64 B. MARY OF THE ANGELS in him. " Then why," said he, " do yon not go rather to the Carmelite nuns of St. Christina ? " She had never heard * of this convent, but she asked him to tell her more, and he described their holy life so sympathetically that she felt fascinated by that Order. She thanked the monk for his kindness and asked him to pray for her, after which, she went home so happy that she could not help shouting out, I am going to be a Carmelite. I am going to be a Car- melite." Her mother thought her too delicate for the hard life and poor food of the Carmelites, but at last, after much con- sultation, she took her to Santa Cristina della Priora. As the Countess raised objections about her dowry, nothing was settled that day. By-and-bye, the nuns becoming interested, the prioress invited her mother to an interview in which the money difficulties were finally smoothed over, and Marianna began her novitiate Nov. 19, 1676, at the age of sixteen, taking the name of Mary of the Angels. As soon as she was l^t alone in the convent she remembered with regret every caress and endearing quality of her mother, and this regret became worse and worse as the Countess often came to see her and told her she missed her so dreadfully that she could neither eat nor sleep and had no peace. The devil then tempted Mary with hatred of the strict rule, the penances, her sister nuns, and especially the mistress of the novices. At the end of her year's novitate she took the veil. For the first seven years the Lord hid Himself from her and she suffered acutely. When she was thirty-three and had been seventeen years a nun and for some time mistress of the novices, she was made prioress. She held this office four times. Her cell as prioress was the same as the others, but so situated as to be easy of access for all the nuns. The furniture of a cell consisted of a board, which when placed on the knees of the nun would do for a table ; a straw chair ; a rough pallet with a wooden cross at the head and a little print of some sacred subject. She used to say to her nuns,
- ' Manage always to be without some-
thing that you want, in order to taste poverty." Although she loved poverty and wore the old clothes of the other nuns, she was cUtoays dean. Once when the nuns were determined to make her a new dress, they found it impossible to get a chance of tiding her measure ; they had to measure and fit one of themselves who was about her size, and then to get the superior of the Order to command her to wear it. Her veil she always made herself, of rags and scraps. She made a vow never to look any one in the face, and only distinguished her nuns by their voices. When she was paralysed she would not let anybody undress her, although she could not do it herself. In this strait, St. Theresa appeared and waited on her. Victor Amadeus 11., then duke of Savoy, afterwards king of Sardinia, used to visit her and consult her on affiairs of importance. Her humility made this honour distasteful to her. Once he asked if he could do anything for her. She fell on her knees and begged him not to visit that poor sinner again. The ladies of the Court came and condoled that the king no longer would come, and she only answered, *'Well, what can I do about it ? " Li 1702 she founded the convent of Moncalieri and hoped to hide herself there, but the Court and everybody in- sisted on having her back in Turin. The devil appeared to her under various forms, often as a cat or several cats. He tempted her to destroy herself, etc. She was consoled by heavenly apparitions. Christ told her that the time of her purification was over, and embraced and kissed her, and asked her what she would like ; whereupon she prayed that she might suffer with Him as B. John of the Cross did. In the year 1702 she made a vow always to seek to please her heavenly Spouse. She had a great devotion to the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation ; to the Passion and the Sacrament of the Altar ; and showed great pity for poor sinners, whom she constantly recommended to the prayers of her nuns. She prayed and did penance a whole year for one conversion. After communion she used to go into
