vpon the firme and liuely rocke Iesus Christ my only begotten Sonne And this truth is clad with a most goodlie and shynyng light which dispatcheth darkenes Wherefore clad thy selfe with truth my sweete and most deerely beloued daughter A praier or answere made by a faithfull and deuout soule to the wordes of almightie God here before recited Chap. 20. THen that deuout soule after that she had seene with the eye of her vnderstanding and knowen by the light of faith the truth and excellencie of the vertue of obedience after that she had felt it with a right sense and tasted it in her affection with an vnspeakeable desire beholding her selfe in the diuine maiestie she gaue thankes to almightie God saying Thankes be to thee O eternall Father bicause thou hast not despised me thy creature neither hast thou turned thy face from me nor made light of my desires Thou being the light diddest not looke to my darckenes Thou being life diddest not looke to my death Thou being the phisician diddest not refuse my grieuous infirmitie Thou being the euerlasting purenes diddest not despise me that am full of durt and infinite miseries Thou being endles diddest not reiecte me that must haue an end Thou being the most high wisedome diddest regard me that am a foole for these and manie other euels and infinite defectes that are in me thou hast not contemned me thy bountifulnes thy wisedome thy clemencie thyne endles and inestimable goodnes hath not despised me But in thy light thou hast geuen me light in thy wisedome I am come to knowe truth in thy clemencie I haue found the loue of thee and charitie towardes my neighbour And who hath inforced thee to this Not anie vertue of myne but only thy fatherlie loue This loue therefore enforceth thee to illuminate the eye of my vnderstanding with the light of faith that I maie knowe and vnderstand thy truth that is opened vnto me Graunt me O Lord that my memorie maie be found of sufficient capacitie to receiue and keepe thy benefites Let my will burne with the fyer of thy most sweet loue let that fyer make my bodie to powre out blood geuen for the loue of blood and so cause me to open the gate of heauen with the keye of holesome obedience This same request doe I also make in most hartie maner for euerie reasonable creature both in generall and in speciall and for the mysticall bodie of our holie mother the Church I coÌ„fesse and denie not that thou hast loued me before I was and that thou louest man so much that thou art in a sort likened to one that were ensotted and made a foole with ouermuch loue O eternall Godhead O euerlasting Trinitie which through the vnion of the diuine nature hast made the price of the blood of thy only begotten Sonne to be of so great value O eternall Trinitie thou art a certaine deepe sea in the which the more I seeke the more I find and the more I find the more I seeke thee Thou dost after a sort satiate or fill the soule insatiably for in thy botomles deapth thou dost so satiate the soule that it remaineth euermore hungrie and longyng after thee O euerlasting Trinitie and desirous to see thee with the light that is in thy light Euen as the hart longeth after the spring of runnyng water so doth my soule long to be out of this darcke bodie and to see thee in truth as thou art Oh how long shall thy face continue hidden from myne eyes O euerlasting Trinitie ô fyer and botomles deapth of charitie dissolue out of hand the cloud of this my bodie For the knowledge that thou hast geuen me of thee in thy truth doth verie much enforce me and cause me to haue a passing desire to laie downe this heauie â—ompe of my bodie and to yeald vp my life for the honour and glorie of thy name bicause I haue tasted and seene with the light of vnderstanding in thy light thy botomles deapht ô euerlasting Trinitie and the beautie of thy creature WherupoÌ„ beholding my selfe in thee I sawe that I was thyne image by reason that thou O eternal Father hast geuen me of thy power of thy wisedome and of thyne vnderstanding which wisedome is properly ascribed to thy only begotten Sonne And the holie Ghost which proceedeth from thee the Father from thy SoÌ„ne hath geuen me a will by the which I am made apte to loue For thou O eternal Trinitie art the Creatour and I the creature And therefore I knowe by the light that thou hast geuen me in the newe creation that thou hast wrought in me by the blood of thy only begotten Sonne that thou art enamored with the beautie of thy creature O botomles deapth O euerlasting Trinitie O Godhead O deepe Sea what greater thing couldest thou geue me then thyne owne selfe Thou art the fyer which dost euer burne and neuer waste Thou art the fyer which dost consume with thy heate all selfe loue in a soule Thou art the fyer which takest awaie all coldnes and dost illuminate myndes with thy light with the which light thou hast made me to knowe thy truth Thou art that light aboue all light which geuest a supernatural light to the eye of our vnderstanding in such perfection and aboundance that euen the light of faith is made more cleere by it In the which faith I see that my soule hath life and in this light it receiueth thee that art the light For in the light of faith I get wisedome in the wisedome of the word thy SoÌ„ne In this light of faith I am made strong and constant and able to hold out In this light of faith I coÌ„ceiue a hope that thou wilt not suffer me to faint in the waie This light teacheth me the waie by the which I must walke and without this light I should walke in darckenes And therefore I made my petitioÌ„ to thee O eternal Father that thou wouldest illuminate me with the light of this most holie faith Truly this light is a sea which doth feede the soule in thee the quiet and calme sea vntill it be wholly in thee O calme sea euerlasting Trinitie The water of this sea is not troubled and therefore it causeth no feare but geueth the knowledge of truth This is a most cleere water which sheweth thinges hidden And therefore where this most goodlie shyning light of thy faith aboundeth there is the soule as it were clarified and made bright by the thing that it beleeueth This is a second glasse which thou ô euerlasting Trinitie dost make me to knowe The which being holden with the hand of loue before the eyes of my soule represeÌ„teth to me my selfe in thee shewing that I am thy creature And it doth likewise represent thee in me by reason of the coÌ„iunction which thou hast made of thy deitie with our humane nature In the light of this glasse there is represeÌ„ted vnto me I knowe thee the most high
excused The parentes whose hartes were verie heauie and careful for the innocent child would not take that excuse but tooke their daughter and went to her to her lodging And came to the house so sodainly that she could not possibly escape by the dore but that they must needes haue a sight of her The which whē she sawe she fownd the meanes to conueie her selfe out by a windowe and so hid her selfe for that tyme in such sort that they could not find her At the last when they had tried all waies sawe that they could by no meanes come to her speech for she had geuen charge to as manie as were about her that none should moue her in that matter they resolued to goe to doct Thomas her ghostlie father to entreat him that seeing the case was so lamētable she so vnwilling to deale in it he would cōmaund her in the vertue of her obedience to keepe the child with her for a tyme. Doctour Thomas was much moued with their pitiful sute and therfore put them in comfort that he would doe for his part what was possible to be done But bicause he knewe well that if he spake to her him selfe she would of humilitie make one excuse or other in such sort that he should not be able to moue her anie further he deuised this wyle He awaited a tyme late in the euenyng when he knewe that the holie maid was abrode then tooke the child that was possessed and put her into a chamber whether he knewe she would come that night leauing word with the rest of the sisters that they should tell her when she came home that he commaunded her in the vertue of her obedience to suffer that child to remaine there with her all that night vntill the next morrowe And so he went his waie and lefte the child with them Anon after when she came home and espied the child in her chamber she asked the sisters who had brought that child thither They made her answere and said that doctour Thomas her confessour had lefte the child there And they declared furthermore that he had willed her in the vertue of her obedience to take the charge of the child till the next daie When she heard that she made no more a doe but set her selfe foorthwith to praier and caused the child to kneele downe and praie with her And so they continued together all that night encountering and fighting against the wicked sprite vntill at the length a litle before daie he was constreined by the force of her faithful praier to depart and to leaue the innocent child without doing anie harme to her bodie The which thing when one of the sisters caled Alexia perceiued she ranne to doctour Thomas and told him that the child was deliuered Doct Thomas likewise being very glad of that ioiful newes wēt to the father mother and brought them with him to the holie maides chamber Where when they sawe the child deliuered in deed they wept for ioye and glorified almightie God that had geuen such power to his humble spowse But the holie maid knewe that the wicked sprite had not quite forsaken the child and therefore intreated the father and mother that she might remaine there with her a litle tyme which they graunted with a good will Then she began to instructe the child exhorted her to geue her self to continual prayer And withal she gaue her a great charge that she should in no wise depart out of the house vntill her father and mother came thether againe to fetch her home Which pointes the child obserued verie well Now it chaunced in this meane tyme that the holie maid had occasion to goe home to her owne house about some necessarie busines for all this was done not in her owne house but in the house of one of the sisters called Alexia of whome mention is made before and there to continue all that daie for the which tyme she lefte the child with a seruant gaue her a great charge withall When she had passed ouer the whole daie in her owne house about such necessarie businesses as she had there to doe and night was come she willed Alexia to giue her her mātel for she would returne with her to her house To that Alexia made answere and said that it was verie late and that it would be euel thought of if women esp religious persones should be seene abrode at that tyme of the night O Alexia said she we must needes goe for that hellish wolfe is about to take my litle lambe awaie from me againe And with that they went both together and found the child in deed verie strangely altered her face all red and her wittes vtterly distracted When the holy maid sawe that she brak out with great indignation into these wordes Ah thou foule feend of hell how durst thou thus to enter againe vpon this poore innocent I trust in the great goodnes of my deere Lord and Sauiour that thou shalt now be cast out in such sort that thou shalt neuer dare to enter againe And with that she tooke the child with her into her chamber where she continued for a certaine tyme in praier Which done she brought out the child againe fully deliuered of that wicked sprite and willed that other sister that was there with her to take the child and laie her downe vpon the bed that she might rest a while And the next morrowe she sent for the father and mother to whome she spake after this maner Take your child home with you on Gods name for from this daie foreward she shall neuer be troubled more with that wicked sprite They tooke their child with glad hartes and lead her to the monasterie from whence she came where she liued a verie blessed life vnder that holie rule and discipline and was neuer molested more to her dying daie Which thing was so ioyous to maister Michael her father that he could neuer tell it afterwardes but that he wept for ioye And he honoured the holie maid in his hart as if she had ben an Angel of God Doctour Raimundus being certified of this great miracle by the faithful report of doctour Thomas Alexia and of the father and mother of the child went him selfe to the holie maid and desired her that she would enforme him particularly of the matter But specially he was desirous to knowe the cause whie the thing was not wrought by the vertue of some holie reliques which the father and mother sought so diligentlie vnto or els exorcismes as it is wont to be Wherunto she made answere that it was a verie rough and stubborne sprite so obstinatly bent that at the first tyme she was faine to continue in battaile against him from the euenyng til the fourth houer of the night before she could expell him And at the length when he sawe that he must needes depart being indeed therunto constreined by the force of her feruent praier
affection towardes the Church of God so did those wicked feendes increase their crueltie towardes her beating and bounsing her daie and night and withal filling her eares with their most horrible cries saying O thou cursed wretch thou hast euer ben against vs. But be thou well assured the tymes is now come that we will be euen with thee Thou hast oftentymes disappointed vs of our purposes And therefore now we will neuer geue thee ouer vntill we haue made a full riddance of thee in such sort that thou shalt neuer be able to hinder vs anie more Thus much the holie maid wrote her selfe in a letter to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie Father And so she continued in such vexation and tormentes from the sonday of Septuagesima vntill the last sauing one of April on the which daie it pleased our Lord to call her out of this life How the holie maid obteined by praier that she might satisfie the iustice of God for the paines dwe to her father in Purgatorie Chap. 8. WHen Iames this holie maides father sawe that his daughter was wholly geuen to the seruice of God as it hath ben declared in the first part of this booke he cast a verie special loue and affection to her and entreated her in his house with great respecte and reuerence and had this opinion of her that she was able to obteine at Gods hand for him what she would And she likewise bare a verie singular loue and reuerence to her father and commended his health to God in her dailie praiers in most earnest maner It chaunced that her father fell into a verie grieuous sickenes kept his bed The which when she vnderstood she turned her selfe to God in praier after her accustomed maner and besought him that her father might recouer againe But answere was geuen her from God that the end of his daies in this life was come and that it was not expedient for him to liue anie longer With that she went foorthwith to her father to visite him and to examine him how he was disposed in his soule and found him readie and willing to passe out of this wordle whensoeuer it should please God to call him wherof she was verie glad and thanked our Lord with all her hart Then she praied furthermore that seeing our Lord had voutchsafed to call her father out of this life in the state of saluation it might also stand with his holie will and pleasure to make him this graunt that he might passe out of hand to the ioyes of heauen not be staied anie tyme in the paines of Purgatorie Whereunto our Lord made her answere that the order of iustice must needes be obserued which would not beare that anie soule should haue the fruition of those vnspeakeable ioyes vnlesse it were most perfectly purged before And though her father had lead a conuenient good life in his vocation and had done manie good workes also which were verie acceptable in the sight of God of the which one principal worke was the mainteinyng of her in religion yet there remained some rust of earthlie conuersation which of right must be tried out with the fyer of purgatorie When she heard that she made her praier to our Lord after this maner O most mercifull Lord how maie I abide that the soule of my deere father whome thou hast appointed to be the meane to bring me into this wordle by whome I haue ben so carefully prouided for in my tender age at whose hand I haue receiued so manie comfortes and reliefes by whose handie labour and charges I haue ben mainteined thus maine yeares in thy seruice should now be tormented with the paines of Purgatorie I beseech thee O father of mercies and God of all comfort for all the louing kindnes that euer thou hast shewed to mankind that thou wilt not suffer my fathers sowle to depart out of his bodie vntill it be by one meane or other so perfectly tried and purified that it need no further purgation A wonderful thing to consider After the tyme that the holie maid had said those wordes it was euidently seene that her fathers bodie decaied more and more as it did before to wardes death all his powers failing sensibly in such sort that all men sawe by the course of nature it could not continue anie tyme. And yet for so long time as she continued in praier wrestling as it were with almightie God and labouring to incline him in some degree if it were possible from iustice to mercie they might perceiue that his soule was holden in his bodie by some spiritual power and could in no wise depart At the length when she sawe that the iustice of God must needes be satisfied she said thus O most merciful Lord if it cā not otherwise be but that thy iustice must be answered I beseech thee turne thy iustice vpon me whatsoeuer paines thou hast appointed for my father laie the same vpon my bodie I will willingly beare them To that our Lord consented said vnto her Daughter for the loue that thou bearest to me I am content to graunt thee thy petition to transpose the paines due to thy father to laie the same vpon thee which thou shalt beare in thy bodie so long as thou liuest With that she thanked God most hūbly and said O Lord thy iudgemētes are all iust be it done to me as thou hast determined And so she made hast towardes her father who laie in extremes And she cōforted him meruelously with that glad tidinges wēt not frō him vntill he had geuē vp the ghost So soone as her father was departed she felt her selfe foorthwith pained with a grieuous disease in her side called Iliaca passio which neuer wēt frō her so lōg as she liued The which paine she bare not only patiētly but also cheerefully cōceiuīg such an inward ioy of that B. state that she knew her father was in that she litle esteemed the outward paine of her owne bodie In so much that at the tyme of her fathers departure when all other that were present made great lamentation she smiled sweetely and shewing great gladnes in her countenance said these wordes Deere father would God I were as you are Our Lord be blessed How the holie maid by praier brought her mother to life againe and so deliuered her from the paines of hell Chap. 9. AS the holie maid shewed her selfe to be a verie louing and duetiful child towardes her father so did she likewise afterwardes shewe the like loue and charitie towardes her mother as her duetie required Her mother Lapa was verie sicke and her sickenes grewe on her euerie daie more and more in such sort that there were seene in her great tokens of death and small hope of life All the which notwithstanding she was so drowned in the wordle that she might in no wise heare of death and be brought to confourme her will to the will of God When her daughter
had seene that from this tyme forward her whole care and studie was how to recouer the same againe Now whē our Lord had after this maner watered the roote of his litle plāt with the dewe of his sweet blessing she began foorthwith to yeald not only buddes blossomes of great matters in expectation but also ripe frutes of diuerse and sundrie excellent and perfecte vertues in so much that in all her behauiour she shewed her selfe to all those that God vowchsafed to conuerse with her not like an infant as her yeares required nor yet like a young woman which not withstanding in that age had ben a verie strange matter but like a graue and sad matrone This heauenlie fyer of Gods holie loue had wrought such an alteration in her hart such a light in her vnderstanding such a feruour in her will such a plyantnes in all her powers both of bodie and sowle to folowe the instincte of his holie Spirite that to them that sawe her behauiour and tooke good heed to her wordes and deedes it seemed that she was wholly transformed into IESVS-CHRIST her sweet spowse and Sauiour In so much that on a daie going to confession as her maner was she declared of her selfe to her gostlie father that she had learned the liues and austeritie of diuerse auncient fathers in Egipt other Sainctes and specially of the holy patriarke S. Dominicke not by the teaching of men nor by reading in bookes but by reuelation from God and that she had such a desire to frame her life after the examples and rules of those holy men that she could think vpon none other thing but only how to bring the same to passe Whervpon she entred into a newe course of life which was so strange vnwonted especially in that tender age that all men had great wonder of it First of all she gaue ouer all maner of plaie and sport wherein yong children are wont to take delite Then she withdrewe her selfe from all companie that she might haue the freer and more familiar accesse to God in holie meditations and praiers She bound her selfe to a wonderfull kinde of silence she punished her bodie with much abstinence and other hard discipline The which that she might doe with the more commoditie secrecy she sought out a priuie place in the howse where she might scourge her selfe with a cord which she had prouided for that purpose And as she was a towardlie scholer in the schoole of Christ yealding her selfe verie ployantly to be lead from vertue to vertue whether soeuer it pleased the spirite of God to lead her so was she also a diligent and discrete schole-mistres and vsed meanes to allure and trayne other litle children also of her age in the same patthes of vertue and austere life In so much that when the neighbours children resorted vnto her as they did oftentymes being sterred to grace by the sweet wordes and holie example of this gratious infant they would gather them selues together in a certaine secret place of the howse which she had chosen out for the nonce and there would they scourge them selues as they sawe her to doe saying in the meane tyme ech of them a certaine nomber of Pater nosters and Aue Maries according as she prescribed them to saie By these other the like exercises of piety and deuotion she fownd such fauour in the sight of her heauenlie spowse that verie manie tyme when she set hir self to goe vp and downe those staiers in her fathers howse saying her Aue Maries after such sort as we declared before it was seene by diuerse and sundrie persones that she was caried sensibly in the ayer by the almightie power of God and ministerie of Angels without towching anie steppe of the same with her feete And this happened vnto her namely at those tymes when she retired her selfe from all companie and specially of men And there is no doubt but that it happened in that place to geue her and others to vnderstand how acceptable that deuotion towardes the most glorious mother of God which she exercised in that place was to almightie God Of a bold entreprise which this blessed infant made to liue a solitarie life after the maner of auneiēt Fathers in Egipt And how she vnderstood that it was not the wil of God that she should enter into that state of life as yet Chap. 3. THis yong virgin had learned by reuelation that the trade of life which the auncient Heremites liued in Egipt was verie acceptable vnto God and therfore she had a passing great desire to seeke out some solitaire place in the wildernes where she might likewise liue after their rules and examples But she could not deuise how to bring her desired purpose to passe And bicause it was not the will of God that she should take that trade of life in such maner as she desired he left her in this point to her owne natural wit and would geue her none other direction but only what her owne childish wit could deuise Wherupon to accomplish the great desire that she had to serue God in the wildernes on a daie tymely in the mornyng she made her prouision like a child of one loafe of bread and with the same tooke her waie towardes her sisters howse which was maried dwelt neere vnto the gate of S. Ansanus Howbeit she entred not into the howse as she was wont to doe but passed by and went out at the gate and so did she neuer before that tyme. And so passing foorth vntill she came at the lenght where she sawe the howses standing one here and an other there and not together as she was wont to see them in the citie she begā to be glad hoped wel that she was neere to the wildernes Yet she held on her waie a litle further and came at the last to a place where she fownd a litle caue vnder a bancke which pleased her very well And foorth with she entred into the same with passing great ioye gladnes for she persuaded her selfe verily that she had now fownd out that wildernes that she so much desired And when she was entred she stood not long to consider of the opportunitie of the place or how she might accōmodate her selfe in that newe oratorie but by and by without anie further aduisement or consideration she fell downe on her knees and set her selfe to praier with great humilitie and feruour of spirite The which lowly and deuout mynd was so acceptable in the sight of our Lord that although it was not his holie will and pleasure that she should followe that order of life yet to geue her to vnderstand that no holie desire or purpose shal euer passe vnrewarded he gaue her this tokē As she was praying with a verie vehement bent of mynd she was taken vp by litle and litle from the earth where she kneeled and her bodie was lifted vp as high as the height of
therefore lesse circumspecte in such matters and so to make his entrie vpon them both together He began to sowe in the hart of the sicke woman diuerse and sundrie surmises against her by craftie meanes bringing her in great gelowsie and disliking of all that she did by reason wherof in processe of tyme she waxed meruelous weerie of her and might not well abide to see her Which weerisomenes increasing in her daily more and more engendred a certaine malice and malice in tyme bred a plaine hatred Now this malice and hatred had in continuance by litle and litle so corrupted her iudgement that she not only suspected of her the worst that anie euel mynd could ymagin but also bleleeued firmely that all such ymaginations were most certaine and vndoubted truthes in so much that whensoeuer the holie maid was anie where out of her sight she beleeued assuredly that she was about some fowle acte of fleshlie pleasure The which thing though the innocent virgin vnderstood verie well yet did she shewe her selfe no lesse louing meke seruiceable about her then she was wont to be before But the more meekenes and diligence the good seruant of Christ vsed towardes that froward old woman the more testie and cholericke waxed she against her by the instigation of the deuel in so much that at the length she came to that that she would no longer keepe her conceiued suspicions vnder the couert of priuate gelowsie but without all modestie shame gaue them out in plaine and brode termes to as manie as would geue eare to her slawnderous talke This fowle brute being once thus raised it went on from one to another vntil in the end it came to the eares of the sisters who to vnderstād the verie original of the rumour went to the chamber where the sicke sister laie and examined her of the matter She auowched stowtely to them so much as she had reported to others before and accused the maid constantly of actual incontinēcie vncleannes Whereat they were verie much astoined at the first but yet wheighing the age behauiour constācie of the accuser they gaue credit to her wordes thereupon calling the maid before them they gaue her verie rough and sharpe language rebuking her with meruelous vile and reprochful wordes and asking her how she was caried awaie and brought to commit such a synful and vncleane acte Wherunto she made answere with great humilitie and patience saying no moe wordes but only these Truly good mothers and sisters by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ I am a maid And whatsoeuer they said to her she gaue them none other word to answere but only this Truly I am a maid Truly I am a maid neuer vtterring so much as one word that might seeme to touch her accuser Vpon whom she attended and serued with as great loue and diligence as if there had neuer passed anie such matter betweene them And yet was she sorie at the verie hart for the slaunder and infamie that was raised vpon her Wherefore when she had done what was to be done about the sicke woman she retired her selfe for comfort as her maner was in all aduersites into her chamber and there casting her selfe downe prostrate vpon the ground she opened the griefe of her hart to almightie God more with gronyng of hart then with sound of voice after this maner O almightie God my deere Lord spowse thou knowest verie well what a tender thing the good name of virgins is especially of them that haue vowed their virginitie to thee and how much subiecte they are to the violent strokes of slawnderous tonges And that was the cause why thy prouident wisedome disposed that thy most glorious mother should be committed to the charge of Ioseph who was called and was in deed her husband not for anie acte of matrimonie but to keepe her name of virginitie from slander Thou knowest O Lord that all this slawnder that is raised vpō me is wrought by the father of lying who hath done this to withdrawe hinder me from this charitable woorke that thou hast appointed me to doe I haue willingly takē vpon me for thy loue Wherefor I most hūbly beseech thee O my deere Lord most mightie protectour of all innocentes that thou wilt not suffer this wicked serpent whom thou hast troden vnder foote in the tyme of thy sacred passion to haue the mastrie ouer me When the holie maid had thus made a long praier to our Lord with much inward gronyng and plentie of teares behold our Lord appeered to her holding two crownes in his hādes one in his right hand of gold all decked with ritch perles and precious stones an other in his left hand of verie sharpe thornes said these wordes vnto her Deere daughter it is so that thou must needes be crowned with these two crownes at sundry tymes Choose therefor whether thou haue lieffer to be crowned with the sharpe crowne of thorne in this life and that other to be reserued for thee in the life to come or elswhether thou like better to haue this goodlie golden crowne in this life that other sharpe crowne in the life to come To this demand the hūble discrete virgin made answere after this maner Lord said she thou knowest verie well that I haue resigned my will wholly to thee haue made a full resolution to doe all thinges according to thy direction and therfore I dare not choose anie thing vnlesse I maie knowe that the same shall stand with thy most blessed will and pleasure Neuertheles because thou hast willed me to make answere concernyng this choise that thou hast here made vnto me I saie thus that I doe choose in this life euermore to be conformed and made like to thee my Lord Sauiour cherefully to beare Crosses thornes for thy loue as thou hast done for myne With that she reached out her handes Iustely and tooke the crowne of thornes of our Lordes handes and put the same vpon her owne head with such a strength and violence that the thornes perced her head rownd about in so much that for a long space after she felt a sensible paine in her head by the pricking of those thornes as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie Father Then our Lord said to her Daughter all thinges are in my power And as I haue suffred this slawnder to be raised against thee by the deuel and his membres so is it in my power to cease the same when I will Continue thou therefore in that holie seruice that thou hast begon and geue no place to the enemie that would let thee from all good workes I will geue thee a perfecte victorie ouer thyne enemie and will bring to passe that whatsoeuer he hath imagined against thee it shall all be turned vpon his owne head to thy great ioye and his great paine Thus was she well comforted againe and so continued still at the seruice of that