Fifty-first point. His eeputation for sanctity

Her answer on the fifty-first point was :

It is a well-known fact that our Blessed Founder was regarded as a Saint during his life, and many people speaking of him called him one. Doctors of Divinity, Monks, Parish Priests, and an infinity of persons gave him that title; others called him a divine, an apostolic, a blessed man. He was universally esteemed as a great Prelate, blameless in conduct and actions, a great man of God, having in him something more than human; one in whom the Spirit of God abode, and who indeed had not his equal. In short I could not here give you an idea of what every one said of him.

For my own part, from the time when I first had the honour of knowing him, which was in the year 1604, when he was preaching the Lenten course of sermons at Dijon, I admired him as an oracle. I called him SAINT from the bottom of my heart, and I considered him as such. One day he saw in a letter which I had written that I had called him SAINT; he sent me word that I must not do it again, that Holy Church had not given me the power of canonising Saints. I held him in such veneration that when I re ceived his letters, I opened and read them on my knees, kissing them out of reverence and devotion, and taking what he said to me as proceeding from the Spirit of God.

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My brother, the Archbishop of Bourges, and my father, the late President Fremyot, held him in such veneration, that notwithstanding their re pugnance to my leaving their house, my children, and my country, when I proposed doing so in order to enter religion, telling them that I would do nothing except by their advice and that of that great Servant of God the Bishop of Geneva, they replied : " Do what he tells you, for he has the Spirit of God."

The late M. Favre, First President of Savoy, whom I have before mentioned, moved by the same high esteem for our Blessed Founder, left his eldest daughter entirely at his disposal, to be employed in the service of God, under his direc tion, in our Order, of which she was in fact the second to be admitted.

I know that M. le Baron de Cusy, a man of rare virtue and piety, who, although married, led the life of a Capuchin Friar, said, quite twentythree years ago, that the Bishop of Geneva was never to be seen except with a countenance so sweet, serene, and radiant that it insensibly infused devotion into all hearts.

I know that when he preached at Dijon he was admired by the whole Parliament, and was so much revered that people envied those who belonged to his household and could always listen to the words of wisdom which issued from his mouth; they thought themselves most fortunate when they could just see him and speak to him. When he left Dijon after his Lenten preaching, he came to bid a last farewell to the Archbishop of Bourges, who was just then at Dijon in his Abbey of St. Etienne, for these two good Prelates could hardly bear to part from one another. In the great courtyard of this same Abbey there was a vast concourse of people eager to see him once again, and to show their love and esteem for the holy Bishop. I have been told that many cried out that such a man must not be allowed to return on horseback, but that he ought to be carried home shoulder-high, and that the good people invited each other to do this. Others shouted (and this I heard myself) that he was a robber, for that he was carrying off with him the hearts of all the people of Dijon ! which indeed he was doing, for he had found a place deep in the heart of every one. Others said that they ought to keep him amongst them, and all would have been only too glad to have contributed to his maintenance.

He travelled once through the province of Burgundy to Dole, Besancon, and other places, and it is impossible to enumerate the honours which were everywhere paid to him, and the marks of esteem showered upon him in recog nition of his eminent virtue and piety.

His reputation for sanctity was so extraordi nary in Paris, that on his last visit there he was received by the people with indescribable joy and shouts of applause. A few days after his arrival there he preached in the Church of the Oratory, where there were many Cardinals, Princes, noble-

232 Saint 3ane JK tie (ittyatttal's ffiepostttons men, and such a crowd of distinguished persons as had never been seen before. It was a pleasure to them to see him, to speak to him, to touch him, to be able to be touched by him; he was obliged to pass through the crowd of people to go up into the pulpit, and those who were pressed against him said to one another with great delight: He touched me ! During his sojourn in this great city there was a continual thronging of people to his lodging, and even to the place where he happened to be going to say Mass. They went to consult him, having recourse to him as to an oracle of piety and learning, that they might obtain solutions to most complicated affairs, or be advised in matters of conscience, or be instructed in the way of salvation. He was in request everywhere and with every one, to attend at public gatherings and take part in im portant consultations; to officiate pontifically in one Church, and to preach sermons and give all sorts of spiritual help in another. The Superiors of the neighbouring Convents, those most dis tinguished by their piety, and ruled by ladies of high rank, desired to see him and to have his advice for the guidance of their Communities.

On his return journey from France, our Blessed Founder, having been commanded by the Prince of Piedmont to accompany Madame Christine, the King's sister, in her journey from France to Savoy, passed through a great many large cities of the kingdom, and everywhere had extraordinary honours paid him. This was especially the case at Bourges, where every one was eager to receive his blessing; whole families declaring that they esteemed themselves happy, and desired nothing more, since they had had the consolation of seeing him and of being blessed by him; and this I heard from a person most worthy of belief, who was then at Bourges.

The French Prelates all esteemed him most highly, and several of them were desirous to learn from him how to govern their dioceses well. After the death of our Blessed Founder, they showed what they thought of his sanctity, by appealing in a body to His Holiness, entreating him to proceed with the work of his beatification.

One of the great Prelates of France, and as it is believed, one of the best preachers of his time, the Bishop of Nantes, said that our Blessed Founder was like a bundle of aromatic woods of all kinds, sending forth on all occasions its sweet odour.

The Duke of Savoy said that he was the St. Charles of his dominions, and commended him self earnestly to his prayers, and since his death he has insisted on having the holy Bishop's por trait, which he keeps in his own room, and when he looks at it, salutes it reverently. The Princes and Princesses of Savoy esteemed and praised him highly, and in Piedmont he was so greatly revered, that after his death they invoked him, and sent many votive offerings to his tomb.

I have been assured that when he fell sick at Turin, in the house of the Feuillant Fathers, they

234 Saint Sane $. foe fitfyantars 3@ editions said to those of whom they had borrowed linen for his use : " Keep it carefully, for a Saint has used it," and they did so. These same Fathers and their Father-General said that when the holy Bishop presided over their Chapter, as Com missioner Apostolic, they looked upon him as an angel from heaven, admiring his gentleness, his patience, and the perfection, in fact, of his whole demeanour and conduct.

The high reputation of this blessed Servant of God had spread so widely not only throughout France, Piedmont, and Savoy, but also into foreign countries, that they wrote from Flanders to our Confessor, saying that he was looked upon and spoken of as a St. John Chrysostom, a St. Jerome, and other holy Bishops.

About ten years before his death, and during a period of about two years, possessed persons, or those who were thought to be such, were often brought to him, and left him cured, or at least much consoled.

The same day, August 3, at three o'clock in the afternoon :

Continuing the subject of the preceding point, I may tell you that, having heard the rumour about these possessed people, I asked our Blessed Founder to tell me what was really the truth of the matter. He replied with great humility and modesty : " They are good people who are afflicted with melancholy. I hear their confessions, give them Communion, and console them as well as I can. I tell them that they are cured; they believe me, and depart in peace." I have heard that hun dreds of people in this part of the country, who were suffering in a similar way, were cured by his intervention. Most people, both of this neighbour hood and others, as soon as any affliction, either of body or mind, befell them, went to him.

Many helpless invalids, and those suffering from melancholia, went to him to be relieved. He prayed for them at Holy Mass, and they returned, the first cured, the others comforted. I have heard this affirmed by persons worthy of credence.

Recourse was had to him in the case of marriages impeded by some obstacle or by some charm, and he, partly by means of the Sacraments to which he brought them, partly by the prayers which they offered, delivered or relieved the afflicted ones.

Even the heretics esteemed him highly, those at Geneva regarding him as a man who feared God. They grieved over his death, saying that if they could only be sure never to have to deal with any but a Bishop like that, they would make no difficulty about receiving him, and that it was easy to see that he had no wish to live on earth; adding that he had been as much, if not more, regretted at Geneva than at Chambery.

An heretical lawyer, after his death, sent an epitaph full of his praises. One of the Geneva Ministers, hearing of his decease, said he had only one fault, too great a love for the Roman Church.

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Another heretic declared that he would have given his life to save him.

A man of high rank, but very worldly mind, took an extreme dislike to our Blessed Founder, and offered him all the insults in his power. He has since owned that for six years he was busy spying out all his actions to see if he could find anything in them to blame, but at last was forced to own that the holy Bishop was indeed saintly, blameless, and incomparably patient in bearing all that he had had to suffer from him. This man afterwards loaded him with benefits.

One of the Chaplains of our Blessed Founder, who was very much with him, says that notwith standing his dislike to certain things done by him, as he considered with too much gentleness, he yet always firmly believed him to be a Saint. And although he was one of those who thwarted and opposed him the most, yet he bore a great respect and honour to him and to all that he said or did, being led to this by a secret instinct which told him that the holy Bishop was a true Saint, and that indeed, looking closely into the very actions which he had censured, he could not find a single atom of imperfection of which he could justly accuse him.

The same Chaplain says that when our Blessed Founder went to Milan to visit the body of St. Charles, numbers of Spaniards, who had known him when they were in garrison in this town of Annecy, thronged from all quarters to welcome him, congratulating one another on his coming among them, and treating him with the reverence due to a great Saint.

People from Avignon and from Lyons, having heard of his renown, flocked to see him when he was on this last journey, and not only treated him with the greatest honour but also over whelmed all who were attached to him with marks of affection. Happy, indeed, were those considered who could get close to him. As for me, so great was my esteem for him, an esteem with which God Himself inspired me, that I could have desired to be, if that were possible, the meanest member of his household, so as to have the happiness of seeing his actions and hearing his holy words, for they all breathed sanctity itself. Several have shared in this my desire. To conclude, this esteem remained always un varying. And this is true, &c.