Ellen Organ: the girl Who Led St. Pius X to Change the Age for Receiving First Communion

In her short life, Nellie was a model of passionate love for God, alive in the Eucharist and suffering in the Passion.

Newsroom (September 17, 2021 11:00 AM Gaudium Press) Those who receive Baptism and remain faithful to the graces it infuses cause their soul to blossom. Even in the most tender infancy, Nellie showed wisdom and a sensitivity to the supernatural that advanced her on the paths of perfection.

Perhaps one of the clearest examples of this sanctifying effect of Baptism is little Ellen Organ, a frail Irish child who died at the age of five.

Her short life is said to have been one of the main reasons that led St. Pius X to bring forward the age at which one can receive First Holy Communion.

A childhood marked by pain

Born on August 24, 1903, in Waterford, Ireland, to a simple family, she was the youngest of five siblings and had very delicate health from birth.

Baptized as Ellen, she was soon called by the affectionate nickname Nellie. Her pious mother, Mary Ahern, often brought her to the tabernacle to consecrate her to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who surely welcomed this generous offering from her mother’s heart.

Her father, William Organ, had joined the army and in 1905 was assigned to the Spike Island fort in Cork Harbor. While there, Mary became ill with tuberculosis, and for more than a year, she fought the disease while caring for her young children.

When she died in January 1907, the oldest of the children was less than nine years old. Nellie, the youngest, was only three.

William tried to balance the care of his offspring with military life, enlisting the help of a neighbouring family. But it was impossible, especially since little Nellie was developing a spinal deformity, the result of a fall as a baby, that prevented her from standing upright. Almost all the time she had to stay in bed.

He then decided to entrust the children to religious establishments, where they would be well cared for and educated. Nellie and her little sister Mary were given to the hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy and then transferred to St. Finbarr’s School, run by the Good Shepherd Sisters of Cork, in May of that same year.

Guided by the wisdom of innocence

Despite spending almost the entire day in the infirmary, due to her disability, Nellie was a delightful child! Very attentive to all the stories told to her, there was something mysterious and captivating about the little girl, to the point that her nurse often commented, “This child will either be a great saint or a great sinner.

When they took her to the chapel for the first time and pointed to the tabernacle, and told her that Our Lord was there, she was perplexed: “Why is the Holy God enclosed in such a small house?

Upon hearing the explanations, he understood, like few souls, the great mystery of love that is the Holy Eucharist. From then on, every day she asked to be taken to be with the “Holy God”, as she began to call Him.

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At each visit, she would fix her dark eyes on the tabernacle, put her hands together and say her prayers, in an intimate colloquy that certainly pleased the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus very much.

On the first Friday of the month, she was able to contemplate the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance, which she had never had the opportunity to do before. Without being given any explanation, she exclaimed, “There is the Holy God!”

And when they went through the entire Way of the Cross with her, at the eleventh station she could not contain herself and cried out in tears, “But why did they let these wicked executioners do this?” And she repeated in a pained voice, “Poor Holy God!”

Guided by the wisdom of innocence, she soon penetrated the deepest divine mysteries, revealing a passionate love for Our Lord in the Eucharist and the Passion.

Often, when she was stricken by terrible pain, she would clasp a crucifix to her breast and say: “See how the Holy God suffered for me. On those occasions, she endured with impressive patience all the sufferings of her illness, but she didn’t hide her sorrow for not being able to visit Him in the chapel…

Little soldier of the Holy God

As her atrophy developed, her sufferings increased. Once, she became so weak that her nurse – whom she called “mommy” affectionately – commented that she was afraid she would not see her again when she returned the next day, because maybe Jesus would soon come for her dear Nellie.

But Nellie answered, “No, the Holy God told me that I’m not good enough to go to Him yet. She then told how He had visited her, stood by her bedside, and imitated His position, with her arms crossed over her chest and her face grave and collected.

From that time on, Nellie began to prepare herself for the great encounter with Jesus. She lived always in God’s presence: she thought only of Him and spoke only of Him.

He memorized morning and evening prayers and continually made acts of faith, hope and charity. She learned by heart the principal mysteries of our Holy Religion and was able to repeat accurately countless facts of the Gospel.

Learning of the supernatural precocity of this unique child, the Bishop of Cork wanted to have her confirmed, going personally to St. Finbarr School for this purpose.

As she was very weak, unable to kneel or sit up, Nellie was carried on his lap to the chapel and, in the arms of her nurse, received the Sacrament.

As she was congratulated by the religious sisters and students of the college, she repeated, “Now I am the little soldier of the Holy God.”

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“I can wait no longer!”

Her burning love for Jesus in the Sacred Species blossomed into a delicate Eucharistic sensitivity.

When the religious nurse needed to be absent from Nellie’s care, a student from the school was assigned to perform this function, sometimes even spending the night with the little one.

One morning, instead of going to the morning Mass, the young substitute went to the kitchen without anyone noticing, and there she was alone during the celebration.

When she returned, she was surprised to be told by Nellie: “You didn’t receive the Holy God this morning; I’ll tell Mom.” Astonished, the girl wanted to test her: on another occasion, she repeated the same trick, not attending the Holy Sacrifice, and when she returned to the little girl, she was again rebuked.

On her bed of pain, she knew when the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in the monstrance, without anyone saying anything to her, and on the occasions when she could adore Him in the chapel, her face shone with enchantment and her bright eyes seemed to penetrate the Eucharistic veils and see Jesus Himself.

He ardently desired to receive Him into his heart and did not hesitate to beg Him insistently: “I need the Holy God, I need the Holy God. Oh, how I long for Him to come into my heart! When will He come? I can wait no longer!”

Nellie, however, was only four years old! To alleviate the anguish of waiting, she asked her nurse to come and hug her every day as soon as she received Communion because in this way she felt that the Eucharistic presence was somehow communicated to her soul.

The longed-for First Communion

While visiting the school, a Jesuit priest took an interest in the pious sick woman and wanted to talk to her. When he asked her if she knew exactly what Communion was, she answered without hesitation: “It is the Holy God. It is He who makes the Saints, and all the Saints are through Him.”

Impressed by the wisdom and elevation of these words, indicative of an inner life already worked by grace, this priest interceded for Nellie with the Bishop, who authorized her to receive the Eucharist.

The news overwhelmed the girl who, overcome with joy, told everyone about the great grace she would soon receive. The date set for her First Communion was December 6, 1907.

The night before Nellie couldn’t sleep in anticipation of the long-awaited appointment, and early in the morning, she woke up her nurse to get her ready.

The whole community, sisters and students, gathered in prayer in the chapel, awaiting the solemn moment. Carried by the arms of her “mommy”, dressed in white and with a crown of roses on her head, Nellie looked like an Angel.

There was no one who was not moved to see the piety and emotion with which she received Jesus-Host inside her. An extraordinary light transfigured her face, giving her a heavenly radiance, a phenomenon that was repeated in other Communions in the short time that followed before her departure for Heaven.

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When the ceremony was over, she was taken back to her bed, where she gave a prolonged thanksgiving.

From then on, Nellie received the Holy Species almost daily. When she had the strength, she went to the chapel for Holy Mass. When she couldn’t, the chaplain would bring her Communion.

It was not unusual for her thanksgiving to last between two and three hours, during which time she was absorbed in God.

She was often moved to tears as she expressed her joy at being visited by the Holy God in her heart. He was her only thought and desire in this life.

Interceding for the children of the whole world

The time for her departure was approaching. The Holy God, who had delighted her with His Eucharistic presence, wanted to have this sweet flower of purity and innocence with Him in the heavenly garden.

A few days before her death, she said to the nurse: “I want the Holy God! I need the Holy God! Is the day yet to come? And having taken communion, she spent the seven o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the evening, when the superior of the house called her, worried. Opening her eyes, Nellie answered: “Oh, my mother, I was so happy! She was talking to the Holy God.

Suffering greatly, exhausted and feverish, with a cavity eating away at her jawbone, Nellie felt the Divine Crucified One very close to her.

Her agony took place in a gentle manner. On Friday, February 2, 1908, at three o’clock in the afternoon, Nellie fixed her bright black, tear-stained eyes on something she seemed to see at the foot of the bed, and twice stretched out her little arms, as if to reach for it.

The movement of her lips indicated that she was talking to someone. Raising her eyes, she delivered her soul to the Holy God, who received her into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Surely she was a great intercessor for the approval of First Communion for children, for a pamphlet circulating at the time, with the imprimatur of a Monsignor of the Sacred Palaces, stated:

“During the year following her death, the schoolgirls thought of making a novena to their Nellie to ask her to obtain a ‘miracle,’ which would be to inspire the Supreme Pontiff to grant the benefit of First Communion to all children throughout the world.

A few months later, His Holiness Pope Pius X issued the decree Quam Singulari, authorizing Communion for all children with the use of reason who desired it.

Text extracted, with adaptations, from the Heralds of the Gospel magazine n.223, July 2020.

Compiled by Zephania Gangl

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