maid How almightie God permitted the deuel to haue power ouer her bodie and how she ouercame all with great patience Chap. 33. THe malice that the damned sprites bare to this holie virgin was verie great and the battailes that they made continually against her to remoue her from her constancie and vowe of virginitie were surely verie fierce and cruel All the which she ouercame by the grace of God and triumphed ouer all their malice and wilines as we haue in part touched before but as our Lord would not suffer them to haue anie power ouer her soule which could not be without synne so did he permit them to vexe her bodie and put it to great paine for her further increase of merite and higher crowne In so much that some tymes they threwe her into the fyer sometymes they cast her downe headlong from her horse and one tyme when doctour Raimundus her Confessour with diuerse other was present they hurled her downe in such sort that both she and her horse were ouer the head and eares in the myer Wherat she smyled pleasantly and said to her companie Be not afraid for this is the worke of Malatasca And this happened most commonly vnto her when she had done some special worke that tended to the edifying of soules As she declareth verie well her selfe in her hundreth and sixt epistle where after that she had declared what intolerable paines she suffred which were in deed so vehement that for verie paine she raught at her garmentes and looke how much she latched with her hand so much she rent awaie and how the next daie being to write letters to the Popes holines and to three Cardinals when she had ended her letler to the Pope she was able to write no more by reason of the violent paines that came vpon her she writeth these wordes And so standing stil a litle while there began a terrour of deuels which was done in such sort that they set me quite besides my selfe raging like mad dogges against me as though I seelie worme had ben the occasion of taking out of their handes that which they had holden longe tyme in the holie Church And this terrour together with the paine of my bodie was so great that I had thought to haue gone from my studie and to get me to the chappell as though my studie had ben the occasion of my paines but sodainly I was throwen downe And being throwen downe it seemed to me that my soule was departed from my body howbeit not so as when it was departed in deed for then my soule did tast the felicitie of the immortal spirites and did receiue that most soueraigne blessednes with them But now it seemed as a thing reserued though it seemed not to be in my bodie but I sawe my bodie as though it had ben an other These be the verie wordes that she writeth in that epistle in the which she describeth certaine newe battailes made against her by those damned sprites farre greater and more terrible then euer she susteined at anie other tyme. And in the next epistle she declareth how she was verie sore beaten and tormented by them bicause she praied with a great zeale for the Catholike Church where she saieth moreouer that the more she suffred in her bodie the greater was her loue towardes the Church and the more she desired to see the same refourmed How she deliuered a certaine yong maid that was possessed of a wicked sprite Chap. 34. AS it was well knowen to diuerse and sundrie persones that this holie maid was meruelously vexed and put to intolerable paines by the malice of wicked sprites so it pleased God to shewe likewise to the wordle that he had graunted her as it were by special priuilege authority iurisdiction ouer the said sprites to commaund bynd and cast them out at her pleasure to the great comfort of the true and humble seruantes of God and withal to the vtter confusion of those proude sprites that set them selues vp against God and his seruantes as maie appeere euidently by these examples here ensewing There was in the citie of Siena a certaine notarie called maister Michael who when he was well striken in yeares determined with the consent of his wife to forsake the wordle and to geue him selfe to a more streigth order of life He determined also to dedicate two of his daughters to the seruice of God in a monasterie founded in the name honour of S. Iohn Baptist in the same citie Where when they had continued a certaine tyme one of the daughters whose name was Laurentia a child of eight yeares old was by the secret iudgement of God posessed with a wicked sprit by reason wherof the whole monasterie was much disquieted Wherupon by common consent they sent for her father and gaue him his daughter againe After that this child was thus taken out of the monasterie the wicked sprite vttered many wonderful thinges by her mouth and answered to manie darcke and hard questions And which was most strange he spake commonly in the latine tongue He disclosed also manie secret vices of diuerse and sundrie persones to their great reproach and slaunder Which thing turned the father and mother and others also of their kinred and acquentance to great heauines who left no meane vnsought wherby they thought they might ease the child Emong other thinges wherin those deuout folkes hoped in tyme to find helpe comfort one special meane was the reliques of Sainctes kept in manie places in the citie vnto the which places they resorted daily with all diligence namely to S. Ambrose tombe who had ben in his life tyme a Fryer preacher to whome almightie God had graunted a singular grace in casting out deuels frō such as were possessed in so much that his cope or scapular which were there kept being laied vpon them that were vexed with vncleane sprites did verie commonly chase them awaie Wherfore they brought the child thither and laied her downe vpon the tombe cast the said clothes ouer her And the father and mother in the meane tyme set them selues earnestly to praier beseeching our Lord with great instance that it would please him at the contemplation of that holie Saincte to take mercie on their child But their praier was not heard as then Which thing happened vnto them not for anie synne that they committed but bicause it was otherwise disposed by the prouident wisdome of God who vndoubtely put it in the heartes of certaine of their frindes to geue them counsel that they should repraire to the holie maid for the reliefe of their child Which counsel they folowed in deed and first sent vnto her praying her in most earnest maner that she would vouchsafe to doe her best to helpe their daughter wherunto she made answere that she had inough to doe with the wicked sprites that did from tyme to tyme molest and trouble her selfe and therfore praied them that they would hold her
him and directeth all her workes and thoughtes together with all the powers of her sowle in him according to the rule and direction that she findeth in him And without him she listeth not to be forsomuch as in him she findeth all that the hart maie delite in all beautie all sweetnes all quietnes all peace And so by this meane there increaseth daily a certaine vnion and streighte bande of loue betweene her and God which in tyme cometh to be so wonderfully wrought that she is altogether as it were transfourmed into him Wherupon it cometh to passe that she can loue delite thinke and remember none other thing but only him All other creatures she loueth knoweth and considerereth in him euen as a man doth that diueth and swymmeth vnder the water who seeth and feeleth nothing that is not either water or conteined in the water And if he see anie thing that is out of the water he seeth it not properly as it is in it selfe but as the likenes of the same sheweth in the water and not otherwise This is a verie perfecte and sure rule by the which a man maie make a iust estimate both of him selfe and of all creatures grownded vpon a most certaine and infallible truth which is almightie God Vpon this she brought in an other Doctrine also which she tooke such pleasure in that she ceased not to repeate it againe and againe as a thing verie worthie to be noted A sowle said she that is thus plonged in the loue of God looke how much she loueth God so much she hateth her selfe that is her owne sensualitie which is the roote and beginnyng of all synne and from whence she seeth to arise the cause of her separation from God which is her whole felicitie and final perfection The which thing when a sowle preceiueth she conceiueth a great misliking which bringeth foorth a certaine holie hatred against her owne lustes and withal an earnest desire to kill the roote of the same which roote is selfe loue But bicause she seeth that the roote is so deepe that it can not be vtterly grubbed vp but that there will remaine some peece of it which will from tyme to tyme molest her therefore doth she likwise increase daily in this holie hatred whereof is engendred a certaine frutful despising and setting at naught of her selfe which by the force and vertue of the loue of God the ouercomer of all deiection and confusion riseth vp with a greater hope desire and auanceth it selfe towardes God for whose loue she is desirous to abide all paines and roughnes of discipline hoping thereby to subdue al inordinate appitites and pronenes to synne in her selfe which are the lettes and staies that keepe her from her desired ioye and vnion with God And in this humble submission of her selfe she receiueth an inward light of grace by the which she cometh to see and to acknowledge the mercifull goodnes of God who is euermore readie to pardon and will not the death of a synner but rather that he turne and liue Which consideration increaseth her loue towardes him passingly and by loue she purchaseth daily greater grace strenght and fulnes of peace in her selfe and so goeth foreward in perfection of charitie vntill at the lēght it pleaseth God to plucke her as a melowe apple from this tree of bitternes and to transpose her wholly into him selfe who is the euerlasting tree of sweetnes and life And thus is this holie hatred the true keeper and gardian of the sowle the forteresse and sure castel of a quiet and assured hope in God This is that which the holie Apostle meant when he said VVhen I am weake then am I strong For our Lord had declared vnto him that strenght is wrought in weakenes And therefore he saieth also I will gladly reioyce in myne infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me Now this infirmitie was nothing els but only that hatred of him selfe that we here speake of Which was caused in him by the knowledge of that roote of inordinate lustes and of his weakenes and insufficiencie to all good workes which he sawe was in him selfe The which thing when he perceiued he waxed weake and feeble that is he despaired in him selfe and acknowledging his owne feeblenes yealded him selfe humbly into the mightie handes of God in whom only it laie to cure his infirmitie Who like a louing Father foorthwith accepted that lowlie resignation of him selfe and laying his almightie hand vpon him made him strong in God that was content to confesse how weake and in sufficient he was in him selfe When this holie virgin spake these and other wordes to like purpose she burst out as it were of a certaine inward ioye and iubilee that she felt in her spirite and said O wonderful goodnes of God how strangely dost thou dispose of of thinges Out of vice thou drawest vertue out of weakenes strength out of offence great grace and fauour O deere children said she haue this holie hatred in your selues for out of it ariseth true meekenes and humilitie of hart by reason whereof you shall account all your workes and other thinges as smoke and vanities and shall glorie only in God This holie hatred shall make you to haue a great moderation and staie in prosperitie and withal a goodlie quietnes and patience in aduersitie It shall cawse you to be modest and comelie in your conuersation with men gratious and acceptable in all your workes of pietie before God Manie tymes also she would adde furthermore and saie contrariwise Woe be to that sowle in the which this holie hatred lodgeth not for it can not be chosen but that in such a sowle there must needes reigne selfe loue which is the roote fowndation and syncke of all inordinate lustes And therefore when she sawe anie synne or vice in anie person being moued with a certaine compassion she vsed often tymes to saie This is the frute of selfe loue the mother of pride and of all other euels Doe therefore said she to her ghostlie Father and others your vttermost endeuour to grubbe it vp out of your hart and to plant in the same that holie hatred for that is the kinges high waie verie certainly knowen and well troden in the which all our defectes are perfectly corrected without anie errour and by it we clyme vp to the mount of all vertues in the highest perfection Thus much sawe the glorious Father S. Augustine when he described two cities the owne fownded vpon the loue of our selues which tendeth to the dishonour of God and the other grownded vpon the loue of God which tendeth to the abbasing of our selues Of the strange battailes which she had against the deuel and how she armed hir selfe with a strong faith and other heauenlie vertues and so gate a most glorious victorie ouer her enemie Chap. 20. AFter that she had learned these lessons which were manie moe then are here specified it pleased the wisedome
right well that both the one and the other should be restored When her Confessour had heard this reasō discourse he replied no more but held his peace for in deed he was astoined and knewe not what to answere to the wisedome and spirite of God that spake in her An other exposition vpon the same place of the gospel with certaine other mystical sayinges And how she passed in deed out of this life in the paines of the Crosse Chap. 28. BEing on a tyme rauished in spirite she learned an other exposition vpon this place of the gospel which her Confessour douctour Thomas commited to writing and it was thus Our Lord said she approching neere to his passion set before the eyes of his mynd that great multitude of wicked men and women which he sawe through malice and obstinacie would not take the benefite of his death The which sight put him into such an agonie that he sweat water and blood for verie pitie that he had of those miserable creatures he was as it were enforced to vtter those wordes Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Which is as much as if he had said Father this cup that is here presented before me is surely a verie bitter cup to me seeing as I do to my great griefe the damnation of so manie soules which without anie cause shall make light of this great loue that I am here to shewe to mankind and leese the benefite of my blood which is now readie to be powred out for their sake Wherfore if it be possible I beseech thee that thou wilt pardon them and in so doing take awaie this bitter cup from me This said she was the praier that our Sauiour made to his eternal Father And she added furthermore and said that he had without all doubt obteined the thing that he demaunded if he had requested the same absolutely and without condicion for what petition could he make to his Father that should not haue ben heard who as the Apostle saieth was heard for the verie reuerence that was in him selfe But as on the one side the tender loue that he bare to mankind wonne so much of him that he made that petition in their behalfe so on the other side the loue of Gods iustice moderated the vehemencie of his loue towardes mankind and cawsed him to qualifie his earnest demaund with this clause and condicion howbeit O Father not my will be done but thyne This holie maid declared yet further to her confessour and said that the paines which our Sauiour suffred for the redemption of mankind were so excessiuely great that it had ben impossible for anie man in this wordle to endure the same but that he must needes haue dyed if it had ben possible manie tymes For as the loue that he bare to mankind was vnspeakeable and incomprehensible so were the paines that he suffred for their loue so great that no man had ben able to esteeme them and much lesse to beare them What man said she would haue beleeued that those thornes of his crowne should haue persed thorough his scull into his braines And yet so it was Againe who would haue thought that the bones of a man should haue ben drawen a sonder and disiointed And yet the prophet Dauid saieth They told all my bones speaking of the vnmerciful and cruel tormentours which haled and pulled him here there so violently that they plucked his bones out of ioynt Certaine it is that the malice of those wicked Iewes was verie great and that they vsed him verie cruelly and yet could not their malicious and cruel vsage haue done it but only that his will was to shewe his vnspeakeable loue towardes vs as it were vtterly to forsake him selfe and to suffer his bodie to be destitute of all such force and strength as might make anie resistance against paines and tormentes So that the principal cause of his passion was the desire which he had of shewing his loue to vs euidently and effectually It was not the violent hand of those tormentours that were able to hold him whome he made to fall downe at his foote with one woord of his mouth It was not the nailes that were able to holde him fast to the Crosse which were his creatures and had no further power vpon their Creatour but only so much as he would geue them but it was the loue that he bare to mankind that tooke him it was loue that held him fast it was loue that nailed him fast to the Crosse and made him there to endure a most bitter and reprochful death Such high wordes and sentences did she vtter to her confessour concernyng the passion of our Sauiour And she affirmed furthermore that whatsoeuer paines our Sauiour had borne in anie part of his bodie the same had she borne in her bodie also in like maner as our Sauiour did but not in like measure for that had ben impossible for her bodie to beare And to shewe in deed that she knewe by exeperience which of all those paines was greatest she said that all the other paines were passed and gone but one remained still in her bodie which was the diuulsion as they terme it or sundering of the bones in the brest which paine was of all other paines as she said most grieuous Now this paine of the brest grewe on so vehemently vpon her and withal the loue of our Sauiour to whome she was confourmed by suffring such paines increased so mightely in her hart that she was wholly ouercome with the force of the same and her hart like a thynne glasse filled with a verie strong liqour being not able to beare the strength of that diuine loue brast in sunder as she declared afterwardes and clefte in the middle from the highest to the lowest part of the same And certaine it is that she dyed in deed in the presence of manie vertuous and credible persones and so continued a long tyme. Of this matter she made mention afterwardes in a letter writen to her ghostlie Father with her owne hand in the which letter she declared emong other thinges how she was taught by S. Iohn the Euangelist and S. Thomas of Aquine to write in a verie short space How she passed in deed out of this life and had the fruition of heauenlie ioyes and how afterwardes her soule came againe to the bodie Chap. 29. HEr ghostlie Father being desirous to learne the verie certainty of this matter at her owne mouth on a tyme reasonyng with her besought her that she would tell him plainly what had passed She stood still a great while and could not geue him one word to answere for weeping but at the length she spake after this maner O father said she is it not a pitiful and lamentable case that a soule which hath ben once deliuered out of a darcke prison and hath had the fruition of a most ioyous and beawtifull lighte shoulde be constreined to forsake
be receiued vnworthely If S. Augustine had knowen that it had ben euel to receiue daily he would not haue said that he did neither like nor dislike of it but would haue said in plaine termes that he did vterly mislike it How much better were it for such rash iudgers of other mens consciences to harken to S. Ambrose who inuiteth thē to receiue daily with these wordes Take this bread saieth he euerie daie bicause you baue neede euerie daie to be purged restored comforted And the angelique doctour S. Thomas after a lōg discourse had about this matter cōcludeth in the end that such persones as find them selues to haue a greater deuotion and reuerence to the blessed Sacrament by their often receiuing maie safely receiue it often tymes And surely this increase of deuotion reuerence was euidently seene in the holie maid in whome it was noted by diuerse and sundrie persones that conuersed with her but especially by her ghostlie Father who sate at the sterne of her conscience that the oftener she comunicated the more she increased in humilitie in holie feare in feruour of deuotion in charitie in patience in all other vertues And when she might not cōmunicate as it happened sometimes by reason of certaine vrgent necessarie lettes she had a certaine fainting languishing paine not only in her soule but also miraculously in her bodie which was more grieuous to her then if she had ben sick of a burning ague or anie other bodily infirmitie Which point could neuer be perswaded to diuerse of the religious persones that liued in house with her who did what in them laie to hinder her from so often receiuing wherby they put her to meruelous intolerable paines But her ghostlie father who knewe in deed the state of her soule condescended easily to her earnest and holie demaund and was euermore verie readie to minister the blessed Sacrament vnto her bicause being a wise learned mā he vnderstood that her desire and longyng was of God To whome when she came to require the blessed Sacrament she was wont to speake verie sweetly after this maner Father I am hungrie I praie you for gods loue geue me the bread of life In respecte of the which good mynd and deuotion towardes the blessed Sacramēt Pope Gregorie the nynth made her a graunt that she might choose for her ghostlie father what priest she would and that she might carrie with her a portable aulter whether soeuer she went to the end that she might confesse and receiue wher and whē she would How our Sauiour Christ ministred the blessed Sacramēt vnto her with his owne holy hand Chap. 31. ON a tyme doctour Raimundus making his abode in Siena for certaine busines that he had there to doe came one mornyng to visite the holie maid and fownd her verie sore pained with diuerse and sundrie diseases but specially with a great griping in the flanke commonly called Iliaca passio All the which paine notwithstanding after certaine conference had betweene them concernyng the worthines and excellencie of the blessed Sacrament she besought him that she might receiue that mornyng Whervnto he assented with a good will and so went to the Church to prepare him selfe to say masse But her paines increased so vehemently vpon her that she sent one of her sisters after him to entreate him to tarrie a litle while hoping after a tyme to haue some such release of her paines that she might be able to come to the Church Where withal he was well contented and abode her leisure till it was about noone At what tyme she fownd some ease and came in deed to the Church to communicate But before she had signified so much to the father certaine of the sisters which sawe that the tyme was farre spent and knewe also that her maner was after she had receiued to be rauished in spirite and so to continue for the space of three fower or fiue houers came to her and perswaded with her that she should absteine from receiuing that daie in consideration that the tyme was past and that it would be a great trouble to the brethren who must attend so long to shut the Church doores when all was done Which counsel she yealded vnto with great meekenes But yet she had such an impatient desire to receiue that she turned her selfe to our Lord after a ruthful maner and said O my deere Lord and sweete comfort of all afflicted hartes seeing it hath pleased thee so graciously to put this desire into my hart I most humbly beseech thee that it maie also please thee to perfourme the same by thy selfe which can not be perfourmed by men without their great trouble and disquiet Our Lord who neuer despiseth the desire of a good hart heard the inward gronyng of his hand maid and gaue her comfort that he would accomplish her godlie request not only mercifully but also meruelously Wherupon she sent one of her sisters to doctour Raimundus to praie him to begynne masse at his pleasure for she might not receiue at his hand that daie With that he went to masse supposing that she had not ben in the Church but at home in her chamber And after sacring when the tyme was to breake the holie Host he thought to breake it according to the maner and ordinance of holie Chuch into three partes But behold contrarie to his meanyng and expectation he sawe fower partes Of the which one part skipped from aboue the chalice where he held it in his hand and laid it selfe downe vpon the corporal to his seeming Where he beheld it aduisedly and afterwardes when he receiued sought for it diligently and so did he likewise when Masse was done both on the corporal and on the aulter and al about beside the aulter and vpon the ground but could neuer find it Which put him in a great maze and perplexitie of conscience Wherupon he thought good to take the aduise of his priour who was accounted a verie discrete and godlie man and so in the meane tyme couered the aulter and gaue a great charge to the Sacristane to see that none should come neere the aulter til he came againe Now as he was going in the way he met with the priour of the Carthusians his verie frinde and familiar who came to conferre with the holie maid of certaine matters and therfore praied him that he would bring him to her speech I beseech you said doctour Raimundus haue a litle patience while I goe and speake two wordes with our Father priour and I will returne with all possible speed and bring you to her cell Sir said he I maie not tarrie for this is as you knowe a solemne fasting daie with vs and I must needes eate this daie with my brethren in the refectorie The tyme is farre spent as you see and I haue well nigh three miles home Wherefore I must desire you for Gods loue to dispatch me as soone as you can For I am moued
and by vertue of the charge that she gaue him in Gods be halfe he said these wordes to her If I must needes depart out of this child I will enter into thee Wherunto she made answere said If it be Gods pleasure without whose licēce I am well assured thou maiest doe nothing our Lord forbid that I should be against his holie will in anie thing The which wordes proceeding of a verie humble and and resigned spirite so strooke the proud feend that he lost all the strenght that he had before against the innocent child Howbeit in passing out he rested a while in the chides throte which was perceiued by a great swelling that he made in that place Which thing the holie maid seeing she made the signe of the Crosse ouer the childes throte by vertue wherof the wicked sprite was vtterly dispossessed in such sort that he might neuer returne to disquiet the child againe How she deliuered a woman that was possessed of a wicked sprite Chap. 35. ON a tyme while this holie maid was at a certaine castel or towne called Rocka within the territorie of Siena with a worshipful ladie whose name was Madam Bianchina it happened that a womā of the same castel was sodainly taken and miserably tormented with a wicked sprite The which piteful sight when Madame Bianchina sawe she was so moued with compassion that she thought to become an earnest suter to the holie maid for her deliuerie But bicause she vnderstood that such sutes were commonly verie vnpleasant to the holie maid who of a great humilitie shewed her selfe euermore verie loth to meddle in anie such matter she asked counsel of certaine of the religious sisters that were there with the holie maid whose aduise was that the woman should be brought to her presence sodainly and vnawares to her that the sight of the piteful creature might moue her to compassion The which aduise seemed verie good and according to the same the woman was in deed on a daie brought in before the holie maid in a place where she happened to be making a loue-daie betweene two that were fallen out When she sawe the wretched woman and sawe withal that she could by no meanes auoid she turned to the ladie Bianchina and said Ah madame God forgeue you Wote you what you haue done knowe you not that I haue trouble inough by these wicked sprites that doe from tyme to tyme molest myne owne persone wherfore then doe you increase my trouble in presenting others before me that are vexed with these foule feendes With that she turned to the woman that was possessed and said to the wicked sprite Thou malicious enemie of mankind I charge thee laie downe thy head here in this mans lappe and abide there till I come againe She had no sooner spoken those wordes but that the woman that was vexed laid downe her head in a certaine Anchorites lappe that was there by who was called Sanctus and neuer remoued till she came againe In this meane tyme while the holie maid was gone out to make vp a full peace betweene two men of warre that were at variance whose dwelling was not farre from that place the sprite cried out mightely by the mouth of that miserable woman leanyng her head in the Anchorites lappe and said Whie doe ye hold me here I praie you let me goe for I am verie hard houlden They that stood thereby made answere and said to him againe And whie dost thou not goe thy waie who holdeth thee Is not the doore open Oh said he that cursed woman hath bound me here She holdeth me that I maie not depart What woman said they That that cursed woman said he and would not or peraduenture could not name her but after a raging maner cried out that cursed creature that cursed woman myne enemie Then the Anchorite asked him whether he tooke her for his great enemie or no. Yea said he the greatest that I haue this daie in the wordle Then those that were there present being much disquieted with his outragious crying said to him Hold thy peace Caterine cometh meanyng therby to put him in feare and so to cause him to cease his crying No no said he she cometh not yet She is in such a place where she was in deed They asked him what she did there what doth she said he She is now doing of a thing as she is at all tymes wherin I take small pleasure And with that he cried out againe verie sore and said Ah whie am I thus holden here And it was euidently seene that he neuer moued from that place where the holie maid charged him to abide till her comyng againe At the last he said Now is that that cursed woman comyng They demaunded of him where she was She is now said he in such a place And now she is gone from thence and goeth towardes such a place And so declared from tyme to tyme how she passed from place to place vntill at the length when she was come to the gate of the house where they were he said Now she is come When she was entred into the house and began to make towardes the chamber wherin they abode her returne he cried out with a lowd voice said Ah why hold yee me here by force The holie maid made answere and said Arise wretch and get thee hence and leaue this creature of God and from this houer foreward see that thou be neuer so hardie as once to molest her againe And with that it was seene that the wiked feend forsooke all the other partes of that womans bodie and gathered him selfe into her throte where he made such an horible swelling that it moued as manie as were present to great compassion Then the holie maid made the signe of the Crosse ouer the place that was swolen and forthwith he went his waie lefte the woman safe and sound in the presence of a great manie that were there and sawe this euident miracle with their eyes But bicause the poore woman had ben sore trauailed by the feend the holie maid willed thē to bring her home to her howse that she might rest a while take some sustenāce And so they did Now when she was fully come to her selfe againe and knewe the place and personnes that were about her she had great meruaile asked some of her acqueintance what she did there and how she came thither They made her answere and declared vnto her in what case she had ben and what had ben done by the holie maid about her deliuerie When she heard that she was astoined and said that in truth she could remember no such thing Only this she confessed that her bodie was verie sore shaken and brused as if it had ben beaten with a cluble Then she turned her selfe after a verie humble maner towardes the holie maid and with most hartie thankes acknowledged the great benefite that she had there receiued at Gods hand through her meanes
feared God and had a more Christian consideration of thinges then the rest had calling to mynd the Doue which he had seene not lōg before ouer her head with diuerse sundrie other the like verie euident tokens of some strange grace and fauour of God towardes her after a good season when he had wonne so much of him selfe that he was able to speake made her this answere Deere Daughter said he God forbid that we should will or desire anie thinge contrarie to the will of God from whom we doubt not this holie determination of yours proceedeth Your long patience and constancie declare vnto vs verie euidently that this your designement cometh not of anie childish lightnes but of a feruent loue towardes God Doe therfore a Gods name freely what you haue vowed folowe the waie that the holie Ghost sheweth vnto you From this daie foreward we shall no more hinder you but shall confourme our willes to the will of God Only this praie hartely for vs to your spowse whom yee haue chosen in your tender age that we may after his life be fownd worthie of the blisse that he hath promised vs. Then turnyng to his wife and other children he said likewise to them From this daie foreward see that none of you be so hardie as to molest or hinder my Daughters deuotion Let her serue her spowse with all diligence and freedome for in truth this alliance that she hath made is both more honorable and also more for the aduancement of our familie then that was that we sought to make We haue no cause to complaine of her doinges The exchange that she hath made is this She hath refused to match with a mortal man and hath chosen to be maried to the immortal God and man Iesus Christ the redeemer of the wordle When the father had spoken these wordes not without manie teares both in him selfe and in others that were there present and namely in the mother who bare a verie tender and natural loue to this daughter the ioyous virgin whose hart was as it were rauished with vnspeakeable gladnes yealded most humble thankes First to almightie God by whose gracious assistance she had ouercome this battaile then to her father and mother for their most comfortable graunt made vnto her from that hower foreward she had none other care in her hart but how she might best directe her life wholye to the honour of her deere spowse Of her great Abstinence Chap. 9. AFter that her parentes had made her this graunt of freedome to serue God without anie hinderance or molestation she began foorthwith to dispose her life after a meruelous goodlie order And first of all she besought them that she might haue some litle chamber to her selfe which was graunted without anie difficultie in the which what rigorous discipline and austerite she exercised vpon her bodie with what diligence and carefulnes she sought to haue the deliteful presence of her spowse no tongue is able to expresse There began she to renewe the exercises of the auncient Fathers in Egipt which wer the more meruelous in her bicause they were done without anie example or instruction of man by a fraile woman in her tender age not in a wood caue or solitarie place but in a citie not in a couent of Nonnes but in her fathers howse At the verie entrie therfore into this streight maner of life first and foremost she resolued vtterly to absteine from all flesh the which kind of abstinence she continued so precisely that at the length by long vse and custome all flesh became lothsome vnto her in so much that it was euidently seene that the only smell of it was noysome to her bodie Wherby she became verie leane thynne and feeble Which thing her ghostlie Father perceiuing on a tyme and knowing that the cause therof was that she receiued no meate or drincke that was of good substance and nourishment gaue her counsel that she should put in her water which she dranke a litle suger to comfort and quicken the spirites Wherat she was somewhat moued and turnyng sodainly to him said these wordes That litle life that is lefte in me me thinketh yee goe about to quench it vtterly With that he began to examine her concernyng the order of her diet and fownd by examination that the wordes which she spake were verie true for in deed she had so accustomed her selfe to bitter meates and vnsauorie drinkes that all sweet thinges were become hurtful to her bodie forsomuch as her natural disposition was altered by custome Her ordinarie drinke from the begynning was a litle portion of wyne as the maner of that countrey is myngled with so much water that it lost both tast and sauour and a great part of the coulour also But when she was fiften yeares old she gaue ouer all wyne and drancke water alone She weaned her selfe likewise by litle and litle from all maner of sodden meates and susteined her bodie with bread only and a fewe rawe herbes After this when she was of the age of twentie yeares or there about she gaue ouer the eating of bread also and held her selfe to rawe herbes only Last of all she came to such a high state of life not by anie force of nature but by the supernaturall power of God that for a long tyme together she susteined her life without eating and drinking at all and yet endured withal willingly and cheerfully both verie paineful sickenesses and also verie hard labours of the bodie Moreouer and all this it was certainly knowen that her stomake had quite lost the office and power of digestion and yet neither was that moisture which the phisitians call Radical consummed nor the strenght of her fraile bodie anie iote decaied Which thing can not be ascribed to anie exercise or custome of abstinence but only to that fulnes of spirite which abounded so much in the sowle that it redownded into the bodie also Of the great austeritie which she vsed about her bed and apparel Of the shirt of haire and chaine of yron which she ware about her middle Chap. 10. SHe made her selfe a bed of boordes only without anie other thing betweene them her body vpon the which sometimes she sate or stood vpright in meditation and sometymes she kneeled or laie downe prostrate in praier And when she would lie downe to sleepe she neuer put of her clothes The clothes that she ware both next her bodie and without were all wollen Sometyme she would weare a rough shirt of haire vpon her skynne But bicause she was much geuen to cleanlines she tooke it that the haire was an occasion of some vncleannes she laid it aside tooke for it a chaine of yrō which she gyrded so hard to her sides that it made a deepe dent into the flesh as though it had ben burnt with a hoate yron as some of her spiritual companions and daughters reported afterwardes whose helpe she was ēforced to
out a wildernes in the middle of the citie and to make her selfe a solitarie place were there was great resort and concourse of people She continued in praier meditation in the night season vntill the Friars Preachers rang the second peale to Matins And then she went to take a litle rest saying these wordes to our Lord. Lord hitherto haue thy seruantes my brethren taken their rest and I haue kept the watch for them before thee our gardian protectour beseeching thee to keepe them from the assaultes of the enemie and all euel Now are they risen to praise thee wherfor I humbly praie thee to keepe them and to geue me leaue to rest a while And so she laid her selfe downe vpon the bare boordes and put vnder her head a hard blocke in steed of a bolster or pillowe Of diuerse and sundrie visions and reuelations shewed vnto her With a doctrine how to discerne betweene true and false visions Chap. 16. THis holie virgin declared in secret confession to her ghostlie Father that at what tyme she began to retire her selfe from all conuersation and to liue alone in her cell it pleased her spowse Iesus Christ to visite her in visible maner and to geue her instructions in matters concernyng her saluation Father said she take this for a most certaine truth that I was neuer taught the rule of spiritual life by anie man or woman but only by Iesus Christ the spowse of my sowle who hath informed me alwaies either by secret inspiration or els appeering openly vnto me and speaking to me as I now speake to you She declared moreouer to her ghostlie Father that at the begyning her visiōs were for the most part only wrought in her imagination but afterwardes they were sensible in so much that she sawe with her bodilie eyes and heard with her bodilie eares the sownd of the voice that spake vnto her She reported furthermore that at the begynning she began to doubt and feare lest it might be some deceite or illusion of the ghostlie enemie who transfigureth him selfe into an Angel of light Which feare our Lord misliked not but rather commended it highlie vnto her and said that so long as a man or woman liueth in this life he should alwaies stand in feare according as it written Blessed is the man that is euer fearfull And he asked her whether she were willing to learne of him certaine notes and tokens by the which she might be able to discerne betweene the true visions of God and the false illusions of the enemie Wherunto she made answere with great submission and lowlines of spirite and besought him humbly that he would vowchasafe to teach her Then he said these wordes Daughter It were an easie matter for me to informe thy sowle inwardly with the secret instincte of my spirit in such sort that thou shouldest at all tymes discerne perfectly and without errour betweene true visions and counterfeicte illusions But bicause my will is that it should profit others as well as thee therfore I will teach thee a general rule and lesson which is this My vision beginneth euermore with feare and dread but in processe of tyme it setteth a sowle in great ioye quietnes and securitie It begynneth with some kind of bitternes but in continuance it waxeth more deliteful sweet The visions of the enemie are contrarie For in the begynning they shewe a kind of securitie and gladnes but in processe they turne to feare and bitternes which increase afterwardes and waxe greater and greater And it standeth with good reason for so much as my waies and the waies of the enemie haue this special difference My waies are the keeping of the commaundementes in perfection of a vertuous and godlie life which leadeth vnto me These seeme at the begynnyng to be full of difficultie and vnpleasant but in tyme they become easie ynough pleasant But the waies of the enemie are the transgressing of my commaundementes in the libertie of the flesh and licentiousnes of life which shewe at the begynnyng to be deliteful and pleasant but in continuance of tyme they proue in verie deed dangerous painful and vnpleasant Take this also for a most certaine and infallible rule to discerne betweene true and false visions Bicause I am truth it can not otherwise be but that euermore by my visions the sowle of man must needes receiue a greater knowledge of truth by the which knowledge he cometh to vnderstand both his owne basenes the worthines of God and so consequently to doe due honour and reuerence to God and to make litle account of him selfe which is the proper condicion of humilitie The contrarie happeneth in the visions of the enemie For he being the father of lying and king ouer al the children of pride can geue none other thing but only what he hath and therfore in his visions there must needes ensue in a sowle ignorance and errour by reason wherof it conceiueth a false reputation of it selfe which is the proper condicion of pride By this maiest thou knowe whether thy visions be of me or of the enemie of truth or of falshood If they come of truth they will make thy sowle humble if they come of falshood they will make thy sowle prowd Thus was she instructed of the teacher of all truth Iesus Christ and she kept his doctrine and instructions verie faithfully in mynd and vttered them afterwardes to her ghostlie Father and others for their instruction as it shal be declared hereafter And after this time it pleased God to send her so manie visions and reuelations that who so would consider of them aduisedly he should see that it were hard to find anie two men in the wordle more familiary acquenited then our Lord and she were In so much that whether she praied or read or meditated or walked or waked or slept she was at all tymes and in all places visited and comforted of our Lord. And which is more while her tongue was outwardly speaking vnto men her hart was inwardly bent vpon God and spake spiritually with him Howbeit that could not endure anie long tyme forsomuch as her sowle was within a litle space so drawen vp and vnited to God that it could not choose but forsake vtterly the senses and powers of the bodie Of a verie goodlie and profitable doctrine of our Sauiour worthie to be planted in the hartes of as manie as are desirous to come to spiritual perfection Chap. 17. EMongest a nomber of goodlie and high lessons that she learned of our Sauiour this was one On a tyme while she was praying our Sauiour appeered to her and said Daughter knowest thou what thou art and what I am If thou haue a perfecte knowledge of these two pointes thou art blessed For by the meane therof thou shalt easily escape all the snares of the enemie and shalt not at anie tyme geue consent to anie synne that is against my commaundementes but contariwise thou shalt be
dishonestie vnto whom she maketh none answere whatsoeuer he saie neither will she so much as looke in his face but foorthwith turneth awaie from him and so keepeth her selfe faithfull and true to her husband And so did this chast virgin to her spowse Christ and by this meane she gate a great victorie ouer her enemie boring his eares with the naile of a strong and faithful praier Howbeit though he sawe his first assault thus easily frustrate and put by yet did he not cease but moued an other battaile against her which was much more fierce and cruel then the foremer How the enemie accompained with a great multitude of vncleane spirites renewed his battarie against this strong Fortresse and vsed greater enforcement then before Chap. 21. WHen the vncleane spirites sawe that this attempt tooke no place but was by the grace of God easily ouercome they tooke diuerse and sundrie shapes of men and women and setting them selues in such fourmes before the eyes of the chast virgin they exercised most filthie actes of the flesh and spake verie fowle wordes and vsed all possible meanes to sterre vp her mynd and bodie to vncleannes The which what a great griefe it caused to her vnspotted and maidenlie hart those only are able to consider that knowe what a goodlie treasure a pure and chast conuersation is in the sight of God and so consequently what a great losse it is to be in danger to be spoiled of the same It was also a great torment and increase of heauines to her mynd to consider that her deere spowse and Lord who was wont afore to visite and comfort her oftentymes seemed now as though he had vtterly forsaken her and would no more relieue and succour her in her distresse although for her part she did what in her laie knocking at the gate of his mercie with continual praier teares and hard discipline vpon her bodie And when she sawe that he made no answere she began to deuise a certaine newe maner of sleight to encounter with the enemie how be it not without the secret instincte of God which was this She conceiued a meruelous great misliking of her selfe and against her owne synnes and so turnyng her indignation as it were against her selfe she vttered such wordes Ah most vile wretch lookest thou to receiue cōfort Thinkest thou that thy synnes haue deserued it at Gods hand O most vnkind caitife is it not ynough for thee that thou art pardoned of the paines of hell O vnthankeful creature dost not thou take it to be gaine ynough that the endles mercie of God that changed those euerlasting tormentes into these temporal afflictions Were it not a verie gaineful exchange for thee though they should endure all the tyme of thy life Wilt thou then be dismaied and relent thy wonted mortification and discipline knowing that by theses meanes thou shalt escape endles paines and within a short tyme receiue endles ioye and comfort at the hand of thy deere spowse Iesus Christ By this maiest thou trie whether thou haue chosen to serue God for these temporal visitations and comfortes or else in hope of that euerlasting blesse and ioyful fruition of him selfe in the life to come A wake therefore take a good hart fight manfully and expecte with patience the good will and pleasure of God Now is the tyme for thee to increase to thy selfe labour and paine and to his holie name honour and glorie It can not be expressed in wordes how much she was strengthened in sowle by this meane and contrariwise how much the prowd enemie was by the same confownded and weakened She confessed afterwardes to her ghostlie Father that there was such a rabble of those fowle feendes at that tyme in her chamber mouing her diuerse and sundrie waies to vncleannes that she was enforced for a tyme to flee from her chamber to the Church and there to keepe more then she was wont to doe How be it euen in the Church also she was molested thought not so much as before in her chamber Whether when she returned afterwardes she was againe so beset with such a compaine of vncleane spirites representing there before her so manie actes of filthines and that with so great importunitie and strange maners that it was a verie miracle how she was able to susteine the same But she forth with falling downe to the earth there lying groueling on her face in praier besought God of his mercie with such mightie sighes and groanes that in contemplatiō of her pitiful crie he somewhat asswaged the furie of those fowle feendes And so continuyng in such afflictions and troubles a great number of daies at the lenght when at a tyme comyng from the Church and lying after such a maner in her chamber she made her earnest praier vnto God crauing his mercifull aide and assistance there appeered a certaine comfortable beame of the holie Ghost which brought vnto her remembrance the goodlie lesson that our Lord had thaught her before when she praied vnto him for the gyfte of Fortitude And so vnderstanding that all that was there done was only the tentation of the enemie she receiued great ioye in her hart and determined from that daie foreward to suffer meekely gladly all maner of tentations and afflictions for the loue of her spowse Iesus Christ Then one of those wicked sprites who was peraduenture of greater boldnes and malice then the rest spake vnto her after this maner Wretched woman what meanest thou Thinkest thou euermore to lead such a state of life as this is Make thy selfe well assured of this We shall neuer geue thee one hower of respite but shall paine and vexe thee continually vntill thou yeald and consent vnto our will Vnto whom she made answere out of hand with a great courage and affiance in God and said I haue chosen paine for my refreshing and therefore it shall not be yrckesome to me but rather pleasant and delitefull to suffer these and all other afflictions for the loue of my Lord and Sauiour so long and so much as shall please his diuine maiestie With that woord all that detestable companie of vncleane sprites vanished quite awaie with a verie dreadfull horrible noyse And behold foorth with there appeered a meruelous goodlie light from heauen which shone all ouer her chamber and in that light our Sauiour Christ in such fourme and maner as he was when he hong vpon the Crosse and there shed his most precious blood for the redemptiō of the worlde Who called her vnto him and and said these wordes Myne owne daughter Catherine seest thou not what I haue suffred for thy sake Thinke it not much therefore to suffer for me After that he approched neerer vnto her in an other fourme to comfort her and spake vnto her manie sweet and louing wordes and she likewise to him O Lord said she vsing the wordes of S. Antonie where wert thou when my hart was so vexed with sowle and
she was come the sicke woman which was now verie weake in bodie but well strengthened in spirite made signes of great reuerence and ioye and partly with woordes as well as she could partly with tokens and gestures of bodie and countenance she lamented her vncharitable demeanour towardes her and besought her of mercy and pardon That done she made her cōfession with great humilitie and contrition so receiuing the Sacramentes rightes of holie Church she yealded vp her soule to God At what tyme it pleased almightie God to shewe to the holie virgin what a blesful beautiful state that saued sowle was in which as she declared afterwardes to her ghostlie father was so great that no tongue of man is able to expresse it And yet was not this that beawtie that she should receiue afterwardes in the blesse of heauen but only that godlie state that the sowle had in her first creation and receiued againe at the tyme of her Baptisme Thē said our Lord to the holie maid How saiest thou my deere daughter is not this a faire and goodlie sowle which through thy paines and diligēce is now recouered out of the hādes of the enemie What man or woman would refuse to take paines for the wynning of such a beawtiful creature If I which am the most high and soueraigne beawtie and of whom proceedeth all maner of beawtie was notwithstāding so ouercome with the loue and beawtie of mans sowle that I refused not to come downe from heauen to clad my selfe with the simple weede of mans bodie in the same to susteine labours and reproches for the space of manie daies and yeares and in the end to shed myne owne blood for his redemption yet had I no need of mans sowle but was most sufficiently and most perfectly blessed in my selfe how much more ought you to labour one for an other and doe what in you lieth for the recouerie of such a noble and excellent creature For this cause haue I shewed thee the beawtie of this sowle that hereafter thou mightest both thy selfe be the more earnest about the wynnyng of sowles and also procure others to doe the like With that she thanked our Lord in most humble maner and besought him furthermore that he would vowchsafe to geue her a newe grace which was that she might from that tyme foreward be able to see the state and condicions of all such sowles as should by occasions haue anie conuersation or dealing about spiritual matters with her that by the sight of the same she might be the more prouoked to procure their saluation Vnto the which demaund our Lord made answere after this maner Daughter bicause thou hast forsaken all carnal conuersation for my sake and hast by all meanes laboured to vnite thy selfe to me in spirite which am the most excellent and soueraigne spirite therefore I here make thee a full graunt that from this verie instant thy soule shal be endewed with such a gracious light that thou shalt see and behold both the beawtie and also the deformitie of euerie sowle that is presented before thee And as hitherto thou hast seene the proportion and qualitie of bodies with thy bodilies eyes euen so from this tyme foreward thou shalt see the condicions of sowles with the spiritual eye of thy sowle not only of such as shal be present before thee but also of all other for whose sowles health thou shalt make intercession to me though thou neuer see them with thy bodilie eyes How she serued an old widdowe that had a festered sore runnyng vpon her by whom she was also infamed And of diuerse strange accidentes that ensued vpon the same Chap. 11. THere was emong the sisters of penance one sister called Andrea who had vpon her brest a verie lothsome sore commonly called a Canker This sore had fretted and eaten so much flesh rownd about and the corruption of the same yealded such an horrible sauour that none might come neere for stench By reason whereof there was none fownd that would attend vpon her in her sickenes The which thing when the holie maid vnderstood she went out of hand to visite her and seeing her vtterly forsaken and destitute of all succour and comfort she made her selfe well assured that the prouidence of God had reserued that sister for her keeping And so accepting the charge of her as at Gods hand she began to speake comfortable wordes vnto her and to make her a free offer of her owne person to attend and serue her to the vttermost of her power which made the widowe a glad woman The holie maid therefore set her selfe to the seruice of that poore woman she tooke care for her that she might haue whatsoeuer was necessarie or requisite for a woman in that case when tyme was she opened her sore clensed it of all the fowle matter she was shed it and wypt it and couered it againe with plaisters and cleane clothes and in all this she neuer shewed so much as one litle token of lothsomenes but did euerie thing with such diligence and cheerefulnes that the sicke sister was astoined to see so great loue and charitie in a maid of those yeares But the malicious feend who hath great enuie at all workes of charitie bent him selfe to doe all that in him laie to disannull if it were possible if not at the least to hinder this godlie and merciful enterprise so much as might be And first of all vpon a daie as the holie maid was about to open the sore to dresse it there came out such an horribile stench that she could hardly beare it but that she must needes vomite The which thing when she perceiued she entred into a passing great choler and displeasure against her owne skeymish bodie ane stomake and said to her selfe Ah vile and wretched flesh dost thou loath thy sister whom our Lord hath bought so deerely euen with the price of his owne most precious blood The daie maie come when thou also maiest fall into the like sickenes or peraduenture worse As I am a Christian woman thou shalt abide for it And with that she bowed downe and held her mowth and nose ouer the sore so long vntill at the length it seemed that she had comforted her stomake quite ouercome the skeymishnes that she felt before All the which tyme he sicke sister cried out vnto her and said Good daughter stand vp good daughter geue ouer cast not thy selfe awaie endanger not thy bodie with this infectuous sauour But she would neuer geue ouer vntill she had ouercome both the tew lines of her owne stomake and also the tentation of the ghostlie enemie When the suttle serpent sawe that this his assault was thus repelled being vtterly in despaire of anie better successe against that holie virgin which stood euermore like a strong fortresse well furnished defenced he deuised to laie his batterie to the weake woman whom he knewe to be of lesse experience and
sicke woman In this meane tyme the slaunderous rumour was bruted and came to her mothers eares Who for her selfe made no doubt at all of her daughters innocēcie for she knewe manie thinges that the worlde knewe not and yet she could not but take it verie heauelie when she heard tell that such a slawnder was raised vpon her The griefe wherof so ouercame her mynd that she flang to her daughter with great heat and vehemencie of spirite and began with her after this maner How often tymes haue I told thee that thou shouldest no more serue yonder stinging old croyne See now what reward she geueth thee for all thy good seruice she hath brought vp a foule slaunder vpon thee emong all thy sisters which God knoweth whether thou shalt euer be able to rid thy selfe of so lōg as thou liuest If euer thou serue her againe after this daie or if euer thou come where she is neuer take me for thy mother For I tell thee plaine I will neuer knowe thee for my daughter These and other the like wordes did the mother vtter in great heate choler whereat the daughter at the first was somewhat astoined But after a litle tyme when she had gathered her selfe together she went to her mother and kneeling downe before her with great reuerence she spake these wordes Sweete mother thinke you that our Lord would be pleased with vs if wee should leaue the workes of mercie vndone bicause our neigbour sheweth him selfe vnthankeful towardes vs When our Sauiour Christ hong on the Crosse and heard there the reprochful talke of that vngrateful people rownd about did he in regard of their cruel wordes geueouer the charitable worke of their redemption Good mother you knowe verie well that if I should leaue this old sicke woman she were foorthwith in great danger to perish for lacke of keeping bicause she should not find anie that would come neere her do such seruice as is requisite to be done about a woman in this case And so should I be the occasion of her death She is now a litle deceiued by the ghostlie enemie but she maie hereafter by the grace of God come to acknowledge her fault and be sorie for the same With such wordes she qualified her mothers mynd gate her blessing and so returned againe to the seruice of the sicke woman About whom she did all thinges with great diligence loue neuer shewing neither in wordes nor in countināce so much as anie token of discontētantiō or displeasure In so much that the sicke sister seeing her demeanour was verie much astoined withal ashamed of that she had done and so began to haue great sorrowe at hart and repentance for the slaunder that she had raised vpon her Then also it pleased our Lord to shewe his mercie towardes his faithful spowse to restore her againe to her good fame estimatimatiō after this maner On a daie the holie maide went to the sicke sisters chamber to serue her as she was wont to doe At what tyme as she was comyng towardes her bed where she laie to doe some thing that was to be done about her behold the sicke woman sawe a meruelous goodlie light commyng downe from heauen which filled all her chamber and was so beautifull and comfortable that it made her vtterly to forget all the paines of her disease What that sight might meane she could not conceiue But looking about her here and there she beheld the maidens face gloriously transformed the maiestie wherof was so strang that she seemed to her rather an Angel of heauen then anie earthlie creature And this beautiful light enuironed the holie virgins bodie rownd about The which brightnes the more the old woman beheld the more did she condemne the malice of her owne hart and tongue in that she had conceiued and vttered so fowle matter as she had done against such an excellent and pure creature as the holie maid then shewed to be This vision continued a good tyme and at the length when it ceased left the sicke woman both in sorrowe and also in comfort In sorrowe bicause on the one side she sawe what a heynous synne she had committed in dissamyng that innocent virgin In comfort bicause on the other side she sawe the mercie of God freely and franckely offred vnto her The which thing so mollified her hart that with much sobbing weeping she confessed her fault to the holie maid and besought her of pardon When the good virgin sawe the hūble maner of her repentance and submission she likewise verie amiably tooke the old woman in her armes kissed her and spake very sweet and comfortable wordes vnto her saying Good mother I haue no displeasure in the worlde against you but only against our enemie the Deuel by whose malice suttiltie I knowe all this is wrought but rather I haue to thanke you with all my hart for you haue put me in mynd to haue a more careful and vigilant regard to my selfe and so doing you haue turned the malicious drifte of the feend to my further good and commoditie With such sweet speeches she comforted the sicke sister and then she set her selfe to doe all such seruices as were wont to be done about her And when she had done all she tooke her leaue verie gently as her maner was and so retired her selfe to her chamber to geue God thankes so the prosperous successe that she had had in this matter and to enter into her accustomed exercise of praier meditation In this meane tyme the old woman who had a great care to restore the innocent virgin to her good name againe when anie of those came to her before whom she had made that slaunderous report tooke occasion to vnburthen her conscience and confessed openly with great lamentation and teares that whatsoeuer dishonestie she had anie tyme reported by that holie maid she had ben induced to report it by the crafte of the deuel not by anie thing that euer she sawe or knewe in her And therfore she cried them all mercie and besought them for charitie to forgeue her She affirmed furthermore that she was able to make good proofe that the holie maid was not only free from all suspicion of anie vncleannes of bodie but also endued with manie high singular graces of God and that she was in deed a verie pure virgin and a Saincte Thus much said she I speake not vpon heresaie or opinion but vpon verie certaine knoweledge Then certaine of the elder and sadder women talked with her secretly and required to vnderstand what certaine tokens and knowledge of holines she had in the maid Whereupon she declared vnto them so much as hath ben here receited before And said furthermore verie constantly and with great feruour of spirite that in all her life tyme she neuer knewe what true sweetnes of sowle and spiritual comfort meant vntill that tyme when she sawe the holie maid so transfourmed
might be deceiued by the enemie whose crafte in deed is verie suttle yet would I faine learne of them who it was that kept her bodie so long tyme in her natural force and strength If they answere and saie that it was the Deuell then will I aske them againe who that was that preserued her sowle in such spirituall ioye and peace especially at that tyme when she was depriued of all outward delite and comfort This inward comfort and peace is vndoubtedly the fruite of the holie Ghost and maie in no wise be ascribed to the Deuel Last of all to come to them that of a wicked malice slaundered the blessed virgin of hypocrisie and vaine glorie I thinke it not so expedient to shape them an answere as to geue them good counsel I would wish all such to be better aduised what they speake against Gods seruantes and what iudgement they geue concernyng the wonderfull workes of God in his Sainctes For they shal receiue their iudgement for all such rash and slaunderous talke at the later daie before the iudgement seate of God and all this Sainctes How she shewed her selfe meruelous seuere and rigorous towardes her selfe and contrariwise wonderful gentle and meeke towardes them that slaundered her which she did to wynne then to God Chap. 15. WHen anie il disposed persones spake their pleasure of her slaundering and deprauing that vnwonted maner of Absteinence which they sawe in her she would answere then not with anie vehemencie of wordes but only simply and with such a moderation of speech as she thought most meete to qualifie and ouercome such hard hartes for sooth said she it is true that our Lord susteineth my life without bodily food and yet see I no cause whie you should be offended For in truth I would eate with a good will if I could But almightie God hath for my synnes laid this strange infirmitie vpon me that if I eate I am foorthwith in peril of death praie therfore to God for me that he will vouchsafe to forgeue me my synnes which are to me the verie cause of this and all other euels By such sweet wordes she hoped well to haue staied those malicious tonges But when she sawe that she preuailed not of verie pitie that she had of those weake myndes and to take awaie all occasion and coulour of offence she came to the table with others and did enforce her selfe to eate somewhat but in so doing suffred such intolerable paines that as manie as sawe it had great compassion on her For her stomake had vtterly lost the vertu of digestion by reason wherof the meate that she eate either she cast it vp againe and that was oftentymes procured by putting a fether into her throte or otherwise violently or els it remained in her stomake vndigested and there engendred windinnes colikes and other passions which tormented her verie cruelly and neuer ceased vntill she had brought it vp by one meane or other The which thing her ghostlie Father seeing and considering that she suffred all such paines only to stoppe the course of slaunderous tongues for verie inward compassion that he had of her great tormentes he spake comfortably vnto her and willed her on Gods name that she should rather leaue eating then to suffer such paines how soeuer they tooke it and whatsoeuer slaunders they raised vpon her Wherunto she made answere with a smyling countenance saying Father how thinke you Is it not better for me to discharge the debt of my synnes after this maner in this present life then to differre the payment of the same in farre greater paines to the life to come would you that I should flee Gods Iustice or rather to speake more to the purpose that I should not accepte this goodlie occasion that is offred me here to satisfie Gods Iustice with such temporal paines Surely Father I take it for a great grace and benefite of God that he will vouchsafe thus to chastice me here for my synnes and not reserue the same to be punished in the other life To this her ghostlie Father could saie nothing and therfore he held his peace And so by this meane she gaue a great example of high perfection to all men she ouercame the Deuel which had wrought all this trouble against her she stopped the mouthes of diuerse and sundrie malicious persones and prepared for her selfe a double crowne in the life to come On a tyme reasonyng with her ghostlie Father concerning the gyftes and graces of God she vttered a verie notable lesson which was this If man said she knewe how to vse the grace of God he should make his gaine and commoditie of euerie thing that happeneth vnto him in this life And so would I wish that you should doe good Father Whensoeuer anie thing hapeneth vnto you thinke with your selfe and saie thus God geue me his grace to wynne somewhat of this towardes my soules health And then doe your endeuour to gaine such and such vertues as that present matter shall minister occasion and within a litle tyme yee shall become verie ritch How our Sauiour tooke her hart out of her bodie and after a certaine of daies gaue her a newe for it Chap. 16. THe familiaritie that our Lord had with this blessed virgin was so strange the gracious priuileges that he endued her withal so singular that they gaue at that tyme may peraduēture geue now also occasiō of laughter to manie wordlie persones and to such as are in anie degree fallen from that simplicitie that is as the Apostles saieth and ought to be in Christ And yet are not the wonderfull workes of God therfore to be concealed from the vnfaithful but rather to be set out for the behoofe of the godlie well disposed For as almightie God doth from tyme to tyme worke such great wonders in his sainctes so doth he also frō tyme to time prepare some good hartes that wil receiue the same with a simple reuerence true Christian regard On a time while this holy maid was lifting vp her hart to God in praier with great feruour of spirite and saying those wordes of the prophet Dauid O God create in me a cleane hart and renue a right spirite in my bowels she made a special petition to him that he would vouchsafe to take awaie her owne hart and will and geue her an other newe hart and will that were wholly according to his holie will As she was so praying with great humilitie and instance behold our Sauiour Christ appeered to her after a verie comfortable maner and came to her and opened her lefte side sensibly with this hand and tooke out her hart and so going his waie lefte her in deed without a hart Afterwardes being in talke with her ghostlie Father emong other thinges she said to him that she had no hart in her bodie When her Confesseur heard those wordes he laughed at her and began after a sort to rebuke her for so saying
But she affirmed constantly that so it was and for confirmation of the same declared how our Sauiour had taken it out with his owne hand All the which talke perswaded him nothing at all How is it possible said he that anie man should liue without a hart yee saie truly Father said she vnto man it is in deed impossible but vnto God there is nothing impossible Within a fewe daies after this it chaunced her to goe to a certaine Chapple of the Friars preachers where the sisters of penance were wont to kneele And when they were all gone home she continued there in praier wherin lifting vp her hart to God with great feruour and deuotion she was rauished in spirite as her common maner was That done she set her selfe in the waie to goe homeward And as she went behold a goodlie light from heauen enuironed her round about and in that light appeered our Sauiour Christ holding in his handes a redde shinyng hart At the sodaine sight wherof she was so afraid that she fell downe to the ground all quaking and trembling Then came our Lord vnto her and openyng her side put the hart that he held in his hand into her bodie and said these wordes Loe deere daughter as I did this other daie take awaie thy hart so do I now in steed of that geue thee my hart with the which thou shalt liue euerlastingly When he had so done he closed vp the wound againe that was made in her bodie and went his waie Howbeit he did it in such sort that there remained euer afterwardes a certaine marke or scarre as it were of a wound healed as she declared oftentymes to her ghostly Father and manie of her sisters sawe it with their eyes From that tyme foreward she altered the maner of her praier and said not as she was wont to doe before Lord I beseech thee keepe my hart but Lord I beseech thee keepe thy hart Of diuerse and sundrie visions which she had at the sight and receiuing of the blessed Sacrament and how she felt her selfe wonderfully altered after the receite of that newe hart Chap. 17. AFter that she had receiued this newe hart she increased meruelously in high and heauenlie contemplations especially when she was occupied in praier about the Aulter from whence she neuer parted without some verie strange visions and illuminations namely when she receiued the blessed Sacrament Manie tymes she sawe our Sauiour Christ betweene the priestes handes in the forme of a litle sucking babe sometymes she sawe him like a pretie stripling and sometymes also like a hote burnyng fornace into the which it seemed to her that the priest did enter when he did communicate Many tymes when she receiued B. Sacramēt she felt such passing sweet sauours that her bodie was almost ouercome with the sweetnes of the same And generally whensoeuer she did either see or receiue the holie Sacrament she receiued withal such aboundance of newe ioyes and vnspeakeable comfortes that manie tymes her hart daunced in her bodie and made such a sensible noyse that it might well be heard of them that stood by And it was well perceiued that the noyse was not natural such as other mens bodies are wont to make but it was altogether strange and aboue the common course of nature In this inward and spiritual Iubile that she felt in her selfe she would breake out sometymes speake to her ghostlie Father after this maner O Father see you not that I am not now the same woman that I was before O that you could feele that I do now feele in my hart Surely surely Father there is no man in this worlde so proud or so hard harted that would not relent and become humble if he felt what I feele And yet is that that I tell you nothing in comparison of that that I feele inwardly There is such a great fyer of Gods loue enkendled in my hart that this external and material fyer being compared with that seemeth rather cold then hote I am so replenished with inward ioye and gladnes that I can but meruaile how my soule maie abide in this wretched bodie This hote burnyng fyer doth so purifie renewe my soule in innocencie and cleannes that me thinketh I am come againe to the age of fiue yeares This diuine fyer doth so inflame me with the loue of my neighbour that it were the greatest ioye in the wordle to me to die for anie man that liueth in the wordle These thinges did she declare to her ghostlie Father to the glorie of God and to the behoofe of the worlde that we might vnderstand and see the vnspeakeable loue of almightie God towardes man and what wonderful effectes the holie Ghost bringeth foorth in flexible and ployant hartes to moue vs that be dull of spirite to the keeping of his holie commaundementes in hope of the comfortable rewardes that we are to receiue at Gods hand not only in the life to come but also in this present life How our Lord reueled manie high misteries to the holie maid and how Marie Magdalen was assigned to her to be her mother Chap. 18. AFter that this holie maid was thus replenished with such great abondance of verie singular graces and gyftes it pleased almightie God to reuele vnto her diuerse and sundrie high mysteries of the which this was one On a tyme our Lord appeered to her to comfort her in her holie purpose accompanied with our blessed Ladie and S. Marie Magdalen and asked her this question Daughter said he what thing desirest thou Wherunto she made answere and said Lord thou knowest better then I what thing is most behoueful for me And of my selfe thou knowest I haue no will nor hart but only thy will and thy hart As she was speaking those wordes it came to her mynd how Marie Magdalen committed her selfe wholly to our Lord when she sate and wept at his feete With that she felt the like swetnes in her hart as Marie Magdalen felt at what tyme she wept at our Lordes feete whereupon she fixed her eyes vpon her Our Lord seeing that and withal looking to the inward bent of her mynd to satisfie her godlie desire said these wordes vnto her Behold deere daughter from this time foreward I geue thee Marie Magdalen to be thy mother to whom as to a louing mother thou maiest at al times flee for special cōfort for vnto her specially haue I committed the gouernemēt of thee When she heard that she gaue our Lord most humble thankes turnyng her selfe to Marie Magdalen with great humilitie and reuerence she besought her that she would vowchsafe so to take her vnder her motherlie protection And from that tyme foreward Marie Magdalen acknowledged the holie maid for her daughter and she tooke her euermore for her mother which thing maie seeme to be done not without great mysterie if we consider what liknes there was betweene the mother and daughter in the whole state of their life
of life to deliuer sowles from the snares of the deuel which are errour and synne And that was his principal intent when he first founded his order to witt to wynne sowles out of the bondage of errour and synne and to bring them to the knowledge of truth and withal to the exrcise of a godlie and Christian life And for these cawses doe I liken him to my natural Sonne This was the reuelation which she had at that tyme while she was conferring with Friar Barthelmewe in the Church at what tyme she chaunced to cast her eye aside as it is declared before How the holie virgin being wholly enflamed with the loue of God desired instantly to be loosed from this life and to be with Christ and how by that meane she obteined to beare in her bodie euerie particular paine that our Sauiour Christ suffred for vs. Chap. 26. THis holie virgin was now replenished with such aboundance of grace that she bestowed in a maner the whole tyme of her life in heauenlie contemplations by reason wherof being often tymes rauished in spirite and abstracted from her bodilie senses she became so feeble and fainte that she was constrained to keepe her bed Where she laie as it were in a continual longyng languishing after her spowse with the diuine loue of whome she was so much inflamed that she might not well reason or thinke of anie other thing but only of him And manie tymes by reason of the vehemencie of that holie fyer burnyng in her hart she brake out into these wordes and repeated the same againe and againe O my most sweet and louelie Lord Sonne of God O my most deere amiable spowse Sonne of the B. virgin Marie With such wordes did she expresse the inward gronyng and melting of her hart This was her mornyng and euenyng song this her repast when she was hungrie this her rest after labour In this tyme our Lord appeered vnto her oftentymes which also increased the fyer in her hart in so much that on a tyme being ouercome with the heate of the same she began like one that were impatiently set to haue a thing as it were to quarel and expostulate with him saying O my most sweet and louely Lord O deere spowse of my soule wherfore dost thou suffer me to be holden here prisoner in the dongeon of this wicked worlde Wherfore dost thou not loose my bandes and call me awaie to thy blesful tabernacles Dost thou not see ô Lord that there is nothing vnder the sunne wherin I can take delite Dost thou not knowe that I do loue no creature in this worlde but only in thee or for thee Dost thou not see ô eye of heauen which seest all thinges that all thinges are to me vnsightly and yrckesome the beawtie of thy diuine maiestie only excepted wheron my hart is fixed wherfore then dost thou suffer this my wretched bodie to be so long a let and staie that I can not come and haue the ioyful fruition of that most excellent beawtie that I so much desire O my most gracious and amiable Lord O most sweet loue of my hart suffer me no longer to dwell in this earthie and foule prison but take me out and call me to dwell with thee in thyne euerlasting tabernacles To these wordes proceeding from such a louing and languishing spirite our Lord answered sweetly after this maner Deere daughter when I liued in earth I laboured to fulfill not myne owne will but the will of my Father And though I had an earnest desire to eate that last passeouer with my disciples as they heard me saie often tymes and so to be with my Father yet did I patiently abide the tyme that my Father had ordeined Thus much I tell thee to instructe thee by myne owne example that though thou haue a feruent desire to be perfectly vnited to me in blesse yet must thou tarry the tyme that I haue appointed Vnto the which wordes she made answere readily and said O Lord seeing it is thy pleasure that I shall not yet passe out of this life thy blessed will be done in all thinges both in heauen and in earth But yet one thing I most humbly beseech thee seeing it is so that I maie not be vnited to thee in blesse during the tyme of myne abode here in this life graunt me thus much that I maie be vnited to thee at the least in thy passion and that I maie haue a feeling of euerie particular paine and torment thou diddest suffer for me on the Crosse euen to the yealding vp of thy most holie spirite Thus she praied with great vehemencie of spirite and our Lord gaue fauourable eare to her petition for as she declared afterwardes secretly to her Confessour our Sauiour Christ neuer suffred anie kind of paine in his bodie which she did not likewise suffer in some degree And therfore she tooke a passing great delite to reason of the Crosse and passion of our Sauiour Christ and she reuealed diuerse and sundrie strange mysteries and made manie goodlie expositions vpon certaine places of the gospel such as were neuer by anie of the holie doctours before How bearing the Crosse of Christ continually in her bodie she tooke greate delite to reason of the same and how she reuealed manie strange mysteries vpon the holie scriptures concernyng the Crosse Chap. 27. REasonyng at diuerse and sundrie tymes of the Crosse of Christ she would take occasion to vtter manie goodlie doctrines and sentences which were of great force and efficacie to stirre vp the myndes of the hearers to the loue of Christ crucified Emong other thinges she affirmed constantly that our Sauiour Christ did from the verie hower of his conception to the end of his life beare a continual Crosse in his hart And of this doctrine she gaue a verie good reason after this maner Is it not most certaine said she that our Sauiour Christ the mediatour betweene God and man true God and true man was at the verie point of his conception replenished in the highest and most perfecte degree with all fulnes of grace knowledge wisedome and charitie In so much that it was not necessarie for him to learne ought of anie creature in heauen or in earth Then being so replenished with charitie it folweth necessarily that he had in him selfe the loue both of God and also of his neighbour in the highest perfection And being replenished with knowledge it foloweth likewise that he sawe most cleerely two pointes the one that almightie God was depriued of his honor feare and reuerence that man owed vnto him the other that man was depriued of euerlasting blesse which was dewe to him for the said honour feare and reuerence And of this loue and knowledge it must needes be that he bare a meruelous heauie and continual Crosse in his sowle which had euermore such a great and vehement thirst to the honour of God and to the saluation of man And bicause he knewe that the
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
AT what tyme Pope Vrbanus the sixt was enforced to flee out of Rome by reason of a rebellion that was raised against him in the citie by the french faction the holie maid which as then was left behind in Rome and sawe the miserable state of the Church wept daie and night and with continual sighes and sobbes made her praier to our Lord beseeching him most instantly that he would voutchsafe to cease the furie of those wicked rebels and geue peace to his afflicted Church And it was well seene that her praier was heard For soone after it pleased God so to dispose that in one daie both those factious schismatikes that had taken armes against the Sea Apostolike were vanquished and taken and the castle of S. Angelo which had holden out long tyme before rendred it selfe into the Popes handes When our holie father the Pope vnderstood of this great victorie he returned to the citie againe where he asked the holie maid her aduise what she thought best to be done in that case And her aduise was that he should goe bare footed to S. Peeters Church and all the people with him to thanke God with all submission and sowlines of hart for that ioyous calme after so lōg stormes And thus the Church of Christ began as it were to reuiue againe and the holie maid tooke passing great comfort to see it But that ioye endured not long For within a litle tyme after these troubles were pacified the deuel whose malice is euermore vigilant against the Church of God raised vp a newe tempest And what he could not bring to passe by the furie of strangers that did he attempt againe by sowing discord betweene the citizens of Rome and the Popes holines When the holie maid perceiued that and sawe the imminent peril that was like thereby to ensue to the Church of God she turned her selfe to our Lord in praier and besought him that he would hold his holie hand ouer the people and not suffer them to commit such a wicked and heinous synne And as she was thus praying she sawe the citie full of damned sprites stirring and exciting the people to kill the Pope And those sprites cried horribly to her and said Thou cursed wretch thou art euermore busie to let our designementes But be thou well assured we shall put thee to a foule death She gaue them no word to answere but continued her praier with greater feruour and deuotion beseeching our Lord with all instancie that he would voutchsafe to keepe her from all mischiefe and also that it would please him to preserue the Pope his lieuetenant and vicar general in earth from all the violent attemptes of those wicked conspiratours for the honour of his owne holie name and for the redresse of his deere Spouse the Church which as then was in verie lamentable state She praied likewise for those impious rebels and besought our Lord most earnestly that he would voutchsafe of his infinite mercie to mollifie their hartes not suffer them to commit such a horrible sinne as to murder their owne Father and Pastour When she had praied often after this maner it pleased God one tyme to geue her this answere Daughter said he suffer the people to accōplish their malice in committing this damnable synne that they are about that I maie exercise my iustice and punish them according to their desertes For their wickednes is so odious and horrible in my sight that it maie no longer be endured When the holie maid heard those dreadful wordes she set her selfe to praier againe with farre greater deuotion and vehemencie of spirite then before and said O most merciful Lord thou seest how thy deere of Spouse the Church whom thou hast redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood is this daie miserably vexed and afflicted almost through out the wordle Thou knowest on the one side how fewe there are that shewe them selues readie to assist and comfort her and thou art not ignorant on the other side how manie there are and how cruelly bent that seeke by all possible meanes to annoye and discomfort her And in this behalfe it can not be hidden from thyne eyes which see all thinges how manie treacheries and treasons there are now in contriuing to make our holie father thy vicar out of the waie The which most detestable conspiracie if it take place must needes turne not only this citie of Rome but also the whole bodie of Christendome to great discomfort and slaunder Therefore ô blessed Lord I most humbly beseech thee that thou wilt for this tyme temper the rigour of thy iustice and spare thy people whom thou hast bought so deere After this maner did the holie maid continue manie daies and manie nightes together in feruent praier in the which tyme our Lord did euer more alleadge iustice and she craued mercie And all the tyme that she was thus occupied in praier the wicked sprites did so vexe and torment her with their horrible scriching and crying that her bodie waxed meruelous feeble In so much that if our Lord had not by his almightie power susteined her it had not ben possible for her to haue endured but her hart must needes haue burst in sunder In the end she concluded her praier with these wordes O Lord said she seeing it is so that thy mercie maie not be granted without thy Iustice I beseech thee despise not my praiers but whatsoeuer paine is to be laied vpon this people laie it vpon my bodie and I will beare it with all my hart for the loue that I beare to the honour of thy holie name and to the saluation of their soules After the tyme that she had spoken these wordes our Lord made no more mention of his iustice but held his peace and gaue her the victorie as the effecte declared euidently For from that verie hower foreward it was seene that the people did by litle and litle cease off their conspiracies and practises against the Popes holines and in the end submitted them selues wholly to his authoritie But as their malice relented by litle and litle and in tyme ceased so did her paine and smart likewise increase answerably by the permission of God by whose suffrance the wicked sprites vexed and tormented her bodie so cruelly that it seemed incredible but only to such as were present with her and sawe how it was in part rent and torne as it had ben with yron hookes in part swollen and full of blacke and blewe wailes as though it had ben beaten with clubbes and all ouer so pitifully araied that it seemed rather a thing to wonder at then a natural bodie All the which notwithstanding she gaue not ouer her accustomed maner of praier but continued in the same both longer tyme together then she was wont to doe before and also with greater feruour of spirite and deuotion then she was wont to haue at other tymes And euermore as she increased in praier charitable
sawe that being moued with pitie she turned her selfe to God after her accustomed maner in praier and besought him with great instance that he would voutchsafe to prolong her mothers life Our Lord made answere that if she could be brought to dispose her selfe to die at that tyme it would be best for her forsomuch as if she liued longer there were such stormes of troubles and aduersitie towardes her as she should not be able to beare The holie maid hearing that went to her mother and comforted her and vsed manie sweet perswasions with her to induce her to be content seeing it was the will of God to passe out of this wretched state to a more happie and blessed life But the mother geuing but a deaffe eare to this kind of talke charged her daughter earnestly that she should rather praie to God for the continuance of her life for as yet she could in no wise be brought to depart out of the wordle Then the holie maid in great anguish and perplexitie of mynd became a mediatrix betweene almightie God and her mother humbly beseeching him on the one side that he would not suffer her mother to depart vntill she were resolued to die willingly for his loue and earnestly exhorting her on the other side that she should yeald her hart fully and wholly to the will of God But she was so fixed on the wordle that she might not abide to heare of death Whereupon our Lord speake to the holie maid after this sort Daughter said he tell thy mother that if she will not consent to die now a tyme shall come when she shal be so afflicted that she shall desire to die and shall not be heard Which saying of our Lord tooke effecte within a litle tyme after and she was in deed so miserably tormented in mynd with the losse of her temporal goods vnto the which she bare a meruelous inordinate loue that she brake out impatiently into certaine wordes as it were of desperation and despite against God saying Is it possible that God hath so inclosed my soule in this crooked bodie that it can find no waie out Haue I sent so manie of my sonnes and daughters kinsfolkes and frindes housband and all out of the wordle before me with great griefe and now am constreined to remaine here alone after them all to see my selfe ouerwhelmed with heauines and miserie And so with this bitternes of hart and murmuring against God she passed out of this life without anie further contrition or repentance for her synnes Her daughter tooke this maner of her departure meruelous heauily and could receiue no coÌ„fort but setting her selfe to praier which she had euermore tried to be a present remedie against all euels she sighed sobbed and wept verie lamentably and powred out the griefe of her hart before God with these wordes O my deere Lord and God are these the promises that thou hast made me that there should no one of my house and familie perish in the handes of the enemie Behold ô Lord my mother is now passed out of this life without repentance for her synnes without confession without the rightes of holie Church O sweet Lord O Father of all comfort I most humbly beseech thee in the bowels of thy tender mercie that thou wilt not reiecte the petition of thy lowlie handmaid at this tyme. See ô Lord I lie here prostrate before thy diuine Maiestie and will not rise out of this place vntill my mother be restored to life againe and I ascertained of her saluation that thy promises maie be verified and my soule comforted While the holie maid was thus praying there were a nomber of women in the chamber some of the houshold and some of the neighbours that came thither at that tyme as the maner is to mourne and to doe such thinges as were to be done about the dead corps Emong these women some there were also that gaue diligent eare to the holie maid heard distinctly what wordes she spake in her praier But they all sawe this and were witnesses of the same that soone after the holie maid had ended her praier the sowle returned to the bodie againe and the woman liued afterwardes a conuenient tyme to repent her of her former offences and so died in the state of grace This storie did the holie maid her selfe declare afterwardes to Doctour Raimundus her ghostlie father How the holie maid obteined of God by praier the conuersion of two theeues that were lead to execution Chap. 10. ON a daie while the holie maid was in the house of one of her sisters called Alexia it chaÌ„ced that two famoê° theeues condemned to death were caried in a cart thorough the streete towardes the place of execution Their sentence was that by the waie as they were caried they should be pinched now in one part of their bodie and now in an other with hote yrons or pincers and so in the end put to death Which paine was so intolerable that they which were before in a desperate state and might by no perswasions be brought to repent them of their manifold and heinous offences committed against God and the wordle blasphemed God all his Sainctes In so much that it seemed that the temporal tormentes that they were now in were but a begynning and waie to these euerlasting tormentes and fyer that they went vnto But our merciful Lord whose prouident goodnes disposeth all thinges sweetly had otherwise determined of them When they were come neere to this house Alexia hearing a great concourse and noyse of people in the streete went to the windowe to see what it might be And seeing the horrible maner of the execution she ranne in againe and said to the holie maid O mother if euer you will see a pitiful sight come now With that the holie maid went to the windowe and looked out and so soone as she had seene the maner of the execution she returned foorthwith to her praiers againe For as she declared afterwardes secretly to Doctour Raimundus she sawe a great multitude of wicked spirites about those fellons which did burne their soules more cruelly within then the tormentours did their bodies without Which lamentable sight moued her to double compassion She had great pitie to see their bodies but much more to seâ— their soules wherefore turning her selfe to our Lord with great feruour of spirite she made her praier to him after this maner Ah deere Lord wherefore dost thou suffer these thy creatures made to thyne owne image and likenes and redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood to be thus lead awaie in triumph by the cruel enemie I know ô Lord confesse that these men are iustly punished according to the measure of their offences So was the theefe also that hong by thee on the Crosse whom notwithstanding thou tookest to mercie saying that he should be with thee that verie daie in Paradyse Thou diddest not refuse Peeter but gauest him a
the sisters that was there with her at that tyme that when the holie maid came to her selfe againe she should desire her in his name and also charge her in the vertue of her obedience that she should extend her charitie towardes that miserable man that laie on passing and praie to God hartely for his recouerie When the holie maid vnderstood the lamentable state of the sicke man and withall the charge that was geauen her from her ghostlie father she taried not but foorthwith set her selfe to praier and besought our Lord with great instance and feruour of spirite that he would not suffer that soule to perish whome he had redeemed with the price of his most precious blood To that our Lord made answere and said that the iniquitie of that wicked man was so heinous in his sight that the crie thereof perced the heauens and called for iustice for he had not only in wordes most horribly blasphemed the holie name of God and of his Sainctes but also with great despite and malice throwen a table into the fyer in the which was painted the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ together with the images of our blessed Ladie and other Sainctes By the which facte he had deserued euerlasting damnation When the holie maid heard that she fell downe prostrate before our Lord and said O Lord if thou wilt looke narrowly to our iniquities who shal be able to stand Wherefore camest thou downe from heauen into the wordle Wherefore tookest thou flesh of the most pure and vnspotted virgin Marie Wherefore diddest thou suffer a most bitter and reprochfull death Hast thou done all these thinges ô Lord to this end that thou mightest call men to a streight and rigorous account for their synnes and not rather that thou mightest vtterly cancel their debtes and take them to mercie Why dost thou ô merciful Lord tell me of the synnes of one lost man seeing thou hast borne vpon thyne owne shoulders the synnes of the whole wordle that none should be lost Doe I lie here prostrate at thy feete to demaund iustice and not rather to craue mercie Doe I present my selfe here before thy diuine Maiestie to pleade the innocencie of this wretched creature and not rather to confesse that he is gyltie of euerlasting death and damnation and that the onlie refuge is to appeale to thyne endles mercie Remember ô deere Lord what thou saidest to me when thou diddest first will me to goe abrode and to procure the saluation of manie soules Thou knowest right well that I haue none other ioye or comfort in this life but only to see the conuersion of synners vnto thee And for this cause only I am content to lacke the ioyful fruition of thy blessed presence Wherefore if thou take this ioye from me what other thing shall I find in this vale of miserie wherein to take pleasure or comfort O most merciful Father God of all comfort reiecte not the hūble petition of thyne handmaid put me not awaie from thee at this tyme but graciously graunt me that this my brothers hard hart maie be mollified and made to yeald to the working of thy holie spirite Thus did the holie maid continue in praier and disputation with our Lord from the begynning of the night till the nexte morning All the which tyme she neither slept nor tooke anie maner of rest but wept and wailed continually for great compassion that she had to see that soule perish our Lord euermore alleaging his iustice and she crauing his mercie At the length our Lord being as it were ouercome with her importunitie and crying gaue her this comfortable answere Deere daughter I will stand no longer with thee in this matter Thy teares and lamentable crying haue preuailed and wrested the sword of my iustice out of myne hand This synful man shall for thy sake find such fauour and grace as thou requirest for him And with that our Lord withdrewe him selfe from the holie maid and appeered the same hower to the sicke man and spake to him after this maner Deere child why wilt thou not be repentant for the synnes that thou hast committed against me In anie case be sorie for thyne offences and confesse the same and I am readie to pardon thee That word so persed the hart of that obstinate man that he relented foorth with and cried with a lowd voice to them that were there present besought them for Gods loue that they would helpe him to a ghostlie father with all possible speed For said he my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath shewed him selfe mercifully to me and willed me to be confessed of all my synnes When they heard that they were verie much astoined but withall meruelously comforted to see that soddaine and blessed alteration in him And they made great hast to bring him a ghostlie father to whome he made a perfecte Confession of all his synnes with great contrition and so passed out of this wordle in the state of grace How the holie maid by praier procured the conuersion of a fierce yong gentleman in Siena called Iames Tolomes Cap. 12. THere was in the citie of Siena a gentleman of a worshipfull parentage called Francis Tolomes who tooke to wife on Rabes a gentlewoman likewise of a good howse and by her had manie sonnes and daughters His eldest sonne was called Iames a prowd and hawtie yong man and of nature verie fierce and cruel in so much that being yet but a child of age he killed two men with his owne handes which cawsed all men both to dread him and to shunne his companie And as he grewe in yeares so did he also increase in malice and wickednes and ranne without raine or bridle euen as his outragious mynd caried him into all kindes of mischiefe He had two sisters the one called Francis the other Ginoccia which were also dissolute and light of behauiour and specially Ginoccia which was wholly geuen to vaintie and superfluous decking of her selfe And yet had she euermore a care to keepe the virginitie of her bodie which she did rather for feare of shame in the wordle then for anie feare or loue of God Which thing was no small griefe to their mother Rabes who being a woman that feared God and tendred much the soules health of her daughters went on a daie to the holie maid and declaring the state of her daughters besought her for Gods loue that she would bee so good as to come with her and geue them some godlie exhortation The holie maid which had euermore a passing great desire to wynne soules to God went with the gentlewoman with a verie good will and did as she was required And her wordes so wrought in the hartes of those two yong maidens that they gaue ouer all the vanities of the wordle and tooke the habite of S. Dominicke Ginoccia foorth with and Francis soone after In the which rule and discipline they liued a verie streight and rigorous life
The which when the holie maid perceiued she gaue charge to the rest that were about her that they should haue a care of the confesssours and prouide them of thinges necessarie Which was in deed verie requisite for they were so intentiue to their spirituall haruest and tooke such a passing inward delite to see the wonderfull increase that almightie God had sent in all places where they trauailed with the holie maid that they liue mynded either meat or drincke or anie thing els belongyng to the bodie And when all bodilie recreations failed it was no small recreation and comfort to them to see the holie maid her selfe what a spirituall Iubilee she kept and how her hart did as it were leape and daunce for ioye when she sawe such nombers of soules to leaue the broade waies of their accustomed synfull life and now by her direction to walke in the narrowe pathes of Gods holie commandements And as the wordes of the holie maid had a wonderfull vertue and strenght in drawing the hartes of such as were present and might heare her speake so had she also a singular gyfte of perswasion in her writinges to them that were absent and might not heare her wordes as it maie appeere by her letters writen with a meruelous heauenlie grace and eloquence to Popes and Cardinalls to Kinges and Princes to Bishops and Prelates to Lordes and Rulers to communities and common weales to Magisitates and priuate citisens to religious persones both men and women and also to diuerse and sundrie secular persones And such was her zeale and charitable affection towardes all kindes of men that whether they were present or absent she omitted not to doe good where soeuer occasion was ministred How the holie maid made manie goodlie sermons or collations in the presence of Pope Gregorie and afterwardes likewise in the presence of Pope Vrbanus and his Cardinals Cap. 15. AFter that this chosen vessell of God was apointed to shewe her selfe to the wordle as is before declared to beare the name of Christ before kinges and rulers and all other states of men and women she made diuerse and sundrie sermons in the presence of Pope Gregorie the eleuenth with such a wonderfull grace eloquence and authoritie that the Pope him selfe and all that were about him were astoined to heare her And afterwardes being required by Pope Vrbanus his successour to doe the like in open consistorie she made such a wonderfull and dreadfull oration concerning the particular prouidence of God ouer his Church and ouer the head pastour of the same whom she declared to be the said Pope Vrbanus the sixt affirming constantly before them all that she vnderstood so much by a most certaine reuelation from God and she rebuked both the pope and all his Cardinals with such a constant boldnes for their base myndes and lacke of manlie courage in Gods cause that they were all enforced to confesse that it was not she that spake but the spirite and wisedome of God in her Whereupon Pope Vrbanus turning him selfe to the rest said these wordes Behold brethren how contemptible we are become in the sight of God for being thus fearefull in his cause Our Lord hath sent here a seelie woman to controll and reproach vs of cowardise I call her a seelie woman not for anie defecte that I note in her but only to expresse the frailtie of her sexe or kind which as you knowe is naturally more subiecte to feare then we are It would be thought in this case that she as a woman should be timorous and we manlie and stoute But we see nowe that we are faint harted and deiected and she contrariwise verie full of manlie courage and comfort It is surely a great shame and reproach to vs all that we haue need to be comforted at this tyme by a woman Howbeit seeing it is the will of God to send vs such a comforter let vs accept it especially considering that her wordes are most true which are that the vicare of Christ ought not to feare though the whole wordle should set them selues in armes against him for so much as almightie God who hath taken the charge and protection of him is stronger then the wordle When the pope had said these wordes he turned him selfe to the holie maid and gaue her a verie graue testimonie of vertue and holines And when he had so done he opened the treasure of the Church and gaue manie spirituall graces both to her and to them that were there with her Manie other collations did she make in places where occasion was ministred to edifie soules to the great profit and comfort of them that heard her as it maie appeere in part by some thinges that are alreadie declared in this booke before and more by this present matter and some other thinges that shal be declared hereafter How the holie maid was sent to Pope Gregorie from the Florentines about a treatie of peace and how she was sent backe againe with the condicions of peace in her owne hand Chap. 16. ABout the yeare of our Lord 1375. the citie of Florence which had in foretymes shewed it selfe euermore loiall and obedient to the Sea Apostolike being moued partly by the instigation of certaine euell disposed citizens that were in authoritie and partly also as it was thought by the lewd demeanour of some insolent persones that bare office in the Church began to withdrawe their obedience and to ioyne them selues with the enemies of the Church By reason whereof there ensued a general reuolt in Italie almost of all the territories that belonged to the Sea Apostolike which were at that tyme as it is reported to the nomber of three score cities and ten thousand walled townes Pope Gregorie the eleuenth seeing that proceeded against the Florentines by waie of excommunication whereof it came to passe that their merchantes and trauailers wheresoeuer they went were taken robbed and spoiled in all places and debarred of all trafficke with other nations The which smart and losse of temporal goods so pinched them that they were enforced to seeke all possible meanes how they might be reconciled to the Popes holines againe And because they vnderstood that the holie maid was in great credite and fauour with the Pope by reason of her vertue and holines the lordes and principal rulers of the cittie thought good that Doctour Raimundus her Confessour should be sent before as it were to make her waie And that done they sent for the holie maid also And when she was come almost to the cittie of Florence they went out against her to receiue her with all honour and besought her for Gods loue that she would take the paines to goe to Auinion where the Pope was then resident and to entreate him to condescend to certaine reasonable condicions or peace The holie maid had such a passing desire to make peace that she cast no doubt neither of the trauaile and tediousnes of the long iourney nor yet of the effecte
Holie father how thinke you This Caterine of Siena is she of such great holines as she is reported to be The Pope made answere and said Truly we beleeue she is a holie virgin If it please your holines said they we will goe to see her And we beleeue said he you shal be well edified And so they came to our house foorthwith after nyne of the clocke in sommer When they knocked I went to open the doore vnto them And one of them said to me tell Caterine that we would speake with her When she vnderstood of their being there she came downe with doctour Iohn her confessour and certaine other religious persones in to one of the lower roomes where in a conuenient place they caused her to sit downe in the middle And so they entred talke with her after a verie insolent manner prouoking her to choler with their biting wordes And emong other thinges they said We come from the Popes holines and are desirous to vnderstand of you whether you be sent from the Florentines or no as the common brute is Haue not they one sufficient man to send about a matter of so great importance vnto so great a prince And if you be not sent by them we meruaile much how you being a seelie woman dare presume to treate of so weightie a matter as this is with our holie father the Pope c. But the holie maid stood fast like an vnmoueable piller and gaue them verie humble and pitthie answeres in so much that they merueiled much at it And when she had satisfied them at the full concernyng this matter they put out vnto her verie manie and withall verie great questions especially touching her abstraction and singular manner of life And bicause the Apostle saieth that the angell of Satan transfourmeth him selfe into an angell of light they asked her how she knewe whether she were deceiued or no. And so they spake manie wordes and proposed manie questions and in effecte protracted the tyme vntill it was night Sometymes Doctour Iohn would answere for her And though he were a Doctour of diuinitie yet were they such great learned men that in fewe wordes they shut him vp and said vnto him You maie be ashamed to speake after this manner in our presence Let her answere for her selfe for she satisfieth vs much better then you doe Now emong these three one was an Archbishop sometymes a frier of S. Francis order which bare him selfe like a proud Pharisee in countenance as it appeered and made sometymes as though he would not take the answeres of the holie maid But the other two at the length set themselues against him and said What would you haue more of this maid Without doubt she hath declared these matters more plainly and more copiously then euer we found them declared by anie of the doctours And she shewed manie moe verie certaine and true tokens vnto them and so there arose a great iarre emong them selues But in the end they departed all alike satisfied and comforted and made this report of her to our holie father the Pope that they neuer found a soule neither so humble nor so illuminated Howbeit when the Pope vnderstood how they had ruffled with her to moue her to choler he was verie angrie with them made his excuse to her verie effectually declaring that it was done without his will or consent And he said furthermore that if those prelates came anie more to speake with her they should shut the doores against them The next daie doctour Francis the Popes phisicion said these wordes vnto me Knowe you those prelates that came yester daie to our house I made him answere that I knewe them not Then said he to me I assure you that if the knowledge of those three were put in one balance and the knowledge of all the rest that are in the court of Come were put in the other the knowledge of these three would weigh much more then all theirs And therefore I will tell you that if they had not found this maid Caterine to haue a verie good ground she had made as ill a voiage at this tyme as euer she made in her life And then he commended her with verie great and effectuall wordes which I omit in this place for breuities sake These are the verie wordes of that blessed and holie man father Steuen who was as it is said long tyme conuersant with her as her spirituall sonne and scholer and afterwardes became a monke and so consequently for his vertue and holines a Priour ouer a couent of Carthusians neere vnto Pauia Where being earnestly required he wrote a short abbridgment of the holie maides life In the which is conteined brefely and in effecte the whole substance of this booke For corroboration wherof he caused the said abbridgement to be firmed with the great seale of his couent and to be subsigned with the handes of two publike notaries in the presence of a great nomber of witnesses And made this solemne protestation withall in as earnest and vehement termes as he could deuise that for confirmation of the truth of that whole storie and euerie point conteined in the same to the honour of God and edifying of soules he would be found readie at all tymes to take a corporall oathe in whatsoeuer fourme it could be most exactely deuised and to put his hand not only to that present writing but also into the fyer if it were required And of this he called almightie God to witnes who kewe the secretes of his hart Abriefe repetition or somme of manie pointes of heauenlie doctrine reuealed vnto the holie maid immediately from God Chap. 19. THe holie maid was as we haue declared heretofore oftentymes rauished in spirite and vtterly abstracted from her bodilie senses At which tymes it pleased almightie God to vtter by secret inspiration vnto the soule of his deere spouse diuerse sundrie pointes of mysticall doctrine Which she being so rauished and abstracted vttered in the presence of manie godlie and great learned men which wrote as she spake and compiled a booke conteinyng sixe treatises The conclusion wherof I thought good to laie downe in this place word for word as it is written bicause it compriseth in fewe wordes an abbridgement or briefe somme of all such matters as are set out at large in the whole booke before The wordes of almightie God to his spouse are these Now most deere and welbeloued daughter I haue satisfied thy desire from the begynnyng of my talke vnto the last that I had concernyng obedience for if thou be well remembred thou requiredst of me with a carefull desire as thou knowest I caused thee to desire that I should make the fyer of charitie to increase in thee Thou requiredst I saie fouer petitions of the which one was for thy selfe The which I satisfied by illuminating thee with the light of my truth shewing thee that through the light of faith with the knowledge of thee
patience contempte of the wordle and feruour towardes religion The which state of life she tendred so much that he buylded two monasteries of Nonnes and in the later of the two she liued a holie life and died a blessed death where it pleased God to worke manie greate and straunge miracles by her in her life time and many moe after her death Emonge other this was and is one that her bodie continueth still whole and vnputrified euen as it was at the verie hower of her departure When she was newly dead the people in regard of the wonderful signes that she had wrought emong them in her life thought to haue preserued her bodie with baulme But when they came to the bodie they sawe that it was needles forsomuch as there distilled a verie sweet and precious liqour out at the endes of her fingers toes that passed all baulme which was diligently gathered by them and put in a viole in the which it is kept to this daie and at tymes shewed to the people for a perpetual remembrāce of this great miracle The night that she died the yong babes that laie in bed with their fathers and mothers cried out and said Sister Agnes is now departed and she is a Saincte in heauen And the next mornyng a great companie of yong children by the instincte of God gathered them selues together and would admit none into their companie that was not a maid and set them selues in order after the maner of a procession and so went with candels burnyng in their handes to the monasterie where they offred them vp at the bodie of the blessed virgin euen as we are wont to doe at the monumentes of Sainctes These and manie other miracles were wrought by almightie God in the honour of S. Agnes which caused the people of the country to haue her relikes in great price and reuerence How the holie maid in hir life tyme healed manie that were sicke of the plague Chp. 3. ABout the yeare of our Lord 1373. ther was a great plague in the citie of Siena of the which manie men and women of all condicions and ages died verie soone after they were once taken some within one daie some within two and fewe or none passed the third daie which mortalitie caused a great terrour emong the people Doctour Raimundus chaunced to be in the citie at that tyme reader of the diuinitie lesson in his couent who being a charitable man tendring more the health of soules then the preseruation of his owne bodie as his profession and rule required he tooke great paines and went by daie and by night to the houses where he might vnderstand anie to be sicke to visite comfort and counsel them for their soules health And manie tymes when he was weerie of runnyng thus to and fro he vsed to turne a litle aside into an house or hospital called Our ladie of mercie and there to repose him selfe a while partly for rerecreation both of bodie and soule and partly also to speake with Maister Matthewe the rectour of the said house whome he loued entierly for vertues sake and resorted vnto him commonly once in the daie and so did the holie maid also verie often sometymes to conferre with him of spiritual matters and sometymes to aske either his aduise or charitie towardes the reliefe of the poore On a daie doctour Raimundus going to visite the sicke after his accustomed maner and passing by the gate of this house went familiarly to see how Maister Matthewe did with the rest of his family When he was entred he saw the bretheren and clearkes busilie occupied in carying Maister Matthew from the Church towardes his chamber With that he asked him cheerfully how he did But Maister Matthew was so feeble and so farre spent that he could not giue him one word to answere Then he asked them that were about him how that sicknes came to him And they made answere that he had watched that night with one that was sicke of the plague and about midnight tooke the sicknes of him since the which time said they he hath remained as yee see without coloure without strength without spirit When they had brought him to his chamber they laide him downe vopn his bedde VVhere when he had rested a litle while he came to him selfe againe called for doctour Raimundus and made his confession to him as he was wont often times to doe That done doctour Raimundus spake to him comfortablie M. Matthew said he how feele yee your selfe where is your paine My griefe said he is in my flancke and it paineth me so sore that me thinketh my thighe is ready to breake in sunder And I haue withal such a vehement headache that it seemeth as though my head would cleaue in fower partes With that he felt his pulses and fownd in deed that he had a verie sharpe feuer Wherupon he caused them to carrie his vrine to a learned phisicion that was in the citie called maister Sensus and soone after went him selfe to vnderstand his resolution and aduise in the matter When he came the phisicion declared vnto him that he sawe in the water verie euident tokens of an ague pestilential and also of death neere at hand for said he this water sheweth plainely to me certaine bubling or boiling of the blood out of the liuer which is the common disease that reigneth now ouer all the citie Wherefore I am verie sorie for I see we are like to leese a verie deere frend and they of his howse a verie good rectour What said doctour Raimundus is it not possible by your art to deuise some kind of medecine that maie doe him good We will see to morrowe said he whether we can purge that blood with Cassia Fistula but to tell you truely I haue small hope of doing anie good The disease is to farre gone When doctour Raimundus heard those vncomfortable wordes he returned towardes the sicke man againe with a heauie hart In this meane tyme it came to the eares of the holie maid that maister Matthewe was dangerously sicke and of the plague When she heard that she was troubled in spirite as it were against that euel for she knewe him to be a verie vertuous man and therefore loued him verie entierly and forthwith went in great hast towardes his howse And before she came at him she cried out with a lowd voice saying Maister Matthewe rise rise vp maister Matthewe It is no tyme to lie now sluggyng in your bed At that word and at that verie instant the paine in his slancke and headache and the whole disease forsooke him quite and he rose vp as merrie and as sound in all his bodie as if there had neuer ben anie such disease vpon him And when he was readie he honoured the the holie maid and gaue her most humble thankes saying that he knewe now by experience in his owne bodie that the power of God dwelled in her and wrought strange thinges by
great hedach which tormented him verie sore and were as he knewe vndoubted signes of the common infection that raigned ouer the citie at that tyme. The which notwithstanding he did what he could to make an end of his diuine seruice In the mornyng calling a felowe to him he went with great paine towardes the holy maides house whether when he came he found her not at home For she was gone out to visite an other that was sicke Then being no longer able to hold vp his head he laied him selfe downe vpon a couch that was there in her house praied the sisters that they wold send for her with al speed When the holie maid came home and found him there and vnderstood in what case he was she kneeled downe by the bed and laying her hand vpon his forehead she began after her maner to lifte vp her hart to God in praier And foorthwith he sawe that she was quite abstracted from her bodilie senses rauished in sprite Which was no vnwonted sight to him nor yet vncomfortable at that tyme. For he hoped well that she should obteine some great benefite for him both of bodie and soule at Gods hand When she had continued after that maner about the space of halfe an hower he felt in him selfe a mightie alteration and stirring in euerie part of his bodie and withal a vehement prouocation towardes a vomite which he had seene to hapen before to many that had died of that disease How beit it fell not so out with him but rather contrariwise For it seemed to him that he felt sensibly how those corrupt humours that caused his paine were violently drawen from within to the vttermost partes of the bodie And certaine he was that he found present ease of his paines And before the holie maid came to her selfe againe he was fully and perfectly restored to his health sauing only that there remained a litle feeblenes in him which he thought our Lord suffred to remaine in him as a token either of the disease that was cured or els of the weakenes of his faith So soone as the holie maid had obteined this grace at Gods hand for her ghostlie father she was foorthwith restored to her bodilie senses And finding him as yet in some weakenes she willed her sisters to prouide some meate for him such as is wont to be geuen to sicke folkes The which when he had receiued at her holie hand she willed him to lie downe and rest a while and so he did And when he had rested a litle tyme he rose vp and felt him selfe as strong and in as good liking as if he had neuer ben sicke Then said the holie maid to him Father goe your waie and labour about the edifying of soules and be thankeful to almightie God that hath deliuered you out of this present danger The like miracle did the holie maid worke about the same tyme vpon father Bartilmewe of whome mention hath ben made diuerse and sundrie tymes before The miracle was much alike but the cure seemed somewhat greater biause he was both longer and also more grieuously sicke How the holie maid healed a great nomber that were sicke of other diseases after the like maner Chap. 4. AFter the tyme that this pestilence was ceased in Siena it chaunced that manie deuout and well disposed persones as well religious as others but specially certaine Nunnes of Pisa hearing the fame of the holie maid had a great desire to see her and to heare her doctrine which was reported to be and was in deed verie wonderful And because it was not lawful for many of them that had this godly inclination to come to her to Siena they sent letters and messengets to her very often beseeching her that she would take the paines to come ouer to them to Pisa And to allure her the more to take that iourney vpon her they declared vnto her what frute and gaine of soules was like to ensue by her comyng thither The holie maid though she had no desire to be from home yet being ouercome with their long importunate sute especially considering that there was great hope of winning soules to God first she asked the aduise of them that liued in house with her of the which compaine some were with her going to Pisa and some against it Then when she sawe that she could not be resolued by men she fled vnto almightie God as her maner was and besought him humbly that he would vouchsafe to make her to vnderstand what his will and pleasure was that she should doe in that case And it came to passe after certaine daies that our Lord appeered to her and willed her that she should accomplish the godlie request of those his seruantes hand maides in Pisa without delaie Wherupon she went to her ghostelie father and declaring thus much to him besought him like an obedient daughter that he would geue her licence to doe as she was willed by God He assented willingly to her demaund and went him selfe with her and with him two other of his brethren to heare the confessions of such as should resort vnto her according to a graunt made to her by Pope Gregorie the eleuenth When she came to Pisa she lodged in the house of an honest citizen called maister Gerardus where on a daie there was presented vnto her a certaine younge man of the age of twentie yeares or there about which had ben sore vexed with a quotidian ague for the space of a yeare and halfe and neuer missed one daie And though there were no fit of an ague vpon him at that tyme yet might she see that he had ben long sicke For whereas he was by constitution of bodie a verie strong and lustie yong man he was now brought so lowe that he had neither flesh strength nor colour And no medicine could be found that would doe him good Wherfore they entreated the holie maid that she would commend his lamentable state to God in her praier The holie maid pitied his case verie much and asked him how long it was sence he was last confessed To that he answered and said that it was a good manie yeares Yea said she and that is the cause whie our Lord hath laied this discipline vpon you bicause yee would not clense your soule in all this tyme by confession Wherfore deere sonne see that yee goe out of hand to confession and rid your selfe of these sinnes that haue infected you both bodie and soule With that she caused Doctour Thomas her owne confessour to be called and deliuered the yong man to him willing him to heare his confession That done the yong man returned to her againe and she laied her hand vpon his shoulder and said these wordes Sonne goe your waie with the peace of our Lord Iesus Christ For I will not that these agues trouble you anie more She said and it was done for the almightie power of him spake in her who said and it
the citie or els to take him and so to put him to death the Romaines stood verie duetifully and fought manie skirmishes in the defence of their citie and bisshop In the which skirmishes manie of them especially of the inferiour sort were taken by the enemie and cruelly handled Some were tied vp against trees and so let alone that they might die a long and paineful death Some other that were thought to be of some abilitie to ransome them selues were lead into a brode field and there after diuerse and sundrie horrible tormentes fettered with chaines and boltes of yron Of these it was generally marcked that so manie as called vpon S. Caterine of Siena were foorthwith loosed of their bandes returned home to their owne houses And some of thē to doct Raimundus and declared to him and other how wonderfully our Lord had wrought for their deliuerance These thinges did almightie God worke to honour the holie virgin after her death burial with many other that were not writen through the negligēce of a certaine notarie whome doct Raimundus put in trust Bicause he was him selfe at that tyme an old man could not remember so manie thinges as were credibly reported to him so particularly so precisely as he knewe was requisite for the credit of a holie legend or historie of a Sainctes life Howbeit whatsoeuer lacked in him or in the notarie was in some degree supplied by the deuotion of thē that had receiued such benefites Of the which there came a meruelous great nōber both men women and offred vp as the maner is certaine images of wax vpō her tōbe in the which was expressed as wel as they could the maner of each miracle to the honour of God the worker and geuer of all good thinges and of his glorious spowse S. Caterine in contemplation of whose merites it pleased him to worke such good thinges at that tyme. A TABL OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS BOOKE OF the birth and infancie of this holie virgin and of certeine wonderful tokens of holines that shewed in her euen at that age Chap. 1. Of a verie strange vision shewed vnto her and of certaine wonderful effectes of the loue of God towardes her and of her loue towardes God Chap. 2. Of a bold entreprise which this blessed infant made to liue a solitarie life after the maner of the auncient 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. How she vowed her virginitie vnto almightie God Chap. 4. Of a wonderful zeale that was in her to wynne soules to God and how for that cause she cast a great loue to S. Dominicke and to his order Chap. 5. How she relented somewhat in her spiritual exercises being thervnto induced by the importunitie of her mother sisters who woulde needes haue her to vse some diligence in trymyng her selfe And of the penance wich she did for that offence Chap. 6. How she recouered her wonted libertie in seruing God and was reconciled againe to her spowse How the persecutions that she susteined at home did not only not hurt her but also profit her much Chap. 7. Of her continuance in her feruent and deuout exercises and how her father sawe a doue ouer her head Of a singular affection that she bare to the habit of S. Dominicke and how it was declared vnto her by a cleere vision that she was heard How she preuailed against all those in the house that went about to hinder her holie designementes and vowes Chap. 8. Of her great abstinence Chap. 9. Of her great austeritie about her bed and apparel Chap. 10. Of her wonderful watching and of the griefe that her mother tooke for the same Chap. 11. How she beat her selfe for a long tyme thryce in the daie with a chaine of yron Chap. 12. How she desired earnestly to receiue the habite of S. Dominike and how her mother to turne her mynd lead her awaie to the batthes VVhat penance she did euen in the batthes Chap. 13. How she receiued the habite of S. Dominike and how she was the first virgin that receiued the same Chap. 14. Of the holie vowes designementes and exercises which the blessed virgin vsed after the receiuing of the habite And what effectual exhortations she made to excite her selfe to the seruice of God Chap. 15. Of diuerse and sundrie visions and reuelations shewed vnto her with a doctrine how to discerne betweene true and false visions Chap. 16. Of a verie goodlie and profitable doctrine of our Sauiour worthie to be planted in the hartes of as manie as are desirous to come to spiritual perfection Chap. 17 An other goodlie doctrine by the which a sowle is made pure and meete to enioye the familiaritie of almightie God euen in this life with a miracle wrought by our Lord on the sea for confirmation of the same Chap. 18. Certaine goodlie sayinges which she was wont to vse to excite her selfe and others to the perfection of charitie Chap. 19. Of the straunge batailes which she had against the deuel and how she a med her selfe with a strong faith and other heauenlie vertues and so gate a most glorious victorie ouer her enemie Chap. 20. How the enemie accompanied with a great multitude of vncleane spirites renewed his batterie against this strong fortresse and vsed greater enforcement then before Chap. 21. How our Lord with diuerse other Sainctes visited her oftentymes verie familiarly and how he taught her to read by miracle Chap. 22. How she increased so much in heauenlie contemplations that she was oftentymes rauished in the same and how she was espoused to our Saurour Christ with a ring Chap. 23. Certaine proofes of the holines of this blessed virgin declaring the afore mentioned streight frindship and familiaritie betweene our Lord and her to be a thing vndoubted Chap. 24. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE SECOND PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw the spowse of Christ was made by litle and litle to shewe her selfe to the wordle Chap. 1. Of her vertuous and lowlie conuersation emong men and how she would debase her selfe to doe the vilest seruices in the house Of manie strange visitations excesses and trawnses which she had in the presence of manie Chap. 2. How being in a trawnse she fell into the fyer and there continued a good while without anie harme Chap. 3. Of diuerse and sundrie miracles like to this afore writen And how it pleased our Sauiour Christ to geue the enemie power ouer her bodie Chap. 4. VVhat a charitable affection and great care she had of the poore and of a pleasant matter that fell out about the same Chap 5. An other verie notable example of her great charitie towardes the poore Chap. 6. An other verie wonderfull example of her passing great charitie like to this afore writen Chap. 7. Of two euident miracles which our Lord
wrought to declare how acceptable her workes of charitie were to him Chap. 8. Of a passing great charitie and diligence which she vsed in attending vpon a sicke woman and of her inuincible patience in bearing the waywardnes of the same woman Chap. 9. An other verie strange example of her charitie and patience towardes a sicke woman of her owne order and how she rendred great good for great euel Chap. 10. How she serued an old widowe that had a festered sore runnyng vpon her by whom she was also infamed And of diuerse strange accidentes that ensued vpon the same Chap. 11. How she was endued with manie goodlie priuileges How she had a passing desire to receiue the blessed Sacrament How being fortified with the spirite of God she endured much labour and trauaile without anie bodelie sustenance Chap. 12. How she was molested by diuerse and sundrie persones disswading her from her streight abstinence and how she ouercame her gostlie father by reason Chap. 13. How her strange maner of life was gainesaid and slaundered and how such gainesayinges and slaunders maie easily be answered Chap. 14. How she shewed her selfe meruelous seuere and rigorous towardes her selfe and contrariwise wonderfull gentle and meeke towardes them that slaundered her which she did to wynne them to God Chap. 15. How our Sauiour tooke her hart out of her bodie and after a certaine of daies gaue her a newe for it Chap. 16. Of diuerse and sundrie visions which she had at the siight and receiuing of the blessed Sacrament and how she felt herselfe wonderfully altered after the receite of that newe hart Chap. 17. How our Lord reueled manie high mysteries to the holie maid and how Marie Magdalen was assigned to her to be her mother Chap 18. How hangyngh in the aier she sawe certaine secrets and high mysteries of God which it is not lawful to disclose to anie man Chap 19. How she put her mouth to the side of our Sauiour and drancke and of manie other wonderful thinges that happend about the blessed Sacrament Chap 20. Of certaine other reuelations shewed vnto her vpon the receiuing of the blessed Sacrament And how she obteined graces for diuerse and sundrie persones Chap 21. How she receiued the blessed marckes of our Sauiour Christ in the citie of Pisa Chap. 22. How she was rauished in spirite for the space of three daies and how afterwardes she did penance as long for a woord that escaped her vnwares Chap. 23. Of certaine other reuelations and againe of the tendernes of her conscience Chap. 24. How it pleased God to reueale to her the worthines and excellencie of the blessed patriarke S. Dominicke and of his true children Chap. 25. How the holie virgin being wholly inflamed with the Loue of God desired instantly to be loosed from this life and to be with Christ and how by that meane she obteined to beare in her bodie euerie particular paine that our Sauiour Christ suffred for vs. Chap. 26. How bearing the Crosse of Christ continually in her bodie she tooke great delite to reason of the same and how she reuealed manie strange mysteries vpon the holie scriptures concerning the Crosse Chap. 27. An other exposition vpon the same place of the gospel with certaine other mystical sayinges And how she passed in deed out of this life in the panies of the Crosse Chap. 28 How she passed in deed out of this life and had the fruition of heauenlie ioyes and how afterwardes her soule came againe to the bodie Chap 29. How she had a meruelous deuotion and longyng after the blessed Sacrament and how she bare manie reproaches and slaunders for the same Chap. 30. How our Sauiour Christ ministred the blessed Sacrament vnto her with his owne holie hand Chap. 31. How her face did shyne like an Angel while she was receiuing the blessed Sacrament and of certaine other strange signes Chap. 32. How almightie God permitted the deuel to haue power our her bodie and how she ouercame all with great patience Chap. 33. How she deliuered a certanie yong maid that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 34. How she deliuered a woman that was possessed of a wicked spirite Chap. 35. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE THIRD PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw the holie maid was endued with the spirite of prophecie and foretold what calamities should happen to the Church and likewise how it should be restored againe Chap. 1. How the holie maid sawe the secret thoughtes of mens hartes and how she vsed that gyfte to the benefite of diuerse and sundrie persones Chap. 2. How the holie maid deliuered Doctour Thomas her confessour and an other Frier that iournied with him from being murthered in the waie Chap. 3. How she prophecied long tyme before of the conuersion of a gentleman called Francis of Malauolt Chap. 4. How the holie maid made an exhortation to the Carthusian monckes in the which by the spirite of prophecie she touched the most secret defectes of diuerse and sundrie of them verie particularly Chap. 5. VVhat a singular grace the holie maid had not only in seeing the state of their soules that were present with her but also in discernyng the qualities and condicions of them that were farre from her and in strange countries with certaine other pointes of like sort worthie to be noted Chap. 6. How the holie maid praied continually for the state of the Church and how by prayer she obteined of God the ceasing of two rebellions Chap. 7. How the holie maid obteined by prayer that she might satisfie the iustice of God for the paines due to her father in Purgatorie Chap. 8. How the holie maid by praier brought her mother to life againe and so deliuered her from the paines of hell Chap. 9. How the holie maid obteined of God by prayer the conuersion of two theeues that were lead to execution Chap. 10. How by the praier of the holie maid an obstinate synner was turned to God Chap 11. How the holie maid by praier procured the conuersion of a fierce yong gentleman in Siena called Iames Tolomes Chap. 12. How the holie maid by praier obteined the conuersion of a gentleman called Mannes Chap. 13. VVhat a wonderful grace the holie maid had in making exhortations and conuerting soules vnto God Chap. 14. How the holie maid mede manie goodlie Sermons or collations in the presence of Pope Gregorie and afterwardes likewise in the presence of Pope Vrbanus and his Cardinals Chap. 15. How the holie maid was sent to Pope Gregorie from the Florentines about a treatie of peace and how she was sent backe againe with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap. 16. How the holie maid was sent backe from Pope Gregorie to the Florentines with the conditions of peace freely put in her owne hand Chap 17. How the holie maid shewed her selfe to be excellently well learned both by her writinges and workes set out to the whole wordle and also by her conferences and disputatiōs had with certaine great learned men Chap. 18 A briefe repitition or somme of manie pointes of heauenlie doctrine reuealed vnto the holie maid immediatly from God Chap. 19. A praier or answere made by a faithful and deuout soule to the wordes of almightie God here before recited Chap. 20. VVhat a sure affiance the holie maid had in the truth of Christ and how she longed after martyrdome Chap. 21. How the holie maid made a final exhortation to her spiritual children and so passed out of this life Chap. 22. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTEINED IN THE FOVRTH PART OF THIS BOOKE HOw it pleased our Lord to make the holines of his spowse knowen to the wordle by diuerse and sundrie euident tokens from heauen And first how she spake certaine comfortable wordes to doctour Raimundus after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 1. How it pleased God to geue a testimonie of her holines in her life tyme by an euident miracle wrought at the tombe of S. Agnes Chap. 2. How the holie maid in her life tyme healed manie that were sicke of the plague Chap. 3. How the holie maid healed a great nomber that were sicke of other diseases after the liker maner Chap. 4. How the holie maid made good bread of fustie and stincking corne and how she multiplied the same Chap. 5. How the holie maid multiplied bread an other tyme in Rome for the prouisiom of her familie Chap. 6. How the holie maid wrought the like miracle in the couent of the fryers preachers in Siena after her departure out of this wordle Chap. 7. How almightie God caused wine to be founde in an emptie vessel to the vse of the holie maid and how he caused the same to cease againe at her instance Chap. 8. Of a goodlie vision that was shewed to a certaine deuout matrone in Rome at the departure of the holie maid out of this life Chap. 9 How the holie maides bodie laie three daies and three nightes aboue the ground vnburied and of a nomber of miracles which it pleased our Lord to worke in that meane tyme. Chap. 10. VVhat miracles almightie God wrought to honour the holie maid after her burial Chap. 11. The end of the Table
and enuironed round about with that heauenly and vnspeakeable light the beawtie and brightnes wherof was so great that no tongue was able to expresse it This testimonie of the sicke woman was spread allouer the citie by reason wherof the fame of the blessed virgin and the opinion of her rare vertue and holines was so much increased as the malice of the deuel had thought to haue obscured the same by this false treacherie But in all this as she was nothing deiected by the raising of that slanderous reporte so was she nothing puffed vp with pride for all the honour that the wordle gaue her but acknowledging humblie all vertues and holines to be the gyftes of God she continued still in her foremer state at the seruice of that sicke woman But the ghostlie enemie whose malice ceaseth not though he sawe that he had had verie euel lucke in all that he had euer attempted against her before yet like an earnest gamester he thought he would aduenture one cast more as it were vpon desperation On a tyme as the holie maid was dressing the old womans sore by the malicious working of the feend there issued out of it such a loathsome and horrible stench that she was vpon the point to haue cast vp all that was in her bodie The which when she sawe perceuing that it was the practise of that venemous serpent she entred into an earnest displeasure against her owne flesh and spake to her selfe with great vehemencie of spirite saying Ah wretched and caraine flesh dost thou loath thyne euen Christian I shall make thee not only to endure the sauour of it but also to reciue it within thee With that she tooke all the wasshing of the sore together with the corrupt matter and filth and going aside put it all into cup and drancke it vp lustely And in so doing she ouercame at one tyme both the skeymishnes of her owne stomake and malice of the Deuel This was told afterwardes to her ghostlie Father in her presence and she confessed that it was all true and said furthermore that she could not remember that she had euer eaten or droncken such a pleasant and delicate meate or drincke as that seemed to be in all her life The next night folowing after this glorious victorie our Sauiour Christ appeered vnto her and showed her his handes feete and side in them imprinted the fiue woundes of his most bitter passion said vnto her Deere daughter manie are the battailes that thou hast susteined for my loue and great are the victories that thou hast atchieued through my grace and assistance For the which I beare thee great good will and fauour But especially that drincke that thou tookest yester daie for my sake liked me passingly well in the which bicause thou hast not only despised the delite of the flesh cast behind thy backe the opinion of the wordle and vtterly subdued thyne owne nature I will geue thee a drincke that shall passe in sweetnes and pleasure all the licours that the wordle is wont or able to geue With that he reached out his arme and tooke her about the necke and brought her mouth softely to the sacred wound of his side and said vnto her Drincke daughter drincke thy fill at the verie founteine of life This drincke shall replenish thy soule with vnspekeable sweetnes in such sort that it shall abound and ouerslowe into thy bodie also which thou hast so vtterly despised for my loue Then the holie maid set her mouth to with great greedines and drewe out of that founteine of euerlasting saluation the licour of life And so she continued sucking a good while not only with the mouth of her bodie but also and that much more with the mouth of her soule vntill at the length when his holie will and pleasure was she gaue ouer feeling her selfe in a meruelous blesful state For she had droncke her fill and yet was nothing glutted but rather thirstie and desirous to drincke still Which thirst and desire was no paine at all to her but rather a passing great delite pleasure After this tyme the holie maid was so replenished with heauenlie grace that she neither did nor might eate her bodilie meate in such sort as she was wont to doe before How she was endewed with manie goodlie priuileges How she had a passing desire to receiue the blessed Sacrament How being fortified by the spirite of God she endured much labour and trauaile without bodilie sustinance Chap. 12. AFter that the faithful disciple of Christ had thus by the grace of God ouercome diuerse and sundrie tentations being now thoroughly tried like fine gold in the fornace of tribulation there remained nothing els but only to receiue the crowne of iustice in life euerlasting But bicause the diuine prouidence of God had so disposed of her that she should yet remaine in this life a litle while for the benefite of others in the which tyme she was not able to receiue the fruition of that endles blesse that is prepared for the tyme to come and yet our Lord of his goodnes would not suffer her to continue anie longer in this present life without some degree or state of blessednes he gaue her a certaine tast or pledge of that blesful state that she was to receiue in the other life euen in this vale of miserie And he did it after this maner On a tyme while she was praying in her chamber our Lord appeered vnto her and spake after this maner My deere daughter Catherine I geue thee now to vnderstand that the rest of thyne abode in this wordle shal be full of such strang and vnwonted gyftes of my grace that it shall cause diuerse and sundrie effectes in the hartes of men Simple and ignorant persones shal be greatly astoined to see the thinges that shal be wrought by thee Carnal men and such as haue litle experience in spiritual matters shal be in danger to fall quite from their faith Yea and manie of those also that are good and vertuous seeing certaine tokens of my passing great loue towardes thee such as haue not lightly ben heard of and withal the wonderful strangenes of the thinges that thou shalt worke shall suppose that all is but deceite and illusion For I will endue thy soule with such abundance of grace that it shall redound into thy bodie also by reason wherof thou shalt lead such a meruelous kind of life as the wordle hath not oftentymes seene or heard tell of Againe I will enkendle in thine hart such a fyerie zeale both of myne honour and of the saluation of soules that thou shalt in a maner forget thyne owne kind and alter the wonted order of thy whole conuersation For thou shalt not from hence foorth shonne the compaine of men and women as thou hast hitherto but rather to wynne them to God thou shalt presse in emong them and labour to the vttermost of thy power Of this maner of