prayer. Her attitude and expression were as a revelation to him; and it is easy to believe that they would move him greatly, without adding the legendary embellishment that he saw the light resting upon her head in the shape of a snowwhite dove.

A quick imagination, an impressionable temperament, and a habit of fervent prayer and meditation, given these, and what may we not expect as the result in a girl of tender years? Excited by her constant desire to assume the Dominican habit, and become a preacher, she saw S. Dominic in a dream, and she heard him say, as he smiled upon her: -"Daughter, be of good cheer. Fear no let or hindrance, for the day cometh in the which you shall be clothed with the mantle you so eagerly covet." Ah, with what a rapturous emotion she arose that day, and how her heart burned within her, as gathering around her all her family, she addressed them in most earnest words :-"For a long time you have decided that I should marry, but my conduct must have proved to you that I could not accept of the decision. Yet have I refrained from explaining myself, out of the reverence I feel towards you, my parents. Now, however, my duty compels me to break my silence. I must speak candidly to you, and reveal the resolution I have adopted,―a resolution not of yesterday, but dating from my early years. Know, then, that I have made a vow, not lightly, but deliberately, and with full knowledge of what I was doing. Now that I am of maturer age, and have a better knowledge of the purport of my own actions, I persist, by the grace of GOD, in my resolution, and it would be easier to dissolve a rock than to induce me to change my mind. Give up, therefore, for me, dear friends, all these projects for an earthly union: it is impossible for me to satisfy you on this point, for I must obey GOD rather than man. If you wish me to remain as a servant in your house, I will cheerfully fulfil all your will to the best of my power; but if you should be so displeased with me as to make you desire me to leave you, know that I shall remain immovable in my resolve. He Who has united my soul to His, has all the riches of earth and heaven, and He can provide for and protect me."

1 Mrs. J. E. Butler, pp. 32, 33.

Words so courageous and so firm as these affected Catharine's parents and family to tears; they felt that further pressure would be useless and unjustifiable. "GOD pre

serve us, dearest child," said her father, "from any longer opposing the resolution which He has inspired. We are satisfied that you have been actuated by no idle fancy, but by a movement of divine grace. Fulfil without hindrance the vow you have taken; do all that the HOLY SPIRIT commands you; henceforth your time shall be at your own disposal; only pray for us, that we may become worthy of Him Who has called you at so tender an age." Turning to his wife and children, he added:-" Let no one hereafter contradict my dear child, or seek to turn her from her holy resolution; let her serve her SAVIOUR in the way she desires, and may she seek His favour and pardoning mercy for us: we could never find for her a more beautiful or honourable alliance, for her soul is wedded to her LORD, and it is not a man, but the LORD Who dieth not, we now receive into our house."

Thenceforth she was allowed to retain as a cell or oratory that little private chamber, which became her favourite resort, and the scene of her wonderful communion with Heaven. Giving herself up to prayer and meditation, she remained there for three years; during which she prepared herself for her future work by vigilant self-examination and lofty intimate spiritual intercourse with her GOD. At the same time she taught herself the lessons of mortification and abstemiousness. Her diet was of the plainest; she gave but little time to sleep; she lay upon the bare boards without any covering; her garments were of the coarsest wool, but always scrupulously clean, for cleanliness and exterior neatness she cherished as a sign of inward purity. The night was consumed in prayer, in pouring into her SAVIOUR'S ear her love and anxiety; not till the first sound of the matin-bell did she retire to her wooden bed for a brief repose. She confessed to Raymond of Capua, in later life, that her victory over sleep had cost her more pain and trouble than any other of her struggles; and that she had undergone indescribable anguish in crushing out the natural desire for "Such conquests over self and over the infirmities, even over many of the just and natural demands of the

rest.

body, have never been absent in the lives of those whom, par excellence, we call 'the Saints,' those who have left behind them an influence which is of GOD, and imperishable; an influence which even the most sceptical must confess to have been benign, and charged with blessing for humanity. Catharine's health was delicate, yet she possessed an extraordinary nervous energy, and even a muscular strength which astonished those who saw her exert it in the performance of any generous or helpful act. She suffered all her life from a weakness of the stomach, which made it difficult for her to take any food without pain, succeeded often by violent sickness and vomiting. She was also subject to attacks of faintness and prostration, especially in the spring, which would last several weeks."

This excess of self-mortification, this abuse of religious discipline, will account for the visions and delusions to which such holy enthusiasts as S. Catharine were subject. With a nervous system wrought up to the highest tension by a constant violation of the natural laws, the imagination necessarily did what it would. In the silence and solitude of the recluse's cell, the brain, excited by intense efforts of religious meditation, and tyrannised over by the disordered physical organisation, was prepared to realise every passing fancy, to give shape and form to every fugitive idea. The air was peopled with angelic figures; it trembled with celestial voices; it brightened with the glory of the Divine Presence. Such a condition of prolonged excitement was fatal to the mental health of the sufferer, disordering his ideas and withdrawing his intellectual balance; it was fatal also to his physical health. The chord was drawn too tightly; and, before the piece was played out, it snapped. To a premature grave was hurried the incomplete life— if, indeed, that life can be called incomplete, which, so far as the bystanders can judge, has fulfilled its appointed work. Thus it came to pass that Catharine of Siena died at thirty-three, before she had accomplished half the span which the Psalmist allots to humanity; but what had she not done in the short interval between the beginning of her activity and that apparently too-early death? She had preached to infuriated mobs; she had borne the balm of consolation to plague-stricken men; she had exposed the

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corruptions of the Church; she had replaced the Pontiff in his ancient chair; she had averted war, and consummated peace; and, above all, in a dark luxurious age, she had shone upon the world like a vision of purity and beauty, as a light shines in a dark place.

To the Order of S. Dominic belonged a lay fraternity of brothers who undertook to sacrifice, at need, their lives and their earthly goods; their wives also were pledged never to impede or discourage their husbands in their work. The associates were known as Brethren and Sisters of the Militia of JESUS CHRIST; they wore the black and white habit of S. Dominic. Catharine desired to become a preacher, and carry the lamp of Christian faith into the cities she visited; as a preliminary ceremony it was necessary that she should be enrolled as a Mantellata (the name borne by the wearers of this cloak or mantle of S. Dominic.) Her mother made an application to the Fraternity to receive her; but was informed that it was not the custom to give the mantle to young maidens; and that hitherto it had been confined to widows of mature age, or to wives consecrated to work with their husbands. It was added, that the Mantellatas had no cloister or separate building reserved for them, but each must be able to rule her life in her own home. The application was pressed upon the Sisters, and at length they consented to admit her, if she were not "too handsome;" for they were bound, they said, to avoid the inconveniences that might spring from malicious report. Catharine was not open to the objection urged. Her face was attractive from its expression of gentleness, candour, and thoughtfulness; but could not be called beautiful. It was remarkable for its openness and sunny cheerfulness; the forehead was broad and smooth, but too receding; the chin and jaw firmly defined and rather prominent; the hair and eyebrows of a dark brown; the eyes, a clear grey or hazel. There was an exceeding charm in her smile, and all her movements were full of a natural ease and elegance. Her address was very winning, and in her manners she set aside the conventionalities of the time, obeying the dictates only of her own heart. "Young men who would come with some feeling of awe to visit the far-famed saint, and not without fears concerning the interview, were taken by surprise, gladdened, and re

assured by her frank approach, her two hands held out for greeting, her kind, sisterly smile, and the easy grace with which she invited them to open their hearts." Notwithstanding the influence she acquired, her extended reputation, and the deference shown her by the most illustrious personages of the age, she preserved to the last the simplicity and the unassuming demeanour of a "Daughter of the People." And the people in return bestowed upon her their abounding affection, which is shown to this day by the loving epithets attached to her name. She is called "The Daughter of the Republic," "the Child of the People,” "the Mantellata," "the People's Catharine," "Our Lady of the Contrada d'Oca," " the Beloved Sienese," and the "Beata Popolana."

Immediately upon her reception as a Mantellata she did not plunge into an active life. She had first to undergo a bitter spiritual trial. "The great enemy of man advanced to the dread assault of her soul," so that she seemed to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The most humiliating temptations assailed her; she saw in her dreams impure orgies, in which the words and gestures of lewd men and women invited her to join. The conflicts she endured were of the most painful character; the result, probably, of physical reaction as well as of mental excitement; but she endured them bravely, praying all the more earnestly, and working all the more assiduously; and there are few attacks of the Devil which may not be successfully resisted by Work and Prayer! These two talismans won for Catharine a happy victory; but this danger past, she had to strive with one of a subtler nature; one which did not repel by its loathsomeness, but enticed by its natural sweetness. She was young; she was an Italian; her brain was glowing with fancy, her heart throbbed with tender feelings; and the temptation of human love appealed to her strongly. Thoughts of happy wedlock, of happy motherhood, broke in upon her daily meditations, and haunted her dreams by night. The sacred strains of the Church seemed to blend with the soft accents of the troubadours. A voice said to her :-"Why so rashly choose a life in which thou wilt be unable to persevere? Why resist the holy impulses of nature which come from GOD? It is