Fifty-second point. His last illness and death

Her answer on the fifty-second point was :

This most humble and holy Servant of God, having said Mass on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist in our Church of the Visitation at Lyons, and having said it with extraordinary slowness, although it was late and his physical weakness was that day excessive, went on from the Church to the palace of the Duke de Nemours,

238 Saint Sane $. tie CljantaFs Jiepostttons on a visit of charity, thence returning to his own house. After dinner, he began to write a letter on spiritual matters to a Lady Abbess, although he was already so oppressed by illness that his sight was dim and failing. Suddenly he fell, struck down by apoplexy and paralysis, of which, on the following day, the Feast of the Holy Inno cents, he died a sweet and peaceful death, just as those about him were chanting the Agnus Dei of the Litany. He had received Extreme Unction with great devotion, and had done all that a Christian should do in this last journey.

His servants, who were overwhelmed with grief at seeing him in such extremity, implored him to say something to them. He replied : " Be at peace among yourselves, and live in the fear of God."

During his illness, he showed plainly how con stant was his habit of practising virtue, and holding communion with God, for although from the nature of the disease he was drowsy and lethargic, yet whenever they roused him by saying some holy words from the Scriptures, he always went on with the words, and answered quite sensibly any questions concerning his soul, and anything else of that nature which was said to him. In these few but most excellent words spoken by him, he displayed the deepest humility and contrition.

He was asked if he would not like to have the most Blessed Sacrament exposed in our Church of the Visitation for him. He replied : " I do not deserve it."

He was perfectly resigned to the good pleasure of God, and indifferent as to the matter of his living or dying. He was entreated to ask Our Lord to restore him to health, as St. Martin did. " Ah no," he said, " I will not do it, for I know that I am absolutely useless."

He showed the most perfect and child-like confidence in the Divine mercy, and when asked if he was tempted by any doubts as to the Faith, he replied firmly : " That would be treason on my part." When told that many of the Saints had not been exempt from this weakness, he repeated nine or ten times but in Latin : " He Who has begun His work in me, will perfect it to the end." i The Reverend Father-Provincial of the Feuillants, who was beside him at the moment, told me this.

The Archbishop of Embrun told the Superior of our Convent at Grenoble that, on his death bed, our Blessed Founder showed the most tender love for Our Lord and desire of the eternal joys of heaven. He told her that he was standing by the side of the dying Bishop, when suddenly he awoke for a moment to consciousness, and raising his eyes to heaven, cried : " Come to me, 0 my God ! all my desire is for eternity and for my Saviour Jesus Christ ! " This he said in Latin, and then relapsed into unconsciousness.

Throughout this illness he displayed extra ordinary gentleness, obedience, and patience, never

• " He Who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ." — Phil. i. 6.

240 Saint Sane jF* tre Cfjantal'g Beposttions complaining, or saying a single word of ill-humour, submitting to all that was prescribed for him. He took medicine from a spoon, notwithstanding his extreme difficulty in swallowing. When asked if he was willing to be cauterised, he replied : " Let the doctor do what he pleases to the patient." They cauterised him twice, once on the nape of the neck and once on the head, and so deeply that the skull is said to have been injured, but he never uttered a word, except to murmur softly the first time : Jew, Maria.

They blistered his head so that when the plaster of cantharides was removed the skin came with it. They rubbed his body so long and so violently that it was actually excoriated. In fact, in these last moments of his life he endured greater torments than could be imagined, and with the most admirable sweetness and patience; never doing or saying anything contrary to that perfect peace and tranquillity of mind and de meanour, which he preserved inviolate until the moment when he breathed his last sigh.

And all these things have been told me by persons of standing, by Monks and Priests most worthy of belief, who were present during this illness, as well as by his own servants.

I know that this most Blessed Servant of God had desired to die a martyr's death for the love of his God; and he once said that, if this grace should be vouchsafed to him, he would not wish to be one of those martyrs from whom all sense of their sufferings was taken away; that he would rather feel his. This desire was granted, for in his death, and during the last year of his life, he was bowed down with the keenest physical anguish, as well as by the burden of continual labour for the good of his fellow-creatures. And this is true, &o.