istaken.
They necessarily consumed in mortification vitality that I could now
use, if I had it, in a more useful way. Still, how could I help it?"

The end of this period of his humiliations, which was not far from
the end of his noviceship, is thus described: "One day after
Communion I was making my half-hour thanksgiving in my room, when
Pere Othmann came in and examined me about my form of prayer. Oh! it
was just then that I had reached the passive state of prayer: _I_ did
nothing, _Another_ did everything in my prayer. From that time,
having put me down in the gutter, the novice-master raised me up to
the pinnacle, whereas I should have been in neither place." On
another occasion he told how the change of prayer had happened: "I
was on my knees one day after Communion, making a regular
thanksgiving, when suddenly God stopped me, and I was told not to
pray that way any more. Question: How were you told--what words were
spoken to you? Answer: Cease your activity. I have no need of your
words when I possess your will. 'Tis I, not you, who should act. My
action in you is more important than your thanks. I cease to act when
you begin, and begin to act when you cease. Be still--tranquil--
listen--suffer me to act. Abandon yourself to me, and I will take
care of you."

When in Rome, in the winter of 1857-8, he was compelled by
circumstances, which will be told in their place, to make a written
summary of his spiritual experience. In it he says: "My novitiate was
one of sore trials, for the master of novices seemed not to
understand me, and the manifestation of my interior to him was a
source of the greatest pain. After about nine or ten months he
appeared to recognize the hand of God in my direction in a special
manner, conceived a great esteem (for me), and placed unusual
confidence in me, and allowed me without asking it, though greatly
desired, daily Communion. During my whole novitiate no amount of
austerity could appease my desire for mortification, and several gifts
in the way of prayer were bestowed on me."

On March 6, 1886, while in a state of almost utter physical
prostration, he communicated to the writer the following: "Forty
years ago, in my novitiate, God told me that I was to suffer in every
fibre of my being." "Perhaps," was remarked, "you have not suffered
all yet." Answer: "Perhaps not, but God has kept His promise in every
limb, member, and function of my body." It may become necessary to
refer agai