Abbe Arthur Mugnier, French Priest...
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Abbe Arthur Mugnier, French Priest, (1853-1944), a friend of Proust's, was much in demand in high society. He was renowned for his charm and warmth of heart. Clifton Fadiman recounts a marvelous story about him:
He recounted an incident one day to Edith Wharton, the American author: He was administering the last sacrament to a dying parishioner when the man's pet canary flew down and started pecking at the host. "What did you do?" asked Mrs. Wharton. "I blessed the canary," said the abbe.
--Adapted from The Little, Brown Box of Anecdotes Edited by Clifton Fadiman (Little, Brown and Co., 1985), p. 415
-- Prescott
He recounted an incident one day to Edith Wharton, the American author: He was administering the last sacrament to a dying parishioner when the man's pet canary flew down and started pecking at the host. "What did you do?" asked Mrs. Wharton. "I blessed the canary," said the abbe.
--Adapted from The Little, Brown Box of Anecdotes Edited by Clifton Fadiman (Little, Brown and Co., 1985), p. 415
-- Prescott
