Their friendship is recorded in the concluding sentences of the Apologia, in which that work is offered as a memorial of affection and gratitude to the Fathers of the Oratory: And to you especially, dear Ambrose St John, whom god gave me when He took everyone else away; who are the link between my old life and my new; who have now for twenty one years been so devoted to me, so patient, so zea lous, so tender; who have watched me so narrowly, who have never thought of yourself if I was in question.