sins, has stricken me with this infirmity which prevents me from taking food; I desire to eat, but it is impossible. Ask God, I entreat you to pardon the sins for which I am suffering. "As if she had said, God is the author of this and not myself. So as to destroy even the appearance of vanity, she attributed the whole to her sins, and in so doing she did not speak in contradiction with what she thought, because she was persuaded that God permitted the false judgments of men, for the punishment of her faults: she imputed to herself all the ill that happened, and to God alone all the good. This was her rule in every circumstance. What we have just advanced should also serve as a reply to those who recommend the avoiding of extremes. An extreme is never culpable when God indicates it, and in such a case, man ought not to shun it.
As to such as pretend that she was in illusion, I beg them to be so kind as to answer me — if hitherto Catherine had perfectly triumphed over the snares and temptations of the demon, is it probable that she would have yielded in this circumstance ? But admit this, who could preserve the strength of her body: if we say that the devil could do it, who could have maintained her mind in joy and peace, when it was deprived of all interior comfort ? These are fruits of the Holy Spirit which the demon never could produce; it is written that the fruits of the Holy Ghost are charity, joy and peace." (Gal v. 22. ) and it is impossible to attribute them to the enemy of salvation. May we not on the contrary suspect him who would say the opposite, of being the sport of the evil spirit ? If the devil were capable of seducing her who had so frequently defeated his wiles in her own soul and in the souls of others, her whose body lived and was
