nd him;
seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing, he stood like a statue of marble,
and when he was awakened, his countenance glowed like a burning coal. In
a condition so closely resembling that of the blessed, he was, from time
to time, made a partaker of their glories. Thus, during prayer a halo of
light often encircled his head; and, during mass, a supernatural
brightness overspread his countenance. In the practice of every virtue,
and in the enjoyment of sublime graces, our saint passed the days of his
pilgrimage, glorifying God and giving alms and doing good, until it
pleased the Lord to close his career on earth, not without a previous
forewarning as to the time and circumstances of his death. In the year
when it occurred, his nephew writing to him from Vienna, that he would
return home in May, he sent back answer that he would not then find him
living. And only a week before his departure, discoursing with his
brother. Francis, he said, "I have never asked a boon of you till now;
do me the charity to pray to Almighty God for me, next Friday, do you
hear? mind, do not forget." It was the very day he died. Two days before
his last mortal attack, accosting Vincent of Laines, "We shall never,"
said he, "meet on earth again." Now, upon the last day of February,
after hearing mass, and receiving communion with extraordinary fervor,
he betook himself to his room, to deliver to the crowds that resorted to
him his last paternal admonitions. He continued without interruption
till mid-day, and at that hour precisely, turning to the lay-brother
that assisted him, said, "Shortly a thunderclap will lay me prostrate on
the ground, you will have to raise me thence, but this is the last I
shall experience." Accordingly, at two hours and a half after sunset, an
apoplectic stroke threw him on the ground. At first the nature of his
disease was mistaken. It was thought that over-fatigue had brought on
giddiness but the next day {518} the symptoms manifested themselves
alarmingly, and spread in defiance of remedies. Yet though he was thus,
to all appearances, senseless during the five days that he survived,
doubtless his soul was occupied in interior ecstasies and profound
contemplation; as indeed his countenance, his lips, and gestures,
expressive of the tenderest devotion, indicated. His eyes, generally
shut, opened frequently to rest upon the mild image of Our Lady, whose
picture was opposite him. Sometimes, too, he turned them towards