oung, Agnes was weak,
Agnes was a girl, and she conquered! One Agnes can conquer the
opposition of the nineteenth century. Such in substance was my
discourse. The whole scene caused every one to be bathed in tears."

After leaving Rome he went straight to Assisi, for whose saint he had
ever felt a very powerful attraction. He thus describes his
impressions:

"The people that I have seen about here have a milder countenance and
a more cheerful look, more refined and human than the Italians around
Rome. They are to the other Italians what the Swabians are to the
other Germans. It is easy for the Minnesinger of the human, to become
the Minnesinger of Divine love.

"I could have kissed the stones of the streets of the town when I
remembered that St. Francis had trodden these same streets, and the
love and heroism which beat in his heart. . . . I said Holy Mass at
the tomb of St. Francis, and in presence of his body this morning--a
votive Mass of the Saint. It seems I could linger weeks and weeks
around this holy spot. . . . What St. Francis did for his age one
might do for one's own. He touched the chords of feeling and of
aspiration in the hearts of the men and women of his time and
organized them for action. St. Dominic did the same for the
intellectual wants of the time. Why not do this for our age? Who
shall so touch the springs of men's hearts and reach their minds as
to lead them to the desire of united action, and organize them so as
to bring forth great results? There is no doubt that the age wants
this. Who is there that is inspired from a higher sphere of life, and
sees into the future, so as to be able to speak to men and to invite
them to do the work of God in our day? Who takes all humanity into
his heart, and with the past and present at once in his mind can
inspire men to live and act for the divine future?"

He also visited the Holy House at Loretto, and, passing through
Venice and Milan to see the great churches of these cities, "the
despair of all modern church-builders," as he says, he came finally
to Genoa.

"I turned my steps," he writes, "to the general hospital; and why?
Because the interest of my heart was there, and has been there for
upward of twenty years. It is the spot where St. Catherine of Genoa
labored for the miserable, loved God, and sanctified her soul. Her
body is in a crystal case, uncorrupted, withered in appearance but
not unpleasant to the sight. When the curtain was withdrawn