she prevented the sick woman from dying. Her agony lasted for three days and three nights, to the great astonishment of her nurses. Catherine during this time continued to intercede, and ended by gaining the victory. God could no longer resist, and worked a miracle of mercy. A ray of heavenly light penetrated the heart of the dying woman, showed her her fault, and nerved her to repentance. The saint to whom God revealed this hastened to her side. As soon as the sick person saw her, she gave her every possible mark of friendship and respect, accused herself aloud of her fault, received with piety the last Sacraments, and died in the grace of God.
Notwithstanding the sincerity of her conversion, it was to be feared that a sinner who had barely escaped Hell would have to undergo a severe Purgatory. The charitable Catherine continued to do all in her power to hasten the moment when Palmerine would be admitted to the glory of Paradise.
So much Charity could not fail to meet its reward. " Our Lord," writes Blessed Raymond, "showed to His spouse that soul saved by her prayers. It was so brilliant, that she told me she could find no words capable of expressing its beauty. It was not yet admitted to the glory of the beatific vision, but had that brightness which creation and the grace of baptism imparts. Our Lord said to her, * Behold, My daughter; this lost soul which you have found' And He added, ' Does she not appear to you most beautiful and precious? Who would not endure all sorts of suffering to save a creature so perfect and to introduce it into eternal life? If I, who am the Supreme Beauty, from whom all beauty emanates, have been so far captivated by the beauty to souls as to descend upon earth and shed My blood to redeem them; with how much greater reason should you not labour one for another; that such admirable creatures be not lost? If I have showed you this soul, it was that you should be all the more zealous in all that concerns the salvation of souls.'"
