d he had a
particular regard for the bashful among them, that is, such as were
ashamed to make known their distress: these he was diligent in seeking
out, and assisted them with all possible secrecy. By an excellent talent
for composing differences and dissensions, he never failed to reconcile
persons at variance, and to appease all seditions that happened in his
time, either at Fiesoli, or at Florence. Urban V., on this account, sent
him vested with legatine power to Bologna, where the nobility and people
were miserably divided. He happily pacified them, and their union
continued during the remainder of his life. He was accustomed every
Thursday to wash, with singular charity and humility, the feet of the
poor: one excused himself, alleging that his feet were full of ulcers
and corruption; the saint insisted upon washing them notwithstanding,
and they were immediately healed. In imitation of St. Gregory the Great,
he kept a list of the names of all the poor, and furnished them all with
allowances. He never dismissed any without an alms, for which purpose he
once miraculously multiplied bread. He was taken ill while he was
singing high mass on Christmas-night, in the year 1372. His fever
increasing, he gave up his happy soul to God with a surprising joy and
tranquillity, on the 6th of January, 1373, being seventy-one years and
five weeks old, having been twelve years bishop. He was honored with
many miracles, and immediately canonized by the voice of the people. The
state of Florence has often sensibly experienced his powerful
intercession. Pope Eugenius IV. allowed his relics to be exposed to
public veneration. He was canonized by Urban VIII. in 1629. His festival
was transferred to the 4th of February. Clement XII. being of this
family, in conjunction with his nephew, the marquis of Corsini,
sumptuously adorned the chapel of the Carmelite friars' church in
Florence, in which the saint's body is kept. He also built and endowed a
magnificent independent chapel in the great church of St. John Lateran,
under the name of this his patron, in which the corpse of that pope is
interred.

* * * * *

The example of all the saints confirms the fundamental maxim of our
divine Redeemer, that the, foundation of all solid virtue and of true
sanctity, is to be laid by subduing the passions and dying to ourselves.
Pride, sensuality, covetousness, and every vice must be rooted out of
the heart, the sense