Forty-fourth point. His zeal for the salvation of souls the books he published

Her answer on the forty -fourth point was :

It is an undoubted fact that our Blessed Founder had an ardent and universal zeal for the salvation of souls and for the profit of every living creature. All his life, indeed, was spent in work of this kind.

I know that by his gentleness, prudence, and timely aid he won for God souls plunged in the mire of horrible sins, which were supreme in certain families, and from which he entirely delivered them.

" Oh ! " he once said to me in writing, " how sweet and honourable is the service of souls, however laborious ! "

He led a very great number of souls in various parts of the country to live a perfect life, as I have said before, and for them he was obliged to write multitudinous letters, all with his own hand, besides reading those which were addressed to him, and they were often very long and badly written.

He wrote to me once : " A great number of souls flock to me, asking me how they must serve God. Help me by your prayers; as for ardour, that burns within my heart more hotly than ever. But you see, so many children throw themselves into my arms and seek nourishment from me, that I should lose all my strength if the love of God did not reinvigorate me."

It was this same zeal which made him under take the writing of those excellent books which he has bequeathed to posterity, and which he wrote under the pressure of so much business, that people who knew his innumerable occupa tions of other kinds were filled with admiring wonder.

The first book he wrote was the Defence of the Holy Cross, upon which he was engaged while labouring for the conversion of the heretics in the Chablais. Indeed this book was intended to confute and crush the arguments of the Genevan Ministers, who had written against the honour of this standard of our salvation.

The second was Advice to Confessors, being a help to the Priests of his diocese in the direction of souls in the Sacrament of Penance.

The third was the Introduction to the Devout Life for persons living in the world; a book which it is said the Spirit of God alone could have dic tated, and which has been highly and universally praised both by the learned and unlearned; a book which has been, and still is, most profitable to multitudes of souls. Indeed there is scarcely a nation which has not desired to have a trans lation of the work, and the editions through which it has passed are truly numerous enough to fill one with astonishment. An infinite number of souls have found in this book the means of their

210 Saint Sane ff. tie Cental's Depositions salvation and the way of true Christian perfec tion, according to their position.

Many people have told me that from this book they received their first seeds of devotion, and the light and teaching necessary to carry on and maintain it.

I know one person who, being immersed in the vanities of the world, having read this book for the first time, owned that she was at once so entirely converted that very soon afterwards she became a Nun. Not only that, but she led many people of rank, living in the same house with her self, to exchange a life of idleness and frivolity for one of devotion; and it is well known that the reading of this book induced many young girls to enter religion. The Reverend Jesuit Fathers re commend it incessantly, and give it as a guide to the Nuns of St. Ursula, who teach girls.

This book having fallen into the hands of a person who is said to have been the Head of a Religious Order, he considered it to be so full of the Spirit of God, that he declared no one but its author could bring his soul into a state of repose. He therefore resolved to seek him out wherever he might be, and set forth on his journey, although he is said to have lived at about three hundred miles distance from here. On reaching Lyons he heard that our Blessed Founder was there, having come to see the late Cardinal de Marquemont. The Monk sent a note to the holy Bishop by a lackey, begging him to fix a place and time in which he could speak to him at his ease, adding that, if his lordship did not do so, he would be responsible for the loss of his soul. Upon this our Blessed Founder, in spite of the remonstrances of those about him, who feared some foul play on the part of the heretics, in stantly appointed a time for seeing him in the parlour of our Convent at Lyons. The Monk, as soon as he entered the parlour, cut the bell rope so that no one might interrupt him, and then kept the holy Bishop for four hours listening to his general confession, after which he received his blessing, and went away full of consolation and peace of mind.

A gentleman from Limoges, coming to visit the tomb of our Blessed Founder, desired to speak with me, and told me that he had taken this journey on purpose to venerate the last restingplace of one to whom he owed so much. He went on to say that, having by chance come upon and read the Introduction, he found in it so much that was attractive and perfect as regards the Christian life, that he was instantly inspired with a longing to change his own way of life, and to implore the aid of the writer of the book. That then, having been told by his Confessor, a Jesuit, that our Blessed Founder was the writer, and further where the place was in which his holy body rested, he at once set forth upon this pilgrimage, although it was in the depth of a severe winter, and the journey about three hun dred miles long. He went on to tell me at length all about his past life and the miracle of his

2 1 2 Saint Sane J. tre (Eijantal's J9epostttons conversion by the reading of this same book, and how he had ever since taken our Blessed Founder for his advocate and intercessor. He drew from his fingers two diamond rings, asking me to offer them in honour of the holy Bishop, adding that if he had anything more precious he would gladly offer it, so great was his zeal and his confidence in his prayers. He told me that he was going to become a Jesuit, and I believe that he is one now, for I learned from his last letters to me that he had been a Priest for a year, and that having wound up his affairs he was going to enter amongst the Jesuit Fathers, in order to carry out his intention. He entreated me always to commend him to the prayers and intercession of his blessed protector.

Even the Huguenots hold this book in high esteem, so far as its teaching with regard to manners and morals is concerned.

A gentleman of Dauphine", a heretic, having had it given to him by some friend, read it, and found it so profitable that he kept it, and wrote at the beginning with his own hand : " I have read and re-read this book; God grant that it may be to His glory and the salvation of my own soul ! " This desire was granted, and he died a good Catholic, the book being found after his death, with the writing in it above mentioned.

The Reverend Father-General of the Carthusian Order, a man of great holiness and advanced learning, said openly, after reading this book, that the author had been so successful in his work, that it alone was sufficient to immortalise his memory.

Besides this, our Blessed Founder wrote an admirable Treatise on the Love of God in twelve books, a work which makes me truly feel how pure that Divine love was in him. and how deeply versed he was in the science of the Saiots. Often, when he was composing, he used to say that he should try to write as much on his own heart as on the sheets of paper before him. Humble souls, who receive from God special and abundant light, find there all that they could desire to guide them to a perfect union with God. Indeed it is a firm and unchanging truth, attested by all who knew the holy Prelate and his books, that his teaching may be followed without any fear of going astray, since it is perfectly Catholic, clear, straightforward, solid, and secure, leading on to the purity of the Faith and the perfection of Divine love.

I know as a fact that our Blessed Founder intended to write many other treatises on re ligious subjects; he used to say that he only desired a longer life that he might write some thing more to the honour and glory of this Divine love. The overwhelming press of business and his own physical infirmities, however, prevented his continuing what he had already begun, and death came suddenly and all too soon upon him, to the great grief and loss of the general public as well as of the many souls who still deplore it continually. This is true, &c.

214 Saint Sane $. foe Cental's Impositions