Part 8 (2/2)

If any fault were committed by any of the household, Blessed Lucy kne to punish it so rigorously as to prevent a repetition of the offence; and in this she was often assisted by the gift of prophecy, which she enjoyed in a re account of two of her maidens, who took the opportunity of their mistress's absence at church to kill two fine capons, which they resolved to dress privately for their own eating The birds were already on the spit, when theirthe house Fearful of discovery, they took the half-roasted capons from the fire, and hid them under a bed

Blessed Lucy, however, knew all that had happened ”Where are the capons,” she said, ”that were in the court this reat confusion: ”we have been looking for them every where” ”Do not try to deceive God, my children,”

replied Blessed Lucy: ”they are both under your bed; if you will follow me, I will show them to you” The servants followed her in silent dismay; but their astonishment was still more increased, when not only did she lead them to the very place where they had hidden their spoils, hut calling the birds to coan to crow lustily

In another story of her life, we find her represented with her wo the linen of the house by the side of a river that flowed by the castle Whilst so engaged, one of them fell into the river and sank to the botton of the cross over the water, and i woman appeared on the surface safe and sound, close to the river's bank

And in the midst of these simple and homely occupations, the supernatural life of prayer, and ecstacy, and coe and beautiful sights were seen by many of those ere present in the church when she communicated: sometimes a column of fire rested on her head; sometimes her face itself shone and sparkled like the sun Once two little children, whom she had adopted as her own, saw, as they knelt behind her, two angels coarland, of exquisite roses But the children began to weep; for they said one to another, ”Certainly our els are even noning her with flowers”

The beauty of her face, and its extraordinary brilliancy at these ti those who beheld it Even Count Pietro hilance from her eye, when it shone with this more than human splendour

This mention of Count Pietro's na of him, and of his share in a story which has in some parts, as we read it, the character of a romance He was not a bad ood qualities, and to have been possessed in soree of refinement beyond as common at the time He was sincerely attached to his saintly wife; but he could not understand her They were beings of different worlds; and the very qualities which extorted his respect and admiration often sadly perplexed and worried him Her very affection for his were too much made up of the ordinary selfishness of the world, for him to kno to measure the love of one whose love was in God He felt her power over himself; and whilst he yielded to it, it irritated hi of which he could complain This irritation showed itself in a morose jealousy, sometimes varied by fits of passionate violence; in which he went so far as to confine his wife to her room, and once even to threaten her life

All this, and the yettrial of their daily intercourse, was borne by Blessed Lucy with unvarying sweetness and gentleness But though she acco to his sullen temper, and even showed him a true and loyal obedience, the desire after those heavenly espousals to which she had been promised whilst still a child never left her heart; and as tian to look about for so her wishes into effect In those days it was no uncommon spectacle to see a wife or a husband, in obedience to the interior call of heaven, abandon every tie of flesh and blood for the retirement of the cloister; nor was the propriety of such a step ever questioned Society, as a body, in the ages of faith, acknowledged the principle, that one whom Christ calls should leave all and follow Hith resolved to leave her husband's house, and take the habit of religion in the Order of St Do contrary to the custoe, than when she worked with her servants in the kitchen It is not an easy e of the vocation or conscience of another; but e have to carry back our investigation four hundred years, we can hardly hope that the whole history of a resolution of this nature,--why it was carried out now, and why it was not carried out before her es of a book Of one thing only we cannot doubt,--God's will had been very clearly and sufficiently declared; both at first, when she consented to give up her oishes, and nohen the tiranted She contented herself at first with receiving the habit of the third order, and re which tination of her husband, who expressed his own disapproval of her step in a very su down the iven her the habit But her uncles at length took the case into their own hands; and after considering the very extraordinary signs of a divine call which had been made manifest in her life, they decided that she should be suffered to folloithout further molestation, and placed her in the monastery of St Catherine of Sienna at Rome

Within a year from her entrance there, the fame of her sanctity had become so universal, that Father Joachi about to found a new convent of nuns at Viterbo, selected her as the prioress of the new foundation; on which office she accordingly entered in the year 1496, being then exactly twenty years of age So great was the reputation she enjoyed, that though the nueneral was only five, the crowds that applied for adreat that the convent had to be enlarged; and she soon saw herself at the head of a nu community

Meanwhile, her unhappy husband had not abandoned all hopes of inducing her even yet to return to the world He had followed her to Rome, and made vain efforts to see and speak with her: he now followed her also to Viterbo; and though unsuccessful in his attehtest answer to his continual applications and appeals, he continued to linger about the convent, in the restless n as hopeless Every tongue around him was busy with the fame of Lucy's saintliness; from one he heard of her allory which was seen to hover over her face in the presence of the Blessed Sacra her removal to Viterbo, the interest of all was absorbed in a new report,--that she had received the sacred stigmata; and that in so remarkable a manner as to put all doubt on the subject out of the question For it was hi the choir, with the other religious, that, being engaged in profound meditation on the Passion, she was observed by one of the sisters to look pale and as if suffering acute pain The sister went up to her to support her, and was struck with the appearance of her hands, the bones of which seemed dislocated, and the nerves torn

”Mother of God!” she exclai,” was the faint reply; ”they are only gone to sleep” But within a fewto conceal overpowered her, and she became perfectly senseless They carried her from the choir and restored her to consciousness, so that she was able to return within an hour and receive Holy Co convinced so very extraordinary had happened, continued to watch her, and followed her to her cell She then remarked that her hands were livid, and the skin raised and much inflae and open, and shed so great an abundance of blood that it could no longer be concealed The exciteenerally known, can hardly be described A ation was first made by the Bishop of Viterbo; after which three successive commissions of inquiry were appointed by the command of the Pope to examine the affair, and each of these inquiries terminated in the declaration that the truth of the miracle was beyond all dispute

Multitudes flocked to the convent to see and touch the sacred wounds, and came back full of the wonders which their own eyes had witnessed

Duke Hercules of Este, the Pope's nephew, made earnest applications to his uncle to suffer her to be res were going on, Count Pietro still re with his wife's renown, but none knew his own connection with her Each ulf between theht of the walls that shut her fro himself for the blindness of his own conduct towards her; now striving to keep alive a kind of despairing hope that, could he but once gain adain possession of a treasure which, when it was his, he knew not how to value At length his desires were granted A sudden inspiration induced Lucy to consent to an interview: it was the first that had taken place since she had fled from his house, and it was the last they ever had in this life

It : the two years of their separation had altered both As to the Count, his restless despair had worn him to an old man He had never seen Narni since the day of her departure for Ro days of those two years hanging about the convent-gates like soar

And the same two years had placed Lucy far beyond his reach, as it were in a supernatural world above hirate, and he beheld herin her whole appearance the air of one whose sympathies were for ever removed from the affections of huht to speak to her of her home, and the claims which should recall her to the world; he saw before hi on his knees, he bent his eyes to the ground, and remained silent Then she spoke; and heaven seemed to speak to him by her voice The mists of earthly passion rolled away from his heart as he listened; the world and its hopes died in hile tore his very soul, then passed away, and left it in a profound callimpse of that reality which till now he had treated as a dream; the world and its unquiet joys were now themselves the dream, and heaven opened on him as the reality All life fell away fro, she had won his soul to God He dragged himself to her feet, and bathed them in his tears; he conjured her pardon for all the persecutions and violence of the past, and renounced every right or clai her without another word, he obeyed the voice which had so powerfully spoken to his heart; for within a feeeks he took the habit of the Friars Minor of the strict observance; and persevering in it for many years, died a little before his wife, with the reputation of sanctity

Were this a roht well end here But her life was yet scarcely begun Shortly after the intervieith her husband just spoken of, Duke Hercules obtained the Pope's orders for her removal to Ferrara This was only done by stealth; for the people of Viterbo having got intelligence of the design, guarded the city night and day; so that, in order to gain possession of the Saint, the duke was reduced to the expedient of loading several oods; and in one of these Blessed Lucy was concealed and carried off, under the guardianshi+p of a strong body of ar arrived at Ferrara, the duke received her with extraordinary honours, and built a nificent convent for her reception, to which Pope Alexander VI granted singular privileges, by a brief wherein he declared her to have ”followed the footsteps of St Catherine of Sienna in all things” In this convent she gave the habit to her own mother, as well as toto tell of all the signs of Divine favour which were granted to her during the first years of her new governht by her hands, the visions of aze; and the fa the saints and angels Thus one day, passing into the dorious, who herself at her feet, she prayed her to bless the new ly coether; Blessed Lucy carrying the holy water, whilst St Catherine sprinkled the cells, as the , they sang together the hy finished, St Catherine left her staff with Blessed Lucy, and took her leave And another tiels, and the for beauty, and clad in an azure robe in thethem as their queen Then she sent them hither and thither, like soldiers to their posts, and bid theuard the various offices of the monastery; ”for,” she said, ”we ers over this period of her story, unwilling to pass on to the sorrowful conclusion God, who had elevated her so highly in the sight of the world, was about to set upon her life the seal of a profound humiliation Hitherto she had been placed before the eyes of ates were crowded by peisons of all ranks, who thronged only to see her for a moment Duke Hercules of Este applied to her for counsel in all difficulties of state The Pope had issued extraordinary briefs to enable the religious of other convents and orders to pass under her government, and even to leave the second order to join her coe we shall scarcely find granted in any other case

But now these triumphs and distinctions were about to have an end

Blessed Lucy was about twenty-nine years of age The honour in which she was held, and the public celebrity she enjoyed, were a continual source of sorrow and hu of the popular applause which followed her, she ceased not earnestly to implore her Divine Spouse to remata, which were the chief cause of the veneration which was paid her by the world Her request was in part granted, the wounds in her hands and feet closed; but that of the side, which was concealed from the eyes of others, remained open to the hour of her death Whether the withdrawal of these visible tokens of the Divine favour was the cause of the change in the sentiments of her subjects, we are not told; but we find shortly after, that sousted at her refusal to allow the community to become incorporated with the second order, rose in rebellion, and even atteh the exertions of Lucy herself; but on the death of her great protector, Duke Hercules, in 1505, the discontented ainst her authority and reputation Then--designs were laid with consu been seen in her cell endeavouring to re-open the wounds of her hands and feet with a knife, in order to impose on the public Their evidence was so ably concocted, that they succeeded in gaining over the heads of the order to their side Hasty and violent ranted by Pope Alexander was revoked; she was degraded froht and voice in the coest novice in the house She was, moreover, forbidden to speak to any one except the confessor, kept in a strict iuilty of an infarace confined within the enclosure of her own monastery; it spread as far as her reputation had extended All Italy was ainst her; the storm of invective which was raised reached her even in her prison; her nah Europe; and the nuns whonad been professed at her hands ain to the new prioress, as if their vows formerly made to her had been invalid

One can hardly picture a state of desolation equal to that in which Blessed Lucy now found herself It was as if this token of deep abjection and humiliation were required as a confirmation of her saintliness If any such proof were indeed needed, it was furnished by the conduct which she exhibited under this extraordinary trial During the whole reht-and-thirty years, she bore her heavy cross without athose whoht to lead to the highest paths of religion, compelled now to be a silent witness of their wickedness Her life was a long prayer for her persecutors, and we are assured that no sorrow or regret ever seemed to shadow the deep tranquillity of her soul So far as it touched herself, she took it as a races and favours He had ever heaped on her before But it is no part of saintliness to be indifferent to the sins of others; and we can scarcely fathouish which ratitude and nity of her unworthy children

And so closed the life which had opened in such a joyous and beautiful childhood God indeed kne to coh cut off fro, she could scarcely be pitied whilst her neglected and solitary cell was the resort of celestial visitants and friends The reader is possibly a little tired of such tales; yet we ask his indulgence whilst referring to one of these last incidents in the life of Blessed Lucy, which we can scarcely ona in Savoy, another beatified saint of the sai She had never seen Blessed Lucy; but had heard of her saintly fame, and the lustre of her life and race But the saints of God judge not as the world judges; and Catherine knew by the light of divine illuainst her sister She had ever longed to see and speak with her; and now litter of the world's applause was exchanged for its contuht of her sister, never seen with mortal eye, yet so dearly loved in God, never left her mind; and she prayed earnestly to their common Lord and Spouse, that He would comfort and support her, and, if such were His blessed will, satisfy in some way her own intense desire to hold soht, as she was thus praying in her cell at Cara Lucy was also alone and in prayer; and to her in like manner God had revealed the sanctity of Catherine, kindling in her heart a loving sye, had been brought very near to her heart in the mysteries of the Heart of Jesus We cannot say how and in ay it was, but they spent that night together; but when ain alone as before, Lucy had received such strength and consolation frorapher says, ”she desired new affronts and persecutions for the glory of that Lord who kneell how to comfort and suppoit her in thehth year: for eight-and-thirty years she had lived stripped of all human consolation; and the malice of her enemies continued unabated to the last None ca on her miserable bed Like her Lord and Master, they hid their faces fro her as a leper The ordinary offices of charity, which they would have done to the poorest beggar in the streets, they denied to her; she was left to die as she had lived, alone But if the world abandoned her, God did not Her pilloas smoothed and tended by lect her charge It is said she wasin her company one of the sisters of the community, who had departed a short tiether they did the office of infirh, she called the sisters around her bed, and huiven them in life We do not find one word of justification, or reret; only some broken words of exhortation, not to be offended at her imperfection, but to love God and be detached froht, on the 15th of November, 1544, she felt the le or sign of suffering, she raised her hands and cried, ”Up to heaven, up to heaven!” and so expired, with a smile that remained on the dead face with so extraordinary a beauty, that none could look on it without a sentiment of awe, for they kneas the beauty of one of God's Saints

The truth could not longer be concealed; one supernatural token after another was given to declare the blessedness of the departed soul

Angelic voices were heard singing above the cell by all the sisters; an extraordinary perfume filled the cell and the whole house; and the community, who had probably for the most part been deceived by one or two in authority, without anydone to the deceased It was done, so far as funeral honours can make amends for a life of cruelty and calumniation

The body was exposed in the church; and the fickle croho had called her an i, crowded now to see and touch the sacred re with fresh wet blood; the sick were cured, and evil spirits cast out, by cloths which had been placed on the relics

Four years after the body was taken frorave, and found fresh and beautiful as in life Then it was again exposed in the church to the veneration of the faithful, who crowded once more to pay it honour, and onder-struck at the perfume, as of sweet violets, which issued fro which it touched And it was again disinterred, little o, in 1710, when it presented the samata were observed distinct and visible to all On this occasion a part of the body was translated to Narni, where it now reposes in a nificent shrine, and receives extraordinary honours, amid the scene of her childish devotion to the Christarello Perhaps, as we read of these honours to the dead, we may feel they were but poor reparation for the calu: or, if we seek to s in the balance of the sanctuary, we can believe that to her blessed spirit now, those long years of abandonment and desolation, which cut her off from all communion with this earth for ift than all the shrines, and funeral honours, and popular veneration, which the world in its tardy repentance was ive her

She was finally beatified by Benedict XIII towards the middle of the last century