt that I found myself with all the boys at Castelnuovo d’Asti at my brother's house. While everyone was out playing, one came up to me (I don't know who), and called me to go with him. he led me to the field near the playground, and pointed to a snake lying there in the grass, about 7 to 8 metres long. It was a very big one. Horrified at the sight, I wanted to run away.

“No, no”, the man said, “Don't run away. Come here and see”.

“What?”, I gasped, “Don't you realise that monster could spring on me and gobble me up in no time?”

“Don't be afraid, no harm will come to you. Come with me”.

“Nothing doing; I'm not crazy”.

“Well then”, he continued, “stay there”. Then he went and fetched a rope and brought it to me there where I was, and said:

“Take this rope by one end and hold it tightly in both hands, and I will take the other and go on the other side and we will dangle it over the snake”.

“And then?”

“And then we'll snap it across its back”.

“Ah! No, for Heaven's sake! The snake will leap up and tear us to pieces”.

“No, no; let me do it”.

“There, there! I have no intention of risking my life for a thrill like this”.

Again I tried to run away. Again he insisted that I not be afraid, that no harm would come my way. I agreed to his plan and stayed put. Meanwhile he went round to the other side, we stretched the rope then snapped it across the snake's back. The snake leaped up and struck at the rope, but instead it got ensnared in the noose. Then the man shouted:

“Hold it tight, hold it tight and don't let it escape from the noose”.

And he ran to a pear tree nearby and tied the rope to it. Then he came to me and tied my end to the iron grating of a window in the house. The snake kept furiously struggling to free itself, writhing, thrashing and flailing about. In its fury it tore itself to pieces, scattering its flesh over the area, till it was slashed to a mere skeleton.

When the snake was dead the man untied the rope, coiled it up and then said:

“Now watch! He dropped it into a box and closed it, then opened it again. We were amazed. The rope was no longer coiled up, but arranged in the shape of a Hail Mary.

“How did that happen?” I asked. “The rope was thrown into that box and now it looks so orderly”.

“Well”, he said: “the snake is a symbol of the devil and the rope is the Hail Mary, or rather the rosary which is a succession of Hail Marys with which we can destroy all of hell's demons”.

Up to here is the first part of the dream. There is another part which is even more curious and interesting for everyone. But it is already late so we will put it off until tomorrow evening. Meanwhile let's keep in mind what that man said about the Hail Mary: let's say it devoutly when any temptation comes, assured that we will always be victorious. Good night.

Thursday 21 August 1862

Given that you have been pestering me I will tell the second part of the dream, and even if not all of it, at least what I can tell you about. But I must place two conditions first. The first is that nobody should write or talk about it outside: you can talk about it amongst yourselves, laugh, do what you want, but just amongst yourselves.

Now while we were talking about the rope, the snake and what they meant, I turned around and saw some boys who were picking up pieces of snake flesh and eating them. I immediately cried out:

“What are you doing? Are you mad? Don't you know that meat is poisonous and will do you harm?”

“No, no”, they said, “it's really good”.

And yet no sooner had they eaten it than they fell to the ground, swelled up and then hardened like stone. I was helpless, shouting at one, then another; I even slapped one, punched another, trying to stop them eating, but in vain. As soon as one fell to the ground, another would start eating.

So I called the clerics to help me and told them to use whatever means they could to stop any more eating, but to no avail.[Questioned afterwards privately about the clerics, he answered that in fact some of the clerics began eating and collapsed like the others]. I was beside myself, seeing such a huge number of boys lying on the ground. I turned to the man and said:

“These boys know that this meat will kill them, yet they eat it. Why ?” He answered:

“You know that carnalis homo non percipit quae Dei sunt.”⁴

“But isn't there some way of saving these boys?”

“Yes, there is”.

“What is it?”

“Only a hammer and an anvil”.

“We need to use them on these boys”.

“You mean put them on the anvil and hit them with the hammer?”

Then the man explained, saying:

“Look, the hammer symbolises Confession and the anvil is holy Communion. We need to use these two means”.

I set to work and found this helpful, but not for everyone. many came back to life and recovered, but for some it didn't work. These were the ones who hadn't made good Confessions.