who drew from purgatorial fires, their souls which were plunged into them. Is not this greater and more amazing ? Believe me reader, I saw many prodigies effected by this holy woman; but I find none comparable to this which I have just narrated: no, never in any case was the power of the Most High so largely manifested, never did the unction of grace flow so abundantly.
Catherine obtained another extraordinary grace of conversion, which I must not bury in silence. There was in Sienna, a man named Francis Tholomei, and who still lives: his wife is named Rabes; they had several sons and daughters. The eldest, Jacques, led a criminal life; he was excessively proud, and such was his ferocity, that although young, his hand had twice been stained in the blood of his neighbor; his horrible deeds made him the terror of all who knew him; no idea, no fear of God withheld him, and he added crime to crime. He had a sister named Ghinoccia, who was passionately fond of the world, in the worst sense of that expression; she was continually occupied in vainly adorning her person, and if she were not wholly lost, it was because she merely dreaded human opinion. Their pious mother Rabes feared for the salvation of her children; she went to Catherine and implored her to be so charitable as to speak on religion to her two daughters, especially to Ghinoccia. Catherine, who so ardently loved souls, consented, and succeeded so well with Ghinoccia, that Jesus triumphed in her affections, and she renounced all the senseless joys of the world — she cut off her long and glossy hair, that had proved a source of vanity to her, took the habit of the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic and persevered, as I can affirm, in the most admirable practices of devotion. I was frequently obliged to moderate
