her daughter's weakness and obtain her pardon.
Brother Thomas, her first Confessor, in the notes that he left concerning, his vision, relates that it seemed to her "that her heart entered into our Lord's side, to be united and blended with his Heart. She felt her soul dissolved as it were, in the flames of his love, and cried out within herself; "My God! you have wounded my heart ! My God ! you have wounded my heart !" Friar Thomas says that this apparition took place in 1370, on the feast of St. Margaret — virgin and martyr. The same year, on the day following, St. Laurence, her Confessor, dreading that the priests who were celebrating Mass might be disturbed by her sighs and her sobs, recommended her to subdue and conceal them as much as possible, when she would be near the altar. The obedient Catherine remained apart and besought God to make known to her Confessor, the difficulty of retaining these exterior marks of the love of God; her Confessor declared that she was so perfectly heard, that he declined ever making her any similar recommendation again. I presume that it was through humility, that he would not say any more, and that he learned by a happy experience, how impossible it is to suppress within one's self such transports. Catherine, thus remote from the altar, experienced a burning desire for receiving the holy Communion; her heart cried loudly and her lips softly: " Ah ! would that I could receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ !" The Saviour to satisfy her desire appeared to her, and approaching, suffered her to apply her mouth to the wound of his sacred side, permitting her to content her desire for his sacred body and blood. Catherine eagerly sought the blessed source and drew long-drawn draughts.
