Forty-seventh point. His conduct in the government of his diocese

Her answer on the forty-seventh point was :

It is well known that our Blessed Founder never failed to hold a Synod every year with the greatest advantage to all his priests, whom he stirred up by his zealous sermons to great activity in well-doing.

I have often been told that he held Ordinations at the times prescribed by the canons of the Church, and I believe, when he was in his diocese, he never failed to be present at them.

I also know that he made his visitations most punctually throughout his diocese, and with end less fatigue, being often obliged to climb on foot amid lofty mountains and inaccessible rocks; often limping with pain, but never, as I have been assured by those who were with him, express ing the least weariness or making the faintest complaint. He always pitied the discomforts of his companions most heartily, but never said any thing about his own. Often in the evening he was so weary in mind and body that he could scarcely move; but the next morning he was the first to set to work again.

He ruled his diocese in the most holy manner, and with great care and diligence. For my own part, I believe that there are few, if any, dioceses in which the Priests, Monks, and laity live in a more exemplary and devout manner than in that of Geneva. This is, indeed, especially the case in our town of Annecy, in which the most extra ordinary piety manifests itself; in the frequent reception of the holy Sacraments, in the throng ing of the Churches, and in the goodness of the people, who live there in the fear of God, bearing their afflictions meekly; and this, in consequence

P

226 Saint Sane jF. tie Cental's Depositions of the good example and holy instructions of their beloved Prelate.

To be brief, he was indeed a true Father, a most watchful Pastor, and he discharged all the duties of his office perfectly, to the glory of God and the edification of all the people, who loved and reverenced him as a Saint, which in truth we believe him to be.

I know that he often went about into all parts of his diocese, wherever the necessities of the Churches, and especially of his own people, called him, as, for instance, a short time before his death, when he went to hear the confession of an old man at, I believe, the farthest extremity of his diocese; this old man being at the time in a dying state, and refusing to make his confession to any one but our Blessed Founder.