body stolen in 1480, it fell to
dust, in which state it was translated to Fabriano, and there deposited
in the great church, all but the remains of one arm, sent to Camaldoli.
God has honored his relics with many miracles. The order of Camaldoli is
now divided into five congregations, under so many generals or majors.
The life of the hermits is very severe, though something mitigated since
the time of St. Romuald. The {377} Cenobites are more like Benedictines,
and perhaps were not directly established by St. Romuald, says F.
Helyot.

* * * * *

If we are not called to practise the extraordinary austerities of many
saints, we cannot but confess that we lie under an indispensable
necessity of leading mortified lives, both in order to fulfil our
obligation of doing penance, and to subdue our passions and keep our
senses and interior faculties under due command. The appetites of the
body are only to be reduced by universal temperance, and assiduous
mortification and watchfulness over all the senses. The interior powers
of the soul must be restrained, as the imagination, memory, and
understanding: their proneness to distraction, and the itching curiosity
of the mind, must be curbed, and their repugnance to attend to spiritual
things corrected by habits of recollection, holy meditation, and prayer.
Above all, the will must be rendered supple and pliant by frequent
self-denial, which must reach and keep in subjection all its most
trifling sallies and inclinations. If any of these, how insignificant
soever they may seem, are not restrained and vanquished, they will prove
sufficient often to disturb the quiet of the mind, and betray one into
considerable inconveniences, faults, and follies. Great weaknesses are
sometimes fed by temptations which seem almost of too little moment to
deserve notice. And though these infirmities should not arise to any
great height, they always fetter the soul, and are an absolute
impediment to her progress towards perfection.

Footnotes:
1. Sanuti tells us, that St. Peter Urseoli, from his cradle, devoted
himself with his whole heart to the divine service, and proposed to
himself in all his actions the holy will and the greater glory of
God. He built in the church of St. Mark a chapel, in which the body
of that evangelist was secretly laid, the place being known by very
few. Being chosen doge, he refused that dignity for a long time with