s. The herb which he used
for Fridays had such an atrocious taste, that one of the brethren, by
simply putting his tongue to it, was seized with vomiting, and for
several days thereafter everything he ate excited nausea. He fasted for
forty days seven times every year, and during these periods ate nothing
at all except on Sundays and Thursdays.

Nicolas of Flue, as soon as he embraced the monastic life, subsisted
altogether on the holy eucharist. The pious Goerres in explanation of
this miracle says:

"In ordinary nourishment he who eats being superior to that which is
eaten, assimilates the aliments which he takes, and communicates to them
his own nature. But in the eucharist the aliment is more powerful than
he who eats. It is no longer therefore the nourishment which is
assimilated, but on the contrary, it assimilates the man, and introduces
him into a superior sphere. An entire change is produced. The
supernatural life in some way or other absorbs the natural life, and the
man instead of living on earth, lives henceforth by grace and by
heaven."

This is about on a par, as regards lucidity and logic, with the
explanations which we are given of the alleged case of prolonged fasting
in Brooklyn.

Doubts arose in regard to Nicolas, and the bishop had him watched, but
without detecting him in fraud. Finally he ordered him to eat a piece of
bread in his presence. Nicolas did as he was commanded, but at the first
mouthful he was seized with violent vomiting. The bishop inquired of him
how he thus managed to live without eating, to which the brother
answered that when he assisted at mass, and when he took the holy
eucharist, he felt a degree of strength and suppleness like that derived
from the most nutritious food.

Still the doubters continued, and the inhabitants of Underwold, where
Nicolas lived, appear to have been at first very much inclined to
suspect him of deceit. But they were finally converted, for having
during a whole month guarded every approach to his cabin, and having
during that time detected no one in taking food to him, they were
convinced that for that time at least he had lived without food. The
sceptical reasoner of the present day would probably regard the test as
insufficient.

In 1225, Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, having heard that there was at
Leicester a nun who had taken no nourishment for seven years, and who
lived only on the eucharist, which she took every Sunday, gave at first
no faith