Chapter II
Of Circumstances Which Happened A Year And A Half Before The Death Of The Blessed Catharine, And Of The Martyrdom That Satan Caused Her To Undergo.
As I have said above, after that, (in a accordance with the order of the Sovereign Pontiff,) I had quitted the Spouse of Christ, who remained at Rome, several circumstances occurred which merit narration. I have only cited some of them; but now, with the grace of God, I will declare facts which display the splendid sanctity of her happy death, and which were so many preludes to her entrance into eternal bliss. The Blessed Catherine saw the Church of God, that she so ardently loved, rent by the miseries of schism, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ surrounded by difficulties and persecutions; tears had become her bread by night and by day, and she never ceased crying to God, supplicating him to restore peace to the Church. God gave her some consolations: thus, a year previous to her death, the very day on which she was to quit the earth, he granted a double victory to the Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff. The Schismatics, hitherto masters of the Castle of St. Angelo, disturbed the peace of the city, and ravaged the entire country: they were completely vanquished, the chiefs were taken, and many perished. The Pope could not reside near the Church of the Holy Apostles, on account of the vicinity of the Castle of St. Angelo. Catherine advised him to go, barefooted, to the august Basilica. All the people followed him in great-devotion, and rendered to Almighty
