ure some advantageous post; and being warned that the man was his
enemy, he replied, "that therefore he was under the greater obligation
of serving him." Besides these general virtues, he possessed in the
highest degree those which belonged to his religious state, especially a
prompt and implicit obedience to all commands, however painful or
difficult. That obedience which he practised himself, he was careful to
enforce upon others, which his office of superior made it his duty, for
he justly regarded this virtue as essential to a religious. Nor was his
love of poverty less remarkable. A rouge seat and a table, a bed,
consisting of two narrow planks, with two sheep-skins and a wretched
woollen coverlet, a stool to rest his wounded legs upon, these, with his
breviary, formed the whole furniture of his cell. And although the order
allowed each one to possess two habits, yet during the forty-six years
that he was a member of it, he never had any other than that which he
put on in the novitiate. But it was in his vigilant guard over chastity,
that our saint was most remarkable. His unremitting mortifications, his
extreme modesty, and perpetual watchfulness over all his senses,
preserved him from the slightest breath of contamination. Never during
the sixty years of his life was he known to look any one not of his own
sex in the face. His every word and action bespoke purity, and inspired
the love thereof. Our saint, so solidly grounded in this virtue, was not
without its only sure foundation,--humility. He delighted in performing
menial offices in the convent, and when the task allotted to him was
finished, he was anxious to fulfil that of others. Hence he also avoided
all posts and honor, as much as was consistent with his vow of
obedience. When he journeyed through Italy as provincial, he would not
make himself known at the inns, where he lodged, lest any distinction
should be paid him. To the same cause may be ascribed his unwillingness
to revisit his native country, his aversion to being in company with the
great, when their spiritual affairs did not require it, his not
accepting the invitations of the viceroy and his consort to the palace;
his calling himself, as he was wont, the greatest sinner in the whole
world, ungrateful to God for his benefits, a worm on the face of the
earth; his custom of frequently kissing the hands of priests; his
unwillingness to declare his opinion in council; his care to break off
every disc