was indeed a constant example of piety and mortification; she persevered until death in the service of God, and slept joyfully in the Lord, after having supported with the most admirable patience, a long and painful illness.
Her sister Frances who imitated her, survived her but a short interval. Always satisfied, even amid the most excruciating pains, she expired with a smile on her lips. Matthew, the brother next in age to Jacques, renounced the world, and entered the order of St. Dominic, which he still edifies by his virtues. As to Jacques, he married, but he never relapsed into his attacks of passion, being always peaceful and meek. All this good was accomplished by means of Catherine, who obtained from her Spouse the graces appropriate to each individual.
The narrative which I now present was not less wonderful: I was alone witness of the attendant circumstances, but God knows my veracity, and besides, its results were made public. There dwelt, in Sienna, a man perfectly well known among persons of the world, and possessed of surprising genius, which was not regulated by the law of God. His name was Nanni or Vanni. As is frequent among his countrymen, he indulged private hatred, and he knew how to satisfy vengeance by striking in the dark. Several murders had been committed, but they who were their authors dreaded Nanni more than others, because they were acquainted with his deadly malice They had often employed mediators to induce him to be reconciled, but he always answered with hypocrisy, that he was a complete stranger in those affairs, and that it did not depend on him to make peace. He alone, however, offered an obstacle, so as to be able to satiate his vengeance when he could find an opportunity.
