I returned to visit him a short time after. Doctor Senso declared to me that my friend had the plague, and that every symptom announced the approach of death. "It is evident that the blood is inflamed in the liver; it is the reigning malady, and I greatly fear that the House of Mercy is soon to be deprived of its good director." I asked him if the medical art could not furnish some remedy ?" "We shall see tonight, " answered he, "whether with the 'quintessence of cassia,' we can succeed in purifying the blood; but I have only a faint hope in this remedy, as the disease is too far advanced. " After this response of the medical adviser, I withdrew, being very sad, and directed my steps towards the residence of the patient, praying God, mercifully to retain in the world, a man of so useful an example.
However, Catherine had learned the illness of Father Matthew whom she loved sincerely, on account of his many virtues; her heart was touched, and she speedily repaired to him whom she was unwilling to lose. Hardly had she entered the apartment, than she cried: " Get up Father Matthew, arise, this is not the moment to repose indolently in your bed." At the very instant in which she uttered these words, the fever and the marks of the pestilence disappeared; Father Matthew found himself as free from pain, as though he had not been sick. Nature had obeyed her Master, who commanded by Catherine's mouth; and his word had restored the sufferer to perfect health. Father Matthew arose joyfully, and blessed the Lord for the power he had bestowed on his handmaid. Catherine modestly retired, to avoid the admiration of men; but at the moment in which she
