he wrote the greater portion of her letters and in book that she composed: he was so attached to our Saint, that, in order to follow her everywhere, he quitted his family and his native land. At the moment of dying, Catherine called him, and said to him: " My son, the will of God is that you renounce the world and become a Carthusian." The son pursued religiously the order of the mother, and everything proved that the command came from God himself, for I do not remember having seen any one advance so rapidly in the religious life. Scarcely did he make his profession when he was named Prior, and he acquitted himself so perfectly of that charge, that he has ever since preserved it. He is now Prior of Milan, and Visitor of a great number of Convents of his Order. He committed to writing what happened at Catherine's death, and related to me all the particulars with which he was acquainted. He perused also, nearly all that I have written in this history, and I can say with the Evangelist, St. John: Ele seit quia vera dicit. (John xix. 35)
The last witness that I name, among those who have given me hints, documents, or other means of information, is Neri, or Ranieri, son of Landoccio of Sienna. After Catherine's death, he embraced the solitary life which he is still leading. He wrote (with Etienne Maconi and Barduccio) the letters and the book of the Saint; but k • was the first that followed the Spouse of Christ — quitting his father, who still lived, and all that he possessed of earthly riches — as he was longer than any other a witness of the admirable actions of Catherine, I invoke his testimony relative to this biography, with that of Etienne the Carthusian.
