last they reached a
certain village, and St. Benedict went into the church to pray God to
make known His will. When he came out the peasants who lived near the
church pressed him to stay with them. St. Benedict took their kindness
as a sign that it was God's will, so he and his old nurse settled down
in the village.

It was while the boy was living here that (so the old books tell us) a
miracle happened which made people feel sure that God was specially
pleased with him. One day, as St. Benedict returned home from the church
where he had been praying, he found his old nurse very unhappy; in fact,
she was crying. This distressed him very much, because he hated to see
other people miserable. At first he wondered why Cyrilla was crying, and
then he saw the cause. She had accidentally broken an earthenware bowl
that one of the good villagers had lent her. Full of pity for his old
friend, St. Benedict took up the two pieces and went outside the house
with them, and knelt down. Then he prayed very hard that the bowl might
be mended. And, as he opened his eyes and looked at it, sure enough, it
was whole! Very pleased, and thinking how good God is to those who
really trust Him, he ran into the house and gave it to Cyrilla.

St. Benedict had not thought of himself, but only of God's wonderful
power and kindness. But Cyrilla and the village people to whom she told
the miracle all began to talk a lot about St. Benedict, and say he was a
young saint, since he could do miracles. People even came in from the
places round to stare at him. Do you think this pleased him? No; he
wasn't that sort of boy. If he had been, God would never have done
anything for him. He was very distressed at the way people went on; and
more and more he felt that God was calling him away, and had something
very important to say to him. And one day it came to him that he must
leave even his faithful old nurse and go away. You can imagine how
terribly sad he must have been at that thought, not only because he
loved her and had always had her near him since he could remember, but
because he knew how very, very much she loved him, and that if he left
her she would be sad and lonely, with no one to comfort her. But you
remember what I told you about how St. Benedict had made up his mind to
do his best always to carry out God's will, and not give in to himself
and pretend he had not heard; so, because he knew that it is more
important to be faithful to God than to