Twenty-ninth point. His chastity

Her answer on the twenty -ninth point was :

The purity and chastity of our Blessed Founder is a fact which I have never either heard or seen called in question. Many credible persons have assured me that the late M. de Sainte-Catherine, Canon and Penitentiary of Saint-Pierre in Geneva, a man distinguished by his virtue and piety, who had very often heard our Blessed Founder's con fession, declared when at the point of death, that his saintly penitent was truly endowed with the angelic virtue of chastity and holiness, saying to his brother, a monk, and Prior of Talloire : " I do not wish to carry away with me into the next world this truth, but rather desire that every one should know that the Bishop of Geneva is a faithful servant of God, a holy and virgin soul."

Many have asserted this same fact, and our Blessed Founder himself confirmed it, and even spoke of it to me very simply. I believe that this was one of the things which he advised me not to mention during his lifetime.

This was not, however, an untried virtue, for it is said, and generally known, that it was often rudely tempted and assailed by various persons. His servants, however, and those who had the closest intercourse with our Blessed Founder, have assured me, that neither in word nor i26 Saint Sane JJ\ to (Efjantars Heposttions behaviour, nor in any one of his actions, did he ever give the slightest sign of a thought that was contrary to this virtue.

In his countenance, in his carriage, in all his words and deeds, he bore the image of true purity, innocence, and modesty; wherever he was, whatever he did, it was the same. He said that he never studied any one's face to find out whether he or she was handsome or ugly, and when they had gone away he could not have told you the least what they were like. I heard him say that, I think, before I became a nun.

I have seen our Blessed Founder again and again in all sorts of company, and performing all sorts of actions, without ever detecting in him the faintest irregularity : on the contrary, I have always admired his equability of temper, his gravity tempered with affability towards all the variety of persons with whom he came in con tact, however familiar and special friends they might be; and this gravity was joined to a modesty, so rare and so humble, that it was impossible for any one who approached him to treat him with anything but respect.

He received women of all ranks at his house, conversing with them, as with every one else, with the greatest kindness, but without the slightest familiarity of word or behaviour. Gene rally speaking, they only sought his presence in order to consult him on matters of conscience; but while they were with him, he always kept his door open. One of his chaplains or of his attendants was, as a rule, with him during these interviews, and he used to say that a Bishop ought always to be accompanied by some Priest, who should be a witness of his actions and, if necessary, give an account of them.

To sum up the matter, this Prelate lived a life so distinguished by its wisdom, purity, and sanctity, that all acknowledged him to be a man of stainless chastity and innocence. And this is true, noteworthy, and public.