e Adorable Sacrament which were made
known to me in this way. I saw their authors assault Jesus in bands,
and strike him with different arms, corresponding to their various
offences. I saw irreverent Christians of all ages, careless or
sacrilegious priests, crowds of tepid and unworthy communicants, wicked
soldiers profaning the sacred vessels, and servants of the devil making
use of the Holy Eucharist in the frightful mysteries of hellish
worship. Among these bands I saw a great number of theologians, who had
been drawn into heresy by their sins, attacking Jesus in the Holy
Sacrament of his Church, and snatching out of his Heart, by their
seductive words and promises, a number of souls for whom he had shed
his blood. Ah! it was indeed an awful sight, for I saw the Church as
the body of Christ; and all these bands of men, who were separating
themselves from the Church, mangled and tore off whole pieces of his
living flesh. Alas! he looked at them in the most touching manner, and
lamented that they should thus cause their own eternal loss. He had
given his own divine Self to us for our Food in the Holy Sacrament, in
order to unite in one body--that of the Church, his Spouse--men who were to
an infinite extent divided and separated from each other; and now he
beheld himself torn and rent in twain in that very body; for his
principal work of love, the Holy Communion, in which men should have
been made wholly one, was become, by the malice of false teachers, the
subject of separation. I beheld whole nations thus snatched out of his
bosom, and deprived of any participation in the treasure of graces left
to the Church. Finally, I saw all who were separated from the Church
plunged into the depths of infidelity, superstition, heresy, and false
worldly philosophy; and they gave vent to their fierce rage by joining
together in large bodies to attack the Church, being urged on by the
serpent which was disporting itself in the midst of them. Alas! it was
as though Jesus himself had been torn in a thousand pieces!

So great was my horror and terror, that my Heavenly Spouse appeared
to me, and mercifully placed his hand upon my heart, saying: 'No one has
yet seen all these things, and thy heart would burst with sorrow if I
did not give thee strength.'

I saw the blood flowing in large drops down the pale face of our
Saviour, his hair matted together, and his beard bloody and entangled.
After the vision which I have last described, h