Chapter 33: For the Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist. Of the Litanies, and invocation of saints

ON the Feast of St. Mark, while the Litanies were recited at the procession, our Lord appeared to St. Gertrude, seated on a throne of majesty, adorned with precious stones, which formed as many brilliant mirrors t as there were saints in heaven. Each saint rose joyfully as he was named in the Litany to offer his prayers to God for those who had f " Speculorum lucidorum."

FEAST OF ST. JOHN BEFOKE TJ1E LATIN GATE. 403 invoked him ; and the names of those who prayed to them appeared written on their hands : the names of those who had invoked them with fervour and purity were written in letters of gold ; the names of those who prayed only through custom were in black ; while the names of those who were careless and indifferent could scarcely be discerned at all.

St. Gertrude understood from this, that when the saints whom we have invoked pray for us, their prayers shine before God as a monument of the mercy which He has promised us, which obliges Him to have pity on us ; and when we invoke the saints with a pure and fervent devotion, they receive the brilliancy of the precious stones enchased in our Lord's robe, which are inscribed with the names of those who revere them and invoke their aid.