ons, and
frequently suspended in the air, with beams of glory round his
countenance. Many ocular witnesses have deposed this matter of fact; but
some have affirmed, that at first they have found him on his knees
immovable; that they have afterwards observed, how by degrees he was
mounted from the earth; and that then, being seized with a sacred horror,
they could not stedfastly behold him, so bright and radiant was his
countenance. Others have protested, that while he was speaking to them of
the things of God, they could perceive him shooting upward, and
distancing himself from them on the sudden, and his body raising itself
on high of its own motion.

These extraordinary ravishments, which bore some manner of proportion to
the glory of the blest above, happened to him from time to time during
the sacrifice of the mass, when he came to pronounce the words of
consecration; and he was beheld elevated in that manner, particularly at
Meliapore and at Malacca. The same was frequently observed at Goa, while
be was communicating the people; and what was remarkable, as it was then
the custom to give the sacrament in kneeling, he appeared to be lifted
from the earth in that humble posture.

For common extasies, he had them almost every day, especially at the
altar, and after the sacrifice of the mass: insomuch, that many times
they could not bring him to himself, with pulling him by the robe, and
violently shaking him.

The delights which he enjoyed at such a time, are only to be comprehended
by such souls, which have received from heaven the like favours.
Nevertheless, it is evident, that if it be possible for man to enjoy on
earth the felicities of heaven, it is then, when the soul, transported
out of itself, is plunged, and as it were lost, in the abyss of God.

But it was not only in these extatic transports, that Xavier was
intimately united to our Lord: In the midst of his labours, he had his
soul recollected in God, without any dissipation caused by the multitude
or intricacy of affairs; insomuch, that he remained entire in all he did,
and at the same time whole in Him, for whose honour he was then employed.

This so close and so continual an union, could only proceed from a tender
chanty: the divine love burning him up in such a manner, that his face
was commonly on fire; and both for his interior and outward ardour, they
were often forced to throw cold water into his bosom.

Frequently in preaching and in walking,