Page:Lifeofsaintcatha.djvu/239

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humble and discreet,did not presume to contradict them, but took refuge in prayer; she knelt beside a bench placed at the very extremity of the Church, and entreated her Divine Spouse, since men could not accomplish it, to deign himself to satisfy the holy desires that he had condescended to excite in her heart. Almighty God who never despises the desires of his servants, heard the prayer of his Spouse in a wonderful manner. I was ignorant of these occurrences, and believed that Catherine was at home, — when it had been decided that she should not Communicate one of her Sisters came to the place where I was still waiting, and told me that Catherine begged me to say Mass whenever it was convenient to me, because she could not receive on that day.

I went without delay to vest in the Sacristy, and offered Mass at an Altar in the upper end of the Church, and which is dedicated to Saint Paul. Catherine was therefore remote from me the whole length of the edifice, and I was completely ignorant of her presence. After the consecration and the Fater Noster I intended, in accordance with the sacred rites, to divide the Host. At the first fraction, the Host instead of separating in two divided into three portions, two larger and one small, which it seemed to me was as long as a common bean, but not so wide. This particle, while I was attentively looking at it, appeared to me to fall on the corporal, by the side of the chalice above which I made the fraction; I saw it clearly descend towards the Altar; but I could not distinguish it on the corporal.

Presuming that the whiteness of the corporal hindered me from discerning this particle, I broke another, and after saying Agnus Dei, I consumed the sacred Host. As soon as my right hand was at liberty, I used it to seek