Once there was a young girl named Cecilia. She was a pretty girl with fine, long, blond hair. She had a brother and two sisters and, obviously, a mother. Her father had died long ago, leaving them behind.

One Saturday Caecilia's mother brought her to the rosary shop. (The reason why she was going there was because Cecilia's sister Agnes needed a rosary.) In the rosary store there were rosaries and chaplets of many different colors. As she looked around she spotted a small plain brown rosary on a hook in a corner. A sign below it read $1.00. Cecilia, who liked plain things, felt around in her pocket to see if she had any money, but, to her dismay, she only pulled out a small bell on a string. Then she smiled and tied the bell onto the rosary. Having done so, she stepped back to admire it. Then it was time to go, and Cecilia was immediately obedient, completely forgetting about the bell. She remembered it when it was already too late, for she was in the car. But, after playing, she forgot it totally again.

Many years passed, and she and her siblings grew much bigger. Cecilia's mother now had poor hearing and eyesight, so her son, now a priest, drove for her. Cecilia had a very strong religious vocation- she wanted to be a Dominican nun. Everyone decided to give her a gift on the day she made the decision. Her mother asked her son, Bernard, to drive her to the rosary shop. When they got there, the old mother got out and told her son to wait in the car for her. She smiled when she saw the small, plain brown rosary. She knew Cecilia loved plain, little things. Nobody had bought the rosary because it was so plain. She did not see the little bell at all, and as she carried it over to the counter, she didn't even hear it ring. She paid for it and got back in the car.

Before the family drove to the convent where Cecilia would be a nun, she asked Bernard (who was the priest) to bless the rosary. When Cecilia saw her present, she was very pleased with it. She thank her mother over and over again and rang the little bell which she remembered from her childhood.

Some more years of prayers and hardships passed. One day, Sister Mary Imelda (the name Cecilia took as a nun) fell ill. Her temperature went up as high as 104 degrees. She was coughing and vomiting very frequently. Everyone was sure she would die. When her brother the priest came to give her the Last Sacraments, everyone left the room while she had her last confession, then came back in for the Extreme Unction. After Father gave it, he noted that it was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Sister Mary Imelda held the little brown rosary tightly and sighed. She had always had a special devotion to Mary. Suddenly, she said, "This is the happiest day of my life!" Then, she closed her eyes. Everybody saw a glow of light around her; her face was beaming as she smiled. Then everybody knew that Sister Mary Imelda had reached Heaven.