the next step will be to deny our Lord himself ! " Then she said to me: " Now Laymen behave thus; but ere long you will find that the clergy will also render themselves culpable." And as, in great astonishment, I exclaimed, " how dreadful; — will the clergy also rebel against the Sovereign Pontiff ? " She continued, " When the Holy Father will attempt to reform their morals, the ecclesiastics will offer the spectacle of a grievous scandal to the whole church; they will ravage and divide it as though they were heretics." These words overwhelmed me with emotion, and I asked " Mother, will a new heresy arise ? " She answered: " It will not be an actual Heresy, but it will divide the Church with all Christendom; hence arm yourself with patience, for you will be obliged to witness the misfortunes."
I was silent and waited, because I fancied that she was disposed to disclose many other things to me: but not to increase my trouble she declined further predictions. I confess that I did not comprehend these correctly, at the moment, on account of the obscurity of my understanding: for I thought that all this would happen during the pontificate of the reigning Pope Gregory XL At his death I had nearly forgotten that prophecy, but when Urban VI. succeeded, and the Church was rent with schism I beheld the verification of what she predicted to me. Reproaching myself for the obtuseness of my intellect, I endeavored to hold another conversation with her on this subject, and God allowed me this privilege, when in obedience to the Order of the Supreme Pontiff, Catherine repaired to Rome, in the commencement of the Schism. I then reminded her of what she had said to me, several years previous: she had not forgotten it, and added: " I then told you that what was transpiring
