Page:Lifeofsaintcatha.djvu/137

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I, I am worthy of entering into thee." When she received the Communion, it seemed to her, that, as the fish which is in the water is penetrated by the water, her soul was in God, and God in her soul. She was so absorbed in her Creator, that she could scarcely return to her cell; she laid down on the planks that served as her bed, and remained there a long time motionless; then her body was raised in the air, and remained there without any sort of support. Three persons, whose names I will give, were witnesses of that prodigy and have affirmed it. At length her body lowered to the bed, and she began to say in a low voice such sweet and admirable things, that her companions, on hearing them, could not restrain their tears. She afterwards prayed for several persons, — she named some of them, her Confessor among others, who was then in the Church of the Friar Preachers, and who was not thinking of anything capable of exciting him to a particular fervor. He wrote, himself, that he was at the moment in nowise disposed to experience sensible devotion. But suddenly while she was praying, (it being unknown to him,) a wonderful change was effected in his soul; he became wrapt in an extraordinary fervor such as he had never experienced, and he examined his own dispositions to learn whence came this grace. Amid these reflections, one of Catherine's companions came, by chance, to speak to him, and she said to him: " Father, at such an hour Catherine prayed most fervently for you." Then the Confessor understood why, at that very hour, he had experienced such a special devotion. He then questioned the person more particularly, and was informed by her, that, in the prayer for him and others, Catherine had asked of God the promise of their eternal salvation. She had stretched forth her hands saying: