Athanasius

ON ST. ATHANASIUS, CONFESSOR IN BITHYNIA.

NINTH CENTURY

Athanasius, Confessor in Bithynia (S.)

G. H.

[1] Paulopetrium was a training ground for religious men, dedicated to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, St. Athanasius is venerated on 22 February: as the Menaea indicate on this day with these verses:

Athanasios thremma Paulopetriou Apostolois synesti Paulo kai Petro.

"Athanasius, a nursling of Paulopetrium, Is together with the Apostles Paul and Peter."

This eulogy of St. Athanasius is composed in the same Greek Menaea and in the bioi hagion of Maximus Cytheraeus.

[2] "On the same day, of our holy Father and Confessor Athanasius, born at Constantinople, who rests in Paulopetrium. This saint, born at Constantinople to pious, devout, and wealthy parents, cultivated piety from his earliest childhood and aspired to the monastic state and habit. Setting out therefore for the region of Nicomedia, a monk near Nicomedia, he was tonsured as a monk near an inlet of the sea, and so excelled in virtues that his fame was brought to the Emperors. But under the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo, he was accused concerning the veneration of the uncontaminated images, under the Emperor Leo, he suffered exile and beatings, and dies: tortured with many torments, and afflicted with the bitterest exiles and evils; yet he persevered most steadfastly in the orthodox faith until death, and at last departed to the Lord."

[3] Such are the Menaea; the Leo the Iconoclast who is mentioned in them is Leo the Armenian, who seized the Empire in the year 813, after Michael was compelled to yield, though not entirely unwillingly. Leo was killed on the night of Christmas in the year 820, having raged with every atrocity against sacred images and Catholics, especially monks. Concerning his persecution, we treated on the fourth of February in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, Chapters 3 and 4, was he a companion of St. Nicholas the Studite? where the exile, tortures, and beatings inflicted upon St. Nicholas and his Superior, St. Theodore the Studite, are narrated. And perhaps St. Athanasius, about whom we treat here, was a companion of St. Nicholas in the earliest exercises of the monastic life, which are thus described in his Life, Chapter 2, number 12: "Our common Father and servant of God, Nicholas, had indeed his very life as a kind of silent exhortation; he had also a brother who was a kind of precise image of his virtues. Indeed all at length had, like some other midday sun, shining with the rays of virtues, that gift given by God -- the great Theodore -- under St. Theodore the Studite? a useful and illustrious companion for their souls; and it was truly a school of virtue, a kind of new paradise, flourishing with a manifold variety of flowers. For to these there also came Joseph, the brother of our most wise Father, who later became the celebrated Archbishop of the city of Thessalonica, as well as Timothy, Athanasius too, and Naucratius, and many others whom I omit for the sake of brevity -- all living in that earthly heaven. For those whom character unites, place also gathers into one." Such is the passage; these things were done at Constantinople, whence St. Athanasius perhaps then migrated into Bithynia, if indeed he is that Confessor about whom we treat here, as seems altogether likely.

[4] St. Theodore the Studite wrote to the aforementioned Naucratius, while imprisoned, a letter reported by Baronius at the year 809, number 44, in which he mentions Athanasius and his brave struggle at the outset in these words: "Your letter, beloved son, produced three effects in me: for I was at once astonished, filled with admiration, and moved to song. The first on account of the impious, does St. Theodore write to Naucratius about his struggle? the second on account of the pious, the third on account of God, who strengthens those who rely on His law. And concerning the sacred Athanasius and his most beloved companions, and concerning my most valiant Theosostus as well, and his seventeen most courageous comrades -- since enough has been said in my letters to them -- this must be passed over here, although they are worthy of a longer discourse and praises, who fought in a manner both divine and courageous." These are the words of Theodore in that letter, which seems rather to have been written under Leo the Armenian. Whether the letter of the same Theodore to his brother Athanasius, reported by Baronius at the same year 809, number 30, was written to this same Athanasius is not established. More certain information could be discovered if all the works of St. Theodore the Studite were published in print, or if a Life of St. Athanasius survived.

ON BLESSED MARGARITA THE PENITENT, OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS, AT CORTONA IN UMBRIA

IN THE YEAR 1297.

Preliminary Commentary.

Margarita the Penitent, of the Third Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Etruria (B.)

By J. B.

Section I. The public veneration of Blessed Margarita of Cortona, sanctioned by the Apostolic See.

[1] Cortona is a most ancient city of Etruria, situated not far from Lake Trasimeno, adorned with an episcopal See by Pope John XXII more than three hundred years ago. Blessed Margarita, still incorrupt after 350 years, There, from the year 1277 to 1297, Margarita lived with an outstanding reputation for holiness -- she who is commonly surnamed "of Cortona," having professed the Third Order of St. Francis. Her body is still seen to be beautiful, vital, and unharmed, as Lucas Wadding writes in volume 2 of the Annals of the Friars Minor at the year 1297, Section 28, and others to be cited below. Pope Leo X granted that she might be celebrated with an annual observance in the city and diocese of Cortona, on the very day she died, the twenty-second of February, and that her body might be displayed for the veneration of all. Then Urban VIII extended that faculty to all men and women of the Order of St. Francis. There survives a bull of Urban on this matter in the Bullary of Angelo Maria Cherubini, given at Rome at St. Peter's in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1623, on the Ides of December, in the first year of his pontificate, which begins: Caelestis aquae flumen. From which we have transcribed the following:

[2] Section 1. "Since formerly our predecessor, Pope Leo X of happy memory, moved by the distinguished attestations issued by Boniface VIII and Eugenius IV, Roman Pontiffs, also our predecessors, of pious memory, concerning Blessed Margarita of Cortona, a nun of the Third Order of St. Francis of Penance, granted by Apostolic authority that the feast of the said Blessed Margarita, with the Office neither of a Virgin nor of a Martyr, by the indult of Leo X she is venerated at Cortona: might be celebrated in the church of St. Margarita in the city of Cortona each year on the twenty-second day of the month of February, and that the same Blessed Margarita might be lawfully and freely venerated both privately and publicly by all the faithful of Christ in the aforesaid city and diocese, as is more fully contained in the letters then drawn up thereon."

[3] Section 2. "Most recently, however, the Congregation of our Venerable Brothers, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, deputed over sacred Rites, [the Congregation of Rites judging that it may be permitted for her to be venerated everywhere by the Friars Minor,] considering the holiness of the aforesaid Blessed Margarita, who for three hundred years and more has shone with a continuous splendor of miracles, as well as the marvelous integrity of her body, which even in these days exhales a most sweet odor beyond the powers of nature; at the request not only of the Clergy and people of Cortona, but also of the Friars of the Order of St. Francis, called of the Observance, our beloved sons, decreed, with the favorable consent of our predecessor, Pope Gregory XV of happy memory, previously obtained on this matter, and with all the Cardinals of the same Holy Roman Church unanimously consenting, that the aforesaid indult might be extended to all men and women of the same Order of St. Francis."

[4] Section 3. "Wherefore, on behalf of the same Clergy, people, and Friars, they themselves requesting it, petition was recently made humbly to Us, that We might deign of Apostolic kindness to grant their desire, as follows."

Section 4. "We therefore, considering that just as the Blessed Margarita herself shines in heaven, so, as if adorned with a crown of many brilliant gems, she radiates before the entire heavens;... permitted by Urban VIII. inclined by petitions of this kind, by the vote of the same Congregation of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church deputed over the Rites of the Church, We extend the aforesaid indult and the letters drawn up thereon to each and every person, namely both men and women, now and for the time being existing, of the same Order of St. Francis, and to their churches, both within Italy and wherever else they may be situated; so that from now on henceforth, in perpetuity for all future times, they may celebrate the feast of the said Blessed Margarita in their churches each year on the said twenty-second day of February, with the Office neither of a Virgin nor of a Martyr, and may venerate the same Blessed Margarita both privately and publicly, freely and lawfully; by the aforesaid Apostolic authority, We extend," etc.

[5] Philippus Ferrarius in his general Catalogue of the Saints briefly mentions her thus on the twenty-second of February: inscribed in the Martyrologies on 22 February. "At Cortona, of Blessed Margarita the Penitent." He also mentions her in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, as we shall say below. Arturus a Monasterio in his Franciscan Martyrology, after commemorating three illustrious men of his institute -- Electus, Henricus Harphius, and Alphonsus Rodericus, who are not, however, included in the Catalogue of Saints -- writes about Blessed Margarita in these words: "At Cortona in Tuscany, of Blessed Margarita, a Tertiary, most celebrated for the holiness of her life and for many illustrious miracles." And then he adds much in his notes about her life, holiness, and panegyrists. Outside the city and perhaps also the diocese of Cortona, on account of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch, which is celebrated on the twenty-second as a greater double feast, as they call it, Blessed Margarita is venerated on the following day, she is venerated on the 23rd by the Friars Minor. that is, the twenty-third of February, as is evident from the Proper Offices of the Saints of the Order of Friars Minor, and as Antonius Masinus notes in his survey of Bologna, where he says there is an altar dedicated to Blessed Margarita in the church of the Annunziata, which belongs to the Friars Minor of the Observance outside the gate.

Section II. The Life of Blessed Margarita, written by her Confessor and by others.

[6] The Life of Blessed Margarita was written by Friar Juncta of Bevagna or of Mevania -- that is, a native of Mevania, which is a town of Umbria below Foligno at the confluence of the Tinia and Clitumnus rivers, now commonly called Bevagna. Her Life written by Friar Juncta, her confessor, This Juncta was eminently skilled in spiritual matters, and Margarita declared that she owed him a great deal because she was accustomed to confess her sins to him and was continually instructed by him with outstanding admonitions toward the perfection of virtue, and she frequently prayed to God for him. Concerning that Life, the occasion of its writing, and its subsequent approval, Wadding reports this at the year 1297, Section 28: "Friar Juncta of Bevagna, the holy woman's Confessor, wrote her Life carefully and at length, divided into twelve chapters, which I have in my possession in manuscript, faithfully and accurately, in which he faithfully and sincerely narrated either what he himself had seen, or what he had received from the mouth of the handmaid of God herself, or from her Confessors. This task was imposed upon him by Friar Leo of Castiglione, Inquisitor of heretical depravity in Etruria; and that he rightly and properly carried it out, and wrote the Life truthfully, was affirmed and confirmed by their attestations by Friar John, also an Inquisitor, Friar Tarlatus, a Professor of Sacred Theology, Friar Philip, Custos of Castiglione, Friar Ubaldus of Colle, Guardian, and Friar Paul of Socio, all of whom were in turn Confessors of the blessed woman. The same Legend was approved by Friar Raynerius of Siena, Friar Bartholomew, Friar Thomas, and Friar Anthony, approved by learned men and an Apostolic Legate: successive Provincial Ministers of Tuscany. Very many learned men of both states, ecclesiastical and secular, read and commended the same; but also the aforesaid Cardinal Legate wished to have a copy given to him, which he devoutly preserved and freely offered to all pious men to read and transcribe." Thus Wadding. The Cardinal Legate whom he mentions here was Napoleon Orsini, Apostolic Legate in Italy under Clement V, who was enrolled in the Sacred College by Nicholas IV in the year 1288, and died at Avignon under Clement VI in the year 1342.

[7] This Life, not yet published in Latin, so far as is known to us, we publish here for the first time, but lacking the Prologue, here published, without the title and Chapter 12, which is said to exist elsewhere, with this beginning: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Crucified. Here begins the Legend of devotion. I thought it sufficiently fruitful for fervently devoted souls to select not all -- since that was not possible -- but certain flowers from the admirable life of Margarita, most devoted to God, who was doing austere penance at Cortona." Also missing is the twelfth chapter, divided into ten sections, as is stated below in Chapter XI, concerning the signs which Almighty God performed and does not cease to perform in her honor throughout nearby and remote places. In the meantime, may the pious reader enjoy what we present here. For they are indeed of such a nature that they can not only engender in souls a detestation of sins but also a certain outstanding charity toward God, and a zeal for the salvation of mortals, pious and useful. and especially a desire for frequently receiving the most holy Eucharist. Our transcript was sprinkled throughout with minor errors, and not a few; nor was it possible to correct all of them from conjecture alone. As to how far those things should be taken as divine revelations which Margarita is said to have understood by divine inspiration, especially in ecstasy of mind, let the doctors of mystical theology judge -- such as that in number 146 about the penance of Magdalene in the cave. The praises heaped upon the Seraphic Order throughout are most true. Where the Order seems at times to be preferred to all Orders flourishing in the Church at that time in doctrine and holiness, this is either true, at least of most of them, or should be understood in the sense in which what is said about Abraham in Ecclesiasticus 44:20, the Church attributes no less truly than devoutly to nearly all Pontiff Confessors: "There was none found like to him, who kept the law of the Most High."

[8] Many subsequently wrote about Blessed Margarita. Marcus of Lisbon, Bishop of Porto in Portugal, Other writings about her by others: in Part 2 of the Chronicles of the Order of Friars Minor, Book 5, Chapters 29 through the 8 following chapters, narrates her deeds in Portuguese. And indeed in Chapter 37 he writes that she was placed in a new tomb in the church of St. Basil, with great celebration and a gathering of Clergy and people, and was thereafter illustrated by great miracles, which are seen depicted around her tomb there. Juncta of Bevagna says it was the church not of St. Basil but of St. Blaise miracles depicted: in which Margarita was buried. When Pope Leo X came to Cortona and saw the miracles and the devotion of the people toward Margarita, he granted, by a bull issued on the matter, that the Ecclesiastical Office might be recited about her and a feast celebrated in that church and throughout the city, on the day of the Chair of St. Peter. the body is shown to the people: On that day, the body of the holy matron is shown to the people who flock there from everywhere -- intact, solid, beautiful, and of great stature. Ferrarius in the Catalogue of Saints of Italy refutes this, saying she was small, as he himself saw. Marcus adds she was of small stature, buried in the church of St. Basil, now St. Margarita: that the church in which Margarita is buried was afterward splendidly restored, with a notable chapel added in which her body is preserved, and was finally entrusted to the Friars Minor called of the Observance, by the authority of Eugenius IV, with a monastery also built for them.

[9] The same Life was described and published somewhat more succinctly in Italian in the Lives of Women Illustrious for Holiness, and then in the Lives of Saints of Etruria, by Silvanus Razzius the Camaldolese, who himself also reports in both works that she was of great stature, relying on the authority of the said Chronicles, which he cites. A Life of Margarita was also published in Italian in an elegant style at Bologna by Gaspar Bombacius in the year 1638, together with the Life of St. Winifred, Virgin and Martyr, and of Blessed Lucia de Stifonte, Virgin of Bologna; which little book he entitled A Scene of Sacred and Profane Loves. From that little book we shall excerpt some things below. A shorter Life of the same Margarita was published in Latin by Ferrarius in the Catalogue of Saints of Italy, and from him, though not cited, by Abraham Bzovius in volume 13 of the Annals at the year 1297, Section 18. Wadding, cited above, treats of her at length in volume 2 of the Annals of the Order of Friars Minor. But in narrating her conversion he disagrees with the others. For he writes thus at the year 1277, Section 13: "In the same year, Blessed Margarita of Cortona -- so called from the place of her burial, although she was born in the town of Alviano in the diocese of Chiusi -- embraced that same institute (namely the Third Order, called of Penance). She, formerly leading a vain and licentious life, accustomed to irregular unions, although she had her own husband from Montepulciano, from whom she had a son (others say he was her lover), converted from a lascivious life by her outstanding beauty and lascivious adornment drew the hearts of many after her -- until she saw her husband killed, secretly thrown into a pit, hideously swarming with worms; and when the hand of the Lord came upon her, having seen the putrid body of her seducer, she began to consider within herself that the world and the things that are in the world should be reckoned as dung, and the delights of the flesh as truly the foulest of filth. And so she returned, with confused countenance, worn by grief, and bathed in tears, to the house of her father, who was offended at her shameful life, and from whom she deserved to be admitted through entreaties and tears. With her hair shorn and her head, which she had previously tended with the greatest care, neglected, she wore black and humble garments," etc.

[11] Thus he attributes a husband to her, whom the Life by Juncta of Bevagna calls her deceiver and the enemy of her salvation; nor does that Life indicate that she prostituted her body to others, but that she clung to that one man alone for nine years, enticed either by hope of marriage, or by an abundant feminine wardrobe not a husband, (for which she had a remarkable craving), and by other gifts, as Bombacius conjectures. He writes that she was born at Laviano, a castle or village of the diocese of Chiusi, an ancient possession of the most noble Oddi family, which formerly had a dispute with the Baglioni about the leadership of Perugia. Ferrarius narrates the same conversion thus: "Margarita, born at Laviano, a village of the territory of Perugia, addicted to the enticements of the flesh, attached herself to a certain nobleman, serving him. When he departed from home and took a little dog with him, the dog alone returned home after several days, whining, and seizing Margarita's garment with its teeth, led to this by a dog: tried to drag her outside the house. She, marveling, followed the little dog until, coming to a certain pile of wood, the dog stopped, looking at and touching the logs, as if urging its mistress to remove them. When Margarita therefore had removed some logs, she sees her lord dead and now swarming with worms. By this spectacle she was so moved that, repentant of her former life, she returned to her father's house. But, expelled from the house by her father at the persuasion of her stepmother, expelled from the house by her father: she took refuge in prayer, by which she commended herself to God, and was inwardly admonished to betake herself to Cortona, to the Friars Minor." So Ferrarius. What is read in Bombacius and others agrees. As for what Ferrarius says about her having served -- she certainly served, and indeed the most shameful servitude, but not to perform menial duties, since even noble matrons envied her the splendor of her garments and other finery. That she was expelled from the house by her father, Juncta himself writes.

[12] Bartholomaeus of Pisa mentions Margarita thus some two hundred and fifty years ago in Book 1 of the Conformities, Fruit 8, Part 4, on the Third Order, folio 107: "Also holy Margarita of Cortona, already considered holy 250 years ago: who shone and shines with many signs, was a Sister of the Third Order." Petrus Rodulphius of Tossignano, who later became Bishop of Senigallia, in Book 1 of the Histories of the Seraphic Order, folio 140, has this: "Blessed Margarita of Cortona, illustrious for great miracles, from the town of Alviano in the diocese of Chiusi, beautiful indeed in body but more beautiful in mind, first addicted to vices from a tender age, then (by divine inspiration) consecrated herself to Christ; whose life and singular miracles a certain Confessor wrote, which certain Theologians and the Cardinal Orsini, Apostolic Legate in all Italy, approved. She assumed the habit of St. Clare in the year 1277, she suffered many persecutions in her life: admonished by an image of the Crucified, and suffered many and various tribulations."

[13] Franciscus Gonzaga, in Part 1 of the Origin of the Seraphic Order, page 100, among the Blessed, honors her with this eulogy: "Blessed Margarita of Cortona, most celebrated for great and illustrious miracles." And in Part 2, Convent 2, which is St. Margarita's at Cortona, he writes this about her: "In which more than twenty Friars commonly reside, and the body of Blessed Margarita of Cortona rests, of the Third Order of our blessed Father Francis, who shines with very many miracles. Her body, exhumed from elsewhere, was transferred in the year of our Lord 1580 to a new sepulchre translated in the year 1580, erected for her near the high altar." Finally, Odoricus Raynaldus in volume 14 of the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 1297, number 68, writes thus: "Now we turn our discourse to Margarita of Cortona, who so mourned the sins of her former life equal to Virgins. that the incorrupt relics and miracles of this woman bear witness that she equaled the merits of many holy Virgins." And he continues at Section 69: "That she was led from an impure life to better ways by a remarkable prodigy of divine mercy and by the sad sight of her putrid lover's corpse, Ferrarius narrates." Then he adds what is found in Ferrarius, and from Wadding he records the celebration permitted by Leo X and sanctioned by Urban VIII. Finally, many other more recent writers make honorable mention of Margarita.

LIFE FROM MANUSCRIPTS

by Friar Juncta of Bevagna.

Margarita the Penitent, of the Third Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Etruria (B.)

BHL Number: 5314

By Friar Juncta, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I

On her manner of life in the secular habit.

[1] Devout to Christ God, pure of mind, fervent of heart, Margarita, in the year from the birth of Christ one thousand two hundred and seventy-seven, in which she offered herself to the Order of Blessed Francis with joined hands, with tears, before Friar Ranaldus of good memory, Custos of Arezzo, on bended knees, humbly, Margarita clothed in the habit of the Third Order in the year 1277, and was freely offered in body and soul; having also assumed the garments of the Third Order of the blessed Father Francis with great insistence of prayers; while she once devoutly prayed before an image of Christ, which is now on the lower altar of the said Friars, and said to herself, "What do you want, poor little woman?" illuminated by the Holy Spirit, she immediately replied: "I seek and want nothing else she desires only Jesus, who speaks to her from the cross: but You, my Lord Jesus."

[2] Likewise, on another occasion while she prayed, she heard the Lord recounting and recalling to her grateful memory the stages of her calling, in which the state of her former life is clearly included, in the following order: "Remember, poor little woman," He said, "the manifold graces which I granted to your soul, and the lights by which you might return to me. Remember that when the enemy of your salvation had died, you returned to your father at Laviano, expelled from the house by her father, consumed with grief, bathed in tears, your face lacerated, clothed in black garments, and greatly ashamed. Remember that, at the suggestion of your stepmother, your father expelled you from the paternal home, utterly forgetful of paternal compassion. But as one not knowing what you ought to do, destitute of all counsel and aid, sitting and grieving beneath a fig tree which was in his garden, you then requested me as your master, father, spouse, and Lord, and humbly lamented the misery of your mind and body. For that ancient serpent, seeing you expelled by your father, she is tempted by the devil to sin all the more freely: openly seizing the occasion in his reproach and your fall, was inducing your heart to presume upon the physical beauty of your youth, persuading you that, as one cast out, you could sin excusably, and that wherever you stayed or wished to go, you would be loved even by great lords of the flesh on account of the beauty of your body."

[3] "But I, the fashioner of your inner beauty, and being the lover of one whom I wished to reform, stirred your conscience by the inspiration of my light, and directed you to go to Cortona and surrender yourself to the obedience of my Friars Minor. You, having assumed spiritual strength, directed your journey to Cortona without delay, by divine instinct she surrenders herself to the discipline of the Friars Minor, and according to my command you offered yourself to the Friars, inclining your mind to their disciplines and admonitions with vigilance. Remember that the remedy of your heart was, for the beginning of your salvation, the fear of filial reverence which I fixed in your mind regarding the Friars Minor, to whose care I entrusted you. with the utmost reverence toward them: When this was perfectly conceived, I terrified the invisible enemy and, by my dispensing grace, shattered the boldness which he had assumed against you from your calamity. Did you not immediately tremble? Did not your face, whenever any Friar of the Order of your Father appeared in church, in houses, or on the road, become flushed with shame, fearing to sit, or speak, or be found by seculars in their presence?"

[4] "Remember that I then ordered your soul to a total contempt of all secular adornments, and instructed you from the heart to gradually separate yourself from the company of worldly ladies out of love for me. Remember she gave herself to austerity of life, that your body, accustomed to former delicacies, I appointed by my grace to abstinence not only from delectable foods but from all foods. Remember that, fortified by my graces and made stronger, you wasted yourself with continual fasting, and spurning soft garments, you sweetly chose a most hard bed -- now a wicker grate, now the bare ground, now a plank -- with pillows of wood or stone. Remember the abundant gift of fear, sorrow, and continual weeping which I deigned to bestow upon you so copiously continually weeping from sorrow, that not only the Friars Minor, to whom I commended you, when you asked with a flood of tears whether I, your Father and Lord, would henceforth recall you, made an exile in your sins, to mercy and to your homeland; but even seculars, when you asked them with sorrowful weeping about this, you moved by your bitter torments to the most abundant tears. But neither should you cease to remember and from love: that, showing myself sweet to you, I marvelously changed your bitter weeping into sweet tears, when you poured out devout tears over my Nativity, over the Virgin, over the sublimity of the Virgin Mother, and over the solemnities of other Saints."

[5] "These, after the death of your deceiver, who for nine years, with your consent, ceaselessly laid snares against your purity and honor, she had lived 9 years in sin: were the beginnings of your conversion. Remember, poor little woman, the crossing you made alone at night through water, where the ancient enemy would have drowned you because you were going to renew the sufferings of my Passion; but I, not forgetful of paternal mercy, [preserved lest she be drowned by the devil? even then compassionate toward the poor,] graciously guarded and delivered you. Remember likewise that, while the world still pleased you and you were living in the darkness of vices, I, the true master, having become your teacher, endowed you with maternal compassion toward the poor and afflicted, and gave you such a fragrance of solitary and remote places that, kindled in devotion, you would say: 'Oh, how sweetly one would pray there, and how solemnly and devoutly the praises of God would be rendered in such places! And how quietly, securely, and in good order one could do salutary penance!' Remember that, situated in the state of darkness, dwelling in a solitary house or room, continually lamenting and accusing her evil life: illuminated by the ray of my light, you wept over your fall; and when you were greeted by nobles or common folk of the town or village, you would rebuke them, saying that since they knew your reprehensible life, they ought to withdraw from you entirely all greeting and conversation."

[6] "Remember that, tearing you away from your former state, I placed you in the company of noble Ladies, especially of St. Marinaria and Raneria at the beginning. Remember that the beauty of your appearance, which you had hitherto striven to preserve and even to enhance, greatly to my injury, you began to abhor and hate so much that you desired to destroy it -- she disfigures her body: now by abstinence, now by striking yourself with a stone, now by applying the dust of pots, now by frequent letting of blood. Remember that the fire of my love so transformed you into me that you repeatedly asked the Guardian of the Friars Minor of Cortona with tears, prayers, and insistence for the habit of the Friars of Penance, so that you might become close to me and a stranger to the world. the habit of the Penitent, Why did the Friars delay further in giving her the habit? Certainly both because they doubted the constancy of her mind and because she appeared too beautiful and too young. delayed for good reason, But after the Friars saw her clinging inseparably to Christ, after they observed her ascending more and more to God in fervor of spirit, after they heard her saying: 'My Fathers, to whom I have been commended by the Lord, do not hesitate about me, for if I were to dwell in a vast wilderness for the whole time of my life, I love my God so much, and the Almighty has so strengthened my mind, she fervently requests that I would fear no creature and no temptation, because of the hope which I have fixed in God, who recalls me to His grace. And since you have seen me flee the world, I have joined myself to the company of religious persons and have changed my life for the better through the grace given me by Christ -- why do you fear? Why do you delay clothing me?' Therefore, out of love for Him who had clothed her with His own power, and at length receives it: the Friars, having heard these things, clothed her. And just as she changed her habit, so too she changed her spirit in virtues, as will be evident to devout readers in the chapters noted below."

[7] This change she unknowingly foretold when she was being playfully reproached by her companion Ladies about the adornment of her body, who said: "What will become of you, most vain Margarita?" And she would say: "The time will yet come when you will call me Saint, when I shall be holy, and you will visit me with a pilgrim's staff, while still a sinner, she had predicted she would become a saint. with scrips hanging from your shoulders." This indeed we see fulfilled, not only in people running from various places, but also in the multitude of women who come devoutly to visit her body and tomb.

CHAPTER II

On her perfect conversion to God.

[8] Having therefore received the habit of penance from the Friars Minor, she immediately appeared a new woman through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Converted, For supernatural love so transformed her into itself that from then on she strove with more careful attention to find how she might hide herself in a solitary place -- she rejoices in secrecy: both so that she would not have occasion to speak with those who speak of earthly things, and because she desired, like a new Magdalene, to be joined to the King of all ages without intermediary, by meditating, praying, weeping, and fasting. Kindled with the flame of the highest love, she afflicts her body with fasting, she began to deprive herself of all things that were accustomed to delight the mind or body, so that, crucified to the world, she might despise the world; and desiring to weaken herself by frequent letting of blood and unceasing fasting, the bare ground was chosen as the bed for her weary little body. For no one was ever so greedy for gold as Margarita was for the destruction of her own body; vigil. and in order to spend sleepless nights more easily, she rarely wished to lay her languid head, weakened by fasting and floods of tears, even upon stone or wood.

[9] prayers, This woman, keeping vigil in prayer from the first watch of the night until the ninth hour of the day, prolonged her bitter weeping in prayer; for from the vehemence of the grief fixed within her -- tears, now from the memory of her faults, now from the remembrance of Jesus Crucified, to whose Cross she was mentally nailed -- she sent forth sighs with such anxious weeping that she very often feared she would die, very often lost consciousness and voice, and remained as if lifeless. This lover of modesty chose a small cell removed from the noise of crowds, yet near the lodgings of noble ladies, so that she might dwell more secretly and safely. beatings: In which indeed she sacrificed herself to God with disciplines, slaps, and blows so severely that her flesh, naturally white, appeared entirely livid with love for Him "by whose stripes we are healed." She said she rejoiced more in the destruction of her body, which she not only sought from the Lord but ardently procured by every means, than if she had been raised to the imperial summit.

[10] But since the beginnings of the converted must be fostered with gentle methods (for one ascends to virtues by degrees), so that the faint-hearted of our time may not shrink from subjecting their flesh to the spirit, first she abstains from eating meat, I describe the stages of her fasting. For when the way of salvation was begun, the handmaid of Christ, Margarita, on non-fasting days -- so to speak -- seasoned her food with animal fat, not omitting fasting, but by no means eating meat. then from fat: Shortly afterward, drawn more sweetly upward into divine love, she spurned all fatness of meats and applied only oil as a liquid to the foods she consumed.

[11] And since she had resolved to nourish herself and her son from the labor of her own hands, the humble Margarita began to attend diligently upon noble Ladies of Cortona during their childbed. she serves women in childbed, with her customary abstinence, Although she prepared for them foods suited to their station and delicately prepared, she continued her fasting with Lenten foods as though it were the Lenten season; and there, when others sang to comfort the ailing woman, she alone, apart, melted so into weeping that she converted those singing there to lamentation, and compunction, and the mourning women suspended their songs with her. This is that Margarita who thus arouses it in others, even by her words: who spoke so fervently about the mercy of God and the severity of His justice that no heart of those present was found so given over to worldly delights that it could defend itself from lamentation at the warmth of her words. But so that Margarita's discretion may shine for us: before she wished to burden the households of the Ladies whom she served by having Lenten foods cooked specially for her because of her fasting, she uses the greatest discretion, she would abstain from eating meat in the presence of those eating meat and would sometimes eat sparingly from the other common foods set before her; and there, not withdrawing her service from the woman in childbed, she rendered to our Lord with the greatest diligence the complete Canonical Hours, not omitting her prayers, together with other devout prayers which she added to the Hours. There, like a lily among thorns, a light in darkness, and gold placed among ashes, fasting and weeping, nor judging others: keeping vigil and laboring, she by no means judged those eating, drinking, singing, and sleeping in idleness. This is she who, preparing baths for the Ladies, washed herself in the bath only with weeping. For on every night, ceaselessly cleansing the bed of her conscience, through the power of the continual grief she bore in her heart for the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, she did not cease to wash her soul. And a poor man saw her praying suspended in the air.

[12] And since, because of the aforementioned duties of service, the handmaid of Christ was unable to serve Christ in Masses and sermons of the Lord as she wished, having left this service, she devotes herself to divine things: she quickly withdrew from the service of the Ladies and, seeking to receive her accustomed consolations and to invite the generous Lord to bestow more swiftly the things she desired, she began to call upon Him. And where were these things done? Certainly in the house of the Lady Diabella, in which the Father of mercies and of lights endowed Margarita with such compassion of mercy that she transformed the house itself into a hospice of mercy. To this house Margarita set her heart, she arranges for a house of mercy to be established: and she devoted it to the use of the poor to such an extent that in fitting times she absolutely wished that nothing, whether movable or immovable, should be spared in the slightest for the more generous relief of the poor. And not ungrateful to her benefactors, she ordered and arranged that the needs of sick Friars in the infirmary of the Friars Minor of Cortona should always be fully supplied from the resources of the said house of mercy. O truly a Mother of mercy, who was so intent on the consolations of the poor that she permitted nothing from the resources of the said house to be assigned to herself, no matter how great her want, until the end of her life. In that house of mercy, the Father filled her with such condescension of mercy that now He who is everywhere communicated His discourse to her personally, she is refreshed by divine visions: now He bestowed upon her the consolation of Angels, now being present with her He put to flight the ancient enemy in battle. At that time, Margarita, devout to Christ in all things, in honor of the Baptist, whom she had chosen as her advocate, on the feast of St. John she feeds the poor from her own means: holding a feast annually for the poor from the labor of her own hands, she zealously satisfied the poor (depriving herself and her son) with the foods she had prepared.

[13] This is that fervent Margarita who with the most insistent prayers implored Blessed Francis, her Father, that by his merits he might obtain from Christ, as a gift of singular love, a plenary indulgence of her sins. However infirm or weak she might be, she abstains from certain foods out of penance: at the beginning of her conversion, outside the Lenten seasons, she did not take cheese or eggs; and during Lent she used no kind of fish. And, what is more, whatever she could subtract from the food sent to her, she hastened to repay to the poor with tears, she bestows upon the poor everything given to her: retaining nothing for her own needs. O recognized piety of a pious Mother, which so attracted the poor and needy that, leaving the doors of the rich, they congregated in crowds at the door of her little cell, in which she held little, indeed almost nothing! And because the neighboring Ladies felt compassion for her, though against her will -- she who loved the poor in the depths of her charity -- they endeavored to drive the poor from her cell so that she might have occasion to retain something for herself.

[14] Not yet entirely enclosed, going devoutly in the morning in her usual manner to the convent of the Friars Minor, she remained in prayer until Terce, when the people were not fasting. And returning to her cell, in silence, with the door closed, she devoted little time to work and much to prayer. The beginning of wisdom, she works: the fear of Christ, had so occupied her mind that she wished to look upon no one's face, nor to hear, nor to speak about the ways of worldly people. For if on the preceding day she had said or heard anything with any secular person pertaining to worldly affairs, having spoken about worldly things, she by no means presumed to repeat the accustomed sweetnesses of Christ in her nocturnal hours of prayer. But with interior sadness she spent the night sleepless in weeping. she then chastises herself: Burning with this grief, she beat her breast with her fists, and crying out like a woman in labor, she displayed the inward sorrow of her heart to those weeping in the neighborhood, whom she roused from sleep.

[15] And because bitterness dies only in sweetness, and cold is extinguished only in warmth, meditating on the Passion she is refreshed: so greatly afflicted by such great griefs, recalling her mind to the meditation of the Cross and the mockeries of the Redeemer, she persisted with indescribable weeping, so that in the bitter torment of Christ, all the bitterness of her mind was sweetened. This meditation on the Passion, dearest Brothers, was so anxiously renewed in her that she rages against herself: now she would tear her tunic on her back and face, now she would strike her cheeks with slaps, now she would labor upon her back with a knotted cord, out of love for Him upon whose back sinners had labored. Immersed in such sorrowful and bitter weeping and sighs, conceived now from her own faults, now from the Passion of Jesus Christ, knowing that the most evident sign of true love is the exhibition of works, she went straight out through the land to beg alms she begs publicly, for the extermination of her former life and the vain honor of the world, entering no one's house and looking upon no one's face. This is that most truthful Margarita who, if some Lady wished to give her an entire loaf of bread, she would refuse it, fearing lest it was given to her out of special reverence. Nevertheless, afterward she had such great compassion for the poor that she by no means refused to accept whole loaves. This is that Margarita, and gives everything to the poor, dearest ones, who, giving away her chest and distributing her vessels to the poor, stored bread for her sustenance in a broken pot covered with a stone, out of love of poverty.

[16] This is she who perfectly fulfilled the Gospel word when, out of love for her most beloved spouse Jesus, she expelled her only son and, placing poor pilgrims and acquaintances before him for Christ's sake, defrauding herself and her son, she often diligently deprived herself of the goods assigned to her for her use. Matt. 10:37 Worldly people were therefore afraid to approach her, both because she rarely spoke in her cell, and because she so preferred eternal love to her own son that she refused to cook anything for him, lest the time for prayer be hindered, and because she rarely spoke with him. she scarcely speaks to him: For she would say: "My son, when you return to the cell, take whatever food you find raw, just as it is, keeping silence; because I shall by no means distribute to you the time that must be spent on divine praises."

[17] And although she conducted herself thus toward her son, she nonetheless prepared meats, fish, and various foods for the poor of Christ, she prepares food for the poor, and in being occupied in their service, she said she was not losing time, since the spirit, not the flesh, prompted her to perform these works. When Margarita did not have food that she could expend upon the poor, she procured for them undergarments, knives, belts, pitchers, cups, and wood for the fire, tunics, baskets, and bed coverings. and procures other things for them, And if she had nothing she could give, she would unsew the sleeves of her own tunic and take the veil from her head; even depriving herself of necessities: now a Pater Noster bead, now a belt, and stripping the beams of the roof, she would even offer a jug of holy water, if she could provide nothing else -- caring so little for her own son as if she had forgotten maternal compassion. This we have learned by certain experience, since on the Feast of Saints ... she would invite the poor to a banquet and reserve nothing either for herself or for her son.

[18] After this, with the hand of the Lord upon her, not content with her former fasting, she began to eat vegetables at times without the addition of fat or oil; and shortly afterward, having given up all cooked foods except bread, continuing her fasting and eating bread with tears, for various courses she added nothing except a few hazelnuts or almonds. she abstains from oil. And do not think that so strict a severity of fasting was a matter of a few days or months; afterward from cooked foods: she continued this for many years, devoting herself to prayers and remaining fasting until after the ninth hour or even the evening hour.

[19] She so wept over the vices of her neighbors together with the Passion of Christ that not only did the roots of her eyes frequently appear to be torn from their sockets by grief, but sometimes her tears were turned to blood, she sheds tears of blood: while bystanders saw such novel anguish in her perspiration and pallor that they plausibly supposed her soul was departing from her body. And if hope of salvation is held for one who confesses his faults once a year, according to the commandment of holy Mother Church, or at least at death, with what face, with what temerity does anyone doubt about her who could never be satisfied in accusing her faults -- she shudders at the memory of her deceiver, nay, even her virtues, which she feared were vices? And so that she might be found truly fit for the heavenly kingdom, she commanded her son never to presume to name before her even the least relative of his father, because she neither could nor wished to be mindful of those things, since she had perfectly set her heart in Christ. As often as she heard or said anything, however useful, that did not seem fruitful for her neighbor and perfectly pleasing to God, anxious lest she offend God by hearing or speaking: she was stricken with such fear that, deprived of bodily strength, she lost her power of speech and was robbed of bodily warmth. For she would say that that jealous eternal Spouse so carefully watches over the souls He created that He reckons as vices our actions which we believe to be virtues, and that where a pious reward for works is hoped for, He sometimes punishes eternally.

[20] This is that Margarita who was so intent on divine reading, which instructs and illuminates minds, that if ever a sermon was preached at the convent of the Friars of her Father Blessed Francis on Sundays and feast days, she remains fasting for a long time so as to attend the sermon better: she would by no means break her fast, so that her mind might be preserved in its thinness and her soul might more easily enjoy its fervor, even if the preaching was to take place after None. "If any of you is zealous for the better gifts," let him eagerly learn that the handmaid of Christ, Margarita, envied no one so much as the sick and the beggars, the naked, the hungry, and the afflicted. she envies the afflicted: "All those beset and burdened with afflictions," she said to me, her Confessor, "I would free from their sufferings if I could, and I would wish to clothe myself alone in their calamities."

[21] One day, therefore, Margarita, lingering in her most wretched cell, praying, sighing, fasting, and confessing, cried out in tears that she was an exile, marveling at the patience of the Savior, who had so lovingly and for so long tolerated her in former times in her offenses. she grieves over past sins: When, therefore, on the day following the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, she was fervently intent upon prayer, she heard Christ speaking to her with gracious condescension, saying these words to her understanding: "Poor little Margarita, do not run about Cortona any more for alms, Christ forbids her to beg, but go without deviation on your way to the convent of my chosen Friars, to hear their Masses and sermons, because I have commended you to them and entrusted to them especially the care of your salvation. Nor should you hesitate about the plenary remission of your sins, which you will obtain, because I have already made you He promises pardon of sins, a warming fire for the cold, so that they may love me and follow me in fervent spirit. I have already set you forth as an example for sinners, so that in you they may see most certainly that if they are willing to prepare themselves for grace, I am ready to bestow mercy upon them, just as I was merciful with you. I therefore entrust you, as my treasure, poor little one of mine, to the admonitions and care of my Friars, He entrusts her to the Friars Minor, whom I charge always to protect and

instruct you out of love for me, in whatever place you may dwell. For because of the zealous solicitude which the said Friars will exercise for your salvation, their entire Order will still be honorable in the world." At which word, spoken by Christ in favor of the sacred Order, Margarita, made more joyful, like a daughter concerned for her Fathers, commended the Order of the Fathers to God the Father; and He, accepting her recommendation with paternal solicitude, replied to Margarita, saying: "I am with you in your desires, and the Friars whom you have recommended to me He hears her prayer for them. are those chosen ones whom I love with intimate charity."

[22] The handmaid of the Lord, desiring to be inseparably united to God the Father by a special sign of love, as one truly adopted as a daughter, began ardently with humble and tearful prayers to ask Him when she would be called "Daughter," since by Him she was called "poor little woman." To her the Lover of mankind, she desires to be called daughter by God: whose love is never extinguished, immediately said, after the manner of a judge who terrifies and a master who corrects his pupil: "You shall not yet be called Daughter, because you are a daughter of sin; but when you shall have been fully purged of your vices through a general confession again, I shall number you among my daughters." This word struck such terror that, bathed in tears, she humbly implored the Lord, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, who are the true light that drives away darkness, show me, You who see all things and from whom no hiding place is concealed, all my vices which lie hidden in my heart, she learns all her sins by divine revelation, that I may be washed in a most complete confession and, through Your mercy, may deserve to be called and to become Your Daughter." Scarcely had the blessed Margarita finished these words when the eternal power, which taught her interiorly, so brought back to mind her past offenses, not yet erased by confession, that she recognized all her faults down to the slightest thought. For the loving Father was revealing to her soul its shameful things, lest the just Judge be compelled on the last day to display her ignominy before all nations and kingdoms.

[23] When this general confession, with so luminous a recognition of all her offenses and faults, had been continued in orderly fashion in my hands for eight days with tears, and she confesses for 8 days: following the course of her former life, so that she might become a most pure vessel in sanctification and honor, she devoutly approached without a veil with a cord tied around her neck she receives communion, and with a cord around her neck to receive the sacrament of the Lord's body; and having received the last bread which gives life to the world, she heard Jesus Christ sweetly proclaiming her "Daughter." His voice was so sweet that Margarita fainted at it and feared she would die from the breadth of her joy. Puffed up with sweetness, often that day raised into ecstatic rapture, called daughter by Christ, she lost consciousness and movement before Friar Ranaldus the Custos, Friar Ubaldus the Guardian of March, the Lady Gilia, and me, her Confessor. When she returned to outward consciousness, she tried to speak as much as she could (for she could scarcely express what she was saying, being absorbed in God), she suffers many raptures, and in her amazement she would say: "O infinite supreme sweetness of God! O day promised to me by You, Christ! O word filled with all sweetness, when You called me Daughter!" And having said these things, before all present, she was carried away into God -- not feigning, as certain rivals said -- as the Friars discovered through manifold experience, tested by others: through the hands of the Ladies present, by agitating her body and pinching her; and when she returned to the use of her senses, she marveled and said to her soul how she had not departed from her body at that word uttered by Christ the King. And again returning to herself, she is flooded with the greatest consolation: with an immense overflow of sweetly flowing tears, she said these things: "O long-desired word, sought with fervent spirit, word fortified with all security and pleasant in remembrance! 'My Daughter,' said my God; 'My Daughter,' said my Christ."

[24] After this, the Angel appointed to guard Margarita approached and spoke many good words to her and reported abundant promises, she is visited by her guardian Angel, inviting her to the love of the Creator and Governor of all things, saying: "I am not your Lord, but I am a messenger of the supreme King." And because the joy seemed only partial in the angelic discourse compared with the preceding one, she said to him: "It is therefore no wonder that your presence did not intoxicate me with joy as did the Father of all, Christ, whom alone my soul desires, when He spoke to me, saying, 'O Daughter.'" Let the Angel, therefore, the solicitous minister of salvation, say: "I am the messenger of your Creator, who come to prepare in your mind a dwelling for our eternal Lord." And beginning from the foundation of humility, who prepares her soul for God: he expelled all faults from her soul, and arranging the virtues in her in order, he imperceptibly adorned her with virtues.

[25] Among other things which she retained in memory about our Savior, that marvelous exchange was remarkable -- that God deigned to make with us in assuming human nature -- she marvels at the Incarnation and the dignity of Our Lady. as she considered the condescension of infinite majesty and the dignity of the Mother of our Lord, who by her purity and humility inclined Him. Out of this devotion she desired and hoped to receive the bread of life on the day of such a great Nativity, but she by no means dared to approach out of reverence unless the shepherd of the sheep first generously invited her. she is commanded to weep one day before communion, But because so ineffable a Sacrament is not to be received without worthy disposition and devout preparation, so that she might approach humbly to receive so sublime a King, and become more eager to taste the food of the heavenly spirits, Christ spoke to Margarita, saying: "The joy which you seek from me, I reserve for you on the day of John the Evangelist, my beloved. For on that day you will taste, at the altar of the convent of your Father, an unexperienced sweetness. But I do not wish you to receive communion on the day of my Nativity, because the armies of Angels will jubilate with me on high. I wish you to satisfy, by weeping, the One crying in the manger among the animals. And so that you may be more devoutly prepared, I, the King of all, give you this law: that on the day of my Protomartyr Stephen, to prepare a dwelling for me, your eternal Creator, in your mind, one day to keep silence, you shall not speak with worldly people. Also on that day on which you will receive me in your soul, and on the very day of communion: you shall inviolably observe the same rule, so that I, whom alone you seek with such a flame of desire, may be united to you by special grace."

[26] She had scarcely fulfilled the command while praying in the oratory of the Friars Minor, when the schoolmaster of her son entered the church oratory, reported news about her son, and demanded his wages. Hear, therefore, what follows. The handmaid of Christ, Margarita, was so removed from worldly cares that present impediments to the mind, so stripped of maternal affections, as if she had never been in the world she abhorred, or as if she had never borne a son. when the devil announces the death of her son, she is unmoved: This is shown clearly enough when it was publicly narrated to her by the lurking enemy that her son, left by her in extreme poverty and from whom she had withdrawn her maternal hands, had drowned himself in a certain well at Arezzo from excessive sadness. This appeared to be a plausible sign, both because he could not be found by anyone in the schools at Arezzo, and because he had not returned to Cortona to celebrate Easter with his mother. Meanwhile, to the schoolmaster who declaimed loudly to her son's schoolmaster, on the day of communion, she gives no reply: because she had not responded -- he grumbling with an indignant face before the Friars as though about a proud and most ungrateful woman -- the beloved of God, Margarita, turned to her beloved God and steadfastly obeying Christ alone as her interior master, by no means replied even a single word, though she was most urgently requested to do so by our Friars. For I, her unworthy Confessor, asked her about this, as did Friar Benignus of holy memory. But Margarita, now united to God in heaven, did not then obey us on earth, because when Christ said to her in her soul, "Now I shall see whether you will look to the schoolmaster of your son, whether you will reply to him, or attempt to prefer any creature to me," she responded that she would by no means transgress His command. And therefore she did not obey the schoolmaster standing by, secretly reproaching and threatening, nor the Friars requesting her to speak. And when she said to the Lord, "I shall not speak to him, my Lord," and the said schoolmaster departed in anger, she heard the gracious Jesus, which was pleasing to Christ: from whom comes all virtue and

grace, saying to her: "See, daughter Margarita, with how great a strength I have clothed you, and how great a constancy I have given you; for it was sweet to your soul to be silent before those who were troublesome to you, and to respond nothing to those who questioned you."

[27] One night during the octave of Epiphany, while she was praying alone in her cell, considering that solitude is necessary for those who devote themselves to prayer, she desires to be enclosed in her cell: she asked the Lord to grant her that she might no longer leave her cell -- both because devout Ladies surrounded her in the oratory of her blessed Father Francis and often interrupted her prayers with their words, and because her cell was removed from the noise of worldly people, and because her body, weakened by illnesses contracted from the austerity of penance, was excessively burdened by running about, and because she refused to receive divine consolations in public. But the eternal Providence, which adapts all things to fitting times, not condescending to her wishes but to their fruit, gave Margarita this reply: "Why do you ask, God denies this to her then, O Margarita, to taste my sweetnesses unceasingly, and refuse to first taste the bitternesses that prepare you for them? Why do you ask me to enclose you in your cell? Go, go to the convent of the Friars Minor, to spend your accustomed time there. Go," He said, "to the convent of Blessed Francis your Father, to hear Masses there, and there reverently adore me, and see me in the hands of the Priests. Go, and do not enclose yourself until I wish to hide you."

[28] When morning came, she could scarcely reach the convent of the Friars because of her weakness. and in the church He fills her with marvelous joy, While she was there, she was suddenly filled with such sweetness of divine delight that she prolonged her prayer, enjoying that peace, until sunset; and likewise in the evening she returned to her cell with renewed gladness. For in the oratory of the Friars, the interior Master had given her this rule of life, saying: "I do not wish, Daughter, that you speak with worldly people of this time as yet; and forbids her to speak with worldly people. but if on account of your infirmities you need the help of others, accept their services in silence, and to the woman who ministers to you, reveal your needs briefly in silent words. For if you devoutly keep this measure, or to fix her eyes on the faces of those speaking to her, I shall reveal to you great and most useful things, not only for your sake but also for my faithful ones. And take care never to fear any creature more than me, nor direct or fix your eye upon the faces of persons speaking with you. For the more you are separated from such conversations, the closer I shall be to you; and the more familiar and gracious I shall be to you and your mind, the more wild toward the world I find you. But concerning the Friars Minor who will be sent to you, do not understand this command as applying to them, because they are the occasion of your salvation. Remember how often the familiar conversation of worldly persons has been harmful to you -- and He shows the harm of such conversations. how many and what kinds of penalties you have incurred, and you will endure still more, unless you correct yourself more fully than usual. The more rarely, therefore, you speak with them, the more often I shall speak with you, and I shall give you the greatest gifts." These gifts, indeed, she did not wish to relate to me, both because they seemed to exceed thought too much, and because of her sense of her own lowliness, which she preferred to consolations, and she became incredulous about the promises.

[29] But the ancient enemy, always solicitous for the deception of souls, seeing Margarita adorned with virtues more than usual, she is tempted by the devil in various forms. began very frequently to enter her cell, and transforming himself into the appearances of various things, now presented himself to her sight in the form of a woman, now of a man, now of serpents, now of four-footed animals. And not content with forcing himself upon her in so deformed and horrible a fashion, he uttered terrible threats; and suggestions: for he would say now that she was deceived, now he would assert that he would violently drag her from her cell, now he would promise eternal torments, now he would reproach her with the state of her former life, now he would say that she would not persevere in Christ or in virtue to the end, now he would entice her to take delicate foods under the cloak of discretion.

[30] But He whose eyes are upon the just and whose ears attend to their prayers, she is encouraged by Christ, standing by her as she trembled and prayed, said: "Do not fear, daughter Margarita, nor doubt, because I shall always be with you in your tribulations and temptations. And because once the Spirit has been tasted all else loses its savor, all that I am going to give you I shall show you in a preliminary discourse before I give it. But if you desire the presence of my consolation, which surpasses all, carefully withdraw your speech from everyone (except only the Friars Minor). and she is commanded to speak easily to no one except her spiritual Fathers; For those Friars adorn your character with the varied beauty of virtues. They instruct you to adhere inseparably to me, your Spouse. They set forth salutary and lofty teachings about me, the supreme and eternal Divinity. And just as I, the Creator of all things, brought all things into being and preserve what has been produced, so I wish and command that out of love for me you love all creatures with reverence, judging or despising none in your mind, yet to love all without distinction: and that henceforth you harbor no weariness or displeasure of spirit against anyone." Not forgetful of the command made to her by the eternal King, the more ardently she grew in the love of God, the more solicitously she had compassion on the afflicted and rejoiced in the good of others. This is evident in the things granted for the use of her own necessities, which she would withdraw from her own need and send to the poor.

[31] She, directed by divine discourse and invited to the loftiest summit of contemplation, heard Him who is the brightness of eternal light saying to her: "My Daughter, I have permitted you to dwell in this cell as long as it pleased my will. Therefore I do not wish she is commanded to migrate to another cell. you to remain here any longer, nor in the cell which is below the old convent, but go to the cell which is beneath the summit of the citadel." But because the Friars did not wish to consent to this change -- both because the place was too far removed from the Friars' convent, and because they feared (as happened) that she might be buried elsewhere: "But concerning your burial, a good testament has been drawn up, because it is plainly concluded therein that you are to be transferred without impediment to their convent from wherever and in whatever place it may happen that you die. after death she is to be transferred to the church of the Friars Minor: Nor do I wish, Daughter, that the Friars should doubt, because they ought not to doubt at all, since I have entrusted you to their care and safe custody at all times, and I entrust and give you to the holy order of your Father Blessed Francis equally in life and after death."

[32] The Lord said again to Margarita: "But tell those Friars who will visit you out of love for me that they should bend down to you out of love for Him who descended from heaven, not to honors and joys but to murmurings and various sufferings. For I, the joy of the Angels, descended to the sorrows of the world, who are admonished with what intention they should visit her, and I kept nothing except bitter tribulations. For I, your Jesus, have given you a new grace beyond the common gifts; and I tell you that, as far as lies with you, flee creatures and seek solitude; but what I do in you for my children, let me do, because I am guiding you." At the hour of Communion, Jesus said to her: "Daughter, the Friars say that they have labored much over you, and it is true. But I redeemed you at a dearer price and stood in greater labors for you. And although I have made them your outward masters, I nevertheless am and have been your inward master. and lest they should resist this migration. I, having become the guide of your journey, mercifully deigned to lead you out of the deepest abyss of this world and of your miseries. For the beginning of your conversion was mine, and the entire rule of your life was mine; and I shall be the middle

and the end of your salvation. I led you to this cell, in which I am less offended and am more served by you. Therefore tell Friar Juncta that he should not hinder your stay in it, since it was my work that you came. And because I entrusted you to the Friars and you obeyed them when they brought you back to the first cell, therefore I did not diminish or withdraw my grace."

[33] On another day, because the handmaid of Christ, Margarita, was unable to enjoy divine sweetness in her usual manner, she began to groan, weep, and grieve bitterly, and to beseech the most courteous Lord. But He who said, "Knock, and it shall be opened to you," replied to her as she trembled, saying: "You seek me on earth through the memory of earthly things, and you find me on earth. Matt. 7:7.

But if you sought me in heaven, meditating only on heavenly things, you would find those heavenly sweetnesses which you seek with tears. Separate yourself, therefore, utterly from the world, which does not permit you to live spiritually." To which word Margarita replied: "I, separated from the world, my Lord, do not serve You." she is deprived of consolation because of conversation with worldly people: To whom the Savior said: "Although, Daughter, you contend with temptations ... a passage seems missing the safer way of temptations is better than to associate with worldly people. For in temptations you are purified by struggle; but in imaginings of lower things, my tabernacle, which I made of your heart, is hindered by many occupations."

[34] After this, Leviathan, seeing the handmaid made joyful, moved by pestilential envy, suddenly rushed upon her and impetuously told her that her whole life was nothing but deception, and that those interior sweetnesses were not from Jesus Himself, the devil suggesting that she is deceived, who is the source of all sweetness. To repel this very strong suggestion, while Margarita implored the Lord that her enemy, who had said those consolations came from him, might not be able to transform himself into an angel of light, immediately Christ, the truthful Lover, strengthening Margarita, said: "Do you not know, Daughter, that the deceiver of souls cannot bestow upon you those goods she is confirmed by Christ: which I give? Nor can he enter the soul, except I, your Creator. How could he bestow upon your mind such sweet joys, of which he is eternally deprived? And yet, though he does not have in himself what you experience, he strives to take away all joy when he can. Nevertheless, do not fear him, because being zealous for your salvation, I shall not permit you to be deceived by so cruel an enemy."

[35] The Sun of justice, wishing to illumine the eyes of Margarita's mind more clearly, on a certain day, about the ninth hour, after she had devoutly received the sacrament of the Lord's body, irradiated by heavenly splendors, she heard Christ saying to her: "Daughter, because you have devoutly rendered praises to all the Saints out of love for me, she praises the Saints, I shall grant them to obtain for you in turn the virtues and gifts by which they are distinguished from one another. They shall communicate, I say, from their state: the Seraphim their ardor, and the other Angels their state, who in turn pray for her, and the Prophets the spirit of prophesying. And because after the essence of my Divinity, the reverence of the humanity I assumed, and the grace of the virginity of my Mother, you do not cease immediately to praise Blessed Francis your Father, do not fear, but keep the former order in your praises, placing your Father himself after my Mother before other Saints in your praises. especially St. Francis: For in this you have greatly pleased me. For he himself solicitously seeks your salvation by his prayers. And after my Virgin Mother, do not cease to render praises to him. Now you serve me through obedience to the commandments with both fear and love; but the time approaches in which you will obey me concerning your life, according to the oracle and splendor of the heavenly voice. she understands that she is to be taught by the Angel: Then also your Angel will teach you the persons with whom you should not speak, and those whom you should honor and teach. For you were never so jealous about me, your Spouse, as I am about your salvation."

[36] Lest anyone presume about himself, the Word of God, who was made flesh of the Virgin, said: "Because I wish your soul to remain without doubt about the things I say, [she is commanded to reveal to her Confessor the reason for the commanded enclosure,] do not be afraid to tell Friar John and Friar Juncta the reason why I have enclosed you, so that they too may not doubt or neglect to enclose you. And when you have been enclosed in your cell, you shall speak only to your Confessor and to my Friars Minor, to whom I entrusted you from the beginning, to follow the instruction of the Friars Minor, from whose familiar counsel I never wish you to exclude yourself. And if ever a time should come when you are tempted not to speak to and obey them, you shall not follow that poisonous suggestion, because it will be a temptation from your enemy. I give you, however, permission for that time to speak to her who serves you in your illnesses, while avoiding the conversation of both other religious and secular persons. Likewise, do not delay to reveal to the aforesaid Friars Minor all things which I shall show you with singular familiarity, to reveal to them the things revealed to her: and let them not divulge what is reported through you until they see fulfilled what you say. Your body, burdened with infirmity, is not consumed by the heat of illness, because my fire, gentle and sweet, consumes fault and disposes to grace. But the fire of tribulation of this world is bitter, infectious, and afflictive. But I, daughter Margarita -- who have truly become a pearl before me -- am that Jesus of yours who took flesh from the Virgin Mary and, after various snares and afflictions, hung upon the Cross for the salvation of the human race."

[37] One night, while Margarita was praying in her cell, behold, the Angel of the Lord appointed to her care said: "Know, Beloved of our Lord, she is encouraged by her guardian Angel, that you cannot yet see the purest things of the King in the depths of the fountain. But trust and be strengthened, because your Spouse without stain, Jesus Christ, bringing hidden things to light, will speak with you more clearly and openly." This is she who had at that time come to such innocence that she could by no means believe that any people dwelling in the world would wish to offend God for any earthly thing, in heart, word, or deed. For she would say: truly innocent "Is there any creature, Father, who would attempt to inflict injury upon the most high Creator, so sweet?" This is she and so humble, whom no elation over her virtuous works exalted, because she presumed nothing of her virtues or merits. This is that Margarita who had so attracted the most pure Christ that, having become the lover of her beauty, He invited her to devout communion with His body, saying: "Daughter, receive me." But contemplating the loftiness of the divine Majesty, so that even when Christ invited her and considering her own smallness, such great terror seized her that, compelled by fear, she replied to Christ's invitation, saying: "So great is the immensity of your majesty and purity, and so great the magnitude of my faults, that it would be a presumption punishable before the whole world if, she would scarcely dare to receive communion when you appear where the sun rises, I should merely raise my eyes to see you from the furthest part of the world." And so a great struggle took place in Margarita's soul, because the sweetness of divine delight on one side drew her with marvelous gentleness and eagerness, and on the other side the consideration of her own littleness and worthlessness held her back, by which she declared herself more worthless than all living in the world.

[38] The enemy, having been cast down from his seat by pride, opposing himself to this most excellent virtue, began to tempt the most humble Margarita with vainglory. she overcomes the temptation of vainglory. But she immediately rose against his snares to the weapons of her defense. For the Tempter said that she had been adorned by Christ with various virtues, and that God had made her honorable and famous in the sight of all classes, putting forward as an argument of his malice the multitude of persons who visited and devoutly sought her. And Margarita, who sought the glory of the eternal God alone, waiting for the time of nocturnal silence, began, while her neighbors slept, to cry out with weeping from the upper room of the house that had been provided for her, saying: "Arise, people of Cortona! Arise, arise, I say arise, and without delay, with torches, drive me from your region! publicly proclaiming her sins: For I am that sinner who did this and that against God and my neighbor." And having recounted her life in order, with an outpouring of tears, rousing her neighbors on every side -- her life being most full of admiration, compassion, and edification -- all were moved to compunction in their chambers, giving thanks to the Lord with tears; and then the proud enemy, vanquished by the humble Margarita, fled.

[39] I am compelled to express and must reveal another most evident sign of her perfection, in detestation of the pride of worldly people. The handmaid of Christ, Margarita, had resolved always to cure contraries with contraries in all things. Wherefore she had decided to set out on her way to Montepulciano, and through that land in which she had been adorned with various garments, through which with gold woven into her hair, on horseback and on foot, with anointed face, she had walked displaying the opulence of her man -- in abasement of her honor, with her head shorn, wearing only a half-garment, she wished to beg alms door to door

from those among whom she had gloried in the abundance of riches. she wishes to beg where she had formerly sinned She had also then arranged to take a certain woman with her, who would lead her blindfolded with a bandage as though she were blind and hold her by a rope placed around her neck, and say with a public voice: "This is that Margarita and to be led about as a fool, and her former sins proclaimed: who formerly, with her character raised in pride, by her vainglory and evil examples, wounded many souls in our land." And she intended then to instruct her guide in such order that she would not have passed over in silence even the least circumstance of her faults of which she had memory. "Thus, Father, my Friar Juncta," she said, "satiated with the reproaches of which I am worthy before all creatures, I shall return; and thus I shall be conformed in some measure to Christ who suffered for me; and thus I shall be reckoned a fool among those before whom I used to glory in my conversations and mutual glances." But I, her Confessor, recalling the journey of the daughter of the Patriarch Jacob, the Confessor prudently forbids this: and considering that women in the flower of youth are not to be easily granted permission for long journeys, and that the impulses of indiscreet fervor must often be bridled by the rein of discretion, and because self-contempt is sometimes the occasion of greater pride, I absolutely forbade her by obedience, telling her that good will would suffice in this matter, and she would not lack the merit of so great a resolution, and would receive the reward of obedience in the future.

[40] The daughter of Christ, Margarita, employing new remedies -- besides the abstinence of such great strictness, the disciplines of austerity, and the bodily afflictions which she most avidly renewed for the destruction of her body -- because the beauty of her face was not being abolished quickly enough according to her desire, devised an unprecedented kind of torment so that she might incur the deformity of her beautiful countenance. But because she was a daughter of true obedience and would not attempt to do what she wished without the knowledge of her guide, fearing lest the deception of the ancient enemy might lurk under the appearance of virtues, she said to me: "My Father, may your kindness grant me that I may now do against my body, which I so hate, what I have long desired. And lest your prohibition impede the impulse of my spiritual will, I assure your conscience that (although I would gladly do so) I shall not wound myself mortally." or that she cut off her nose and lip, But since her fervent spirit seemed both confused and doubtful -- on account of which I was delaying permission -- she told me, to express her resolution, that she had secretly acquired a razor with which she was eager to cut off her nose together with the upper part of her lip. "And rightly," she said, "I vigilantly desire this, because the beauty of my face has wounded the souls of many. Since therefore I wish to exact vengeance upon myself for having offended God, to deform her face: and to convert the beauty of my body into deformity, I beseech you that, by your permission, I may offer without hindrance the preordained sacrifice to Christ our King." Turning to her, I said: "My daughter, I shall by no means grant you this, both because out of fear of your appearance you will hide yourself all the more, and because from the excessive flow of blood from the wound you might faint, or the wound might turn into another kind of evil. Therefore, if you attempt to carry out what you have planned, I shall no longer hear you in confession, and together with my Friars I shall entirely abandon the care of your soul." Having received this command, she barely restrained her avenging hand and the prepared blade from cutting her flesh.

[41] On the day of the Nativity of the eternal King from the Virgin, the Angel of the Lord, Margarita's guardian, spoke to her, saying: "Remember, the guardian Angel impresses upon her the favors shown her by Christ, Margarita, the stages of the benefits which the Lord our God has conferred upon you. For first He drew you from the hands of a most ferocious wolf, who abandoned you in the field. Secondly, He led you back to the sheepfolds through bitter contrition and complete confession. Thirdly, He held your nuptials, in which He gave you a ring having the power of the rod of Moses; for just as that rod of Moses obeyed at a nod in the miracles performed against Egypt, so the ring of grace obeys you in fasting, prayers, tears, purity, poverty, patience, humility, and charity. For all harsh and difficult things are light for you through the ring of grace given to you. Fourthly, nor was our Creator content with this, but He prepared and made for you His banquet, at which only friends feast; and in it He offered to your soul, for repose, the bosom of mercy which He had given to John for reclining. Fifthly, our Creator not only granted that you should enter into Him through the fire of love, but He Himself also entered into your soul through grace. Therefore I exhort you, beloved of God and recalled by God, to return with all your heart and all your strength to your Creator and Lord, because He Himself has told you that you are to be nursed at the wound of His side. he exhorts her to patience: Therefore prepare yourself with all fortitude to endure tribulations for love of His name."

[42] Lest she be held in greater honor by her growing fame, she began to abandon the care of children to be baptized, for whose baptism she was devoutly sought by their parents. She also did this because of the excessive going about, which she despised. she used to hold children at baptism herself: While she meditated on this resolution and feared losing the merit of so great a good, placed in great perplexity, she saw coming to her the mother of the son of our Friars' procurator, to have her grandson baptized. Hesitating to offend the heart of the one inviting her, she immediately consented to the prayers of the supplicant and went with the said woman to the parish church. When the child had been baptized, returning to her cell with great fear of mind, she spent the night sleepless with tears. afterward she omitted this, The consoler of the sorrowful, kindly presenting Himself to Margarita, said to the trembling daughter that she should not bend her mind to just any suggestion, and should never go to the parish church to baptize any child. "And unless it happens that you go to the convent of the Friars, to whose care, as you know, I have entrusted you in body and soul, you shall not otherwise leave your cell. [at Christ's command, she would go only to the church of the Friars Minor and pray in a certain place.] And when you go to the aforesaid convent, do not leave the place near the pulpit." For that place was so arranged that she could not see the face of any of the persons standing by. And though all could see her, they could not gaze upon her face. And the Lord said again to her: "Daughter, three signs of grace were given to you in the state of the world: for first you had a greater fear than other persons; secondly, shame for all your sins; three signs of grace to be received. thirdly, humility of your own self-estimation."

[43] She one day asked her Father, Blessed Francis, with tearful prayers to deign by his merits to obtain for her a plenary indulgence of all her sins. she obtains absolution of sins from Christ through St. Francis. Her Father, his merits interceding, obtained from the Lord for his beloved daughter that He should pardon her most fully by the oracle of the living voice. The Most High indeed granted this gift to Margarita, expressly speaking in her soul, saying: "I, Jesus Christ, Son of the highest and eternal Father, crucified for you, absolve you fully from all your faults."

CHAPTER III

On the austerity of her diet and dress, and her love of poverty.

[44] Divine goodness, the teacher of all virtues, imposed this teaching on Margarita as she persisted in her prayers, saying: "If you desire, Daughter, to follow in the footsteps of Magdalene and to be her companion in her consolations, abandon all things that please your body, at the Lord's admonition she afflicts her body: and strive to grind down all the members of your body -- which by their proud actions provoked me, who see all things, to anger -- by subjecting them to the spirit, just as chaff is ground down when it is beaten from the wheat. Yet you shall not be burdened by so great a weakness from your fasting, fevers, and sufferings that you cannot come to the sermons and Masses of the Friars, as long as it shall please me." For from the strictly observed abstinence she was so destitute of bodily strength that she would believe she could by no means rise from the wicker frame, the ground, or the plank where she slept a little at night without straw, to come in the morning to the convent of the Friars, of whose Order she was a plant; yet she is strong enough to visit the church: but strengthened by the taste of heavenly sweetness, she hastened so swiftly in the morning to the convent as if she had suffered no illness in the night. O lover of austerity, what did you say to me, your guide, about the austerity to be observed! "My soul rejoices in the sufferings of my body, and exulting is shaken with great fear, lest, seizing the occasion of sustaining nature, you compel me, under whose obedience I am, to use cooked foods and drink wine." how does she motivate her body to endure? For the fervor of love had so grown in her that, receiving no consolation from impassibility, she said she feared lest her body might feign itself languid and infirm. "How," she said, "will it bring before me the complaint of weakness in the service of God, when if it clung to vanities, it would have been neither weak nor infirm in the service of itself, the enemy, or the world? Therefore I shall trust it throughout the whole time of my life only as much as one trusts a traitor, a thief, and a worst enemy."

[45] But pious Ladies, seeing Margarita so rigid and severe against her own body, cooked a few dried figs without salt and oil, to strengthen her, so weakened, with an adjuration of the divine name. she eats cooked figs at the insistence of others: Overcome by their prayers, violent insistence, and importunity, eating a little of those figs, in order to be able more freely to attend to God alone, she politely dismissed the said Ladies from her cell with courteous prayers. And because she had received this command from Christ -- that for the sustenance of nature, whenever she ate, grieving thereafter her soul should taste interior sweetness by meditating on Christ -- and because she had by no means done this, as she was accustomed to do, in the presence of the attending Ladies, interiorly she is refreshed by Christ she began, when they departed, to weep inconsolably and to confess her negligence aloud before Christ the Judge. But the sweet Jesus, lover of His own, whose sweetness she sought, being so insistently sought with tears, not delaying to visit the one who sought Him, refreshed His visited daughter with such familiar loftiness of revelations and promises that, immediately forgetting all her griefs, she was filled with interior jubilation.

[46] For I diligently asked her why she was gladdened with so serene a countenance, and whence such unexpected joy had its beginning. She, considering her own abasement, said that Christ had sharply corrected her, saying: "Daughter, you desired the sweetness of Magdalene, and you lightly lent your ear to the words of women yet corrected because she had done this, who said you were driving yourself to madness through abstinence. Do you not remember the words of Martha, when I raised the four-days-dead Lazarus from the dead, when I said: 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me,' etc.? John 11:25 Know therefore that my grace strengthens and preserves you more than the bodily food which you consume. You also asked with desire for the state of Magdalene, as regards solitude, and commanded to abstain from the conversation and sight of men. and although I would not destine you for the desert, since deserts are not suited to these times, remain as wild within the inhabited land as if you were dwelling within desert places; and there let the Friars Minor, to whose care I have entrusted you, Daughter, and do entrust you, assign to you a person who may serve your necessities in silence, and do not concern yourself with speaking to her or looking upon her face when she comes to you. From the Friars, however, whom I have given you as Fathers, accept no service or labor that could derogate from their honor. to use a head-veil that is not white. I also enjoin upon you that your head-veil made of scraps be deprived of all whiteness. And if you fear lest the stomachs of my sons who come to you may abhor the filth of the cloth, you need not doubt about this, because when I first sent you to them and placed you under their holy custody, and you still reeked with your faults, no one shuddered at you out of love for me, but they received you as a daughter. How much more, then, shall I bring it about, since I have consecrated you as my tabernacle, that you will not be despised on account of the stench of a little cloth: there I shall lovingly console you, and you will taste my visitations full of the greatest sweetness!"

[47] This lover of poverty, supremely contemning earthly things, reckoned all things under heaven as mud -- in heart, word, and deed -- so that she might gain Jesus Christ. One day, therefore, with her eyes raised to heaven, in answer to a question put to her -- whether she would wish to lose or defer the excessive consolation of the spirit for an inestimable quantity of treasure -- she replied, saying: she wishes to possess nothing: "If my Lord Jesus Christ were to compel me to possess anything earthly, I would appeal to Him so often with tears and groaning until He fully exempted me from this command." We see the truth of this desire clearly if we rightly consider that she spared nothing sent to her for necessary sustenance -- not tunic, not cloak, not basket, not pillow, not belts, not even the rosary beads she gives everything to the poor, which she held for the payment of the Hours and prayers -- when she would immediately give all things to the poor as if they were their own, with such great desire of heart that she often remained naked in her cell, now wrapped in a coarse cloth, now covered with another sister's tunic or cloak. even her garments, Although she gladly did this in the summer heat, she nonetheless strove more eagerly to accomplish it in the cold of winter. And if at times she had nothing at hand that she could give to the needy, she would unsew the sleeves of her tunic with tears, lift the veil from her head, and give them a pitcher of holy water. and other necessities. Since because of the illnesses contracted from the austerities of voluntarily assumed rigor she could not even be warmed in summer, in icy weather she would secretly steal wood from the fire made for her and clandestinely, with marvelous entreaties, send it through her servant to the poor.

[48] The handmaid of the Lord, Margarita, most ready for all harsh things to her body out of love for Christ, so despised all delicate foods that after her conversion she refused to eat fresh figs as long as she lived, because they had pleased her too much in her worldly state. She also imposed this rule upon herself, however infirm, concerning the flesh of birds and quadrupeds and the manner of preparing them, what food she would use? which she had more willingly eaten in her worldly life. And lest the thought of meats occur to you on account of the names mentioned, you should know that for many years she sustained her weak little body with bread alone, or with raw herbs or a few hazelnuts or almonds, always preceded by a long prayer with many sighs. And after eating, giving thanks, after eating she gives thanks, she would invite the Saints and other creatures along with her to the praise of the Lord who governs. For she never attempted to take food unless she had first discharged the debt of the Hours and had said the Our Father at least five times with the salutation of the Blessed Virgin, in memory of the five wounds of Jesus Christ. and honors the wounds of Christ After receiving Communion also, she said the same number of Our Fathers for so meager a sustenance.

[49] The ancient enemy, the deceiver of souls, seeing that Margarita did not relax the strict rigor of her abstinence in the slightest, approached as a warrior -- though unaware he was to be laid low by a woman -- and said: "O wretched one, what are you doing in this cell? the devil attacks her abstinence Renounce, I advise you, renounce Divine grace, and do not wish henceforth to abound in the gifts of such great gifts, since you can neither attain them without great labors nor guard them without tormenting fears. For it would have been more useful for you if you had observed the general Rule of your Brothers of Penance in common with them, and had received together with them that mercy which they await by fasting, frequenting churches, sermons, and offices; for it would have sufficed for you to be found among the number of those to be saved. What, then, are you doing here, wretched one? Why, enclosed in this cell, do you lose both body and soul at once?" To these words, the handmaid of Christ, Margarita, made more robust for maintaining her resolution of austerity, responded to the tempter, saying: "Answer me, seducer, answer: she responds bravely and wisely: Ought any creature to serve you even a little, since you are always intent on evil in every suggestion of yours, since you neither created nor redeemed man, nor do you govern? Certainly one should consent only to the Creator, Redeemer, and Governor, who everywhere gladdens and exalts those who serve Him, and will give them the reward of eternal glory. Do not those who consent to your poison-filled persuasion, as long as they live, suffer the sting of conscience, and will they not finally receive with you the wages of eternal damnation? I shall therefore serve the Lord Jesus forever with all my strength, as the truest Creator and most generous Rewarder, who honors those who serve Him in heaven and on earth, who taught me the rule of abstinence which I do not abandon, and who promised, if I persevere in it, eternal life."

[50] Margarita, a most learned combatant and made more shrewd by the constancy of her fighting, subjecting herself to stricter abstinence, when she sensed the battle being renewed against her, fortified herself more tightly against the pestilential warfare. On the first Sunday of Lent, on which the victorious battle of Christ against gluttony is read, eating half-cooked cabbages, a certain Lady brought some half-cooked cabbages to restore the weakened Margarita. At her insistence, having taken a little food and feeling her infirm stomach burdened, she spent the night sleepless and inconsolable, imploring the Lord with tears, burdened by this she weeps: saying that she by no means presumed to present herself to Him out of shame. But the just Judge, who judges with tranquillity, taking compassion on the weeping Margarita, responded thus: "If you cannot tolerate yourself, Daughter, and your burdened stomach impedes the movement of your heart, how shall I communicate my presence to you, she is reproved by Christ, when in the Gospel I said, 'Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down'? O you of little faith, I refresh the Angels and Saints in heaven without material food, and you fear that I will abandon you, whom I have chosen as my tabernacle. Luke 21:34 Therefore maintain your former way of life with any bread for the sake of your weak body, with very diluted wine, almonds, or hazelnuts; and is commanded to use her usual diet: to which foods I shall add such sweetness and grace that they will not only sustain you out of love for me, for whom you have incurred the destruction of your body, but will fully sustain its weakness. When, however, your body has been excessively weakened by the long duration of strict abstinence, then I shall grant you more delicate foods, when your sense of taste shall have been so dissipated that neither wine wine and other things taste like mud to her: nor food has any flavor for you." For her stomach had so languished that wine and everything was converted to the taste of mud for her palate. But when in the innumerable afflictions she endured I urged her to seek remedies on the advice of physicians, she, despising doctors and medicines, said with tears that she wished to see her body infected and consumed by worms. she holds her body suspect, And though she could barely speak, she believed that it feigned being sick, for she called it a secret traitor.

[51] One day, therefore, when I saw her destitute of strength because of her abstinence and various sufferings, and wished on that account to introduce some refreshment of food, she -- who had offered her body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, knowing that the ancient enemy desires to conquer us with our own weapons -- responded to me, her Confessor, saying: "My Father, and she continually persecutes it since I shall never have a treaty of peace between my soul and my body, nor ever wish to spare it, allow me to wear it down without change of food, because for the whole time of my life, until it fails, I shall not rest; nor should you believe it so mortified and weak as it appears, because it is acting so that I may extinguish the debt it contracted in the world while it devoted itself to its delights and pleasures. Let it suffice for you, Father, let it suffice, that on these Easter days, compelled by your command, against my desire, I have added oil among the herbs." Having said this, breaking into an abundance of tears, she spoke to her body, saying: "O my body, why do you not help me to serve your Creator and Redeemer? Why are you not strong for His service, as you once were in the transgression of His commandments? Do not, therefore, complain or lament, and reproaches it: do not feign yourself half-dead, because you shall fully bear the burden I have imposed, just as in the aforesaid time I bore your injuries against our Creator." And being left in her cell, because nothing she did seemed good to her, she wept, and weeping she said: "My Lord King, glory of the Blessed, most high Jesus, grace of your elect, for the sake of the bitter cup which you drank for me, I desire not only to abstain from bodily food, but also to die a thousand times a day, if I could, for the life of my immortal soul." she is taught that unless gluttony is tamed, no one becomes perfect: To which word the invoked Jesus (who is near to those who invoke Him in truth) replied to Margarita: "My Daughter, say all these things to Friar Juncta, and that Christians and my servants cannot be perfect in this life unless they have restrained the vice of gluttony; for without abstinence from food and drink the movement of the flesh is not extinguished, and those suffer and feel the assaults of the flesh more who have rejected the remedy of abstinence."

[52] This lover of the poor Jesus so loved poverty that, having scorned all the vessels she could retain for her necessities, she even expelled from her cell the broken pot she deceives her body to accustom it to abstinence. in which she had begun to keep bread. This woman, so that you may not shrink from assuming the austerity of penance, used a marvelous stratagem to deceive her little body; for before she began to eat bread and water, fasting daily, she gradually changed her dish from day to day until she had accustomed her body to the little dish in which mustard is served; and thence, undertaking a daily fast for many years, having given up cooked foods, she sustained her weak body with only bread and water with a few hazelnuts or almonds.

CHAPTER IV

On her profound humility.

[53] From the consideration of her faults, the handmaid of God, Margarita, had descended to such profound humility that with a very loud voice and unceasing weeping she would express because of past sins she humbles herself, how she had offended the Creator of all things, and in what ways she had violated the obedience of the commandments and brought harm to the hearts of her neighbors. She interceded not only with tears and sighs to the Saints for the obtaining of the remission of her sins, but also questioned secular persons fixed in the mire of worldly vices, as one intoxicated,

whether God, the avenger of the impious, would ever spare the greatest of sinful women, saying: "Do you believe, dearest Fathers and Mothers, that almighty God would wish henceforth to mercifully recall His exile to His grace?" And saying this she trembled so, and was universally chilled with perspiration, as if she were being led to a capital sentence. even before secular people: Then Margarita, remembering the honors unworthily shown to her in the world, in self-abasement shaved off her hair and threw it away, she covers her head carelessly: and the head hitherto adorned with gold and pearls she bound with the vilest scraps of cloth.

[54] Shortly afterward, on a certain Sunday, she transferred herself to Laviano, where she had been born and raised, and during the solemnities of Mass, with a belt tied around her neck instead of a necklace, before the people, in her homeland she humbles herself in a marvelous way: she prostrated herself at the feet of the Lady Manentissa and begged pardon with such an outpouring of tears that she moved all those present to weeping and admiration. She afterward loved this Lady so greatly that by her preaching she clothed her with the habit of the Order of Penitents, and provided her with lodging as long as she lived bodily in the world; she supplied her with necessary food which she withdrew from herself, and stripping herself, clothed her with her own garment.

[55] A certain woman who did not cease to disparage Margarita's humility and the courtesy she showed to the wretched received this vengeance for her murmuring from her: for the pious Margarita sent her her own tunic and head-veil, she heaps benefits on one who disparages her: together with the food that had been prepared for herself. Nor content with these revenges, this evangelical daughter, in order to draw her offender to the love of charity with greater humility, faithfully arranged that the woman's debts be entirely paid through her own solicitude. O truly humble, and not deceitfully humbling yourself, Margarita! She, to the devotion of the faithful coming from distant regions to be touched by her and healed of their ailments, she is asked to touch the sick to heal them: why she refuses? would reply with tears, saying: "If I, the most worthless of creatures, were to touch or bless you as you desire, I am certain that, because of the multitude of my sins, your infirmity would rather be increased than relieved."

[56] Desiring to ascend to the supernal kingdoms of heaven, Margarita swelled with no pride inwardly nor was exalted outwardly on account of the familiar fellowship she had with Christ. For when Christ, the King of glory, prolonged His discourse with her, not only about the praises of Himself fearing lest she be deceived by the devil under the person of Christ, but about the marvelous promises made to her, she, considering herself unworthy of divine revelations, would always say to Him: "If these are words of flattery from the invisible enemy transforming himself into an angel of light, in the power of Christ I command you to be silent immediately and depart." But that Jesus, who looks upon humble things and exalts the humble on high, replied that it was He who spoke with her -- He who had raised her up as He hung upon the Cross and called her to the lamentations of penance, she is assured of this: by which the soul is purged from every stain of vices. "And I, Jesus, your Redeemer, whom you love and seek in all things, say to you that you are that beloved daughter to whom I shall bestow greater gifts of graces than to any woman dwelling under heaven in your time." When she said, "Why does the Most High grant such lofty gifts to one destitute of bodily strength, who could not work?" He responded to her who thought humbly of herself: "My daughter Margarita, do you not desire me with your whole heart above all things that can be had? why she is adorned by Him with so many gifts: Would you not willingly endure death for me? Are you not poor for love of me? Do you not live in continual desire for me alone? Do you not fear in all your actions lest your life offend me even in the smallest thing?" And when she responded to all of these to the Lord, our Savior said to her: "In all the aforesaid things you serve me meritoriously. Love me, therefore, because I love you; praise me, because I shall praise you and cause you to be praised by the world."

[57] The little Child who was given to us by the Father, the Ancient of Days, Christ born in time of the Virgin, showing Himself to Margarita as a little child, filled Margarita with such complete intoxication of His sweetness that she was unable to rise to receive His body when it was brought to her. Yet when she reverently recognized His presence, and as if held by the intoxication of divine love could not speak, the Savior replied to her as she prayed -- resting meanwhile in the desired delights -- for the people of Cortona whom she loved, that peace would be fully established between them and Lord [she is heard when praying for the people of Cortona: commanded to admonish certain persons about their sins,] William the Bishop, and that they would quickly come to concord with him.

[58] Then it was revealed that she should not delay to reproach certain persons devoted to her for certain of their faults, so that they might confess more purely, and should not fear to uncover the vices of each that were disclosed to her. And all these things that were told her by the Lord were found to be true. But she, who judged only herself in all things and not others, because she did not presume to reveal any of the things told her by the Lord -- when I, her Confessor, reproached her for suppressing in silence against the Lord's will and the benefit of her neighbor what had been given her for others, and for being bound as a debtor to render what was given to her for others, and that humility should not impede when she could not without danger withdraw compassion for souls and remedies for the sick -- and since she could not report thus to me, she permits this to be done through the Confessor, without naming herself. I should question penitents in the order of those sins without mentioning her name. She replied to me: "Since, my Father, you must not express my name, I shall indicate to you, out of zeal for the salvation of souls, whatever has been revealed to them by the Lord."

[59] Humility, the first virtue of Christians, had so subjugated Margarita's soul to its dominion -- in the propriety of her gestures, the custody of her senses, the sweetness of heart, most humble, the brevity of words, the forgetfulness of injuries, and the love of the want of all things -- that, having excluded all the blandishments of her body, she repels a temptation of vainglory suggested by the devil she inclined the ear neither of heart nor of body to any singular or general praise of her virtuous works, which she performed incessantly and ardently. The proud enemy, unable to endure her humility, entered her cell at nighttime while she prayed, and did not cease to narrate how greatly her fame had grown, how great a multitude of men and women desired to see and touch her out of devotion, and how, confirmed in the grace of God, she would ineffably receive the heavenly rewards. Abhorring this persuasion of the treacherous enemy, like a strong athlete she repels it, reciting her sins: she prepared herself for battle to overcome his snares; for she immediately began to bewail her vices, and having recited her faults in order as she could, she overthrew and defeated with loud cries the proud satellite who was tempting her with vainglory.

[60] Margarita, arriving at a most true knowledge of herself, illuminated mentally by the ray of the sun of justice, seemed to attend to nothing else than her own contempt. For she showed herself lowly not only in the lowliness of her garments, words, and manners, but -- what is more -- she shows herself lowly in all things: unless that rare virtue of humility, when honored, converted the honors conferred upon her to her own disgrace. Whence it once happened that a certain boy from Borgo San Sepolcro was so cruelly tormented by a demon that he could scarcely be held by three very strong men. This boy, adjured now by nuns, now by relatives and friends, as to through which of the Saints he was to be freed, while a demoniac is being brought to her, always responded with one voice to those questioning him -- that the hostile demon would be expelled by the power of the prayers and merits of Sister Margarita, who dwelt at Cortona. The boy was therefore carried from Borgo...

[63] When so generous a promise had been received, she returned humble thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, both for the graces already bestowed and for those promised. After these acts of thanksgiving had been rendered, the Lord again said to her: "You are my daughter, because you obey me; you are my spouse, because you love me alone; you are my mother, because you fulfill the will of my Father, insofar as your strength suffices. And I say to you that there is no one under heaven whom I love more than you. Nevertheless, do not presume upon this word, because after these consolations you have never purchased them at so dear a price as you shall purchase them hereafter; for the time will come when you will perceive in your sufferings at how dear a price I redeemed you." But the humble woman destined for glory, utterly distrusting her own strength, said: "My Lord Jesus Christ, shall I be able to endure them?" And the Lord said to her: "I, your God, my Daughter, endured greater things for you." And the daughter of the Order and oblate, fearing lest those tribulations should touch the Order of her Father, Blessed Francis, commending the aforesaid Order to the Lord, heard Him saying to her: "I planted you, daughter, in the garden of my love. For your Father Francis, my beloved, followed nothing so much as my love. Indeed, he loved me so much that for no other person am I so greatly loved today as for him. And know that those who have labored for you shall receive a great recompense of consolation." At which word Margarita, responding with joy, said: "I give you thanks, my most high God, for them, because for my restoration and preservation in you, who are the cause of all merits, they have labored much for me out of love for you."

[64] The humble Margarita, feeling the little boat of her mind tossing upon the waves, said to our Lord: "Do not incline yourself toward so utterly worthless a creature, my Lord; for I am and have been a darkness beneath heaven." While she said this with devotion, the Lord replied: "Daughter, you shall be a light in the world." And when she said: "My Lord, pour your blessing upon all who are in the garden of love, and especially upon those Fathers who have labored so faithfully for my salvation," the Lord replied, saying: "I, daughter, will grant them a special grace for the labors they have undertaken, and I will give them light in their preaching; as a sign of which I bless them on behalf of my Father and the Holy Spirit, and also of the most blessed Virgin my Mother. And because you have asked not to be a darkness, I say to you that you shall be a splendid light, and not a darkness; and in this I have heard your prayer." And Margarita said to the Lord: "My Lord Savior and King, I have offered this prayer to you with great desire. And I ask you, my Lord God, that just as you have satiated me with the sweetness of your presence, so may you bury me, your handmaid, from the world, and never permit me to speak of my secrets, which you reveal in the ecstasy of my mind." To which the Lord replied, saying: "Margarita, it shall be according to my will, whether you speak or not. But I shall give you my Apostles, the Friars Minor, who shall preach the things that shall be done in you, just as the Apostles preached my Gospel to the nations."

[65] And again the Lord said: "You said that I should not incline myself to speak with you. And I say to you that, although I can in no way be increased or diminished in myself f. ... yet through the examples of your life and my gifts which shall be desired in you, I shall be exalted by those -- through the transformation of their lives -- who now despise me as if I were small and feeble, repeating their vices, neither loving nor praising me, but blaspheming me in word and deed. For through you, returning to their right mind with a humble heart and a contrite soul, and recognizing me, their Redeemer, as the immense and eternal God, they shall fervently love me, and shall continually serve me with reverence, and shall praise me without wearying. Through you, very many who now, like ungrateful ones, do not know how to desire me, being mentally illuminated by my joy, shall be filled with a new desire, seeking me with the utmost avidity of heart and with tears." But Margarita, protesting herself unworthy and equally unfit for all these things, when she said to our Lord: "Make, Lord, the vessel of my soul pure and shining, because I have been a foulness more foul than all foulness, and a darkness more dark than all obscurity," she heard Him saying to her: "Daughter, you shall be a light in many provinces of the world." And although Margarita was a light of justice, goodness, and truth in the Lord, yet with such trembling of all her senses she approached the altar when she received Christ that she changed all who stood by to astonishment of mind and to weeping. And because she could neither interpose nor retard the fervor of frequent communion out of reverence for that inaccessible light, she said: "I offend you, my Lord, in that most avid thirst which I have conceived for the frequent communion of your Body and Blood." The Lord replied, saying: "Because you greatly please me in this, I bless your Confessor, to whom I shall grant a gracious favor, who counsels you to do this and comforts you in your fear; because whatever I shall indicate to you shall come to pass; and all the prayers justly offered to you, which you shall propose before me in meditation and prayer, I shall sweetly hear and admit."

[66] Margarita, most grateful to her benefactors, hearing these things, prayed for the people of Cortona, that He would mercifully deliver them from all the perils that were feared from within and without at that time. She had scarcely formed her prayers when the eternal Truth, affirming that what He had said was true, replied to Margarita: "Daughter, although on account of their works they are worthy of various perils, nevertheless on account of the love which they bear toward you with such reverence and devotion, I will grant them a special grace; nor shall they suffer this peril which they fear. And I will bestow the same grace not only upon them, but upon all who shall love and defend you on account of my name. On the other hand, all who have presumed to afflict you in heart, word, or deed, I will so afflict that I will not hear your prayers on their behalf." At which word Margarita, loving her persecutors for the love of Christ, said with weeping and with fear to the threatening Lord: "That prayer, O merciful Lord, I humbly offer, which your holy Moses poured forth for his sister who spoke against him, and for all who injured him: that you may pardon all; and for the love of the Blessed Virgin and your Saints, in return for the evils inflicted upon me in whatever spirit and in whatever manner by them, that you may, with generous mercy, bestow those everlasting joys which I ask of you with tears. And if you will not pardon the aforesaid solely for the purging of their fault, then by pardoning them, punish me instead."

[67] The humble Margarita, blushing, considering the humiliation of the most high God's majesty, refusing to be proud even in the least, placed in ecstatic vision, having received the Body of Christ, compared herself to mud and ashes; and placing her mouth in the dust, she proclaimed that she alone in the world was and had been a darkness more dark than all, saying: "Late, O supreme Father of all, I came to you; late I began to love you, whom would that I had loved from my mother's womb!" But then the Lord showed her all the failings of her former manner of life; and when she had seen them, Margarita cried out with tears that she was more worthless than all creatures. When she was struck with excessive terror, He answered her kindly, to establish her in the hope of mercy: "Daughter, you began your penance late and soon: late, as regards the delay; and soon, as regards the fervent love." From which response, so sweetly made, cheered by a more fervent confidence, she invoked Peter, the prince of the Apostles, saying: "Most blessed Peter, beloved of God, well did you speak when, against those who were departing from the fountain of life, you said: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.' Would that, my Lord, without whom I cannot be, I had been present at that time when your Apostle said these things! For I would have adored you devoutly with that most reverent disciple, the Magdalene." To which the Lord replied, saying: "Remember what I said to my Apostle Thomas: 'Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.' Amen I say to you that the reward of those who now believe and have not seen shall be greater than that of others who saw me and believed. Love me, therefore, my little plant, whom I planted in the garden of Blessed Francis, and whom I made my instrument through grace." But when the grateful daughter heard the name of her Father named by the mouth of the Lord, she said: "O great and powerful Lord, you have greatly loved my Father, whom you have honored with such great gifts." And the Lord said: "I have greatly loved him, because I was greatly loved by him. And I say to you that the love of his Order is very sweet to me, on account of him whom I loved in every fragrance of sweetness. Wherefore, as regards that woman who was corrected by a companion speaking with her, because she had said that your Father Francis was, as it were, a new God -- speaking not from excess of fervent love -- I do not wish her to be blamed for this. For I made him similar to myself in certain privileges. For I chose twelve Apostles; my Blessed Francis had and has many chosen ones. I gathered seventy-two disciples, and he has so many that they seem almost innumerable to the world."

[68] And g. showing her Blessed Francis with a multitude of Saints, He asked her why she did not ask for their fellowship. Responding to our Lord, she said: "Lord, I desire all the Saints and long for them all, but my soul with tears continually asks for you alone, because I am ordered toward you alone, my perpetual and unfailing good." And the Lord said to her: "Because you seek me alone, I will make you great in my glory, and you shall possess me in full joy." At which word, responding to Christ with a joy mixed with fear, she said: "You speak truly, my Lord, that I seek none but you. Wherefore I beseech your majesty, that you may look upon my faith with the eye of your mercy." But He who said to those who love Him, "Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart," spoke to Margarita, saying: "Your sufferings shall increase, and according to them there shall be in you also wondrous increases of gifts." But Margarita, desiring to please God alone, said: "My soul is ready, Lord, to receive all sufferings and to endure willingly every kind of torment for the honor of your name; nor shall they seem bitter to me, except insofar as I fear lest I offend you. And help me, Lord, amid your so great gifts, which in the intoxication of your love I am unable to keep silent about, and let not the world perceive it; because, as you who know all things know, I do not desire the praises of this world. Grant me therefore this consolation: that I may keep so hidden the wondrous consolations which I have tasted in such abundance from the glory of your paradise, that no one may hear me speaking of them."

[69] Then Christ, the exalter of the humble, replied to Margarita in ecstatic vision h. in the order of the Seraphim, of such unspeakable beauty as He had promised to give her. She, unable to describe His beauty, said: "My great Lord, if you had given this to your Apostles, all heaven would have had cause to marvel, how much more at me, who alone was a darkness of vices." In this vision her languid body, emaciated by fasts, enjoyed such delight of mind, strength, and joy that it was raised upward, as if her soul wished to follow. And, sensing no one of those standing about, she cried out, saying: "My Lord, now my soul tastes and perceives the glory of your paradise. For my heart and my flesh could speak." And since she then heard Christ saying to her: "My daughter, say publicly, and publicly proclaim, that you are my chosen one and truly my daughter," Margarita, who did not entertain lofty thoughts even when placed at such a height of merits, but was pricked by the sting of fear amid all the gifts granted her by Christ, responded, saying: "Do not impose upon me, my Lord, so sublime a name, because no creature more worthless than I could ever have been found in this world, nor shall be, as I believe." And because the greater anyone is, and humbles himself in all things, the greater gifts of grace he receives, He who looks upon humble things spoke again to her, saying: "Amen I say to you, that all these things which have been foretold and shown to you shall be perfectly fulfilled in you."

[70] By consideration of penance and of her own worthlessness -- which transfer a person to the perfection of virtues -- He had so imprinted upon the soul of Margarita that she seemed intent upon nothing else so principally as upon appropriating to herself in the highest degree all the failings that were said to exist, or could be found, in sinful creatures. She totally ascribed to herself all the more worthless conditions of the states of women and men, in respect of birth, love, and poverty; and, as was said above, except for heresy, she lamented herself as stained by all vices. And asserting these things without pretense, sighing and weeping, she was not a little grieved if those who heard what she said of herself did not believe it -- so greatly did she desire to be despised and held in contempt.

[71] Delighted by this virtue, the Lord replied, saying: "You, my daughter, say that I searched in the abyss of this world and from there drew you out as more worthless than all, and chose you as the most worthless creature. But I did this so that I might make the small great, sinners righteous, and the most worthless and detestable precious." But Margarita, converted into a precious vessel by Christ, distrusting all the more her own frailty, said again: "Lord Jesus Christ, separate me from the world, because I live continually in doubt. If you should deign to separate me now, I will no longer fear being separated from your mercy." Christ Jesus, the Father of mercies, comforting her as she doubted and feared, said: "You are my daughter, now so confirmed and sanctified in grace, in soul and body, on account of your true faith and fervent desire, and the pure intention which you have toward me in all things that you think, say, and do, that I will never permit you to be separated from me. But I will honor you, both in life and after death." But Margarita, who directed the eyes of her mind only toward her own failings, replied to Christ, saying: "My Lord, how would you grant such lofty things to so utterly worthless a creature?" And the Lord said to her: "Because I have made you a net, catching fish swimming in the waves of the world; therefore, the things that are promised to you shall be fulfilled not for your sake alone, but for the sake of my people, to be directed to me. Wherefore I will that the graces which I have granted and shall grant to you be spread abroad and made public, not only on this side of the sea, but beyond." And who can number the Spaniards, Apulians, Romans, and others who came to her to be instructed by salutary admonitions?

[72] When you shall find balsam without fragrance, the sun without splendor, and fire deprived of warmth, then you will be able to find the heart of Margarita without the virtue of profound humility. For how great was the humility of that mind which, out of love for the poor, did not spare her tunic, nor any thing assigned to her for the strict use of necessity, the following outstanding miracle shall declare. For a certain widow's son, falling into adultery and carrying off the wife of another man, publicly remained in sin with the adulteress -- which is worse. When his mother, being unable to soften his hardened heart either by tears or by prayers, so that he might return the wife stolen from her husband and not delay to undertake salutary penance, the son, bound by so great a chain, replied to her; and having meditated upon the virtue of Margarita, he said to his mother, who was weeping so inconsolably: "If you can obtain for me some of the bread from the table of Margarita, the handmaid of Christ, and I eat but a single morsel, I hope that, with the help of her merits, I will not only with all speed send back to her husband this woman who has clung to me, but with due sorrow I will render worthy fruits of penance to Christ the Lord, whom I have so grievously offended." The mother, hearing this, hastened and ran to the cell of Margarita, the handmaid of Christ. But she could by no means obtain bread marked by her, because the servant of God refused it to her, saying: "Whatever is set before me, most worthless as I am, is so stained by the touch of my hands that if any virtue existed previously in things touched by me, it immediately departs and is lost." But the mother, not ceasing to ask for the bread for her son, with importunate and tearful prayers, at last with difficulty obtained the bread she desired. O wondrous thing, worthy of proclamation! As soon as the son tasted the morsel of bread brought to him, he was immediately converted into a new man, and renewing the spirit of his mind by a sudden movement, he humbly and voluntarily restored the wife to that man; and he ran to confess the crime he had committed with true contrition.

[73] Margarita, of perfect faith and humility, not a lover of her own prudence, who did not believe any promise made to her unless the conformity of the Sacred Scriptures and the truth of canonical authority truly shone forth in it. On the feast, therefore, of the royal Virgin Catherine, gazing upward at the altar of Christ, she heard Him saying to her: "Daughter, I will place you among the Seraphim, where the Virgins burning with charity are." At which word, responding with astonishment of mind, Margarita said: "Lord, how could this be, since I have been stained by so many sins?" But He who had promised through His Prophet, "Return to me, and I will receive you," accepting the humility of the trembling woman, said: "Daughter, the variety of your sufferings will so purge your soul from the contagion of vices that your contritions and sufferings will conform you to virginal purity." Upon which word, fearing all the more, she asked Christ, the master, whether He had placed the Magdalene among the choirs of Virgins in celestial glory. To which the true Master said: "Excepting the Virgin Mary and the Martyr Catherine, no one is greater among the choirs of Virgins than the Magdalene." But because under the weight of her self-contempt she always tended toward the lowest place, she was by no means willing to disclose what our Savior promised her in this discourse. For she wished to reveal nothing of the secrets shown to her, unless she was first either compelled by a divine command, or persuaded by my counsels for her more certain salvation, or impelled by her own fears lest some deception should lurk contrary to the agreement of the divine Scriptures. For however great the sweetness of interior consolation with which she was filled, however great the splendor of heavenly radiance by which she was illuminated, and however many examples of unspeakable truth by which she was instructed, she presumed nothing if it seemed in any way to be discordant.

[74] Humble of heart, Margaret, who could say with the Psalmist, "Lord, my heart is not exalted," on Laetare Sunday was compelled by me to receive Christ, the King of all kings, in communion. Obeying me, she received communion, and all bitterness of mind was suddenly converted into sweetness; and fear having been changed into security, her heart obtained the gift of peaceful tranquility. Ps. 130:1 But because the desired Bridegroom, Jesus, was not speaking with her in the accustomed manner, she said: "O Jesus, tranquil delight of my heart. O Jesus, my peace, my joy, and sole hope, whom alone my soul seeks and desires, what is this that I feel you in my soul and yet do not hear you speaking? Has your speech, which melts and restores me, been taken from me on account of some fault not fully purged?" And the Lord said to her: "O disobedient one, why did you not immediately obey your Confessor, Friar Giunta, regarding the reception of communion of my body?" Then the humble Margaret replied: "Lord, I was disobedient for this reason: because I considered myself stripped of every adornment of virtue, inasmuch as I was deprived of the sweetness of your tenderness. If, however, by this I offended your graciousness, which with such condescending and wondrous regard communicates and permits itself to me, I humbly confess my fault." And the Lord said to her: "You did not anger me by your withdrawal, because you considered the loftiness of my majesty and feared the vileness of your defects. Nevertheless, daughter, I command you that whenever anything shall be commanded to you by Friar Giunta, you obey him: for I am going to bestow upon his mind the light of a special grace in all the dispositions of your life."

[75] But Margaret, abasing herself still more, responded to Christ, who was offering himself, saying: "How should so vile a creature, tainted with every defect and harassed by so many and varied afflictions of tribulations and temptations, dare to approach your altar -- you, the Creator of heaven and earth, the mirror without stain, my eternal good -- who sacrificed yourself on the altar of the Cross to God the Father for me, and presume to receive your body?" And the Lord said to her: "Do you not remember that I told you that whenever you are afflicted, you should come to me, the haven of your tranquility? Did I not tell you that this vessel, guarded by my protection, shall be broken by no concussion?" And Margaret replied: "My Lord, I know myself without doubt to be of such great fragility that at the first blow of the temptations and afflictions which I suffer, I fear it will be shattered." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, your frequent consideration of your vileness, and the fear arising therefrom, shows you that it is so: but my eye shall guard you, and my power shall protect you everywhere. And I foretell to you that until the day of your death you shall be cast into the furnace of afflictions." At this word, Margaret replied: "Lord, how shall so small and fragile a vessel be able to endure so long a time in the furnace? For I believe there is no vessel under heaven more fragile than mine. And therefore, if it please your mercy, make known to me, Lord, my end, and how long you wish the measure of my time to be." To which the Lord said: "You shall live according to my will."

[76] This new disciple of humility, who compared herself neither to the greater, nor to equals, nor to the lesser, neither to many, nor to few, nor even to one, in the continual lamentation of her defects so acknowledged and believed herself with tears to be more despicable than all, that she was compelled by grief to say: "Would that, Lord, I had never been born, since I have so offended you and do not serve your commandments!" And because Christ severely rebuked her for this word, she replied, saying: "Lord, I uttered this word because it seemed utterly astonishing that a majesty of such sublimity should condescend to so most wretched a creature, and deign to dwell with a soul united to a vessel of such misery." "Did you not know, my Lord, you who know all things, my misery together with my instability? You well knew what I was, and what I am now, and that under heaven there has never existed a creature so vile and so fragile." Then the lily of the valley so suddenly filled the valley of Margaret's heart with sweetness that she cried out, saying that if she were to endure all the sufferings which the Saints bore for the name of Christ, with that wondrous consolation they would be turned into sweetness and solace. And the Lord said to her: "Daughter Margaret, none of the Saints would ever have endured their sufferings by their own strength, had they not been fortified by my grace. Why then do you not believe that, just as I strengthened them in their torments, I can make your vessel so inviolable for bearing every kind of torment that it will be injured by no tribulation?" Margaret replied: "I believe, Lord, that you can do all things that you will, but I am not worthy that this should be done for me." Then he who gives understanding to little ones suddenly irradiated his little one with such splendors that she perceived the secrets of the hearts of many persons both absent and present; and revealing unconfessed counsels and desires, she sent many to true and complete confession of their sins, with bitter contrition of mind and renewal of life.

[77] The humble Margaret said to the Lord: "My Lord, do not say that I despised your mercy and your wisdom when I said, 'Would that I had never been born!' For I said this because from Adam until now I recall no creature more unworthy than myself of your gifts." And the Lord said to her: "Remember that I can bestow my gifts upon whomever I will. Have you forgotten Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, the publican Matthew, whom I made my Apostle, and the thief to whom I promised paradise?" "I remember, Lord," said Margaret, "these and many others upon whom you bestowed your benefits: and I confess without doubt that they were more worthy than I of your grace, since I am full of vices and stripped of all virtue." And again the Lord said to her: "Amen I say to you, daughter Margaret, that from the sole of the foot to the crown of your head I have clothed you with grace and adorned you with virtues." And Margaret replied: "My Lord, yet because in comparison with those things which you show me and promise me, the aforesaid gifts seem few and not so great; and because I always fear lest you take away from me the merits you have bestowed on account of my demerits; and because the eagerness to possess you has increased, it often seems to me that I have nothing." And the Lord said to her: "Just as you believe, daughter, that God is the supreme and unfailing truth, so believe that those things which have been promised to you shall be fulfilled." And Margaret said: "Most high Master, teach me why I have suffered such new afflictions at this time." And the Lord said to her: "My daughter, likewise you shall have new consolations from me, on account of which a new army of envious enemies has risen up against you. But do not fear them, for I shall protect you, whom I bless in the name of my Father and of the Holy Spirit, and also of the most blessed Virgin, my Mother."

[78] The more Margaret felt the superabundant gifts descending upon her from the supreme fountain, the more she directed the eye of her mind upon her own littleness. Whence she said with tears: "Lord Jesus, cast me away from you, and depart from me, most vile and unworthy one." And because true humility is joined to purity, the Lord, immediately becoming more familiar with her, gave her a discourse on the preservation of purity. Having heard this, Margaret replied, saying: "Lord, you who are the fountain of purity, you alone can bestow it and preserve it once bestowed. For never without you has any of the Saints persevered in it." To which the Lord replied, saying: "If you wish to guard it inviolably, carry with you the five stones of my wounds, and with them strike your enemy on the forehead. What did you ask of me when I brought you to touch the wound of my side?" Margaret replied: "Lord, full knowledge of your goodness, and perfect love of heart." And the Lord said to her: "If you desire these things, preserve the humility of your heart, so that you may always devote yourself to me and to the resignation of your mind. If you desire knowledge of me, let burning charity always begin from me, your Creator; and love all creatures so intimately that you do not separate even the Saracens from your love, having compassion on their perdition. For you know that I created them and redeemed them, afflicted with torments; and therefore grieve with all who are placed in affliction, and rejoice with all who rejoice."

[79] Laying aside all elation of mind before the sight of the true Lamb, Jesus Christ, Margaret, having received the body of Christ with great fear on the vigil of her Father, Blessed Francis, heard a voice saying to her: "Do you love me?" And before she could respond, he said: "Say that you do not: for you do not keep your mind fixed on me, on account of fears and the preoccupations of others. I command you to refer to me all the good things which I have wrought in you. And if you do not do this, even if I were not to punish you, I would punish you after your death." And Margaret replied: "Pardon me, Lord, for in such sweetness of your tenderness, which I feel, I speak too freely with you. And would that this be a sign of your true friendship, and not a vice of my presumption! And because you know, Lord, what I am of myself, I commit myself into the arms of your mercy as one dead, having no sense for action. For I say this, my Lord, because I cannot live without you." To which the Savior said: "If I give you grace and show you the way of acting well, why do you not act? Do you know any creature to whom today I bestow as great a grace as to you? The avaricious have made me avaricious; the hard make me harsh to them -- not that I am avaricious or harsh, but in themselves they deserve to experience such an effect." And when she humbly sought with tears the sweetness of divine tenderness, she again heard Christ saying to her: "You seek me on earth and find me there: for if, meditating solely on heavenly things, you were to seek me, you would truly find him whom you seek in heaven. And what do you believe to be a greater sign of humility: to pray mentally to me, your king, insofar as it is possible for you, or to ask me to condescend mercifully to satisfy you?" And scarcely had the question been completed when he showed that it was a greater sign of humility to pray mentally to Christ. In this conversation, receiving the gift of divine consolation, Margaret said: "O Christ, repose of creatures, without whom there is no peace, give rest to me, your faithful one." To which word Christ replied: "I am not," he said, "rest in effect except only to those who love me; yet I am the peace and rest of sinners insofar as concerns the sustaining of mercy, not that they taste inner rest from it, since my word is abominable to them."

[80] On the feast of Blessed Barnabas the Apostle, having received the body of the Savior with reverent humility, she heard him saying to her: "Rejoice, my soul." But Margaret, absorbed in God, believing that Christ was not speaking to Margaret but to himself, heard him again saying to her: "Rejoice, my daughter Jerusalem, for the Emperor of Jerusalem has come to dwell in you, and in you he has made an imperial seat by grace. Praise me, for I shall praise you. Love me, for I love you. Serve me, for I shall serve you and minister to you." Then God's servant Margaret, responding to Christ, said: "My Lord, I am certain that my littleness is not worthy to receive so great a mercy; and this response is so true that the whole world could not defeat me in it. Indeed I say more, my Lord, that if the greatest fire were prepared for me, I would sooner permit myself to be cast into it to be burned than to withdraw from this response." And the Lord said to her: "Incredulous one, you do not know what the Saints accomplished, nor how I inclined myself to those who went before and who now exist. Whence your response would seem to close the heaven of my mercy, if the vision of my greatness and beauty did not excuse you. And I tell you that if the purity of the Angels and of all the Saints who are in heaven and on earth were placed together, if I did not condescend to them, it would be nothing in comparison with my most radiant purity. Did I not descend, daughter, to take flesh from the Virgin Mary? So I did, O my simple one. Did I not descend to permit myself to be touched by sinners, and to dwell and eat with them? Why then, if by my reasons I have not so conquered and bound your heart that you would sooner permit yourself to be burned in the most blazing fire than deny this or wish to offend me? And you know well that I make you live in this desire, that you would rather desire to suffer every kind of torment than wish to offend my majesty? O violet full of the fragrance of humility: for your humility in this is unlike the humility of others, because it is not displayed outwardly by signs, words, and deeds as great as it is found in you." For Margaret, after the example of Christ, was not feignedly but truly meek and humble of heart. A certain Friar said that he marveled why she did not speak more fervently about God. And she replied, saying: "The Lord has dealt with me as one who lends, and the thing lent is not returned to him; who afterward does not lend when something is asked of him. So because I was not grateful to Christ, he justly withdrew from me what he had given."

CHAPTER V

On the Passion of Christ, and on Meditation and Patience.

[81] As she was meditating on Christ Jesus who suffered on the cross for us, the Triumphant One himself, inviting Margaret to battle, said: "Prepare yourself for war, and for enduring hard, troublesome, and difficult things as long as you live: for just as gold is tested in the furnace, so I shall purge you by tribulations, temptations, fears, vigils, tears, hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness; and when you have been purged, you shall pass to the glory of eternal felicity. Nor let dread of these things terrify you. But act manfully and bear all things joyfully: for in every tribulation of yours I shall be with you, and lest you fail in so harsh a journey, I shall often refresh you with the sweetness of my presence." Then God's servant Margaret, raised up in the fervor of divine love, cried out, saying: "I, for love of you, Lord Jesus Christ, who endured so many torments for me, joyfully offer myself to bear every kind of torment; and I am prepared with all eagerness to die for you, my supremely beloved." In those raptures, seeing many things which she refused to relate, at length turning to me, Friar Giunta, with special joy, she said: "Do you wish, my Father, to return joyfully to the friary and the brethren?" And when I replied that I did, she said: "Know from Christ -- and I say this with certainty, do not doubt -- that the Holy Spirit dwells more in the Friars of your Order than among any others who live under heaven."

[82] The divine consolations which, according to the multitude of sorrows that are borne for Christ who suffered, gladden the soul, so sweetly abounded in Margaret's mind that they rendered her most ready to bear all things, which to many would seem not only difficult but impossible, through love of him who strengthened her. On a certain day, therefore, while she was pondering the mockeries of Christ, she heard him saying to her: "Daughter, the languor of your body is grievous, which I will to be gradually consumed; grievous is the vexation of your tempter; but most grievous of all and the most afflicting suffering is the withdrawal or delay of my sweetnesses. But do not fear or marvel: for the more I fill you with my delights, the more the envious enemy will strive to hurl the darts of his temptations against you. But you, my bride, do not fear him, for I, your bridegroom, whom alone you love, am with you." Not long after, the cruel tempter approached, and in order to lead her more easily back to finer foods, he suddenly presented and proffered the odors of every food that Margaret had ever seen, tasted, or heard named. But the sweetness of divine piety had so drawn her heart that, unable to keep silent about the sweetness she had conceived from Christ, she said with a flood of tears: "Spare me, Lord my God, for nothing could fully refresh me except your presence, in which there is full and infinite sweetness."

[83] The passion of our King Jesus Christ and the compassion of the Virgin Mother Mary had so filled Margaret's mind that nothing so harsh, nothing so hard was set against her that she did not suffer it sweetly and easily. On a certain night, therefore, while with tears she urgently besought the Lord that, insofar as it was possible for her strength, he would deign in his graciousness to grant her something of the sorrow of his Mother, which she had felt at the foot of the Cross, she heard Christ saying to her: "At the first hour of the day go in the accustomed manner to the church of my Friars, where you shall feel such bitterness, anguish, and sorrow of my Passion as you have never felt before nor ever experienced." And when at the appointed hour she had come to the friary, seeking me, her Confessor, she humbly asked as a special grace that on no account should she leave the church of the Friars, because, as had been revealed to her by the Lord, she was to be mentally crucified at the Cross that day. When the solemnities of the Masses had been completed, near the third hour her soul, devout to God, was immediately given the gall of the Passion to drink, and absorbed in God, she began to see the procession of the traitor, the assault of the Jews, and to hear the clamors of the Jews and their dreadful counsels which conspired to bring about Christ's torments. Now she saw Christ greeted treacherously with a kiss, now she saw him led away bound with torches and lanterns, now denied by Peter, and abandoned by the Apostles; now his face was livid, now he was scourged without mercy at the pillar, now scorned, now mocked, now blindfolded, now spit upon, now his cheeks and hair were torn, now he was adored in derision; now with great haste the cross, nails, lance, and false witnesses were prepared against Christ. But when she came to those words, "Behold your King!" and "We have no king but Caesar," and "I find no cause of death in him," and "Take him yourselves and crucify him," she so collapsed in grief with cries that all who stood by firmly believed she was dying. John 19:15

Then to that soul, whom the sword of grief was piercing, the Virgin Mother was shown, following her Son bearing the cross, together with the women and the Marys and Magdalene, amid the throngs of Jews running together and blaspheming. And she said: "Now I see him dragged from the palace, now led outside the gate, and Simon pressed into service; now I see him nailed to the cross, now the thieves placed on either side, with my Lord in the midst. Now the left thief murmurs; now the good one makes excuse and asks for the kingdom; now I hear my Lord promising glory; now he commends his Mother to the disciple, now to the Virgin Mother her adopted son. Now the Jews insult and murmur; now also darkness covers the whole earth; now my Lord thirsts, and a draught of gall is given to him; now he pardons his crucifiers, and commends his spirit to God the Father with a loud voice. Now," she said, "my soul sees Longinus, a blind man, led to the Cross, and the lance placed in his hands, and now he is illuminated by the precious blood of my God." And, to conclude all things in briefer speech, she omitted nothing of the sequence of the Passion.

[84] This so extraordinary and compassion-filled spectacle so moved all the people of Cortona that, abandoning their trades and crafts, men and women -- leaving behind infants, the sick, and those lying in cradles -- many times that day filled with weeping and lamentation the oratory of our friary, built in honor of Blessed Francis. For they saw Margaret not merely standing beside the Cross, but as though placed upon the Cross itself, consumed by dreadful agonies, in whom such wondrous signs of suffering were manifest that we believed her to be utterly in the article of death. For from the excessive and vehement grief she gnashed her teeth, writhed like a worm and a twisted cord, became discolored like ash, lost her pulse, lost her speech, and became entirely frozen; and her throat had become so hoarse that she could scarcely be understood when she returned to her senses. Indeed, from the first hour all the way to the ninth hour she so lost the outward use of her senses that she recognized neither the crowd of weeping people, nor the faces and voices of the noblewomen who attended her and held her. And because I judge it should not be passed over -- what I have not yet related -- hear what follows. Namely, when the hour of the dying Lord and Savior, that is, the ninth hour, arrived, and with his head bowed that sacred spirit was released, she so reclined her own head, bent upon her breast, that we all believed her dead, having lost likewise all the movements and sensation of every sense. For so she remained before our Friars and all others who stood by, not without a profusion of tears, from the ninth hour of that day until vespers.

[85] But when evening came, as though rising from death, she lifted her face upward with new gladness of mind; and raising her eyes joyfully to heaven, and as though endowed with wondrous new gifts, she began to render copious thanks to the giver of all good things. But because, turning around in the oratory, she saw the multitude of persons, a bitter fear overtook the limits of her joy, and she began to be vehemently distressed, because God had granted that sorrow of the Passion in the sight of the people, and not in her cell. But that wondrous lover of those who love him, calming Margaret's bitterness, said: "Concerning all the things which have been done around you and without you today, do not fear or doubt, for I have made you a mirror for sinners, however obstinate, that through you they may recognize how willingly I impart my mercy to them so that they may be saved." Hearing this, Margaret, grateful to Christ and solicitous for the salvation of her neighbors, thus replied: "Wherever the tribute of honor and praise is rendered to you, and an occasion of salvation can be given to the people whom you have redeemed -- there rather, and nowhere else, does it please me, most high Lord, to dwell."

[86] But when we marveled that her bodily strength had been so suddenly restored, she said that she was stronger than she had been early in the morning. When evening had come, Margaret, having been dismissed by me, returned to her cell; and like a new Magdalene, who had mentally seen Christ on the Cross, believing him taken from her, intoxicated with sorrows, she ceaselessly with tears and in a loud voice asked all whom she saw for her crucified Lord, so piously that she provoked all bystanders and all whom she met to weeping. And burning with desire, she said for the love of Christ: "Have you seen my Lord? Where shall I go, most unhappy one, to find him? O if I could see you, my Lord, with what infinite joy you would fill me! I seek, I sigh, I cry out, I watch, I labor, and my heart fails; nor do I find you, because you were taken from me through a cruel death. O Angels, people, and all creatures, show me my Lord Jesus Christ crucified, whom I seek and cannot find. Alas, alas! What have you done, my Lord, that your kindness should be treated so vilely and cruelly? Why have you forsaken me, my love? Where are you now hidden? For I desire to see and hear you, and I neither hear nor see." And in this thirst, so anguished -- in which she gave up food and sleep -- she remained from the aforesaid hour until the morning of the following Sunday.

[87] On the following Sunday, while the solemnities of the Mass were being celebrated in the church of the Friars Minor, and I, Friar Giunta, her Confessor, was preaching to the people from the pulpit, Margaret, declining out of fear and shame, barely containing the force of her grief for the briefest moment, as though beside herself and alienated in mind, began to cry out before everyone, asking whether I knew the crucified Lord and where they had placed her Master. At her irremediable weeping, all the men and women standing by began to weep with devout fervor. But I, to whom she was speaking so eagerly, both to instill confidence in her heart about finding her Master again and lest the preaching of God's word be impeded, responded in a loud voice that the Savior whom she so ardently sought was so gracious and generous that he could not long delay or conceal his presence. When she heard that he would appear to her swiftly, she sank half-alive before all the people.

[88] When the office of the Mass had at length been celebrated, as she was returning to her cell, with tears and indescribable sighs along the way she kept asking whether they knew or had seen her Savior. Entering her cell and hiding herself there in grief, she abandoned food, drink, and sleep, wishing only to weep and to say in her weeping: "Love, my Jesus, who killed you? And who took you from me, my good? My love, you tell me where you are now hidden. Why do I live, if I cannot have you, whom you raised up through your presence?" In these torments she persevered until the morning of Monday, on which the true lover of those who love him -- who had previously appeared bruised and despised -- appearing to her who wept and pleaded, clothed in the robe of immortality, so quieted Margaret by his presence that, expelling all the pains of mind and body and revealing many great secrets, he left Margaret in joy. Then that good Shepherd, who had rebuked the Apostles at his apparition, severely reproved Margaret, who, on account of those standing by, had restrained within her mind the fervor and sorrows of seeking Jesus, because she had not fully imitated Magdalene in every manner of seeking.

[89] When Christ's servant Margaret heard how the Saints had through faith conquered kingdoms and wrought righteousness, she replied to me, Friar Giunta, who was speaking, saying that it would have been surprising if they had not hastened to mockeries and death with song and with glad countenance. "For I, so weak as I am, so willingly taste the consolation of the sweetness of the glory of Paradise that I am unable to compare it to any magnificence or honor; and such and so great is this state that at its fragrance I would go with jubilation to endure every kind of torment. So much do I feel, so much do I draw from that fountain which never fails, that neither burned by fires nor cut by swords would I believe myself to feel even the slightest pain. Likewise I receive such great security from the pledge of the glory promised to me, that I cannot bear to see the face of any creature without sorrow. Indeed, what is more, I desire to be dissolved and to die swiftly, for to die for the supreme life is joy to me, and to live any longer I consider not merely bitter torment but hell. For your sweetness, Lord, has so drawn me that for the love of your name I would wish my flesh to be gnawed down to the marrow of my bones by worms, so that I might in some measure make satisfaction to you for the aforesaid sin, or in some measure conform myself to you in suffering, or more quickly, as I desire, depart from the misery of this life. And if a single worm were to fall from my flesh to the ground, my Lord, I would gather it up with a kiss for sheer joy and immediately replace it in the place of pain." So ardently did she yearn for the Most High that she never ceased to weep over the vice of negligence, which she did not possess at all. For it seemed to her that she did nothing virtuous, since beyond the rapture of divine contemplation, the continual austerity of life, the most profitable exhortations to her neighbors, and the afflictions of her infirmities, she said more than six hundred Our Fathers each day together with the salutation of the Blessed Virgin, and the Glory be to the Father. And because I wished to mitigate her grief and calm her inconsolable weeping, I said that the fervent desire conceived for Christ and the continual meditation on his Passion constituted unceasing prayer, since mental prayer is sweeter and more efficacious than vocal prayer, and requires but little effort.

[90] When the straits of infirmity grew more severe and various temptations vexed her, the faithful God stood beside her, to bring gain out of temptation, strengthening her who was bereft of strength and illuminating her who had been variously invaded by the tempters. And he said to her: "Daughter, how much do you now rejoice in my presence?" And she replied: "So great and so indescribable is this joy that with this sweetness which I feel, I choose every kind of torment and dread no temptation or punishment. For it surpasses every suffering and dispels all pains; and so completely does the presence of your consolation turn all bitternesses into sweetness that with it I would unhesitatingly and joyfully plunge without pain into molten lead and boiling oil, and would sing in a burning furnace." Indeed, she was so resolved to overcome the injuries inflicted upon her that she strove utterly to ignore and forget them, diligently serving without complaint those who harmed her -- except where she manfully defended against an injury, and her pressing conscience impelled her to speak for the extirpation of vices and the planting of virtues.

[91] On a certain day, therefore, when I entered her cell to comfort her, at the time when the provincial Chapter was being held at Siena, she spoke before me with great fervor, saying: "My Father, Friar Giunta, I have learned by revelation of the Holy Spirit that the Friars now gathered in Chapter are arranging to exhort you regarding your visitation of me. For on account of their experience of the Scriptures and the manifold illusions which have been found in many persons, certain of them doubt my state. But so great is the condescension of divine piety that it will permit you entirely to abandon me, your little plant commended to you by Christ." And when the Chapter had been celebrated, in accordance with Margaret's word, the new Custos of the Friars, coming to Cortona, laid down a law for me, her Confessor, on behalf of the Chapter -- not that I should abandon her, but that I should visit her once within eight days, unless some new case should befall her or unless she should happen to suffer more gravely in her illnesses. But when the ancient enemy saw that certain Friars doubted her perseverance, and lest those consolations should come about through illusion or pretense to acquire the fame of popular celebrity, he began to say in her cell that the Friars, taught by experience, illuminated by the wisdom of the Scriptures, and more fully enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, had therefore begun to doubt her because through them it was truly known that her whole life, her revelations, and the consolations which seemed divine were nothing but deception.

[92] On account of which Margaret immediately prostrated herself in prayer and said with tears and trembling: "Lord Jesus Christ, whom alone I desire to follow with simple and pure mind, whom alone I love, for whose sake I do not spare my body and despise all earthly things under heaven, in whose Scriptures -- insofar as my simplicity grasps from the preachings of your sons -- I faithfully believe: help me, weeping and languishing and placed in new doubt." And the Lord said to her: "Why do you weep?" And she replied: "My Lord, you who know all things before they come to pass, well know that I can do nothing else at present, both because I fight against invisible enemies battling against me, and because the Friars to whom you commended me terrify me with their doubting." But the eternal King, to comfort the fainthearted, setting himself as a mirror of penitence, said: "Daughter, do not marvel if the Friars hold various opinions about you and doubt, for concerning me, the true God, Son of the living God, some believed and others doubted." At this word Margaret, shining like the finest gold in the furnace in every tribulation, sweetened and strengthened in mind -- as I saw with my own eyes -- prepared herself prudently with the unwise, willingly with those who profess, and joyfully with the perfect, to endure all harsh and bitter things. For her adamantine heart was broken by no injury; her tongue was raised in complaint against no one. For the custom of the Lord's servant was, both from the vehemence of divine love and from internal compunction or fear or fraternal compassion, to join sighs to sighs with those who wept, and she could not restrain or conceal the inward grief of her spirit. For this reason, often at the sound of her weeping and her frequent speaking with God in prayer, the noblewomen of the neighborhood would come with great devotion, and standing watch outside the door of her cell, they would renew themselves in love of God with a flood of tears as she prayed, each one moved by the fervor of what they saw and heard.

[93] It happened, moreover, that a certain woman, driven by some zeal for guarding the cell, attempted with clamor to drive away the said noblewomen who were weeping and praising the Lord there. At her words, uttered without knowledge, a certain woman responded contemptuously as though impatient, hurling certain insults that befitted neither the place nor the time in a chattering voice. When the sweet Margaret, praying within her cell, wished to sweeten this bitterness, she dismissed her companion from the cell and humbly invited the irritated woman to remain with her that night. But because erupting fury -- especially a woman's -- considers everything that is rightly said to be perverse, the woman, as though possessed by a demon, heaped many insults upon Margaret. But she, who had fixed her spirit upon God, moved by no injuries, offering even gentler invitations and showing the most beautiful reasons, accusing herself, tried to win the woman over -- but could not. For persisting obstinately in her fury, the woman neither assented nor wished to enter the cell, nor at the entreaties of the noblewomen present did she cease from her insulting clamor. Seeing, however, that the woman refused to come to her, Christ's servant asked her to be so kind as to receive her in her own lodging, and she was ready to stay with her. But the woman's anger had so blocked her mind that she would on no account receive God's handmaid, whom she should have invited with entreaties. In the manner of physicians, however, who treat hot ailments with cold remedies, that evening Margaret humbly carried the supper that had been sent to her, with a heartfelt desire to kiss the lips that had been opened indecently to defame Margaret.

For she said: "In whatever manner I may suffer for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, it seems to me the greatest sweetness of refreshment."

[94] Although she daily made the full circuit of the Passion in order, it was nevertheless renewed in her heart in a special manner every Friday, of which she said that no Christian ought to rejoice on such a day. Whence on Good Friday the violent force of her grief drove her out of her cell, and with her head shorn, like a drunken woman, like a mother who has lost her son, she wept for the Lord, going and crying aloud over the ground all the way to the church of the Friars Minor, to whom the Lord Christ had commended her; and she would then have gone through all the churches had not her admirable modesty and the fear of the Friars restrained her. Whence the lover of those who love him and our Redeemer said to her as she wept over his Passion: "If you were in a vast and wooded solitude in the night hours, dark, full of lurking and treacherous enemies, would you delay to run to me?" And Margaret replied: "I believe, my Lord, that like a child eagerly rushing to meet a calling mother, out of desire to come to you I would fall on the way and, though still alive, would utterly collapse from running beyond my strength." And Christ said: "Daughter, why do you wish to make a Paradise on earth, since I did not grant this to my own body, which was united to the divinity? Do not hope for this, for it shall by no means come to pass. For you wish to do as Peter did, who, after he had gazed upon the splendor of my brightness on Mount Tabor, wished in the intoxication of his spirit to pitch three tabernacles, not knowing what he said, filled with an unaccustomed sweetness. Matt. 17:4 Therefore, just as I did not grant him what he asked, so you shall not possess in this wayfaring life, without a mediating trial, the Paradise which I am going to bestow upon you in the fatherland."

[95] Margaret, imitatrix of the Most High, yearning for Christ alone, whom she uniquely loved, could not be consoled without the visitation of his sweetness. Whence, since she was patient in infirmities and strong in temptations, she often sought with tears him without whom nothing is strong, nothing holy, and whose sweetness was withdrawn for a time, saying: "Where now is your sweet presence, surpassing all that can be desired, without which I live in the most bitter bitterness? Holy Father, only Father, Father of mercy, why do you abandon one who labors with daily fevers and desires no medicine but you? Why do you, my defender, leave me fighting against enemies who have visibly surrounded me in various forms? Where shall I hide? What victory in battle shall I obtain without you?" But Jesus, the reward of those who fight for him and the medicine of those who languish, responded to Margaret, saying: "As long as you live bodily in this life, you shall be afflicted with diverse and great tribulations. And although I am always with you, you shall not, without interruption as you desire, feel my sweetness. For as long as you were resting upon so ineffable a table of refreshment, no tribulation, no bodily infirmity, no impetuous temptation would weigh upon you." Then Margaret, comforted by the divine conversations, responded to the Master of truth, saying: "Lord, however much I am afflicted for the honor of your name, I shall praise you and shall cling to you inseparably; and because I cannot live without you, through whom all things live, therefore do not abandon me." At that very hour in which I, her Confessor, visited Margaret -- laboring, as she believed, in her final extremity from fear of the Lord -- I said to her that she should place her hope in him, since the most blessed citizens of the heavenly city would accompany her at her departure. And when she heard the name of the heavenly city, she was immediately caught up in ecstasy and saw the Mother of the Lord supplicating her kingly Son on behalf of Margaret's hastening happiness. After the vision there remained in her an eagerness for departure through death, and with that eagerness a security, the former fear having been excluded -- the fear which she had had concerning the severity of God's justice -- because she had seen Christ beside his Mother, smiling upon her with every gentleness and assenting to his Mother's prayers.

[96] The most grateful servant of Christ, Margaret, after the octave of the Epiphany, meditating with tears on the Passion of our Savior -- in which meditation she had remained so anxiously, consumed by sorrows, from the early morning hour of the night until the first hour, at which the grief of mind was renewed on account of the scourging and mockeries of Christ and the entire sequence of the Passion -- meditating with inconsolable weeping, compassionating the Mother of our Redeemer with agonizing tenderness, she affixed herself mentally to the Cross more than before. Christ, accepting her heartfelt compassion, speaks to her, saying: "My daughter Margaret, as long as you stood beside the Cross, I enriched you with many gifts of graces; and I would have given you still greater ones had you not withdrawn from the Cross. Therefore do not delay to return, in the accustomed manner, to the Cross, where you were accustomed to stand with irremediable weeping from midnight until the ninth hour. Then, as you have learned by experience, I adorned you with gracious virtues and spiritual gifts, I illuminated you with the light of truth for yourself and for others, and I fortified you with new and inestimable strength in various temptations. Therefore do not delay to return to my Cross, where with full sweetness I shall not only restore to you the former gifts, but greater ones. Never open the doors of your heart to the fumes of temptation, and according to the prompting of your conscience, reveal your defects to your Confessor by means of an accusatory confession, never excusing but diligently laying bare your faults. Until now you were accustomed to express my Passion in loud voices, weeping inconsolably; now, out of fear of detractors who rashly suppose that the weeping of your grief is done for vainglory, you have imposed complete silence upon yourself. Do not delay, therefore, to return to your former weeping, for on account of the vain and false words of the worldly, who mendaciously interpret the good things that are done in me -- words to be punished with harsh torments -- you should not repress or conceal my Passion in your throat: for you ought by no means to fear your neighbor where, on your part, no occasion of sinning is given, but rather of gaining glory and grace. Since, therefore, you desire to please me alone, who created and redeemed you, and you shall receive no harm from the gracious weeping through which you shall obtain grace, do not recite my Passion in silence. For if you diligently and unceasingly revolve it in mind and voice, I shall, as a benign father, admit all your petitions, and I shall illuminate you; and I shall reveal to you very many things, not only for your own salvation but for that of others."

[97] Not unmindful of this precept, Margaret wept aloud over the Passion of Christ from the early morning hour until the first hour of the day. When she spoke through the individual torments of the Passion, saying, "To these things, Lord, the bond of love for us inclined you," she heard Christ saying to her: "Daughter, you have said that love for you compelled me to suffer, and that for zeal for your souls I did whatever I did. And know that just as I came with the greatest anguish to seek you, so you shall come with many bitternesses and afflictions to seek me. Prepare yourself, therefore, for the greatest tribulations. For just as your former vain life once cried out against me through the tongues of murmurers in camps, in forests, meadows, and villages, so you must not cease to cry out my Passion in order through sinners; and that I always lived in this life in labors and sufferings for the love of the human race. And whoever shall presume to murmur against you on this account shall offend me grievously, and you shall please me. Cry out, therefore, daughter, that out of love for you I was taken captive from the bosom of the Father and descended into the womb of the Virgin Mother, when the Lady of heaven declared herself a handmaid. Cry out the cautery of the circumcision, the adoration of the Magi, the presentation in the temple in the hands of my aged Simeon, the persecution of Herod, and the flight into Egypt. Cry out that I, the supreme and eternal Wisdom, lying as an infant in the manger upon hay, gave forth cries, and before the shepherds and the Magi who adored me -- I who had opened the mouths of the mute -- was silent. Cry out my poverty, and that when I was twelve years old I remained among the Doctors, questioning them sufficiently and instructing them, while my Mother with immense grief sought me with tears among her kinsfolk and acquaintances. Cry out that the Creator and Lord of all, who had adorned the heavens with stars, reserved for my own use nothing but a garment and sandals. Cry out the calling of the disciples and the working of miracles; and say that I gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, healed the paralyzed, freed the demon-possessed, and raised the dead. Cry out the raising of Lazarus at the entreaty of his sisters. Cry out the tenderness I had for that paralytic who had long waited at the pool. And know that just as there was murmuring against my miracles and my teachings, so men will presume to murmur against the Friars Minor, your Fathers. But just as, on account of the words of those who detracted against me, I never wished to abandon my good works, so let the Friars not withdraw themselves, on account of those who speak unjustly, from their holy works which they do in me. Cry out how, weary from the journey, I thirsted at the well, and there held a long conversation with a woman, and through that Samaritan woman converted the Samaritans. Cry out when I ate with publicans and sinners and with the Pharisees, and at his banquet, to give sinners hope of pardon, I forgave the weeping Magdalene. Cry out that I permitted myself to be tempted by and bodily carried by him who is not worthy henceforth to see me."

[98] "Cry out that in my labors I sweated with a watery sweat, and in my sufferings with a bloody one. Cry out all that you have learned of me regarding the course of my life and ministry. Cry out again the most base price of my betrayal. Cry out the supper which I held with the disciples and how humbly I washed their feet. Cry out that I was betrayed with a kiss, struck with blows, bound, shorn of hair, veiled in the face, and mocked by those whom I had wonderfully and powerfully led out of the slavery of Egypt. Cry out that many ran to see me suffer, not to compassionate my torments and sorrows, but to rejoice together over my misfortunes. Cry out that I was stripped and scourged, buffeted and defiled with the spittle of impious men. Cry out the burden of the Cross, the crown of thorns, the blows of the reed, the release of the seditious murderer Barabbas -- and that they refused to spare their innocent King, whom shortly before they had honored with branches. Cry out the ascent of the Cross, the companionship of the thieves, the hardness of the nails which I endured in my tender hands and feet. Cry out that I forgave my crucifiers, received the thief, and commended my Virgin Mother to John the virgin disciple. Cry out how my heart dried up in such anguish of sufferings, and to their thirsting Lord they offered a draught of gall. Cry out with weeping that on the bed of the Cross my head, pierced by the points of thorns and weakened by blows, had no place to rest. Cry out that, commending my soul into the hands of the Father, with my head bowed upon my breast, I left my lifeless body on the cross while my Mother grieved most bitterly. Cry out how the merciless and most cruel, after my spirit had departed, pierced my side with a lance, whence flowed the blood and water of your redemption. And I will that with each work of my great condescension you say that love of souls alone inclined me to do all these things."

[99] As the time of the Resurrection drew near, in which Christ's servant Margaret sought with the greatest longing and in tears the presence of her Redeemer, he immediately offered himself to the loving soul and complained to her concerning sinners, saying: "Gaze with the eye of the intellect and see how I am ceaselessly crucified by the human race. And so that you may more easily recognize my injuries, I shall distinguish my crucifiers for you. Who are those who betray me as Judas did? They are assuredly those who talk, laugh, eat, drink, and sleep with people and then kill them for money. Who are those who strip me and cast lots for my garment? Highway robbers. Who are those who now, accusing me, lead me before Pilate? Judges who with false proofs or sentences condemn, or cause a man to be condemned. Who are those who now shear my hair? Goldsmiths, merchants, and craftsmen who through their avarice strive after profits by various and novel means. Who are those who harshly scourge me bound at the pillar? Those indeed who bind, scourge, and mutilate people in fortresses and castles, so that by ransoming themselves they spend beyond their means -- and likewise the officers of courts. Who are those who do not cease to give me slaps and blows? Those who in this time violently lay hands upon religious and clerics: for whoever touches them injuriously, even if they are deserving of it, touches the pupil of my eye. Who are those who do not shrink from plucking my cheeks and my beard? These are the wretched usurers, separated from the hope of glory. Who are those who fashion for me a narrow and short Cross, so that my head has no room or resting place? These are the dividers of lands, who, casting their fellow citizens out of their homes, compel them to beg, steal, plunder, and prostitute themselves throughout the world. Who are those who furiously cry out, 'Crucify, crucify him'? These are the excessively iniquitous makers of statutes and counselors who enact laws against my law, and either against conscience or through ignorance say, 'Let it be done.' Who are those who veil my face? Adulterers and fornicators. Who are those who do not blush to spit in my face? Those who blaspheme my name and paint their faces with cosmetics. Who are those who nail me to the cross? Counterfeiters of coins. Who are those who, with gall, myrrh, and vinegar, separate my soul from my body through those torments? Those who sin with the unspeakable vice against nature -- which vice indeed I destroyed at my nativity. Who are those who mock me on the Cross? Those who see my body on the altar and do not believe. Who is the Herod who mocks me? Any wicked Prelate."

[100] "And know, daughter, that today I find more Jews among Christians against me than stood before Pilate at the time of my passion. Those men attempted to inflict bodily death upon my body; but these renew my wounds both in me and in my members, to such an extent that if the body taken from the Virgin were as great as the structure of the world, and were passible, there would not be found in it a place the size of a needle's point without a wound, from their sins so often repeated. For there are more Jews who crucify me at this time than there were on the day of my passion. And why is this? Did I not form them, when they did not exist, in my image? Did I not place them in a Paradise of delights? Did I not give them my commandments? For they broke the commandment, and I came to obey for them. They lost glory, and I was made a partaker of their misery. They lost heaven, and I descended to earth for them. They were wounded, daughter, and I healed them with my wounds. They lost the sweetness of grace and even of glory, and I for them tasted the bitter potion. They lost the royal crown, and I for them bore the crown of thorns. I was made small, that I might make them great; I hungered, that I might nourish them; I labored, that they might rest; and that they might enjoy great honors, I was afflicted with many insults for their salvation. Consider, daughter, whether the human race could even meditate upon the temporal benefits alone which I have granted to it under heaven, let alone the spiritual and eternal ones. Why then do kings and potentates, judges and notaries, rulers of places and their officials, Jews, Saracens, and other nations renew my wounds -- they to whom I would bless all things granted and yet to be granted, if they would abstain from vices? But the world has so universally defiled itself with the filth of vices that scarcely out of a thousand will you find one chosen."

[101] "You, daughter, often seek me as though absent from you with the most bitter weeping; but if you desire me so much, why do you not return to the Cross on which you so often fixed me?" By this word she remained so wounded, terrified, and confounded that she dared neither to seek again the Christ whom she so ardently loved, nor to raise her eyes to heaven. But the kindness of Christ, restoring her stricken heart to security, said: "Without doubt you crucified me very often; but after you were converted to me, and after you received the habit of the Third Order of your beloved Father, my dear Francis, from the hands of the Guardian of the Friars Minor and most devoutly offered yourself to their Order, you anointed my wounds and with the most bitter grief of heart took me down from the torment of the Cross, and never was I placed there again by you. And tell, daughter, the Friars Minor that they ought not to grant the habit which they gave you to anyone who is unwilling to live under their obedience and teaching. And know that before they clothe any person, they should strive to consider carefully the condition, state, age, and suitability of those to be clothed."

[102] Once, when she was alone in her cell, seeking with groans in prayer her Bridegroom Christ, suddenly finding herself placed in the greatest tranquility of mind, she said: "Give yourself back to me, most high God. Give yourself back to me, my lover; give yourself back to me, my Creator; give yourself back to me, my Redeemer; give yourself back to me, my Bridegroom, for without you I find no rest." And the most gracious Bridegroom, humbly sought by his bride with sighs and tears, immediately replied, saying: "I am that Savior of yours who called you back from the sentence of death -- first on the gibbet of the Cross, then I called you to penitence, as I called Matthew and Magdalene. For just as they faithfully followed me after their conversion, so you shall come to me after many tribulations, vilified and murmured against. You shall not, however, depart from this world through the martyrdom of blood, as they did. And just as Magdalene was murmured against because she had scorned adornments and ardently followed me, so many shall ridicule you for following me. But do not be concerned, for you are my daughter, my beloved, my sister, whom I love above all women who are today on earth. Be therefore strong and take courage, for although your sufferings shall increase, grace shall also increase. And tell your bearer, Friar Giunta, to inform Friar Giovanni that he should pray for you urgently, for your sufferings shall be so many and so full of suspicion that both of them will often doubt concerning you; and they shall be so full of doubt before many, until your departure. But at your end I shall make you secure, and you shall leave behind consolation and grace for many. For you, my daughter, are a light placed in darkness. And I will that your life be a confirmer of my faith, after the likeness of your Father, Blessed Francis, who was a renewer of the faith and of my Church. For I have called you to penance as a mirror for sinners, just as I called Blessed Matthew, the public sinner. I do not wish, daughter, that you examine or name your sufferings, but that you recline with them in the arms of my charity. That companion whom you keep shall afflict you, because she does not observe the rule concerning the glass vessel, nor concerning words." And the Lord said again: "I shall permit you to be despised by many and struck by the words of detractors; but a time shall come when your murmurers shall repent. Do not fear their senseless detraction, for the grace granted to you shall not be diminished. You say that you would consider your sufferings delightful and sweet, and believe them sweeter than honey, if you knew they pleased me, your Creator. And I reply to you that, just as Friar Giunta, your Confessor, spoke truly to comfort you, your fasting, your food, your vigils, your sleep, your silence and your speech, your consolations and tribulations, your rest and your temptations, your labor and your whole life please me: because you refer all things to me and order them in me. For you are my tabernacle, and in you the supreme Trinity, one God, speaks. You are the tabernacle and the cell of my Mother, for in all the gifts bestowed upon you by me and to be bestowed hereafter, she is with me and rejoices with you in all your consolations, and on these matters urgently entreats me."

[103] On the Saturday of the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, having received the body of Jesus Christ, she was filled with so great a sweetness of tenderness that her body, deprived of strength by its prior infirmity and the austerity of her penance, could not stand. But he who disposes all things sweetly speaks to his servant Margaret, saying: "Because your weakness cannot bear the sweet conversations of your Master, recline your head, with my permission, upon the pillow." And with her head inclined he said to her: "Do you believe that I, the eternal and one God, am the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, you who know all things, well know that I believe most certainly. Why do you question me and seem to put me in fear?" "Daughter," said the Lord, "I questioned Peter too, because I delight in the friendly and mutual conversation of those I love." And Margaret replied: "How can he take delight in a creature, whose delight is so great that it can neither be increased, nor changed, nor diminished?" And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, the Scripture speaks of me, saying: 'My delights are to be with the children of men.' Prov. 8:31 I do this also with you, so that him whom I expelled from Paradise I may afflict in you -- he who does not cease, insofar as in him lies, to place me again upon the Cross through the deadly destruction of souls."

[104] Margaret, desiring to please Christ alone, said: "My Lord, although the sufferings which I endure are beyond the capacity of my strength, I count them as nothing, provided they are pleasing to you. May the desire of my heart, which I have placed and invested in you, be pleasing to you, my Lord." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, I greatly delight in pure loves." But when the most pure lover heard the praise of pure affection, she said: "Lord, teach me the pure love of you, which no one has ever been able to possess except from you, the fountain of all good things." "Do you wish," said the Lord, "that I show you the signs of the purest love which are in you?" And Margaret replied that she did. And the Lord said: "Would you not willingly die for love of me? Is it not sweet for you to fast continually with tears for the love of my name? Do you not maintain the strictest poverty for the love of him who for you was made poor and destitute? Do you not willingly flee the conversation of all worldly persons, so that you may more easily be united to me alone, your God? Would you not also flee no kind of torment for love of me?" And Margaret replied: "My Lord, there is nothing so heavy, hard, or harsh that is not light to me for the love of your most sweet love. But you leave me in such great fear that I believe myself stripped of all these things." On which account the Lord said to her: "This afflictive fear, in your desire which you have for me, shall dissolve the faults from your soul. But do not doubt that all things which have been promised to you shall be fulfilled; and you shall be great in my fatherland, if you bear your sufferings without murmuring and complaint. Nevertheless, keep the measure which you have hitherto kept concerning your other suffering, and I shall reveal to you the state of those who offend you."

[105] But Margaret, seeing that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us, replied to the Lord, saying: "My Lord, how could I be so exalted, who on account of sin am lower than all other creatures, and I feel nothing good in my soul from which to draw confidence?" And the Lord said to her: "Cannot I, the Lord of all, give from my treasures to whomever I please as much as I wish? Tell me then, are you now satisfied by the abundant sweetness of my familiarity?" And Margaret replied: "My Lord, I truly confess that wherever you are, there is Paradise. Yet although this is so, I do not believe one can be satisfied with you such that the satisfaction does not give birth to further eagerness, except in the heavenly glory of the blessed: for the infinite joys of those who taste you are attractive of faithful fears." And the Lord said to her: "Do you firmly believe and confess that there is one God in substance, Father and Son and Holy Spirit?" And Margaret replied: "Just as I believe you to be one in essence and three in persons, so would that you would give me full security concerning the things you have promised." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, you shall not have, as long as you live, that full security which you seek with tears, until I place you in the glory of my kingdom." And Margaret replied: "Have you, Lord, kept holy men in these doubts in which you keep me?" And the Lord said to her: "To my saints in their torments I gave fortitude, but full security they did not have except in the fatherland."

[106] On the Sunday within the octave of the Epiphany, having been placed for a long time in an ecstasy of mind, returning to herself with fervor, she went out of her cell; and in that intoxication she was seeking outside the Jesus Christ whom she bore within her soul, and lifted up above herself she ran to the friary. Her Friar Confessor, meeting her, said: "Come to your Lord Jesus Christ," and thus he led her back within her cell, where, continuing her ecstasy of mind, she heard Christ saying to her: "You wish to be a daughter of milk, but you shall be a daughter of gall in the sufferings that you shall endure. But through them you shall become my chosen daughter and sister, and they shall make you like me. For it is for your greater benefit that I have determined sometimes to withdraw myself from you, because I wish to do with you what is done with gold cast into the furnace, purging your soul of the coarseness and offenses which you committed while you were in the world. But I tell you that the intense, singular, and pure love of your soul, which with the urgency of prayers seeks me alone in tears, bends me to bestow mercy." And Margaret replied: "My Lord, I beseech your majesty to deign to grant me that everywhere and always I may serve you, love you, and be able to praise you continually, without offense of thoughts, words, and deeds. For your name is so sweet in my soul that I never refuse the gall, nor ought I to refuse it forever, because you tasted it for me on the cross." And the Lord said to her: "If Lucifer, the cruelest among your enemies, could come from hell to you, he would come immediately to deceive you. So enraged is he against you on account of the state of grace in which I have placed you. But you shall be well defended, daughter: for although I withdraw from you as regards the taste of the delight which you now hear, I am nevertheless always with you as regards the presence of my protection and grace."

[107] In the days preceding Easter, on the Friday before the first Sunday of Lent, Margaret, placed in affliction, humbly besought the Lord. I, her Confessor, compassionating her affliction, began to read to her certain things from the divine promises that had been made to her; and when she heard them, resuming new confidence, she said: "Help me, Father of my soul, to make the most thorough confession, so that I may receive my Creator this morning, in the longing for whom, drawn out so long, I have become ill and all my senses have languished." And when the confession was finished and the body of Christ most devoutly received, immediately pain and languor entirely departed. For, refreshed by the sweetness of him who inebriates the Angels and the blessed on high, all sorrow was converted into joy. Then also her soul was melted when the Beloved spoke to her, saying: "My daughter, are you now in joy, you who stood so long in tears and grief?" And Margaret replied: "My Lord, good Savior, this day is truly to be called a day of joy, for my joy is ineffable; but you compelled me to keep so long a fast from you amidst such prolonged weeping. Why, in such great anguish, did the singular love of my soul -- whom alone I love, seek, and desire -- hide yourself from me and absent yourself?" "Daughter," said the Lord to Margaret, "because the time recently past represents that fast which I began from my baptism, I therefore wished that you, in your solitude, should accompany me in your fasting. But because this season signifies that fast which was instituted by the Church, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, in it I present and grant myself to you." And Margaret replied: "Lord, because today is Friday, which was most bitter for you, I would not wish to abound in such wondrous consolations; I would not wish to feel these joys. But rather to accompany you, my crucified King and God, in bitterness. For you have made this day so sweet that never in your sweet speech have I received such security and gladness. Therefore pardon me, most loving consoler Jesus, that I have spoken with you with such great familiarity."

[108] The sweet and upright Lord, who recalls his Law to transgressors of the Law, in order to make the fearful Margaret more secure, said: "Daughter, I complain to you about all peoples who are bound by the cords of their vices, not unwillingly, but with full knowledge and will: for after they are bound, they are most harshly scourged and dragged from vice to vice, and they are beaten, yet they neither feel it nor resist. I also complain to you, daughter, about them, because the peoples whom I formed in my image have become beasts, and from the arts of hell they have made for themselves glory in the world, and the glory of the fatherland which I promised them they have reckoned as infernal punishment. Did I not permit myself to be bound to the pillar in order to set them free? If, however, they willingly allow themselves to be bound, let them not blame my goodness. And therefore I justly complain of them, because they call what is bitter sweet, and what is sweet bitter. Did I not make myself a servant for their sins, and wear a veil before Pilate and the Jewish people, in order to make them free and to remove the veil that was before their eyes? Why then, spurning me their Creator, have they made for themselves those new gods whom I cast out from the glory of Paradise? Why have they forgotten me, their Creator? Why do their bonds seem sweet, so that, thus bound, they are led willingly to eternal punishment, when I shall say to them: 'Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire'? Then they shall be horribly disturbed, seeing the Blessed invited to the kingdom, and themselves, deprived of so infinite a good, cast into the everlasting fire."

[109] When these things had been so familiarly disclosed to Margaret by Christ, she began like a devoted mother to compassionate sinners and to say: "My Lord, do not permit your peoples to go to such horrible punishments." And the Lord said to her: "The demons, by whom they permit themselves to be bound, scourge them daily, as wheat is threshed on the threshing floor: for they have become their beasts for carrying their burdens, and they do not recognize the harsh perils which they suffer. But those to whom they have pledged obedience, since they have no power to do anything but evil, shall pay them with the currency which they have in their kingdom: for they shall give them pestilence by my permission, and among themselves I shall allow them to come to the destruction of goods and persons." But Margaret, most full of compassion and piety, compassionating peoples obstinate in evil, said to the Lord: "Mercy! Mercy! Mercy, Lord God!" And the Lord said to her: "I call them, and they do not hear my voice, for they have become deaf. And I tell you that however hard a man may be, if he is not of a double heart nor dissembling, were he to return to me, I would receive him with full mercy and grace. Moreover, I send to them my Angels to guard them, who frequently enkindle them to salutary penance." When Christ's servant Margaret heard of the ministry of the Angels, she questioned Christ about their companionship, saying: "Lord, do the glorious Angels deign to stand with sinners?" And the Lord said to her: "Although not continually, on account of the stench of vices, they often invite them again to grace and strive to lead them back to my mercy; at whose invitation the apostate angels grieve and tremble. Tell the Friars, therefore, that they should frequently preach my word, and open the ears of the deaf by their teaching, and illuminate the blind by their examples." But Margaret, beholding only the depths of her own vileness, said: "Lord, omnipotent King, very great are the things which I hear. But I find in myself no good for the merit of which you should lament to me about the injuries inflicted by the world. And whence comes so wondrous and incredible a familiarity?" And the Lord said to her: "I delight in your humility, purity, and charity. And just as from a long time until now there has not been a woman to whom such lofty things are shown, so in the present time there is none more afflicted in herself than you. But do not fear, for you know that I am your God, who shall guard you." To this word Margaret replied: "You are my Father, my Redeemer, and the true light, whom I fear to displease in my sufferings." And the Lord said to her: "Overcome and break through the pains of fear; and confess well the circumstances of your sins; and do not omit communion of my Body on account of the variety of your tribulations."

[110] Having been invited, therefore, to the divine table, she was suddenly carried away in spirit before the royal throne of the Mother of God. And marveling at so sudden a change, she said: "Lord, while I was speaking with you on earth, what is this, that you have so imperceptibly led my soul into heaven?" And the Lord said to her: "This was so that you might more familiarly commend yourself to my Mother, the Queen of heaven, and to the other Saints who attend upon me." Then Margaret said to the Lady: "Lady of heaven, advocate of heaven and of the world, and Mother of my God, your Son has led me to you; he is my guide." "And I," said the Lady, "receive you and your prayers: for you are a daughter whom I continually commend with urgent prayers to the Creator who rested in my womb." Wondrously gladdened by this response, she began to give thanks to the Mother of the eternal Judge, saying: "Greatly, Lady, did my heart wonder that it did not enjoy your speech; but perhaps you were not heard speaking with me because I was desiring only your Son, my Lord, with longing." And the Mother of the Lord said to her: "Daughter, whoever seeks my only-begotten Son and Lord is seeking me; and whoever has him has me." And having given thanks to the Mother of God, who had received both herself and her Son in her commendation, she turned to all the Saints of the eternal city, and especially to Blessed John the Baptist and the Evangelist, to Blessed Francis her Father, and to Catherine, that they might pray for her, being filled with joys and gladness in that place of felicity. The Most High said: "You always desire to be in a state of rest and eternal peace; and you do not remember the words which I spoke to you in that year in which I enclosed you in your cell -- that you were to be nursed at the wound of my side. Whence, because the time is at hand, prepare yourself for the sufferings promised to you." Margaret replied to Christ speaking to her: "My Lord, my only hope and safe refuge, reveal to me through your mercy whether the sufferings promised to me are purgative of my faults or inductive of grace." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, on account of your bitter contrition, penance, and various supplications, my mercy has blotted out all your past faults; and therefore henceforth they are and shall be for the increase of grace and virtues. And rejoice, daughter, concerning your mother, for whom you prayed to me: for although she contracted a delay of ten years in purgatory, she is now in the glory of Paradise."

[111] After this, when that ecstatic state had been removed, Margaret, finding herself in her cell, the condescending conversations having also been withdrawn, her face was bathed in tears, and she said: "Woe is me, my Lord, where do I find myself now? For wherever I feel myself without your sweet presence, I seem to be placed in hell." To the Lord's servant praying in her cell, an Angel appeared to comfort her. She said to him: "Angel of God, guardian of my soul, show me by what signs the virtuous and perfect elect of God can be recognized." And the Angel replied to her: "That one is perfectly elect who separates his whole heart from base things and, joined to God alone, cries out to him and sighs for him with his whole heart day and night." Hearing this, Margaret replied: "Come to the virtues of the elect, Angel of God." "That one," said the Angel, "is elect who has these virtues: the first is profound humility, which one ought to have for the love of him who humbled himself even to the cross. Second, one ought to have the most perfect charity. Third, that one is elect in whom is fulfilled that word: 'Blessed are the pure in heart.' Matt. 5:8 Fourth, that one is elect who denies himself -- indeed, who kills himself for Christ; not by the sword or any other means, but by mortifying his own will, and so that he may be prepared to undergo death for the name of Christ, should the time demand it in defense of the Christian faith. He also kills himself for Christ who mortifies his senses through penance. Fifth, that one is elect who has true compassion for the poor, and in whose mouth there is not only truth always, but honesty of life in conduct. That one likewise is elect who, for love of the Lord Jesus Christ, reserves for himself all sufferings so as to remove them from others, and is willing to be poorly clothed, to eat and drink poorly, while others fare well. That one also is elect who is afflicted and saddened by the affliction of friends and enemies alike, and rejoices in the consolation of all, and bears envy toward no one placed in any prosperity."

[112] Within Passion Week, having most devoutly received the body of Christ, fearing lest those speaking outside her cell might utter worldly words, because she wished to hear only of God, she said: "Lord, do not allow me to be bitten by the serpent, lest my mind wander to anything contrary to you, which desires to cling to you alone." After a long insistence of prayers, in which she sought only the conversation of Christ, our Savior said to her: "You are very weary, daughter Margaret; but I was more weary in ascending the stairs of the cross, for my suffering was more prolonged than the Scripture tells. For from that day on which I raised Lazarus, I was seeing the determined order of my torments in the hearts of my enemies. There was represented to my soul, united to the Divinity, the eagerness of the traitors, the scourges gathered against me, and the voices of my adversaries -- now the nails, the thorns, the bitter draught, and the weight of the cross, now the lance about to pierce my side; in the fixed and certain imagination of which sufferings my body was altered in appearance before my disciples, and they did not notice." And because God's servant, at those words uttered with such familiarity, could not grieve according to her wish on account of the sweetness of Christ, she said: "Lord, never have I received such great sweetness and consolation." And the Lord said to her: "Do you wish to be certain of my sweetness? Yet as regards the eye of the world, I shall withdraw the signs of my love, and from this you shall receive no small suffering. For your life, so ordered, shall not seem to the world to be one of delights, as it shall be, because I will that just as the world despised me and did not know me, so it shall despise you and murmur against you."

[113] On the feast of Blessed Mark, when she had tasted the desired gladness in the sacrament of the altar, she heard Christ himself speaking and saying to her: "You besought my court with fervent spirit, that by their prayers they might obtain that I should show you whether the ascent to the cell on the citadel was pleasing to me; and as a sign that it pleased me, I give you my blessing in the name of the Father, and my own, and of the Holy Spirit, and also of the most blessed Virgin my Mother, and on behalf of the entire court of my kingdom. You flee for love of me, and I fled for love of the human race. You flee to preserve and increase grace; but you shall not be able to flee tribulations." And having said this, suddenly a cross appeared above her, whose arms extended from hand to hand, and its upright from head to feet; yet God's servant was not fastened with iron nails. Then the Lord, blessing her and making the sign of the Cross with his own hand, immediately another cross, on which Christ was fastened, appeared; at whose sorrowful sight the embittered soul of Margaret said: "My Lord, let me be crucified." And the Lord said to her: "My daughter, you shall be crucified by tribulations, not upon a cross. You flee creatures as much as you can, lest you offend me; and I shall preserve you so that you cannot offend. But I tell you that you are of little faith, for since you have such fervent and such holy desires for me, that for love of me you abandon yourself, why do you believe that I would wish to abandon you? I shall not abandon you, daughter, but I am and shall always be with you. For I recognize your zeal lest you offend me, which is so great that you do not care to flee for the sake of obtaining greater consolations, but solely lest I be offended by you. But in this virtuous flight, you shall neither offend me; and when you are burdened with tribulation, you shall enjoy my consolations in manifold ways, and in tribulations your body shall fail. Tell, therefore, Friar Giunta, your bearer, on my behalf, that he should not hinder you from freely ascending to the cell on the citadel. And let him write to Friar Giovanni Benedetto that he should not be troubled by this change, nor withdraw his solicitude from you; but let him commend you to my friends who are with him. And because your soul does not converse as willingly with certain persons as with others, this is the manner of an illuminated mind, which Friar Giunta showed you. And when you come to the said cell, there you shall remain, as I shall teach you. And know that a certain person, about whose state you are in doubt, although he has confessed, has not ceased from his evil desires and works. And he who tells you this is he who deigned to be born of that humble Mother who said: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord' -- at which word indeed he took flesh from her. And lest you doubt the aforesaid things, behold, I greet her, saying: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.'"

[114] To God's servant, wearied by labors, temptations, and various infirmities, came the Priest of San Marco; she prepared herself with most reverent devotion to receive the body of our Savior, in the sweetness of whose love, as soon as she received it, she was absorbed by a heavenly consolation, in which, resting for a long time, she did not return to the perceptible use of her senses until the third hour. Standing insensible and with unblinking eyes, she responded to the Lord with jubilation of mind, which she displayed in her face, saying: "Lord, what do you say to me? Whatever I wish to ask of you, I seek nothing else but that my life may serve your majesty most perfectly, and that, loving you alone, my true God, I may be light, not darkness, to your faithful ones who trust in me." To which the Lord replied: "Daughter, speaking to you briefly, I say that since you entered this cell you have felt tranquility both of body and of mind. Henceforth, therefore, prepare yourself for the tribulations of infirmities and of the various temptations of the ancient enemy."

[115] On another day, before the Priest of San Marco, bearing the body of Christ, entered the cell, Margaret was filled with interior joy at the coming of her Savior whom she desired; and having received the bread of life with the greatest reverence, he spoke to her, saying: "Are you now in suffering, daughter?" And when she replied that she was, the Lord said: "And so was I, for the love of the human race, and not for any fault of my own. Daughter, love me, for few there are who love me. Serve me, your Creator, for few wish to serve me. Praise me, for few are intent upon my praises. For I made myself man, taking flesh from the Virgin Mary, by whom I wished to be nursed, to be laid in a cradle. And at last, not refusing the torment of the Cross, I was judged and delivered into the hands of Pilate, and without cause of death -- as he himself testified -- I was fixed to the Cross. And although the death which the Jews then inflicted was cruel, yet this death would be more bitter, if I were passible, which Christians, adding sins to sins, do not cease to inflict. And so great is the stench of their vices that it has ascended even to the Father. You wonder that the feast of the Assumption was so hard for you; but I tell you that by the prayers of my Mother it was made sweet for you. For she said to me, her Son: 'May it please you to console your devoted one, now recalled to you by grace, who trusts so much in me, on this my solemnity.' For the entire court with great joy awaits the day of your beloved death. You are in suffering, and I was so for you. Your sufferings increase because the time of your end is being shortened. Ask the priest of such-and-such a church to make a general confession; and do not be ashamed to tell him to be strong in the battle of the flesh, for I am prepared to grant grace if he disposes himself."

[116] On a certain morning within the Octave of Blessed Francis, having received the bread of life with reverence, the food of the Blessed, who nourishes all, the Lord Jesus Christ, said to her: "Daughter, weakened and infirm on account of the austerity of life which you have continued for love of me, do not fear to recline your head. You believe you have passed through the sea of tribulations which you are to suffer; but you shall still endure many tribulations and murmurings, and you shall be as though abandoned. For you shall be darkness in the eyes of the light -- that is, in the eyes of those who ought to be light. And just as I was not recognized at my end, but was reckoned by the world that did not know me to have failed, and afterward the world knew me: so those who now call you darkness shall know you after your death with shame and sorrow. But remember that your vessel was to be purified by various sufferings, which while you endure them for love of me, you not only strip off the garment of defects, but I shall clothe you with the gifts of graces."

[117] On the Saturday of the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, having received the body of the true God, Christ speaks to Margaret, saying: "Separate yourself, daughter, as much as you can from all familiarity with worldly persons, except for the Order of Friars Minor. And know that the variety of your sufferings seems light and small in the eyes of others. But to you, who feel it, it is heavy and full of grief. And if you do not find anyone to inflict upon you many kinds of torments as you desire, endure sweetly the pains of the cup for love of me. And your battles, in which your vessel shall be adorned -- because they seem to you more bitter and suspect than torments -- shall be reckoned to you as martyrdom." Margaret, hearing this, replied: "Lord, I do not believe that the vessel of my soul can be purified or adorned in such sufferings." And the Lord said to her: "You speak truly, that sufferings alone would not purge or adorn you. And know that in temptations, infirmities, and your other good works you shall suffer many tribulations; but I shall so defend you in all things that never, as long as you live, shall you offend me mortally."

[118] And Margaret said to the Lord: "I give you thanks, most sweet Jesus Christ, my lover, because you always foretell to me both the sweet and the bitter things to which I shall come, before they happen. But I beseech you, most loving God, whom alone I bear in my heart through love, to fulfill my desire and grant me confidence in your defense." To which the Savior said: "You shall not have full confidence until you are placed in the glory of my kingdom. And I do this so that you may better preserve the gifts bestowed upon you, and the gifts of graces may increase in you, and through this you may become more solicitous about your salvation. And I, who have deigned to speak these things to you, am Jesus Christ your Savior, born of the Virgin Mary, nursed, laid in a manger, baptized by John, who for you naked ascended the cross." And because Margaret especially honored the Baptist among the other Saints, she questioned the Lord, saying: "Does that Precursor of yours, whom I have chosen as my advocate, pray to your majesty for me?" And the Lord said to her: "Not only he, but John the Evangelist, and your Father Francis, and Catherine, together with the entire court of my kingdom. You too, daughter, say in your anguishes the Our Father." And Margaret replied: "I say it, my Lord, but in such great weakness I do not seem to feel its savor." And the Lord said to her: "Do not omit it on that account when you are able to say it; and in saying it, return to the Cross." And Margaret replied: "When I thus pray, returning to your Cross, I seem to be driven away." And the Lord showed her that she seemed to be driven away because her mind in tribulations became unstable. And again he said to her: "Even so, unstable and afflicted, you taste without delay the benefit of my Cross." And Margaret replied: "Lord, place leprosy upon my body, that henceforth I may not offend you, and deign in your pity to lead me back to the Cross." Regarding the first petition, he told her that her sufferings were sufficient for her, because with leprosy she would be secure, but with temptations and bodily infirmity he was preserving her in fear and grace. Regarding the second petition he said: "I often recall you and lead you back to the Cross; but you, as a creature, must apply your effort so as to merit to return. You ask me that you may no longer be able to sin regarding your end. But I tell you that I shall leave you so long in this valley of misery as shall be pleasing to my will."

[119] On the night after the feast of Blessed Benedict, when God's servant Margaret was weeping most bitterly out of the excessive compassion which she had for a certain Father of hers who was placed in afflictions, the Lord replied to her who wept and prayed, saying: "Tell him to prepare himself, for this is not his final tribulation, for he shall still be so afflicted both inwardly and outwardly -- he and him to whom I shall grant the gift of my passion -- that at times he will fear for his fall. Nevertheless, let him take comfort in me, for I shall not allow him to fall through impenitence, and at last he shall remain in a great state." And while the Lord was saying this, Margaret saw the Lord very familiar toward that person.

[120] On a certain day Margaret heard the Lord saying to her: "Go to the Cross and examine my wounds within and without, and learn how great and how bitter they were." And when her devout mind had immediately obeyed the Lord, she heard what follows: "I, the Lord, who never lie -- for I am the truth -- tell you that through your various afflictions, before you depart from this world, you shall enter into my wounds." So thoroughly after this was she wounded inwardly in mind by sorrows in the meditation of the Cross that the nerves of her eyes seemed to be torn out, and she could not touch the palms of her hands.

[121] On the day of the Finding of the Head of the Precursor, having received the body of Christ, the Lord said to Margaret: "You have prayed for a blessing upon my Friars, and I, the Redeemer of all, bless them all together, for the love of my Elect among whom they are. But tell my Vicars to prepare themselves for tribulations, for the Friars Minor, above all others under heaven, imitate me. Let them be comforted, however, for I shall be with them. And although I have blessed others, I especially bless these, because they did not disdain to faithfully bear the care of you for love of me. And I tell you that one day of reconciliation and grace is worth more than a year, and such a year more than a hundred years." But Margaret, desiring to cling to God alone, said: "Lord, when shall I be separated from the world and be able to come to you?" And the Lord said to her: "As long as it shall please me, as has been said; and your life shall be long for as long as it is possible for the human body to respond to its masters. You shall first purchase what you are to have. Prepare yourself, therefore, for various and great tribulations." And Margaret replied: "Lord, you promise me inestimable gifts, yet you do not leave me full confidence." And the Lord said to her: "The confidence which you desire you shall not have in your lifetime." And she replied: "This I ask, that I may not be deceived." And the Lord said to her: "Amen I say to you, you shall not be deceived in the things which have been promised to you." And she said: "Lord, I do not ask this for myself, but for the sake of the faith of those who on my account will praise you, serve you, love you, and desire you; for, my Lord God, whatever I love and desire, I do for you, not for me, an unworthy and most vile creature." And the Lord said to her: "You love me, and you shall be loved; you serve me, and you shall be served; you desire, and you shall be desired; you praise, and you shall be praised; you obey me, and you shall be obeyed."

[122] On the feast of the Protomartyr Saint Stephen, after indescribable weeping and many conversations held with Christ, Christ concluded by saying: "You have become very presumptuous, because in this wretched life of the world you desire to claim my glory. But I will that you should have joy in this world after my likeness, following me in the tasting of my sufferings. Therefore prepare yourself for tribulations, for in the wayfaring life the fatherland is not to be obtained." Then Margaret replied: "Wherever you are, it is God's Paradise." And the Lord said to her: "I shall be and I shall not be with you: for you shall be clothed in my grace, yet it shall seem to you that you are naked, because I shall not permit myself to be recognized in you by you. For I will to keep you always in my fear, so that you may grow in my grace."

[123] On a certain day after the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Lord said to Margaret: "Come up mentally, daughter of the Holy Spirit, to whom I reveal that never since the redemption was accomplished have so many gone to the punishments of hell as go now -- for whom I feel compassion not on my own account, as though I had need of them, but on account of them, who without me, the true life, shall incur eternal death. For I continually go after them with the voice of mercy, lest they perish; and therefore I complain to you about them, whom I redeemed with my precious blood." And again: "Lift up your heart and come up, daughter of the Holy Spirit, to say the full salutation of my most blessed Virgin Mother." And when the Hail Mary had been said, Margaret said to the Lord: "What is it, Lord, that I do not rejoice with you at such length as I used to?" And the Lord said to her: "I had made you a fountain in which sinners were to be saved; and you have troubled the fountain of mercy. But your grief has preserved you in grace. Prepare yourself for infirmities and tribulations, and remember that I suffered harsh things for you; and just as I had no rest in this life, so neither shall you."

[124] "That voice which invited you so many times on the feast of the Archangel was the voice of the Prince of the Church, Michael, who invited you on my behalf as a sign of the power to be given to you, and of fortitude in tribulation, and of light with regard to revelation." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I greatly fear lest I offend the eyes of your majesty if I offer and communicate myself to those creatures who seek me with such great faith." "It pleases me," said the Lord, "that you console the afflicted; but I commit the manner to your discretion. And do not neglect the works which my grace works in you on account of the judgments of others. I command you to eat alone: for I do not wish you to lose your devotions and tears on account of those present while you eat." For while eating she used to weep and suspend her mind to such a degree that often, leaving her food while sitting at table, as though she were speaking with God, she was now caught up in rapture, now praying, now praising, now asking to be fed with everlasting joy in the presence of food prepared for her body. And the Lord said again: "Only those things which are not done for love of me and according to the good pleasure of my will are to be set aside, both in public and in private."

[125] On another day, the Lord spoke to Margaret as she prayed, saying: "Tribulations are increasing for you." And Margaret replied: "Lord, shall I offend you in them?" And the Lord said to her: "I tell you, Margaret, that in them you shall merit grace and glory and blessing. Otherwise you will offend me venially; but do not fear, for I shall be your protector in those tribulations. You are afflicted regarding that priest, because the ancient enemy is grieved that he has escaped from his hands." And the Lord's servant said: "Shall I leave him, my Lord?" And the Lord said to her: "Do not abandon him, but help him. You, daughter, shall flee -- you whom I have set against false religious women. And your flight shall be the cause of your crown. And know that your confession, so universal and so explicit, is a special virtue granted to you, which few use and need. Remember that I sometimes showed myself to you as gentle, and I granted you gentleness; sometimes I showed myself to you in the likeness of a judge judging, and I showed you judicial reasoning; sometimes I preached, and you lead many to penance; sometimes I spoke to you sweetly, and I left you the sweetness of my speech. I was delightful in the sight of my disciples, and you are in the sight of creatures, for I shall make you a light, with respect to discerning the subtlety of darkness. Whence I will that you preserve the pure book of your conscience, in which I store my designs, and the seat of your soul, in which I rest. Keep my temple closed, and fasten it with the key of my Passion."

[126] On another day, an Angel appeared to Margaret as she prayed, saying: "Prepare yourself for so many tribulations that you will wish to die and will not be able to." And Margaret besought the Most High to make her strong in them, lest she offend him. To which the Savior afterward said: "What greater suffering could you endure than fearing lest you offend me? For I tell you that for my friends every sin ought to displease them in their conscience as though it were mortal. For whoever wishes to come after me and thinks those things which are contrary to my will -- if he lingers there, he gravely offends me in that lingering; but if he rises up against such a thought, he merits the crown of glory for his victory."

[127] After many days spent in tribulation, Margaret received the body of Christ with great reverence and fear; and having received it, she heard him saying in her soul: "Daughter, she whose charity is assailed by murmurers shall be crowned in heaven; for you compassionate the blood I shed on the Cross more than any creature living today. For although many weep over my most bitter Passion and the shedding of my blood, they do not weep in the way that you do, my daughter. For I was in tribulations, and you are troubled in tribulations; I was in labors, and you labor; there was murmuring about me, and there shall be murmuring about your works; I am in glory, and your soul shall be placed there. But I tell you that tribulations are increasing for you." Hearing the names of tribulations, Margaret replied to Christ her Bridegroom: "If tribulations are increasing for me, let your grace be increased in me." And the Lord said to her: "You are separated from the former degrees by which one comes to grace, and now I will that you ascend to a higher state of knowledge of me." And Margaret replied: "If you are doing this to me, Lord, why do you place me in such afflictive fears?" And the Lord said to her: "Just as I withdrew and hid my power in the wood of the Cross, so I have hidden myself from you in the increase of the crown of your mind, so that you may know what you are of yourself without me. But there are many of the school of my Apostle Thomas, for they are slow to believe the things that are done in you. Now cry out: 'Glory to God in the highest' -- which signifies a new transformation toward the most high God. Cry out: 'And on earth peace to men of good will' -- which signifies peace among the peoples of unfaithful Christians."

[128] On the holy day of Pentecost, having received the saving host, she heard Christ speaking and saying: "Daughter of tribulation, of glory, and of sublimity, whom I shall place near the Virgins in the fatherland: your tribulations shall be of such great doubt that not only will you not believe yourself to be ascending to the state promised you, but you will believe you have fallen from the former one. In this state you shall receive the light of knowledge for performing virtuous works, for extinguishing many evils of others, and you shall receive in it the degree of authority of perfect faith. Praise and love me, and serve me, your Creator, who gave you from that faith which you have, that as often as you see me on the altar you always believe you receive a new gift. You believe truly, and so it is. You say that you have not received new signs of grace on this day, which is the day of the Holy Spirit. And I tell you that you have received the greatest and have not recognized them. Know that within a few days Friar Giunta will try to help you in your tribulations and will not be able to, because I have chosen you by this path and have granted them to you."

[129] On the day of Blessed John the Evangelist, she began to cry out in a loud voice, saying: "Let us all run to the fountain of heavenly love." Having said this, she heard Christ saying to her: "A new light risen in the darkness, to whom I, who suffered and rose again, give my blessing. But be certain that your sufferings are increasing, and one of your martyrdoms shall be your son, who shall be saved. For it has been granted to you by my Father to pass through the way of my tribulations. But the more you shall be vilified -- you who are not recognized now -- the more I shall be with you. And in all the things in which you once offended me, you shall receive sufferings which you will not know how to interpret, saying: 'Now God is punishing such-and-such a fault, which I committed long ago.'"

[130] On a certain day, having received the body of Christ with intimate devotion, she heard him saying to her: "Daughter who are terrified, concerning those things which I have said to you, you shall not be deceived, for you are written in the book of eternal life. I bless you in the name of my Father and of the Holy Spirit, and also of my most blessed Virgin Mother, from whom I took that flesh which hung on the Cross, rose again, and ascended into heaven, and on behalf of the entire heavenly court, which with great joy desires you, who are not known to creatures. I give you a new light of mind, by which you may know how to respond easily and truthfully to those who question you. For receiving revelations from your Angel, I also speak with you at times, though not so frequently. And be strong in the tribulations to which my Father has chosen you, so that by this path you may follow me, the crucified, even to your end."

[131] On the feast of Saints Laurentinus and Pergentinus she said: "Although, Lord, I am not worthy to approach the sacrament of your most holy Body, yet like a sick woman I come to the physician and the medicine." June 3 And having received the body of Christ with trembling, she heard him saying to her: "I am the living bread who came down from heaven, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Do you wish to come to my Father?" And she replied: "Lord, when I am with you, I am with the Father and the Holy Spirit." And the Lord said to her: "Do you believe this?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, you who know all things, you know that I believe." At this word, having given a blessing, he said: "Lest you doubt, greet my Mother." And she said the Hail Mary up to "Blessed is the fruit of your womb." And when the salutation was finished, he said again: "Daughter, do you love me?" And Margaret replied: "Not only do I love you, Lord, but I desire you, if it should please you, and to be in your heart." And the Lord said: "Why do you wish to enter my heart and not enter the wound of my side?" And Margaret, responding, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, if I shall be in your heart, I shall be in the wound of your side, and in all the places of the nails, the crown of thorns, the gall and vinegar, and the veil placed over your venerable eyes." And the Lord said again: "Daughter, do you love me?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, then shall I love you, when I feel in my body so keenly the suffering which you received for me, that with my hands joined my soul departs." And the Lord said: "Would you not wish another death?" And Margaret replied: "I do not desire to die otherwise, for I ought to choose this death out of love for you and on account of my guilt." And the Lord said: "My wisdom is so great that in that very grief I would know how to give you a sweet death." And Margaret replied: "Lord Jesus Christ, I would not wish a sweet death in this, but I desire my life to fail from the bitter compassion of your sufferings." But questioning her a third time, he said: "Do you love me?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, if I loved you, I would serve you; and I believe that no creature has ever loved you as much as you are worthy to be loved." And the Lord said to her: "You have spoken truly." And Margaret said: "I would wish not only to love you, but if it were possible, more than to love -- so much do I desire to have of your love. For to this I am bound, if I consider my vileness, which surpasses all others and cannot reach the height of your dignity, which inclined itself so much to my misery." And the Lord said to her: "Would you wish to die as Blessed Andrew did?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, command me to die in whatever state you wish, provided I die in this grief which I so eagerly entreat. For if I were to die in this grief, in that hour I would be crucified. And this I judge most fitting, because I see in this world that a son sometimes dies without fault for his father; how much more ought I to die in such a way, who committed fault not only in my first parents -- and for me you died first -- but by my own will and deed." To which the Lord said: "Would you not wish my sweat?" And because she wished to feel all the sufferings of the Passion and to die thus, she did not respond when asked about the sweat. And the Lord said again: "If a new Scripture were written beyond the one I gave, men could not comprehend how anxious my sweat was."

[132] On the eighteenth day of July, having devoutly received the body of Christ, Margaret ascended into a certain mental security, asking the Lord that she might always serve him in all things and never offend him. "And in order that this may come to pass, Lord," she said, "I place myself as though dead in the arms of your mercy, and I wish to abandon myself, that you alone may govern me." And she said: "With Blessed Paul I cry out with you: 'Who shall separate me from Christ my Lord?' Certainly, my Lord, neither hunger, nor thirst, nor fire nor sword, nor any tribulation. For you have given me such fervor for you that with it I would run ready and with full security; and if the whole world were to oppose me, it could not separate me from you." Rom. 8:35 And that morning she remained with tranquility and new gladness of mind.

[133] On the vigil of Saint Clare, having received the Son of God, she heard him speaking to her: "Blessed are all the sufferings which I endured for your soul, and that Incarnation; and blessed are all the labors which I bore and that love which joined me to the human race. I have few good children today in proportion to the wicked. But if I had even one in the world, I would bless for him all the sufferings which I bore."

[134] On the Monday after Pentecost, when she wished to receive Christ from the hand of the priest, he said to her: "I come to you, and you do not come to me; I love you, and you do not love me; I serve you, and you do not serve me; I praise you, and you do not praise me as much as you ought. And what will you do, daughter, in your many tribulations, you who dwell among wolves? Amen I say to you, just as I helped Blessed Paul in his tribulations, I shall also be with you; just as I protected Blessed Gregory in his tribulations and infirmities, I shall also protect you." And Margaret replied: "Since you know all things, Lord, before they happen, why do you question me, the most vile of creatures?" And the Lord said to her: "This is as much as to say that I, born of the most pure and most radiant womb of the Virgin -- whose soul's sublimity was her profound humility -- have pity on you, the light of a new manner of life, which I have given to the world so that it may imitate your penance and be saved."

[135] On the Saturday of the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, having devoutly received the Savior, finding tranquility of mind, she then immediately saw Christ raised up on the Cross, complaining of few tears, of little devotion, purity, humility, truth, and charity; of much vainglory, envy, and impurity, and of anxiety over temporal things, whence various temptations arise. And he said that those who are so strongly tempted are often the cause of their own temptations. "For if lamentation could be made in heaven, I would today weep there with the Saints over every state, just as I wept over Jerusalem when I was received with palm branches." Likewise he complained about his servants, who speak of him eagerly yet briefly, and much about the things of the world, and do not preach his Gospel to his people. And about Prelates, who do not establish peace. "If you had perfect charity," he said, "you would not wish only to rest at the breasts of my consolations, but you would weep over my injuries, and stand with your offended God, and consider how you are worthy of tribulation and not of consolation, and that you are a vessel to be purged by various temptations, in which such precious gifts are stored." And Margaret replied: "Lord, your sweetness has so drawn me that I can do nothing else." And because she desired to receive communion daily and to have access to a minister of God, the Lord replied to her that she would not have her consolations fully here. And again he said to her: "You greatly pleased me in recent days by your victory which you had in the vilifications made against you." And she replied: "Lord, I have nothing by which I can please you." And the Lord said to her: "You could serve me better if your fear -- which keeps you from falling -- did not render your soul scattered through various thoughts which you do not know how to cast away." At this word she feared the more. But Christ, comforting her, said: "If you wish help in coming to me, do not give so much time to thoughts of the world, but return to the Cross, and there you shall find me and enjoy the accustomed consolations, and I shall not withdraw myself from you so much. When you confess your sins to my vicars, conceal as much as you are able the names of the persons who harm you; but if you cannot otherwise express the circumstances, I do not compel you to silence. Separate yourself, therefore, from all familiarity with worldly persons as much as you can, and from others except for the Order and the Friars of your Father. And I tell you that in your consolations you shall receive tribulations." And he showed her a new wound in the front of his breast, on the side of the heart, saying that those named above had made it -- they whom he had redeemed with the wound in his side. But seeing that Margaret was terrified with fear on account of the admonition made above, that she should not occupy her mind with thoughts of worldly things and that she should return to the Cross, he said to her again: "If you wish help, return to the Cross, and there you shall find me."

CHAPTER VI

On Devout Prayer and the Faith of Preaching.

[136] Among the things most pleasing to Margaret was to devote herself solemnly to the feasts of the Saints and to commend herself fervently to their prayers. For this reason, on the night of the Conversion of Saint Paul, with her mind joined to God, she said: "It is just, reasonable, and most worthy, my Savior, that I should devoutly serve you alone and do only your will, because your supreme and ineffable will and mercy descended to us who are so vile; and you, whom the heavens could not contain, hid yourself for nine months in the womb of a Virgin girl; and you, whom the host of Angels served on high, gave yourself over to our service even to the kissing of fishermen's feet. It is just that we should serve you, whose life, according to the mortality you assumed, was poverty, labor, and suffering, even to the most bitter death of the Cross. Through that inestimable piety, therefore, I beseech you, Lord, that you would deign to order my heart and life perfectly for your love." Having said this, the Lord spoke to her, saying: "You always wish to draw sweetness from me, the living fountain, and I for your sake drew bitterness. You always wish to be satisfied and nourished by me, the living bread, and I for your salvation waited hungering for you. If you wish that I, the supreme Wisdom, should serve you according to your desire, do not be negligent in obeying my commandments. For I assure you and every human creature that neither to you nor to others is it granted to use the gifts of my graces unless one denies oneself, according to my Gospel, and takes up one's cross, and follows me." Matt. 16:24

[137] Jesus, the guide and love of all good things, wishing to lead Margaret in his footsteps, said: "You shall receive and bear the most grievous sufferings for love of me, in which when you feel yourself to be without mental consolations, recall to your mind the word of Friar Giunta, your Confessor, who said that in your thirst which you have for me, I am with you. For who gives you inner light? Who gives fervor? Who gives thirst and desires? Who deigns to protect you in battles?" And when Margaret said: "You, my Lord Jesus Christ," the Lord said: "Why then do you not give me thanks with your whole mind, since you please me more by acts of thanksgiving than by the sweetness of mine which you seek and receive? Do not fear, daughter, nor doubt, for although you do not taste the consolations you desire, whenever you seek me with eagerness and tearful devotion, I am with you. But you always wish to be satisfied with me, while for your sake I was made thin and empty before the world. Nevertheless, remember the word of your Confessor, who, to comfort you in your great anguish, spoke both truths: that even all the hairs of your head are clothed with my mercy. Take courage, therefore, and rejoice, for bitterness and anguish shall not continue for you always. For when I have led you to the bank so that you fear to fall, I shall be with you, just as I was with Blessed Paul, to whom I promised my grace. And I shall grant you things so great that you shall not know how to relate them to your Father Confessor. Does the sweetness which you feel from me not seem great to you?" "Do not say 'great,' Lord," said Margaret, "since it is ineffable, inconceivable, and infinite."

[138] On the vigil of the Purification of the Virgin, the fair Bridegroom spoke to the weeping Margaret, who was lamenting his absence, saying: "Do not fear, daughter, for if you wish to keep my Gospel and renounce utterly all things under heaven, I shall never abandon you, and I shall call you my Sister." At his sweet and attractive words, she felt such great sweetness mingled with thirst that she said in a loud voice how neither the Lady, nor the Angels, nor the Blessed in the heavenly enjoyment of God could remain without hunger and thirst for the most high God, however much they were satisfied with God. "For I, my Lord, now receive a wondrous sweetness of rest from you, and yet with it I endure hunger for you." And while she continued with sweet tears the praises of such great things, with the fire of burning love, she was taught by the Lord in her prayers to invoke the individual orders of the heavenly Spirits; and he likewise taught her to invite them to her aid and to offer inexplicable thanks to the Creator of all in each of the orders. So fervently did she rest in the consolations of Christ that she was compelled to defer her Hours, which she said with such devotion that unless she had completed them to her satisfaction, however languid and infirm, she not only refused to eat but did not even dare to receive communion. And although she spent nearly all her time in desire for God, prayer, and tears, she nonetheless offered to God for each Hour forty Our Fathers with the salutation of the Virgin and the Glory be to the Father.

[139] On a certain day, therefore, praying and weeping in the oratory of her Father, Blessed Francis, growing more fervently warm with the taste of divine sweetness in divine love, before many who stood by in devotion, out of fear of the love that was being made public, which she could not conceal, humbly supplicating Christ with tears, she asked that he would deign to lead her swiftly out of this wicked world. And again she said: "Best Savior, if it please your infinite piety, I would wish to come to you speedily, so greatly do I fear lest my feeble soul, if I survive, should offend you in anything." But Christ, who had given her this desire together with fear, commanded her to expose herself patiently to the many sufferings of her body. And she, responding, said: "Joyfully, Lord, I offer and surrender myself to endure every painful thing for the honor of your name; and all the torments that could be inflicted upon me I shall count as nothing for the sweetness of your love." Then the Lord said to her: "Can you liken this joy-giving sweetness which you feel to any created consolation, sign, example, or word?" "Do not say, my Lord," said Margaret, "that I can liken it to anything; for I do not think that even all the Blessed who are in the kingdom of heaven know how or are able to vary your sweetness. But this I confess, my Creator: that I recognize I have received these great gifts through the intercession of the Virgin Mother Mary, to whom you deny nothing."

[140] On the night of Blessed Blaise she heard Christ saying to her: "You always wish to continue in the sweetness of my visitation, but you shall not be able to obtain that desire in this world. For the Apostles who followed me did not enjoy my sweetness without interruption. Why do you wish to taste the sweetness of my tenderness without labor, and not make a circuit of the nuptial bond of my humility, of my profound humility, and of the steps of my life, and of the order of my Passion? Remember my humiliations, when Pilate sent me bound to Herod, and Herod sent me back mocked to Pilate. For if you ascend by the steps of this ladder, take courage with assurance, for in heaven and on earth you shall be inseparably joined to me, your Creator."

[141] A preeminent sign of divine grace was her continual desire to hear the word of divine Scripture. I never found her so bereft of her strength that, upon hearing the word of God, she was not immediately lifted into gladness of mind and dissolved in tears and praises of her Maker, Jesus Christ. And because the garden, so cultivated and fertile, thus received the seed of the divine word, she used to say to me, her unworthy Confessor: "Father, speak to me of God, for his word immediately inebriates me, inflames me, illuminates me, and strengthens me, and heals both body and soul at once, so that as long as it sounds in my soul, I feel nothing of my infirmities." She bore the name of Jesus Christ so unceasingly in her heart that at its utterance -- at the beginning, middle, and end of her conversations -- she virtually melted entirely in tears and would say: "O name above every name, most sweet, whose power recalled me to grace, by whose blood I was redeemed, whose love drew me to cling to him."

[142] When I inquired of her about her prayer, she replied: "Friar, having invoked the most blessed Trinity, who is one God, eternal and immense, I commend myself to Jesus the Son of God, incarnate for us, our Redeemer, and to his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, our advocate, and also to all the orders of the Saints, beginning with the burning Seraphim. Then I return to the Lord Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and born without pain, to the joy of the Angels, the reverence of the Magi, the flight of my infant Lord, and his laborious journeys. Then I meditate on the condescending conversation with the Samaritan woman, the defense of the woman in the temple, and the pity he showed to the daughter of the Canaanite woman, to the lepers, the blind, and the paralytic at the pool. I also gaze upon those most tender feet of supreme purity, without sandals, hastening through villages, towns, and cities, and walking upon the ocean waves without submersion. Likewise I contemplate the working of miracles, the compunction of Matthew and Magdalene, the wondrous raising of Lazarus and others. And passing through these steps, at each one I offer praises to the Creator. I likewise praise in the orders of the Saints him who made all the Saints, in whose feasts they have bestowed upon me abundant and new gifts. And continuing in prayer, although with tepidity and deficiency, I offer thanks for all the benefits of the Lord bestowed upon me without merit. Then I fix my mind, insofar as he himself deigns, upon the secret and living fountain, the Lord Jesus; and there the thirsting soul abides in contemplation: the treacherous kiss, the most base price of the sale of that incomparable treasure, the bloody sweat, the denying disciple, the injury of the blows, the ignominy of the spitting, the insults of words, the burden of the Cross, the piercing of the nails, the eyes blindfolded, the corrupted witnesses, the impious judges, the perfidious Jews, the thief making excuse, the Lord pardoning, Jesus commending his Mother to the disciple. Then with bitter weeping I contemplate or meditate upon the draught of gall, the sun darkened, the rocks split, the tombs opened, the head bowed, and the spirit of my Lord commended to the Father. And thus, beside the Cross, consumed with grief, I desire to die together with the Virgin Mother, and to be pierced in mind by the sword of her sorrow, supplicating her with tears that she would deign to bestow upon me that ineffable grief which she suffered, because for me -- a sinner who needed redemption -- my Lord died."

[143] On the feast of Blessed Lawrence, Christ, offering himself to Margaret as she prayed with great joy, showed her in that ecstasy of mind a seat which extended greatly through heaven, of such wondrous beauty that she was unable to comprehend its loveliness as it truly was, nor did she know how to express it. At the head of that most beautiful seat she saw the blessed Father Francis sitting in a more eminent place. And it was revealed to her that from that sublime and glorious Seraphic place the first Angel had been expelled. And Christ said to her: "You are not yet able, daughter, to fully comprehend the splendor of this seat, because you are not yet glorified, but still in the deficiency of the wayfaring life." Thence, raised up into a more wondrous light above, a throne of the Mother so luminous was shown to her beside it that, unable to comprehend it because of the excessive brightness, she heard Christ saying to her: "The reason you cannot comprehend the beauty of my Mother is that I have transformed her above all other creatures into my likeness. And that place, so sublime and ample, where you have contemplated my beloved son Blessed Francis, shall be filled with his Friars, who have already nearly filled my Church."

[144] On a certain day, having devoutly received the body of our Lord, she heard him saying to her: "Praise and honor my Mother, most beautiful in me. Of her beauty and sublimity neither the world speaks nor the Scripture. This Mother and Lady I, the supreme and eternal Wisdom, created to dwell in her. For she, my daughter, was Mother and Lady. Therefore I command and enjoin you to praise and honor her and to cause her to be praised and honored as much as you can, for she is most worthy of all praise. For she was the most pure vessel which I prepared for myself for the salvation of the entire human race. She is also the mother who bore me without pain and nourished me with her virginal milk." And Margaret replied: "Lord, how great is your humility, which stoops to commend a creature." And the Lord said to her: "If more praise and honor could be given to a creature in heaven, it would be hers, for that sweetest mother is worthy. You, Margaret, praise me, not yourself; honor me, not yourself; for when you have praised and honored me, I shall praise and honor you. Therefore love me alone and serve me." And Margaret replied: "My Lord, you very often pardon my fault." And the Lord said to her: "Fear of the world and the desire lest you offend me keeps you in me. But take care that you do not receive me when the priest has me in his hand unless you have first confessed your faults to him. And tell Friar Giunta, your Confessor, who forbade you to send to him so many men and women whom you convert to me by your words and tears for the hearing of confessions, and who told you that he did not wish to 'clean out so many stables' in one day -- tell him that he is not cleaning out stables, but preparing a seat for me in the souls of those who confess, when he hears a penitent."

[145] On the following day her Angel came to her and said: "When you are able to stand in the oratory made for you, kneeling and without a feather pillow, holding your hands like one ministering or clasped in the customary manner of a suppliant, pray. And when you are too weakened, lean a little upon the bench; and be there with a living, firm, and attentive mind regarding the word of God while Mass is said for you. At the beginnings of those Masses sign yourself wholly with the sign of the Cross, and receive blessed water; and if you wish to receive the Son of God, our Lord and Creator, every day, you have from our God full permission to receive. In those Masses you shall find fuel for fervor. And the Lord says that he shall be with you to bestow upon you constancy of mind."

[146] On the vigil of the most blessed Magdalene, she who previously had been unable to rise on account of infirmity, ascending into fervor of spirit and praises, was suddenly so fully strengthened that all who stood by marveled; and in that joy she caused the Divine Praises to be sung that evening. After this, her soul, lifted up in ecstasy of mind, saw the most blessed Apostle of Christ, Magdalene, in a silvered garment, bearing a crown interwoven with precious stones, and blessed Angels surrounding her. In which vision she heard Christ saying to her: "Just as my Father said to John the Baptist concerning me, 'This is my Son,' so I say that this is my beloved daughter. And because you marvel at her so resplendent garment, know that she won it in the cave of the desert, in which also the crown which you see, of precious stones, she merited to obtain through the victories of her temptations which she suffered in that penance." When these things had been said, the aforesaid vision was suddenly withdrawn, and it left Margaret in such great weakness that she could not raise her languid head.

[147] On another night, keeping vigil in prayer, carried up in ecstasy of mind, she saw the hosts of the Blessed, and Christ standing on his throne and looking upon his servant Margaret with a joyful countenance. She, led by an Angel and rushing into his embrace in her soul, complained, saying: "My Father, why do you deprive a soul that seeks nothing other than you of your embraces?" And the Lord said to her: "I shall not embrace you, daughter, until you receive many adversities for love of me." But Margaret, who thirsted for the consumption of her body, replied, saying: "My Lord, when shall this little body be consumed?" And the answer which she desired was given to her through the Angel, who said: "You, Margaret, have long and greatly desired the consumption of your body; you shall fully attain that desire before you depart to us. This the Lord our Jesus Christ signifies to you through me, who created not only me and you, but all creatures." At these words, she began to weep in the loudest voice, like a woman crying out in childbirth, marveling at the condescending incarnation of the most high God. But he who turns the sadness of the elect into joy immediately appeared fair-haired and small and whiter than snow, naked and laid in a manger; and afterward, rising to his Mother's breast, he sat in her virginal lap.

[148] Apart from the prolongation of the Hours and the mental ecstasies, which sometimes occupied nearly the entire night and day, when she was held insensibly with unblinking eyes in the hands of her companions from morning to evening, she nevertheless adorned with divine praises whatever particles of time remained. For mindful of that wondrous supper at which the Son of the most high Father gave his body to the Apostles and washed the feet of the disciples, she said ten Our Fathers; for the arrest in the garden, ten; for the crown and the mockeries, ten; for the pillar, ten; for the Cross on which he hung naked, ten; for each hand that was nailed, ten; for each foot, ten; for each ear assailed with insults and reproaches, ten; for the stench of the place and the spitting of the impious, ten; for the veil placed before his venerable eyes, twenty; for the draught of gall, ten; for the lance, ten. And at each suffering of Christ which she knew how to distinguish, she paid the same number with groans and tearful sighs. As her fervor grew in the meditation of the benefits which Christ had bestowed upon the human race, she had a large number of beans acquired, and filling a vessel with them, she emptied it in this manner: first, for her own faults, which she had bewailed for many years in bitterness of mind, she said 400 Our Fathers; for the Order of Blessed Francis, to which the Lord had commended her, 100; for all the holy orders of the Church, to be preserved in virtue and grace, 100; for the elect, whom God had placed in a state of grace, 100; for sinners, who are stripped of divine grace, 100; for confessors, 100; and for benefactors, 100; for the relief of the Holy Land, 100; and for those who praise the Mother of God, 100; for her spiritual children, both faithful and compatriots, 100; for the people of Cortona devoted to her, 100; and for those who harmed her, another 100.

[149] The servant of heavenly love, being further renewed in strength, began to say one hundred Our Fathers for the love of God the Father; for the honor of the Son, 100; and in praise of the Holy Spirit, 100; for the Mother of the Lord, 100; and for all her kindred, 100; for the creation of visible and invisible things, 100; and for the infusion of new souls into bodies, 100; for the first parents placed in paradise,

100; and for their transgression, 100; for the foretelling of Christ's coming, 100; and because he came to us at the time predetermined by the Father, 100; for the Angel Gabriel sent to the Virgin Mary, 100; and for the humble response of the Virgin, 100; for that word "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," 100; and because the Mother of the Lord visited Elizabeth, 100; because she bore God nine months in her womb, 100; and because, giving birth, she laid him in a manger, 100; because she was the Mother of God, 100; and for the honor of the aged Joseph, 100; because Christ did not shrink from the manger, 100; and because he willed to be circumcised, 100; for the adoration of the holy Magi, 100; and because he willed to be presented in the temple, 100; because he deigned to live in the world, 100; and because the immense one was made small, the eternal one temporal, and the immortal one passible, 100; because the Father sent him, 100; and because he personally willed to become incarnate, 100; and for the Holy Spirit who accomplished this work, 100; and because he fled with his Virgin Mother into Egypt, 100; and because after three days he was found in the temple in the midst of the Doctors, 100; for the obedience which he showed to his Mother and his guardian Joseph, 100; for the labor of the journey, 100; because he deigned to speak to sinners and to the Canaanite woman, 100; because he received and commended Magdalene at the banquet, 100; for the labors of our Lady, 100; because Christ disputed with the Scribes and Pharisees, 100; because weary and thirsty he sat at the well, 100; and converted the Samaritan woman and the people, 100; and for the other preachings made through villages and cities, 100; for those places in which he sweated, 100; and for all the plots which he humbly endured, 100; and because he deigned to be seen and touched by men, 100; in honor of Christ's baptism, 100; and for the calling of the Apostles, 100; because he broke material bread before his Apostles with his most holy hands, 100; and because he gave and expounded to them and to us the sacred Scripture, 100; because he gave the world many sciences, 100; and because he ate with them and with sinners, 100; for the forty-day fast in the desert, 100; and because he hungered and permitted himself to be tempted, 100; for the poverty which he kept in his birth, his life, and his death, 100; and for all the places in which Jesus, the joy of the Blessed, wept, 100; for Mount Sinai, where he had given the law to Moses, 100; for the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, 100; for the Last Supper which he held with the disciples, 100; and for the great discourse which he delivered to them, 100; for his body, which the Lord gave to them, 100; and because he washed the feet of the traitor and the disciples, 100; for the place which he did not avoid, where the betrayal took place, 100; for the scourges, blows, and mockeries received in the night, 100; for the kiss of the traitor so meekly received, 100; and because he said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly," 100; for the cross on which he was placed, 100; and for the other torments which he endured for the salvation of the human race, 100; for the thief whom he invited from the cross to the kingdom, 100; and for the testimony shown him by creatures in the Passion and at other times, 100; for the sorrow of the Virgin Mother and of John, 100; for the faith of the Mother which she then kept in her mind, 100; and for the holy Fathers led out of limbo, 100; for the resurrection of the Lord himself, 100; and because he deigned to appear to Peter, to Magdalene, and to the other disciples of Christ, 100; because he greeted the disciples, 100; and because after the resurrection he wished to eat with them, 100; because he kept the scars of the wounds in his body, 100; and because he showed himself to Magdalene in the form of a gardener and called her by name, 100; likewise because he appeared to two disciples in the form of a pilgrim, 100; for the Ascension of our Lord into heaven, 100; for all the works which he accomplished and accomplishes for his creatures, 100; and because he sent the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, 100; and for the coming of the final judgment, 100; and because he had taught Moses the decalogue of commandments for our salvation, 100; for the Patriarchs and holy Prophets, 100; for the college of the blessed Apostles, 100; for the constancy of the Martyrs, 100; for the holy Priests of God, 100; for the holy Virgins, 100; for the devout widows of God, 100; for those confirmed in grace, 100; and for those not yet converted to penance, 100; for the Sacraments granted to the holy Church, 100; and for the baptism given to the faithful, 100; and for all the temporal goods granted to human nature, 100; for the authority of absolving and binding delivered to priests, 100; for the continual piety which Christ has toward souls, 100; and for the teaching and grace infused into preachers, 100; for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, 100; and for the four Evangelists, 100; for the deferral of the departure of the Mother of God from the world for our salvation, 100; and for the miraculous arrival of the Apostles at her Assumption, 100. And because the matter for praise does not fail, neither ought the tongue of the one praising to cease from praises. Therefore, because God had liberated Margaret from many dangers in her worldly state and had nourished her while she was a rebel against Christ, 100; and for the light of conscience given to her, 100; and for the disobedience to the commandments which she had incurred, 100; and because God recalled her to grace, 100; and because he snatched her from the hands of her tempters, 100; because he forgave all her sins by the oracle of a living voice, 100; and for his liberality both public and private, 100; for the ingratitude which she had shown toward the benefits of God, 100; and for the gate of paradise opened to the elect, 100; and also for the most blessed Angels deputed for our custody, 100; for those things which the Lord Jesus suffered at the morning hour, 100; and for each of the individual hours she said 100.

[150] The devout Margaret, giving her heart to God to keep watch at dawn for the Lord who had called her, because she could not restrain the flame of divine love which had expanded her toward all, strove to assist everyone in every way she could: now by the familiarity of divine conversation, now by the generosity of temporal assistance, now by the vigilant practice of prayer. Whence she said to me, her Confessor: "Know, my Father, that at the beginnings of my many prayers, attending to the misery of my vileness, I first have recourse to the Mother of my God; then, having invoked the suffrage of each of the honored orders of Saints, I more confidently beseech God the King, that through those sons so dear to him he would deign to look upon my prayers offered with tears with the eye of piety and to receive them with mercy. And having given thanks for the gifts bestowed, I pray for all who are enclosed in the punishment of Purgatory, according to the degree of my knowledge. Then I pray for our most holy Pope and his entire attending college. After this I pray for all the orders of the holy Church, living under whatever rule, that the more virtuous may be preserved in grace and the weak protected, that they may never succumb in battle. I pray again for all Legates sent from the Holy See for the salvation of the faithful. Now I pray for the relief and recovery of the Holy Land, which I desire; now for Christian kings and for the princes and rulers of all lands; now for the preservation of peace among lands; now for the calming of all wars. Now I pray for virgins, married women, and widows; now for all orphans and wards; now for all the afflicted and captives; now for Cortona, in which God adorned me with so many virtues; now for my confessors and masters; now for the Order of Friars Minor, to whose care Christ has always and everywhere entrusted me; now for my benefactors and for all who were the cause of my salvation. I also pray for all sinners, that God may lead them back to grace; and for unbelievers and heretics, that they may convert to follow our holy mother the Church. But when I pray for Tartars, Saracens, and other unbelievers, I feel sweetness and fervor in my heart. However, when I pray for Jews, their ingratitude coming before me, that sweetness and fervor seem to be withdrawn from me immediately. I likewise pray with the most urgent entreaties for all who have harmed me by word or deed, publicly or secretly. Then I return to the desire of the loving Jesus, and insofar as it is granted by him, I ascend into the embrace of contemplation, where from the familiarity of the Most High the soul feels such great sweetness and is drawn to such force that I cannot bear the presence of my son, except insofar as I know that in the future he will enter our Order, as the Lord promised and revealed to me, and that he will not only become a Friar, but also a priest and a preacher of his word."

[151] The humble-hearted servant of God, Margaret, recognizing herself to be the most trifling in all things, prayed, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, let not my misery provoke you to withdraw from me, most vile and possessing no virtue, those things which you have promised through mercy." To which the Savior replied, saying: "It has pleased my Father and the Holy Spirit, and me as well, and my Virgin Mother -- from whom I willed to become incarnate for human salvation, whom you do not separate from your praises, and who asks that I increase your graces -- that the gifts promised to you be preserved." And Margaret replied: "Lord, since I am a vessel of pride, without humility, honesty, patience, and charity, how should any of your gifts be given to me?" And the Lord said to her: "Do you not have a full will to please me? Do you not feel new sufferings when you do not serve me? Do you not willingly flee all creatures lest you offend me? Do you not strip yourself of everything for love of me?" And Margaret replied: "My Lord, if I do both, you know that because I am not fervent in your works, but idle, how would you communicate your gifts to so vile a creature? Defend me, Lord, from all fault and from the assault of sloth." And the Lord said to her: "This temptation is a kind of martyrdom granted to you, so that you may exercise your strength vigorously for the exercising of my grace." And when she said: "How much I offend you, Lord, in my laziness!" -- lest she be puffed up by the gifts, and so that she might remain fearful -- he gave her no response to that word.

[152] On a certain morning, while speaking of the Passion of Christ, fervently intoxicated with sorrows, she said: "If I had then stood beside my crucified Lord Jesus, I would have said that he should rather place me in hell than suffer those torments in his most beautiful body." At this word, spoken as though against the divine dispensation, the Friar, disturbed and fearing her deception, said to her: "The Mother of our Lord, who loved him above all, standing beside the cross, consumed with grief, would have sacrificed herself, had it been fitting, for the salvation of all." He added that from a similar cause Christ said to Peter, who did not wish him to suffer: "Get behind me, Satan." When we left her in her ecstasy of mind and returned to the friary, Christ spoke to Margaret, saying: "Daughter, tell the Friar that he spoke truly and well. But that word I spoke not only to him who loved me fervently, but also to Satan, who was striving to dissuade me out of fear of the Passion, which he meanwhile was eagerly bringing about for me. Yet the ancient enemy did not fully recognize me until the despoiling of hell, in which indeed he was filled with such grief that, had it been possible for him to die, he would then have died. But at that time I loved Peter no less on account of that word, because of the excessive fervor of his love. Let the Friars, therefore, not place in doubt the most faithful love of your heart, which corresponds to my inclination, which I freely showed to the world. For if, while I was suffering on the Cross, you had spoken this word, your faith, which is entirely pure, would have saved you. For you are my plant, who makes dry plants green: for from you shall rise water to irrigate the roots of arid trees. For you are my daughter, sister, and companion, to whom my Father has granted a grace which you shall not lose." At these words of Christ, his servant Margaret, terrified, replied to Christ, saying: "Do not permit me, Lord, to be deceived: for I find in myself no virtue, on account of which I should expect this in the future or am able to possess it in the present." Then Christ showed himself to her as though crucified, saying: "Place your palms upon the places of the nails of my hands." And when Margaret said out of reverence: "No, my Lord!" -- suddenly the wound of the side of the loving Jesus opened, and in that cavity she beheld the heart of her Savior. In which ecstasy, embracing the crucified Lord, she was borne upward by him into heaven, and heard him saying to her: "Daughter, from these wounds you shall draw those things which preachers are able to relate."

[153] And the Lord said to her again: "Tell also the Friars Minor, your Fathers, that that most beautiful seat which you saw in the order of the Seraphim was Lucifer's, in which your Father Blessed Francis sits in glory; and that extent which continues with the seat shall be filled with Friars of his Order, who shall imitate the footsteps of so great a Father. His religious Order is great, and because of the very great heart of his Order, its members, who are small, shall be renewed. For which reason let them not hesitate to receive those desiring to come to the Order: for even if I received from them nothing but chastity and the Office, it pleases me that they should receive them. And even if I received nothing more than that they withdraw from the world's treacheries, murders, perjuries, thefts, usuries, and carnalities, I shall be content. For even by those who sell vegetables I am greatly offended. But just as my mercy extends to the hardened people who have withdrawn from me, so my justice shall extend to their punishment. And you, daughter, prepare yourself for patience, for your whole life shall be in a martyrdom so doubtful and so hard that you would rather choose the torments of the Saints than the sufferings which you shall bear." And because God's servant did not fear sufferings but only the offense of her God, she replied, saying: "What shall I do, my Lord, in the aforesaid sufferings? I do not fear the punishment, but the offending of you." And the Lord said to her: "You shall be well helped in your tribulations, daughter; and placed in tribulations you shall depart to the kingdom of heaven. You are my instrument, which, whenever I will it to be touched, shall be touched. Therefore I tell you that the peace of the Bishop of Arezzo with the Cortonese shall come to pass."

[154] On the Sunday after Pentecost, having received the body of Christ with devout reverence, immediately when the joy had ended she began to say: "Why does my soul not seek your Bridegroom, the Son of God, at the Cross?" Having said this, rising from the place where she was praying and resting, she sprinkled herself with blessed water for the purging of her faults; and suddenly going out of her cell with the greatest fervor, she began to seek Christ with loud cries. And instantly placed intellectually at the feet of Christ, she washed his feet and dried them; and desiring to see his face, she besought the Most High to deign to show himself to her who desired him. And he, responding, said: "You shall not be able to see my face fully in its own form until I place you in the glory of the Blessed." And Margaret replied: "My Lord, you make me keep long Lenten fasts from you." To which the Savior said: "Just as Lenten seasons have been granted to you, so Easter feasts from me are reserved for you." And Margaret replied: "Lord, does it please you that I should speak of your great gifts, which you bestow on me, before those standing by?" And the Lord said to her: "Because in that ecstatic speech of yours, when you do not feel what you are saying, the gifts of my mercy are disclosed, I will that you speak thus." At this word Margaret, made more secure, said: "You are my father, my awakener, my bridegroom, my gladness, and the joy of all joys." And the Lord said to her: "You are my daughter, my chosen companion." And Margaret replied: "As much as you love me, my Savior, do not send me back into the desert, my lover." And the Lord said to her: "I send you back like a sheep among wolves." And Margaret replied, saying: "My Lord, let the mass of my body be soon destroyed, that I may merit to come to you by the way of tribulation." And the Lord said to her: "Although your tribulations must be severe, yet greater shall be that which you shall suffer from me; for there can be no greater or harder suffering than for a soul to feel itself without me." And Margaret replied: "You are, Lord, my life, through whom I live; and if you send me back into the desert, I shall incur death. You are my treasure, without whom all wealth seems to me the deepest poverty." To which Christ, showing himself cheerful, said to her that she should return to the desert. And when Margaret contemplated him with the eye of the mind, she saw Christ sitting on a wondrous throne, and the Virgin Mother on his right hand, crowned on another inestimable throne above all the choirs of Angels, and rejoicing with Margaret. Then the eternal King invited her to a distinct vision of all the hosts of the blessed. From that promise, so joyful, so generous, her heart was expanded with such immense joy that it seemed about to burst open, and she could scarcely reply, saying: "Lord, whom alone I love, because I was made by you, I desire to see you, who have filled me with such joy that I can neither keep silent nor express it." Then, turning to the Mother of the Lord, she said: "My Lady, please tell your Son to show me the joy of his countenance."

[155] Margaret said to her Confessor: "My Father, I wish to keep nothing of the things sent to me for food or clothing. For I desire to hunger, that I may satisfy the poor; to strip myself, that I may clothe them; to give them my new tunic, and to cover myself with their half-garments, and to remain in every want of things, so that they may abound." And she said to the Friars: "O my Fathers, have nothing allocated for my needs to any person, as you have been accustomed to do; for I wish to run to the desire of my soul, Christ, unburdened of all things. And if anything has been assigned to anyone for my needs, distribute it without delay to the poor of my Lord Jesus Christ crucified, whom I carry in my heart."

[156] On the feast of the most blessed Magdalene, Margaret asked our Lord -- whom she saw with his stigmata of the Passion -- whether the whole human race at the end of this world would see him with those wounds. The Lord replied that every eye would thus see him. "But these wounds," he said, "my daughter, shall be for the joy of the Blessed and the perpetual confusion of the reprobate." And Margaret replied: "And will not the Blessed grieve at such a sight?" And the Lord said to her: "Because in them there shall be so perfect a glory that no sadness can be mingled with it, they shall not be able to grieve, but shall rejoice in me, their Redeemer, over their redemption." And the Lord said: "Do you wish me to show you the gifts which I am going to give you?" And Margaret replied: "No, my Lord, for you are my joy, whom alone I desire to behold; my life, by which I live; my gladness, in which I rejoice; my rest, in which I repose; and the whole good of my soul. I confess, my Lord, whom I see wounded, that you are he who deigned to suffer and die for the human race. But I beseech you not to permit creatures -- against whom I see you now so angry -- to be separated from you and to go to everlasting fires. I know, Lord, that no suffering can be greater than to be separated from you, the infinite joy." And when the Savior, as though about to dismiss her, wished to give her a blessing, Margaret replied: "Lord, I desire your blessing; but defer it, so that I may not depart." But as her fear increased at the ending of so great a consolation, she turned to the Mother of our Lord, saying: "Beautiful Mother and Lady, entreat your Son and tell him not to withdraw the joy of his countenance from me, for I would not wish to depart from this most joyful vision. And if by his dispensation he sends me back, tell him, Mother, to grant me the promise of a return to the solace of such great felicity." And because Christ invited her to the vision of his Saints, she replied: "My Lord, who are the Holy of Holies, the light, sweetness, and crown of them, whom alone I desire to see -- when I have seen and possessed you, I shall be before all the Blessed."

[157] Then the Most High invited her to touch without delay his hands marked with scars. But refusing to do this out of reverence, she asked for a sign of love and confidence. And the Lord said to her: "As a sign of my love and confidence, I command you never to speak except of me." And Margaret replied: "My Lord, because I cannot fulfill this precept without the help of your grace, may your mercy come to the aid of one who willingly obeys. And because you alone know my frailty, hide me from your creatures; and since I do not know how to speak, do not compel me to relate anything to your people or to any person in particular." Then the most grateful daughter, not ungrateful to her Fathers, asked the Most High, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, splendor of the eternal Father, how much do you love my Fathers, the Friars Minor, to whom you commended me?" And the Lord said to her: "My daughter, they are greater in my esteem and more beloved than any in the world." At this word, received with exultation, she humbly asked for a blessing for all from the eternal Priest, Christ Jesus. And he, blessing them, said: "I bless all the Friars Minor, daughter, in the name of my Father and of the Holy Spirit." In which gracious conversation, made more secure, she added, saying: "And what shall become, my Lord, of these two Fathers of mine, your chosen ones, who for love of you so solicitously devoted themselves to my salvation?" "Let them strive," said the Lord, "to become ever better, since they have the pledge of eternal glory." "And what is this, Lord, that you permitted one of them to be burdened with the office of prelacy?" To which Christ, responding, said: "Know that my adversaries have multiplied in tempting my peoples; and the Friars Minor, to whom I have given the nets of my preaching, are the shield of souls."

[158] On the night of Blessed Clare the Virgin, an Angel appeared to Margaret as she prayed, having six wings; at whose blessing she was suddenly filled with such a fire of love that she could not restrain her external joy from laughter. That Angel renewed her gladness several times that night, descending and appearing to her. Whence she urgently asked her Friar Confessor never to name the said Angel before those standing by, because for sheer gladness at so great a name, her heart, filled with jubilation, dissolved her face into joy, however much she was burdened with infirmity. And inquiring about so extraordinary a joy, she received the reply that she had received that wondrous and joyful fire from that Seraphic Angel.

[159] On the first Sunday of Advent, Margaret, who ardently thirsted for the fountain of life, having received the body of Christ with reverence, prayed with weeping, saying: "By that mercy which you deigned to show to the thief on the gibbet of the cross, I beseech you, my Lord, not to permit me to be deceived and bitten by the ancient serpent. For I therefore take refuge in the citadel of your mercy and flee with fear to your pity, because I have never served and do not serve your majesty, but continually offend." To which the loving Father and Lord replied: "If you offend me with your thoughts, daughter, you purge those faults with the continual sorrows which you carry in your spirit and with the tears which you shed. And I, your Creator, who formed you in Paradise in the first mother, born of the Virgin Mary and having suffered on the cross, bless that blood which I poured out in your redemption: for you are that creature whom today I love more than any woman who is to be found under heaven."

[160] On the Friday preceding the vigil of Blessed Thomas the Apostle, an Angel of the Lord spoke to God's servant Margaret as she wept and prayed, saying: "I bless this cell and all who dwell in it, that they may be illuminated and purged and may grow in the fervor of love." When the Lord's servant said with weeping: "Lord, I cry out, suffering pains and anguishes in the absence of your sweetness, without which I cannot live, and no one answers the afflicted one" -- at her cry, the long-desired Bridegroom sent an Angel saying these things: "I am the messenger of your Lord, whom you daily seek. I am the messenger of your Father and Redeemer." She, shaken with fear at the great revelations and promises, yet not ceasing from acts of thanksgiving, praised God who sent and the Angel who was sent, and the Angel in the Lord who sent him, saying: "Praise be to you, Angel of God, for so generous a blessing and so lengthy a discourse. But your discourse, Angel of God, has greatly frightened me, because on account of such lofty promises I fear that he whom alone my soul desires may no longer wish to speak with me, since through you he has related and promised such lofty things." To which the Angel said: "Remember, Margaret, the word spoken to you by the Lord, that until the day of your death new grace shall grow for you; nor should you fear the withdrawal of divine speech, for God speaks with you in a more exalted manner than he has ever spoken. Remember likewise the evangelical word which your Confessor expounded to you concerning the love of neighbor." And Margaret replied, saying: "And who is that dearest and most intimate neighbor to be loved above all?" "Our Lord," said the Angel to her, "Jesus Christ, born for you and for all and laid in a manger: but the light has risen in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

[161] But as Margaret meditated upon the sufferings assumed by the newborn child, she began to fear lest on that day, which was one of supreme joy, there should be a withdrawal of such great gladness. Whence she told the Angel that she feared a hard Easter. And the Angel said to her: "If you fear a hard Easter, remember that Christ did not have a pleasant one here." And Margaret replied: "Why then does the Church make new rejoicing and grant Christians permission to eat meat on that day, and my blessed Father Francis said that the whole world ought to rejoice, because the light of the entire human race has risen, and an immense joy?" And the Angel said to her: "It is true that the joy of the whole world has been born; but the friends of God ought to be sorrowful on that day, because our King was born to sufferings and diverse tribulations. And you, Margaret, say that on such a day every state of the faithful rejoices. And I reply that Christ the Lord does not accept such joy. For many there are who rejoice in this feast who will ultimately be saddened; as many are saddened at the birth of the child who will rejoice in eternal glory." Margaret said again to the Angel: "Ask my Lord to inflict upon my body a consuming infirmity, so that I may no longer be able to offend him." And the Angel said to her: "Our Lord wills that you be humble, obedient, and reverent; and what you ask shall be according to his will." And Margaret said: "Do not depart, holy Angel, whose presence gladdens me, and whose blessing, with which you invite me, shall bring new grace and strengthen my soul in battle." And he blessed her in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, of the Mother of the Lord, and his own, and of all the Blessed. And Margaret said again to the Angel: "Ask our Savior, who knows the desire of our heart, that there is nothing under heaven I dread so much as offending his majesty and losing through negligent service the signs of his perfect love. Therefore I beseech you with my whole heart to tell me how much he loves me, or how much my life displeases before his eyes." And the Angel said to her: "This response shall be given to you according to the will of God who sends us."

[162] On the feast of Blessed Blaise, as her eagerness to receive the body of Christ grew, she received communion with fear. Having received it, feeling a joy surpassing all other joys, she said that wherever Christ, the joy of the Blessed, offered himself to the loving soul, there was ineffable joy. Then Christ spoke to her, saying: "I shall withdraw myself from you, daughter." And Margaret replied: "Let not your withdrawal, Lord, correspond to the multitude of my vices; but look upon the thirst which I continually suffer for you, and the fears which I have, and which my soul bears out of reverence for you. For these sufferings seem to me heavy enough and unbearable that they should suffice for such great frailty." And the Lord said to her: "Do you not remember my Mother, how long she remained in the world without me and did not see my presence?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, if that glorious Mother spent a day without your present visitation, she was visited at night; and if at night, she was frequently visited by the presence of your mercy during the day." And the Lord said to her: "Know that a day passed together with a night in which she did not have me, as you understand; yet she had the Archangel Gabriel, whom I had sent ahead to greet her when I deigned to take flesh from her, and who very often visited her." And Margaret replied: "Lord Jesus Christ, your Mother had been sanctified before she was born. And she did not fear, as I do, to offend you, because she was more confirmed in grace than other creatures. But I, your handmaid, am like a thing that is not, and immediately ceases to be. And therefore, fearing lest by sinning I depart from you, the supreme life, I desire your visitation, because I do not believe I can persevere without you." And the Lord said to her: "I shall indeed, daughter, withdraw myself from you for a time. And tribulations shall grow and multiply for you." And Margaret, loving Christ strongly, replied: "Provided they are pleasing to you and in them I may serve you and ceaselessly praise your name, I desire them and prepare myself to receive them." And the Lord said: "My daughter, whom I have made white in sufferings through the purity of innocence and ruddy through the ardor of love, I rest in you, and in your sufferings you serve me, and you shall praise me, your maker."

[163] On the Tuesday after the first Sunday of Lent, having received the body of Christ with reverence, she heard him saying to her: "Are you in tribulation?" And when Margaret replied, "Lord, you know," the Lord said to her: "And I am in consolation from your sufferings, because they join you to me." And Margaret replied: "Lord, you had told your handmaid that I was already joined to you through grace." And the Lord said to her: "Every soul that is in grace until the end, if it does not grow in grace, falls back." And Margaret replied: "It is true, Lord, that you are in consolation, because you are consolation itself." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, I, as regards my humanity, was in great tribulations. And you -- flee the world, which you have so earnestly asked to flee, and I shall still bestow this good upon you." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I flee myself and complain to you about myself." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, and you likewise complain of me." And Margaret said with trembling: "Lord, I have complained of you because you have not in the least fulfilled my desire regarding the flight from the world. For I would wish to lack all familiarity with creatures, so that I might know and love you more fully." But the zealot for souls, turning to the exhortation of preachers, said: "Tell that little one, whom I shall make great in the heavenly Jerusalem, to study always in my love and service and in my Scriptures; and I shall give him light to preach the injuries which I receive daily from deceitful men, according to their arts and occupations. For the world has never so offended me. I am offended by that vice which I punished at my nativity, by married persons in matrimony, and by virgins and by brides, through pride, vainglory, and envy. Tell him, therefore, to preach my Gospel and correct vices; to preach with authority and ardor of heart; and not to fear the words of those who defame, for I shall cause his preaching to be recognized. And tell him that I carry him in my bosom, and that I carry his soul in the state of grace in which I placed yours."

[164] On the vigil of Blessed Clare the Virgin, because Christ's servant Margaret desired more than on other days that the signs of divine love be shown in her, although all men and women in the world desire to see the Saints, the Lord said to her: "Daughter, you do not have perfect charity in yourself; for in the degree in which you now are, you must preserve charity and reverence. For your reverence is preceded by knowledge, which will never allow you to form any petition with a sign of elation or presumption. But perfect charity is sought in bitterness, when it raises itself through ardor above itself, to transcend into me, placing other creatures before itself. Like one invited to a wedding, who -- more worthy than the rest but humbly deceived -- chose the last place and follows all who enter the palace, not preceding them. Regarding that word which you spoke in fervor, do not fear; for just as Peter, fervent in love, when he cut off the ear, merited pardon through the teaching of my preaching, so also did you in that word."

[165] On the vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, having reverently received the Son of God, she said from the inestimable sweetness which she felt in him: "My most sweet Lord, what shall the souls of the Blessed do in the fatherland with the infinite sweetness, when they shall sustain inconceivable, ineffable, and infinite joy from you? Infinite is this gladness which I enjoy now, my Lord." And the Lord said to her: "The souls of the Blessed shall do according to my will. And your joy in the fatherland shall be greater than this. And because you desire to be totally plunged into the fountain of my love, therefore you so often ask how much I love you. When I tell you that you are the daughter of God, the chosen one of God, and the one recalled by God, whom I guard with special diligence, why then do you doubt, since your tribulations and infirmities are pleasing to me? Give your heart, daughter, to no thing except to me, your beloved; love me alone, and be intent upon my praises, and I shall love you and cause you to be praised. You say that you live in continual hunger for me. And I tell you that I lived in greater hunger than you; for my body, which I took from the Virgin, was always hungering for the rest it was to receive."

[166] After the feast of the Translation of the blessed Father Francis, placed in an ecstasy of mind on account of the promised rewards shown to her, she began to speak thus: "Nothing of those things which you promise and show, Lord, do I know how to relate." And the Lord said to her: "I, your Lord Jesus Christ, will that you now greet the most blessed Trinity and the glorious blessed Virgin my Mother, together with the entire court of the Blessed." At which word she was filled with such immense fervor and such great sweetness that, having received a new security, she said: "You are he who for the salvation of the human race deigned to be born of the Virgin Mary." And the Lord said to her: "Are you worthy of the grace of this so wondrous sweetness which you now feel?" And when Margaret replied that she was not -- because with it she did not believe she could suffer any hardship even in hell -- the Lord said to her: "This grace is granted not only to you for your own sake, but for my children, who are likewise not worthy. But worthy is that blood which flowed so abundantly from my body on the gibbet of the Cross for the ungrateful." And Margaret, praying for certain persons, said to the Lord: "Hear, Lord, the prayers of your servants." And the Lord said to her: "They are not prayers, but the appetite of pride, which compels them to labor on earth. For right prayer requires a heart cleansed from every stain of faults, a heart humble in the knowledge of its own wretchedness, and also the knowledge of my majesty for obtaining reverence. It also requires a heart separated from every tumult of worldly affections and of internal and external anxieties. For I, who am more worthy than all nobility, made myself a servant and subject, more humble than all."

[167] In her cell on a certain day, Margaret, devoting herself to prayer and divine meditation, heard in spirit a voice saying to her: "Come, bride, into the desert, and be there, that you may more fully delight with Jesus Christ, your beloved, and there let the wise soul abide with divine wisdom." And Margaret replied: "How should such great simplicity be associated with infinite wisdom?" And the Lord said to her: "Do not marvel at the wisdom newly named, for never have you known as much about me, your Creator, and about the subtleties of your enemy as you shall know henceforth." And when he said to her: "Do you love me?" and she replied: "You know, Lord, that I love you; but never, Lord, have I loved you" -- the Lord said: "Would you not undergo the torments of death for love of me, if it were necessary?" And Margaret replied: "Lord, neither grace nor reward is owed to me or to any creature dying for you, since you do not withdraw from the one suffering torments, but are with him." Then the most gracious God added, saying: "Tell my servant, whom I have assigned to you as Confessor and spiritual bearer, that he should apply such diligence in all matters that are to be handled that he may worthily be called my son. And you, in your prayer, invite me more reverently and say: 'When shall I come to you and find you, my Savior God?' And do not say, as you have hitherto said, 'Come,' or 'Return, Lord,' since you, as one who needs me, ought to come reverently to me."

[168] On the feast of Blessed John and Paul, after communion of the body of the Savior June 26, she suddenly heard a voice saying to her: "I am the living bread who came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever." Gladdened mentally by these words, she gave thanks to the divine goodness for having permitted himself to be received by her. And carried away in ecstasy of mind, she saw the humanity of Christ clothed in the whitest garment woven with golden stars, and the Virgin Mother clothed in a golden and celestial blue garment. And when she inquired about the beautiful Angel who stood by, the answer of the supreme King was that it was the Prince of the heavenly court, Michael, "who is always ready to obey the divine commands and fulfills my divine will without labor." Invited indeed by the King, whose beauty she was contemplating, she was led close to the wound of his side. And because she desired to stand before his face, the Lord told her that she had been placed on the right side as a pledge of the fellowship of those to be blessed. And he said to her: "You believe that in your weaknesses you are failing and departing from this life; but you shall not leave this world this year, nor in the following one. For your life shall be of as many years as my will and wisdom have ordained; nor do I now relate to you the number of days of your life. You say that you frequently doubt whether to receive me; and I grant you that you may receive me every day. For, as Friar Giovanni told you, in every communion of me I shall bestow upon your soul a new light, and from my wounds you shall draw speeches so lofty and so familiar that the world cannot grasp them, nor are they to be disclosed to it."

CHAPTER VII

On Purity of Conscience, and Frequent Confession and Communion.

[169] The little plant of the Friars Minor, the servant of Christ, Margaret, in the beginnings of her conversion, strove not only to confess every day but also with weeping and lamentation to reveal before her companions the sudden onslaughts of thoughts. Once, therefore, having continued for eight consecutive days a general confession with groans, sorrows, and a wondrous expression of circumstances -- as had been divinely shown to her while she prayed -- arriving through fasting and vigil at the longed-for day of Blessed John the Evangelist, in the oratory of the aforesaid Friars, when the people had departed, with a cord hung about her neck, her face wet with tears and her head bare, prostrating herself before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, she approached the sacrament of the Lord's body trembling and suddenly become entirely pale, with reverence. And having received the body of the most high God, she became insensible in the arms of those standing by, sank down, and fainted. Then, from the sweetness of the divine taste, she began to rejoice with a serene face, displaying an angelic countenance, and she said: "This joy, intoxicated with divine love, which I had requested for the day of his Nativity, the Savior of all has reserved for this day." Thereupon, with unblinking and open eyes seeing nothing, she thus replied to the Lord who was inquiring, speaking to her heart, how much her soul had grown, saying: "Lord, my soul is now greater than the whole world, because in it I have you, whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain." And asking with tears to continue in the presence of her beloved God, she began so to fear the withdrawal of his sweetness that nothing pleased her but to weep. And the Lord said to her who wept: "My daughter, know without doubt that you shall return to your cell with this fear."

[170] Preparing herself reverently for so sublime a sacrament as the body of Christ, before prayer she would clean her entire cell of dust, saying that the ways ought to be covered with the purest gold by which the priests would pass with the body of Christ. Whence she melted like wax when she felt his presence, and she kept a candle to illuminate the body of Christ. So thoroughly had the knowledge of divine sweetness attracted her, and the consideration of her own vileness deterred her, that humility retarded the eagerness for frequent communion, while on the other hand the eagerness of her mind emboldened her fear. Therefore, greatly marveling at so novel a conflict which she felt within herself, she began with fear and weeping to investigate the origin of so great a novelty. To which the Lord responded, saying: "Do not fear, daughter, nor marvel, for any soul desiring to receive so most noble a Sacrament ought to be so purged of all faults that it would seem and be like the brightness of the sun."

[171] When Christ's servant Margaret said to God in her most sacred prayer that Christ should never communicate himself to so vile a creature, she received the answer from the Lord that she was clothed in such wondrous splendor of virtues not for herself alone, but so that through Christ a full hope of returning to the bosom of mercy might be given to the desperate, through so condescending a calling. And he told her that the time was approaching in which she was to be enriched with such abundant gifts of graces that the faithful would desire with the greatest devotion to hear her speak, and would devoutly wish to tear pieces from her tunic, and would come to her from nearby and distant provinces to see and touch her and to be freed from their afflictions.

[172] The Savior rebuked the one who pursued purity of conscience, because out of fear of the persons standing around she restrained or concealed the very fervor that needed to be sought. He also commanded his most pure bride to confess at least once a day to Friar Giunta, her Confessor, both because she felt more shame before the aforesaid Friar and because he rebuked her more than other confessors. And therefore he told his servant that on account of the special care which the said Friar had exercised over her, he was reserving for him the gift of a special grace. She often humbly withdrew herself from the communion of the body of Christ, now from contemplation of his sublime majesty, now from consideration of her own vileness. The Most High, inclined by this humility, said: "Daughter, do not withdraw yourself, as you have begun, from the sacrament of my Body, for your heart is now so purged of vices that I command you to receive me often. But accuse yourself of your faults to the aforesaid Confessor, and speak little with worldly persons, since you cannot bear the weight of prayer in the former manner on account of your infirmities. Therefore love silence, and if you can, never fail to confess before you eat. And just as you used to do when you went to the friary, so before you take food, confess your faults to the Friar; and always reveal your life to the aforesaid Friars, so that no temptation may deceive you."

[173] On the Annunciation of the Mother of the most high God, while she was running in her accustomed manner with tears to Christ, irradiated by the splendors of heavenly consolation, she asked the Lord whether her soul had been cleansed of the stains of vices. He replied to her that nothing grave remained to be expiated in her mind that would offend the eyes of his majesty, and said: "Therefore I bless you, and I will that for love of me you diligently guard yourself from every fault, and receive me whenever you wish, every day." She, filled with divine sweetness, asked the Most High to deign to so fortify her heart with virtues that nothing other than God could henceforth enter it. When morning had come and she was present at the solemnities of the Mass, so excessive a fervor of love grew in her that she could not suppress her voice in the sight of the people standing by. At that very hour, bathed in tears, exhausted with sighs, she sought me and humbly begged that I defer giving her the body of the Most High until after the conventual Mass, so that she might conceal the fervor of her mental intoxication from human eyes and praises. For she did not wish to bind the cord about her neck before the people and approach the altar of the Friars with bare head, drenched in showers of tears, lest some should rashly judge her for pretense or deception. For she was so carried away in spirit to God that the bystanders clearly believed she was presently beholding her Creator. Having therefore then received the body of her most holy Creator, he who transfers himself into holy souls spoke to her, saying: "Have confidence, daughter, for you are my beloved and my disciple, whom I shall preserve in grace, defend in temptation, console in anguish, and lead to eternal life. Do you believe that I am the true God, the Son coequal with the eternal Father?" And Margaret replied: "Not only do I believe, but I vehemently marvel that my soul does not melt more in your presence." And fearing that she might have received the body of Christ with some fault, the Lord blessed her and said that he had purged her, and that she should remember the word which he had spoken to Blessed Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you." 2 Cor. 12:9 And because that wondrous sweetness seemed to be withdrawn, thereupon, half-dead, she reclined her head, saying: "O my supreme love, I beseech you to lead my soul from this body, that I may be more freely with you." But he who by his goodness sweetly disposes all things, having been asked in tears, told Margaret that he had placed her in fear so that all things which had been written about her might be fulfilled, and that she would lead and end her life in fears.

[174] The fire of love was so accumulated in her soul that, both in public and in private, placed in the great sweetness of God, she would say: "Lord, Lord, where are you?" But I, who was always zealous about the state of her salvation, asking what she had said -- "Lord, Father and Son and Holy Spirit," or "Lord Jesus Christ" -- she replied, saying: "I invoke that one and eternal God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." And when she feared because of this word, the Lord said to her: "Enough, daughter, the manner which you keep pleases me, because the intention of your devotion is directed toward a greater expression of my lordship. For just as my vicar, in whom I have placed the fullness of power, is not called Pope but Holy Father for the greater perfection of his state, so in the manner of your speech, using as it were a more dignified title, you thus name me." And because, fearing the deception of the enemy, she said, "Lord, my Savior, I seek nothing other than you, my Redeemer," she heard him saying to her: "I am Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, who redeemed you with a dreadful torment." And Margaret replied: "Lord, what is this, that sometimes you seem so distant from me?" Christ, responding, said: "Do not fear, daughter, for when it seems to you that I have abandoned you, I am with you, to calm your temptations, and I shall be, so that you may enjoy my sweetness more peacefully."

[175] Seeing herself, Christ's servant Margaret, placed like wheat under a threshing sledge with respect to the vexations of the diverse sufferings she was bearing, she said: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal Father, who deigned to be born of the Virgin, let your mercy bring this about in me: that all the afflictions which I bear for love of you and for the honor of your name may be pleasing to you, and that in them I may henceforth not omit abstinence from food, my accustomed prayer, the continuation of vigils, and the shedding of tears which you have hitherto bestowed upon me through your graciousness. For this is my consolation: that you never spare my body. For

if your justice wishes to damn me, as I am worthy, grant me meanwhile, as long as I live, that most purely -- both in mind and body -- I may serve you, and in no vice henceforth offend you. And in this manner I am prepared to go to punishment." But Christ, inclining the ears of his piety to these humble prayers, said: "Daughter, receive me more often than usual, for through the vision of my body and devout reception you have merited to ascend to the gifts of such manifold graces. And this was the great beginning of your salvation and consolations. Nor marvel if after receiving rest you are not more afflicted and tempted, for the withdrawal of the sweetness previously tasted is done for the greater proving of your faith: for as long as you feel me with you, no suffering pricks you; but when I seem to be withdrawn from you, you remain in anguish. And yet I am with you through grace, although as regards sweetness I seem to be absent. Endure therefore with all patience your sufferings, for you know why you suffer so many adversities. And what will you say if I leave you nothing but fear, love, temptations, and sufferings?"

[176] "Return without delay to that cell to which Friar Giovanni had ordered you to go back, where you raised the voices of your devout fervor more freely. And because it seems to you that this return, on account of the appearance of levity, furnishes others with material for murmuring, endure this painful embarrassment because you did not fully express your will to the woman who invited you to another cell; but making excuses you said that you were ready to go wherever the Friars, to whose care you are entrusted, should decide to place you. Return, I say, to that cell in which the ancient enemy shall vex you in the form of serpents. For you know how many consolations you received in the upper cell, to which you had gone by my will, according to the promise I had made to you. And if you doubt because of the murmuring of those who speak about this, remember that there was murmuring even about me, the true and supreme Good."

[177] Margaret, desiring to follow in the footsteps of Christ's Passion, wishing to taste nothing on Fridays except grief and mourning, was unwilling to receive communion on those days. Therefore the Savior spoke to her, saying: "Why do you refuse to receive me on Friday, on which day you ought to approach me more quickly than at my Nativity or Resurrection, since on that day I joined myself more closely to the human race through love? For that is the day on which, stretched upon the wood of the Cross, I embraced the entire human race through the embrace of love, as a father his only son."

[178] On the following day, the tempter, entering her cell -- because he could not carry out the commands of the prince of darkness against Margaret -- as though grieving and mourning, said in the cell: "Alas, alas, where shall I go? How shall I be able to bear the wrath of him who sent me against this woman, who has overcome me with her prayers?" And after a little, feigning audacity with pretended joy, pursuing the one who was praying and weeping through her cell, he sang the most shameful songs and impudently called Christ's weeping servant, who was commending herself to the Lord, to join in his singing. And because he could not suspend her mind from weeping, the foul spirit, resorting to the most shameful insults, blasphemed against her. And because the vessel of holiness, bearing Christ, could not receive within herself anything that might offend the eyes of the divine majesty, she repelled and cast out the tempter with prayers and tears.

[179] So that each person might prepare reverently for receiving the body of Christ, the Savior makes known these words: "Daughter," he said, "I complain to you greatly about the irreverence of priests who daily touch me in such great numbers yet neither love me nor know me. For if they truly knew me, they would know that no likeness, no beauty could be found in created things by which the celebrating priest ought to be compared. And yet they do not shrink from touching me with polluted hands; indeed they make a greater market of me than they would of the mud of the streets." At which word Margaret, struck with fear, responded to Christ, saying: "Why then, my Lord, do you so often compel me and so frequently invite me, so unworthy, to receive your body?" To which the Lord replied: "I indeed, daughter, the Son of God the eternal Father, born of the Virgin Mary, have already purged you of your faults; and therefore I bless you in the name of my Father, my own, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the blessed Virgin my Mother."

[180] On a certain morning after communion of the body of the Lord, Margaret, marveling at the Lord's so condescending humility, said: "Why, Lord, at your supper did you so humble yourself to Judas and the others? And now you humble yourself by giving yourself?" And the Lord replied to her wonder: "Daughter, many today are like Judas, by whom I permit myself to be received and tempted sacramentally. But because for love of me you have so often stripped yourself and made yourself destitute of all things, I shall clothe you with the gifts of graces and enrich you. Therefore in your tribulations do not fear, for they shall unite you to me and make you acceptable through love." And having received the accustomed blessing, she heard Christ promising her the greatest things, which out of humility she refused to disclose to me, her Confessor.

[181] On the octave of Saint Lawrence, after communion of the body of Christ she was filled with such sweetness that, out of desire to receive him on the following day, she said: "Lord Jesus Christ, infinite sweetness of my soul, I, your unworthy servant, invite myself with longing to receive the sacrament of your body for tomorrow." But he who does not spurn the desires of those who long for him said that he gave her permission for the desired communion on each and every day. "I made," he said, "a greater gift to you on the Cross when I gave myself in a passible manner than this one is." And Margaret, responding, said: "It is true, Lord, as regards the suffering which you endured for us, whom you redeemed at so dear a price." Christ, inclining himself to her gratitude, responded to Margaret saying: "You are my creature, and I am your Creator; a daughter, and I a father; you are chosen, and I the chosen one, whom you chose above all. I am your Lord, and I do not call you handmaid, but you are my companion. You are made white through innocence in me and ruddy through the ardor of charity. Do not therefore fear to receive me every day, since in your soul you have humbly and devoutly prepared a place of rest."

[182] On a certain day, having received the Son of the most high Father, she was suddenly filled with such great peace that she cried aloud, saying that she was in the delights of the most high God and was blessedly feeling the joys of Paradise. When Christ asked her if she was mentally satisfied, she replied: "Lord Jesus Christ, such are your joys that even in heaven I believe one would hunger joyfully through the growth of eagerness." "With such great strength of the bread which I just received have you fortified me that, all weakness removed and infirmity taken away, you have filled me with true gladness." And Christ said: "Why then should you not receive me every day, since in you I find a place of fragrance and rest?" And because she began to fear that the fervor conceived from the promised gifts and consolations might become apparent to the bystanders, she asked all who were present -- weeping with devotion -- to leave the cell without delay. But the true Light, who communicates himself equally to all, said to her: "I shall not speak with you if you send away those present, since I have made you a mirror for sinners."

[183] On the following day, receiving communion, God's servant Margaret could scarcely bear the joy poured upon her; and wondrously filled with sweetness, she heard Christ, who sweetens all things, saying to her: "My chosen daughter, I bless you in the name of the Father, my own, and of the Holy Spirit, and also of the most blessed Virgin, from whom I took flesh, in which I endured many torments. And I tell you that in my withdrawal I punish and purge you of your offenses. And because you shall receive greater secrets than you have ever felt, before you arrive at them you shall endure no small afflictions. Withdraw, therefore, from the conversation of worldly persons who approach you, as you have hitherto desired. For the more you shall be separated from their company, the closer I shall be to you. And tell Friar Giunta to prepare himself to impart to you counsels for your salvation, according to the order of the sacred Scriptures, which counsels he should always carefully think over in advance regarding you. And you should reverently make use of his counsel; and I commend you to him, just as I once commended you to the deceased Friar Giovanni."

[184] On the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, at the first hour of the day, having received the body of the Savior with reverence, she heard the Lord saying to her: "Daughter, do you believe that I am the Lord your God?" And Margaret replied: "My Creator, Father, and true delight of my heart, why do you question me?" And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, in the greater part of men in this world, insofar as it lies in them, I die; and there are few in whom I live through grace. For they offend me to such an extent that if the effect of suffering could befall me, the true God, on account of the horror of the vices which they commit, I would gnash my teeth with tears while they receive communion. For by receiving me unworthily they crucify me anew and offer a more bitter cup than was offered to me by the Jews. Therefore remember that just as I permitted myself to be touched and carried into the holy city and to the high mountain by the ancient enemy, so now I suffer injuries from those who receive me without devotion and treat me without reverence. Whence tell Friar Giunta, your Confessor, commanding him on my behalf that henceforth he should not give my body to anyone unless it be a religious person, or a secular person who has spurned or is prepared to abandon the vanity of outward appearance, and has fervently disposed himself or herself according to my good pleasure and commandments; for I am exceedingly offended in the communions of worldly persons by their manner of life. But woe to those who incessantly offend me, so that without correction of their faults they presume to receive me, for elsewhere a harsh examination shall be made against them. And because through the light of conscience illuminated by grace you have knowledge of the states of very many, this is the sword which Friar Giunta taught you. Prepare yourself meanwhile for tribulations, for you shall come into the contempt of many persons; and this vilification made of you shall be in place of the martyrdom which is not inflicted now as in the times of the tyrants. Then, out of fear lest you offend me, small sufferings shall seem to you very great. But do not fear, my daughter, my sister, and my companion, when in the presence of persons your consolations shall be diminished. For it shall be done thus so that you may be held more despicable by the world and your graces may be more securely obtained."

[185] On the Nativity of the Son of God according to the flesh, that Child who made all things by the word of his power said: "Daughter, you who are in suffering, ask now whatever you wish." And Margaret, replying, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, grant me that I may never offend you." And the Lord said to her: "Do you not seek the kingdom of heavenly life?" And Margaret replied: "Grant me, my Lord, this gift which I ask: that I may always serve you and never offend you. And afterward send me wherever you will." This word so pleased him who was born of the Virgin that he said to her: "You are my handmaid, on account of the state of your past fault; my servant, on account of the service of penance; my sister, in the state of grace; and my daughter, on account of the pledge of eternal glory."

[186] After the solemnity of this day, Margaret, turning to the memory of her sins, in bitterness of heart and with an indescribable abundance of tears, continuing her general confession in weeping, became hoarse, and for more than eight days she could scarcely take food or sleep. When the confession was completed before me, Friar Giunta, down to the smallest fault, on the octave of the Holy Innocents she received Christ, the bestower of all good things, saying: "Lord, best King, this gift I ask of your mercy: that my life may serve you and that by my example all your creatures may praise you, and that I may never be able to offend your majesty." Her fervor then so increased that she left her cell out of desire to hear the solemnities of the Mass and also the word of God, and was running to the friary; and she would have arrived had not I, her Confessor, who was present, led her back into her cell. And she replied to the Lord, who was asking whether she was in the greatest joy, saying: "Lord, your joy is infinite and invisible, and the gladness which I feel from you is inestimable." And she asked him whether her confession, so sorrowful, had pleased his majesty. And the Lord said to her: "You are the one who, through continual solicitude, makes yourself worthy of new grace."

[187] Shortly afterward she heard the bell of a certain secular church being rung for the elevation of the body of Christ; for love of whom she was immediately caught up in rapture, and in the hands of the priest she saw a beautiful child, whiter than snow, clothed in the purest gold; but the hands of the one holding him exceeded all blackness. And the Lord said to her: "Does it seem to you that I, your Creator, am more beautiful than everything?" And she replied: "My Lord, I could not describe your admirable beauty; but my laughter turns to weeping, both because I see you, the King of Kings, treated so irreverently, and because with grief and fear I am compelled to cry out: 'Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!' for those most foul hands, that they may be purged by the grace of your forgiveness." And the supreme piety, inclining itself to the prayers of the suppliant daughter, replied: "Let that priest, for whom you implored mercy, prepare himself through self-custody for a sorrowful penance, if he wishes to find mercy. And tell Friar Giunta that a great number of them touch me with such foul hands." Returning then to the use of her senses, she began to say the Our Father, but beyond "Who art in heaven," on account of the intoxicating sweetness of mind, beginning again many times until the evening of the day, she was utterly unable to proceed further. In this blessed vision she also heard Christ saying to her: "My body, which you saw so white, represents my humanity; but the golden head and garment represent the divinity that assumed it." After this, her guardian Angel approached and said to her with joy: "Take courage in the Lord, Margaret, for you shall taste of the sweetness which we enjoy in the fatherland, before you come to the fellowship of the Blessed; and it shall last but a short time for you."

[188] On the Saturday within the octave of the Epiphany, receiving in communion the supreme good, which contains in itself every good, she heard him saying to her: "Are you now, daughter, content and consoled?" And when she replied that she was, he said: "Prepare yourself, therefore, to receive me more often, for in your soul I find a place of rest and sweet love." And Margaret replied: "Lord, you alone can prepare me for the worthy reception of so inestimable a Sacrament." And the Lord said to her: "You have spoken truly; but apply diligence on your part to keep your soul pure and in sweetness; and when you are such, communicate often. And tell your bearer, whom I have given to you, that he should see to himself." And Margaret replied: "Lord, if by your goodness, from which all virtue descends, those things which you command were found in me, I would nonetheless fear to frequent so most sublime a sacrament, when I consider my vileness." And the Lord said to her: "Although, daughter, you speak truly, you ought always to hope in my mercy. And I, wishing to depart from you while remaining with you, give you a paternal blessing." And Margaret replied: "Lord, when will you make that discourse full of terror, in which even my Confessor will fear with me, as you promise?" The Lord replied: "I shall deliver that discourse to you when it shall be my will."

[189] Invited by the Lord to frequent more often so most sublime a remedy of the sacrament, she replied to Christ, saying: "When I shall be in the sea of various sufferings, how shall I receive you, Lord?" And the Lord said to her: "I command you, in the name of the Father, my own, and of the Holy Spirit, and also of my most blessed Mother, of Blessed Paul, whose feast is celebrated today, and of the entire host of the Blessed, that then you should receive me more frequently, carrying with you full confidence in my mercy. And I bless you, if you do this, in the name of my Mother and of all the elect; and I shall send you my Angel." At which word Margaret replied: "Most willingly, Lord, I desire him; but more willingly still I desire the Creator of all Angels." Shortly afterward the Angel asked her if she wished to make any request. To which Margaret replied: "The Lord Jesus Christ knows my heart; and although you are the messenger of my desire before him, may you, revered Angel of God, deign to obtain for me from the Lord that my life may always serve him so perfectly that I may henceforth not offend him."

[190] On the feast of the Purification of the most pure Mother of God, the servant of Christ, eager to be filled from the communion of the body of Christ, but humble and believing lowly things of herself, said that she was displeasing before God because he had withdrawn from her the accustomed joys of his sweetness. But I, her unworthy Confessor, speaking with her from the divine Scriptures, raised the heart of the fearful one to confidence, so that she immediately confessed; and having received absolution, I commanded her to receive Christ without delay, even if she were by no means to receive the former consolations -- both because she would receive a new gift of grace in Communion and because from the reception of Christ she would become stronger against the most wicked darts and treacherous temptations of the invisible enemies. When the confession had been made in general form, she sent for the priest, from whose hand she reverently received the body of Christ. But because she had not immediately felt consolation in the accustomed manner, Christ replied to the fearful, weeping, and complaining one, saying: "Daughter, do not marvel if you did not feel me sooner, for the taste of your soul, before you received me, was not disposed. Therefore I present myself to you such as I find you." And Margaret, responding to Christ, said: "Lord, I was hesitant to receive you, because it did not seem to me that my soul was disposed for receiving so most sublime a sacrament." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, because it pleases me that you receive me, I who gave you help to come to me have given it to the Father of sinners. For I have made you a mother of sinners; and whoever hinders you hinders my mother." Marveling and astonished at this word, she heard: "Just as I made my most blessed Virgin Mother for the salvation of the human race, so also I have chosen you as a mirror and now as a mother of sinners. For you have been made most beautiful by grace before me in heaven, and I shall make you holy on earth. And I do not say to you that I shall make you so, because, adorned by mercy, you already are. You say you are naked of virtues, and I tell you that you are adorned. You say you are poor because you believe yourself to lack me, and I have enriched you with infinite treasure. Daughter, in whom I have found a place of rest, I do not call you a lily of the garden, but of the field: for you shall be of such great fragrance that you shall open nostrils obstructed by vices, which now do not at all perceive me, to sense your fragrance; and just as a breeze carries the scent of the lily, so I shall carry your fragrance far and wide, so that you may rightly be called the lily of the field." And because that wondrous sweetness of tenderness which she felt from Christ was given with interruptions, she began to marvel and to ask why this was so. To which Christ said: "Do not marvel if I give myself to you such as I find you: for your mind is scattered and wearisome in many labors. Look at Magdalene, to whom I presented myself after the resurrection in the garden such as she was in herself. I have made you a ladder for sinners, that through the examples of your life they may go to me." And Margaret replied: "In what example of virtue could sinners imitate me?" And the Lord said to her: "They shall imitate your abstinences, your fasts, your humility, and the tribulations which you received joyfully for love of me. They shall imitate the humility of your holy manner of life and the meekness which you have in your life. They shall imitate your modesty and the solicitude which you have for flight from the world."

[191] Desiring therefore to cling to the heavenly sweetness, she asked the fountain of sweetness, saying: "Great are the things, Lord, which you show, but you do not assure me of them." And the Lord said to her: "You shall not have the security which you seek about yourself, nor shall those who correct you, as long as you live." And Margaret replied: "And why, Lord, do you always, whenever you speak to me, make me a new promise concerning your gifts?" And the Lord said to her: "I do this because every day until your death you shall receive new gifts of grace, and with them new afflictions. And today you have received new joy. But my Mother on the day of the Purification, according to the observance of the Law, was deprived of this joy when, by Simeon holding me in his arms, the sword of interior suffering was foretold." And Margaret replied: "I well believe, Lord." When Christ was finishing the discourse, and Margaret was saying, "Lord, if you are making a brief discourse, give me security that as long as I live I may serve you without transgression of your commandments," Christ said: "I assure you that as long as you live you shall never offend me mortally." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I believe I always offend you in my afflictions and in such hard temptations." And the Lord said to her: "You are purged in the sufferings of your fears."

[192] Jesus, the lover of purity, said to Margaret, who was seeking purity with tears: "As much as you can remember of thoughts, words, and all things which you have heard to my displeasure, tell Friar Giunta, your Confessor." And Margaret, fearing that she could not fulfill this precept, replied, saying: "How could I, my Lord, remember all my faults, since I navigate amid the stormy waves of this world?" And the Lord said to her: "How much do you love me, your God?" And Margaret replied: "Why do you question me about love? You are my God, my Creator, my Redeemer, whom I humbly beseech not to make so strict a precept about receiving your Body."

[193] When God's servant Margaret was praying, she heard a voice saying to her: "Prepare yourself, O star, for the Sun of justice wishes to descend to make his seat in you, and he wishes to extend his rays of piety and justice." But Margaret, scorner of her own praises, hearing this, said: "If it please you, I do not wish to tell this to Friar Giunta." And the Lord said to her: "Tell him and the Friars to hide you; and you, hide yourself as much as you can. For you wish to remain at the breasts of my consolations and would not communicate yourself to my children. I could well have called you alone in secret and led you to the kingdom of Paradise." And Margaret replied: "I consider my frailty and desire only to be with you; and therefore I was not mindful of your children. Nevertheless, if I offended you in this, with fear and trembling I confess my fault." And the Lord said to her: "If you were full of charity, you would compassionate the sufferings which I endured for sinners, and my children whom I redeemed." And Margaret said: "Lord, I confess my fault concerning my small charity, as regards solicitude, not as regards the desire which I bear in my mind; and I beseech you to show them full mercy." And the Lord said to her: "Did I not tell you that you shall be a light to the blind, and that whoever has charity toward my children loves me?"

[194] "Tell also my children the Friars that they should not preach about empty things, but about the words of the Gospel and the epistles of Blessed Paul, my chosen one; and let them not care about the murmurings of the people, for there was murmuring even about me, the Lord of all. Tell also the said Friars Minor that they hold the nets of my holy Gospel in greater authority than all who preach in the world and the holy Church my word; to whom I command that they hold my death as commended to them, so that while they preach they may carry in their hearts the order of my torments. For from this death they have material for deterring men from sin and for attracting them to the blessed happiness that was promised and acquired at so great a price. And let them tell sinners, who offend me in that vice which I punished at my Nativity, that a new army of demons has gone forth from hell for the vexation of the human race. For this reason the world needs preaching more than usual." Likewise he said to her: "You say, daughter, that you love me; and I tell you that there is no creature under heaven who believes or thinks how much I love you. And do you grieve over the offenses which you committed against me?" And Margaret replied: "You, who know all things before they happen, know whether I grieve and how much I grieve."

[195] And having confessed her fault before the Lord himself, at his command, of all offenses committed in whatever manner from the hour of her baptism until that hour, she heard Christ saying to her: "And I, daughter, absolve you from all your offenses which you committed in thought, word, and deed, from the beginning of your birth until now." Then, from the unexpected grace which she received, melting into tears, she cried out, saying: "All angelic hosts, heavens, air, fire, sea, earth, and all that is in you, praise our Creator for me for so infinite a mercy which he has shown to me, the greatest of sinners." And lifting her mind to the Maker of all, she said: "I, your handmaid, who have now received from you absolution of all my faults, offer you, the supreme and eternal Priest, thanks without end. And since you willed so freely, without any merit, to pardon me so generously, grant me that in spirit I may hear what you deigned to say to Blessed Mary Magdalene after her absolution: 'Go in peace'; and that, strengthened by the power of your mercy, I may henceforth not offend you." Christ, assenting to her prayers, said: "And I, daughter, confirm to you the grace which you sought, that you may never offend me mortally; in token of which I bless you again. You say to me that I am your Father, and I say that you are my daughter, who says that she loves me." And Margaret replied: "Lord, at another time you commanded me to frequent communion; but in it I have sustained many impediments." And the Lord said to her: "Believe, my daughter, Friar Giunta your Confessor concerning the first movements of temptation, and with a beating of the breast immediately confess your fault. Yet do not be content with such a confession, since afterward you shall be able and shall know how to confess to a priest; but concerning those things for which you have no opportunity to confess or no memory, I shall be your protector. And do not fear that a Confessor shall be lacking to you, for in your needs I shall provide you with a Confessor. Take care, however, not to refuse the Confessor assigned to you, but open your life to him entirely." Then God's servant Margaret began to cry out in the loudest voice, saying: "O piety of infinite mercy, to whom you incline so much as to be willing to be my Priest and teacher! O my infinite mercy, who have now forgiven me all my faults, past and present!" "Lord," she said, "my Lord, do I offend you by fleeing creatures?" And the Lord said to her: "You do not offend, both because of the thirst which you have for me and because you are fleeing your own frailty."

[196] The Savior said to Margaret: "Henceforth, daughter, judge no one, despise no one's life, and spurn no soul." Wherefore Margaret, desiring to obey, replied and said: "My Lord, will you ever grant me the grace of flight from creatures?" And the Lord, responding, said to her: "Daughter, let my Friars Minor place you and manage you through whatever hands have pleased them, for I have entrusted you entirely to their governance and care." And Margaret, hearing this, replied to Christ, saying: "My Lord, although I wish to be entirely separated from the world, they do not place me in solitude as my soul desires." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, they do not place you there because you are a star newly granted to the world, to illuminate the blind, to lead back the wayward to the right path, and to raise up those fallen under the burden of their sins. You are a new banner under which sinners shall be led back to me, and under which the penitent shall devoutly pour out their tears and sighs in abundance." And because the humble Margaret, on account of her awareness of her own vileness, had no confidence in the things that were being promised, she heard a voice saying to her: "I, Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, shall fulfill my promises, and until your end you shall grow in the ardor of a greater love."

[197] On the first day of May, God's servant Margaret entered a new cell on the hilltop, to flee the tumult and presence of persons. Upon entering, she sent for the priest of San Giorgio, an elderly lord, and for Friar Giunta, from whom, having made her confession, she requested the body of Christ for the following morning. When morning came, the priest, taking the pyx of unconsecrated hosts, offered it to her, thinking it contained the body of Christ. This indeed happened to the priest because, on account of sorceresses who were stealing the body of Christ from the church, he had secured the body of Christ in a vessel inside his house, in which the pyx was placed next to the pyx of hosts to be consecrated; and through a lapse of memory and eagerness to come more quickly, he brought the wrong pyx. But the Lord's servant Margaret, feeling no sweetness in communion as she was accustomed, ascribing this to her own faults, besought pardon with inconsolable tears. But the wondrous consoler of the sorrowful replied to the doubting and weeping one, saying: "Daughter, do not weep, for that priest did not give me to you; therefore you did not feel the presence of my most sweet sweetness." Having received this answer, she sent for the priest without delay and asked him why he had not given her the Lord Jesus Christ. He replied to her with embarrassment and gave the reason narrated above. From then on, Margaret, full of faith, conceived such great fear of the priest's forgetfulness that she preferred to abstain from communion rather than be further distressed by the doubt of the former deception. The innocent Lamb, wishing to dispel her doubt, spoke to Margaret at the next communion, saying: "I am Jesus Christ, the coeternal Son of the living God, who visited the world and took flesh from the Virgin Mary, in token of which, greeting my Mother, I say: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.' You told Friar Giunta that he should let the Lord scourge his sinner harshly and not grieve so much over your afflictions. You spoke truly, for you are my sinner, whom I have cleansed within and without, and with whom I have made the fullest peace."

[198] In the same cell on the following day, having received the body of the Savior with the greatest reverence, she heard him saying to her: "You marvel that I do not speak to you as often as you wish; but if you consider that it is worthy, before you attain full consolation, that you serve me with prayer and tears, with great desire and sorrowful sighs, as much as I am served by you. You also ask with fear whether the state of your life is pleasing to me. And I tell you that your desires, which you have for me, are acceptable to me. Nevertheless you offend me venially, because in things seen and heard you receive distraction from fear, when you ought to think only of me. In your other works, however, you please me." And Margaret replied, saying: "Lord, you know that I have no solicitude about things to be obtained from the people for myself -- for I desire only poverty -- but lest my companion and the poor who have recourse to me should suffer the loss of their need on my account, and lest the reception of things should provide an example of disedification." And the Lord said to her: "Never investigate earthly things; but rather my manger, my poverty, my cradle, my great labors, the betrayal of the disciple, and the immense torments which I endured on the Cross."

[199] The most reverent servant of Christ, Margaret, detesting with her whole mind the vice of irreverence, heard Christ again saying to her: "You, daughter, hesitate to receive me from the hand of the priest of San Giorgio, because it seems to you that he offers me to you irreverently. But do not fear, for I accept the reverence of your heart. And although the actions of his senses displease me, yet the prayer ordained by me for so most sublime a Sacrament does not displease me, to which I descend. If, however, you have greater faith and devotion in receiving me from one priest than from another, know that because I give myself more willingly through the hands of the good than of the wicked, therefore greater signs of grace are conferred through their hands."

[200] On a certain Saturday morning, having a desire to feel still greater joy from Christ, she said that she wished to taste more fully of joy from the presence of Christ. At which request Christ questioned her, saying: "How are you worthy to ask such great things?" And Margaret replied: "I am not worthy, Lord Jesus Christ, but I take refuge in the sole seat of your mercy." To which the Lord said: "Your taste has grown weak, because the graces which I deigned to give you I granted not only for your sake, but also out of love for those who, insofar as it lies in them, place me again on the Cross, and yet to whom I condescend mercifully in all things with fatherly piety, that they may return to me. And you are indiscreet, because you care about nursing none but yourself; and you do not wish to care about the redeemed children for whom I showed such great grace." And Margaret replied: "Lord, if this way is more useful to your children, lead me back to your conversation and to the state of our former familiarity. And I fear, Lord, because you have become my Priest to absolve me. Whence to you, the eternal Priest, I confess my fault for my indiscretions." And the Lord said to her: "I am not content that you confess your fault to me alone concerning your defects; you must strive to confess integrally to your Confessor. When, however, you have done this, remember that I sent the lepers to the priests according to the Law."

[201] And because in the recollection of her faults she was filled with complete joy, she said: "Lord, how could your Mother endure such ineffable joy when she conceived you by the Holy Spirit?" And the Lord said to her: "As I willed through my power and wisdom, so she was able." "What is it," said God, "that you are my daughter and I am not your Father? Which of these would you rather choose: that I should be your Father on my part and you not be a daughter, or that you should be a daughter and I not be a Father? And if you wish counsel on this, I give you permission to seek it." But her soul, inwardly illuminated, replied: "Lord, I choose to be a daughter on my part, for you, God, are the Father of all by creation." And the Lord said to her: "The soul must exercise great custody over itself which has been made my instrument." And Margaret replied, saying: "My Lord, truly great." And the Lord said to her: "If you wish to have it, separate yourself from the world." And Margaret said: "My Lord, though separated, I do not serve your majesty." And the Lord said to her: "Although you contend with temptations, it is nevertheless a safer way than to converse with worldly persons. For by contending the soul is purged; but if you linger with worldly persons, occupied by the images of visible things, my tabernacle is occupied and darkened, and cannot have compassion for me who am offended, since every day I am placed again upon the Cross by sinners." In that most sweet reproof, all her faults were shown to her, and all the places in which she had offended her Creator. And because she was not enjoying joys in the former manner, she said: "Lord, why do I not now feel the ineffable joys of your kingdom?" And the Lord said to her: "I respond to your state, because you have inclined your spirit too much to the preoccupations of persons coming to you." And Margaret replied: "And you, my Lord, place me again in a state of solitude." And the Lord said to her: "I am your Father, and you are not my daughter." And Margaret replied: "And I truly confess, my Father, that for love of your children you have bestowed upon me such abundant gifts of graces -- you who are the sole joy of the Angels and the gladness of the Blessed." At which word Christ infused in her such joy that she was compelled to say that if she were then placed naked in flames, she could not feel pain amid those reproofs. Whence she said: "So much, Lord, have I conceived joy of mind from your face shown to me, that the heavens, earth, and all that is in them would fail to grasp its impression. For as soon as I felt your presence, before which no one can be troubled, you showed many things which I could not relate; and therefore I desire to be set on fire by you, a fire that never fails, desiring to know how much I am loved by you." And the Lord said again: "You do not care, Margaret, about anything but yourself." And Margaret replied: "Lord, because you said that the appetite of my soul was weak, I beseech your mercy to heal it." And the Lord said to her: "I have given you the medicine which you barely use, except as regards fear and desire. And because you do not care about your body on account of love for me, you wish to be in an Easter and in gracious delights now, but you shall make a Lent of me. But remember the one to whom I forgave five hundred denarii and who would not forgive fifty." Then, praying to the Lord for her two Fathers, she heard him saying to her: "Tell them on my behalf: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see me face to face.'"

[202] So that she might enjoy that vision with the Blessed in perpetuity, the Son of God, the splendor of the Father's glory, instructed her, saying: "Since I have made you my tabernacle, I will and I ask that you guard it with all purity." And Margaret replied, saying: "Lord, I ought to ask this of you, not you of me. And therefore I beseech your majesty to guard the immaculate tabernacle which you have created. For, Lord, such labor and caution is required in guarding it that I could by no means guard it without you, the supreme power." "And because you seem to wish to end this discourse, dismiss me with your blessing, you who are present everywhere." And the Lord said to her: "And I bless you, and by grace I shall be with you until your death." And Margaret replied: "Lord, how shall I be able to relate such lofty things to my Father Friar Giunta? And how shall he grasp them?" And the Lord replied: "Daughter, strive to tell them as you know how, and I shall instruct him." God's servant Margaret, seeing herself in tribulation of mind and body, doubted whether to receive the body of Christ, because she did not believe she could show due reverence to so great a Lord. But as the divine fervor grew in her, her thirst for receiving him increased so much that with tears and fear she received the body of Christ. Having tasted it, she heard him saying to her: "Daughter, you disclose your faults in confessions more distinctly and more fully than any creature to be found under heaven; whence do not doubt or fear to receive me often, for I shall be with you." And Margaret, responding, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, because I offend you too much, I therefore do not dare to frequent the communion of your most holy body." "In this," said the Lord, "you offend me venially, because you complain too much and weep over yourself in your tribulations. Nevertheless I tell you that, with the usual confession having been made beforehand, you should often receive me, your Creator."

[203] After this condescending invitation, on the following day, receiving communion, she heard Christ saying to her: "I, daughter, am the bread who came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall not taste death for eternity. And this bread which I give is my flesh. And whoever devoutly eats of this bread, I shall raise him up on the last day. But I tell you that in many I die, insofar as it lies in them, who do not shrink from receiving me unworthily." And Margaret replied: "Since you are infinite life, how could you die?" And the Lord said to her: "Many receive me in whom I bestow no grace, because in their sins they crucify me anew." And Margaret questioned the Lord, saying: "Lord, then how do you grant gifts to those who do not live in continual purity?" And the Lord said: "Do you believe that Magdalene stood in that purity which you understand, so that without a moment of time she continually remembered me? I tell you that she did not; yet she lived in a continual desire to please me, and in a continual austerity of life. Then the fire of the Holy Spirit, which burned in her, suddenly burning up all the faults of the soul, purged and consumed them."

[204] In the Easter season, receiving the sacrament of life, she heard the King of all ages saying to her: "I am the living bread who came down from heaven; and whoever eats me shall not see death for eternity. And I shall raise him up on the last day. I am that divinity which enclosed itself in that flesh which was first conceived in the body of Anne. For I always inclined myself to mercy, and never did I find one fully corresponding to my charity and my most gracious generosity. And I tell you that because of the injuries and sins which sinners multiply, the word of my preaching is hindered from being delivered to them."

[205] On the Monday after the second Sunday of Pentecost, having received the body of Christ, feeling ineffable gladness and an attracting sweetness, she heard him who is the supreme sweetness saying to her: "Daughter, I am the Creator, light, strength, lover, and glory of your soul." And Margaret replied: "Lord, do not say this word except on your own part, for I know that you have always loved me, O supreme love. For on my part my love is like a cold and dark shadow. But I beseech you, my Redeemer, to make me white with purity and ruddy through love; and always increase in me the desire of your charity." On the Tuesday of the following Sunday, before she received the body of Christ, in her confession she suffered the bitterness of sorrowful contrition, because it did not seem that her life was running according to the good pleasure of the divine will. And when the priest rose after the confession was completed to prepare the saving host for the weeping Margaret, suddenly all grief was converted into joy, and she heard the living bread saying to her: "I am the living bread who comes down from heaven, and in you I delightfully rest." And Margaret replied: "How should your immense greatness, Lord, and your admirable purity incline itself to such misery as is in me?" And the Lord said to her: "O incredulous one, to whom I have given a more beautiful pledge than can be given to any penitent, and more perfect in all things through which a soul can please me on the way -- tell this son of mine and yours that he should never contend with you about giving you communion until you have first completed your Hours." But Margaret, joined to God alone and inflamed with desire, said: "Lord, what is it to think that you come to me and I do not come to you?" And Christ replied: "Daughter, you are the one whom the divine eye regards through grace." And Margaret replied: "Lord, you regard all creatures, and no thought of the human heart can be invisible to your wisdom." And the Lord said to her: "I regard you through grace in a different way than I universally regard other creatures. And you have great fear, but you shall feel even greater, and you shall keep one Lent from me, which leads to a solemn Easter."

[206] On the Monday within the octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, after communion was received, having heard "I am the living bread," etc. up to "for eternity," she also heard a voice saying to her: "Daughter, wearied by labors, temptations, and infirmities, you who do not know how to order yourself -- why do you praise yourself by excusing and lamenting? Your Angel this morning received your confession and the expression of the circumstances of the faults of your heart. Know that the disposition of a good nature toward grace is very useful for one returning to me. And I have given you a light for attaining knowledge of the truth, which pleases me more than the study of learned men who are accustomed to speechify. For no speech can please me as much as keeping the way of truth."

e. Here too.

CHAPTER VIII

On Maternal Piety and on Her Indefatigable Zeal for Souls.

[207] Putting on a mother's affection, full at once of piety and of zeal for salvation, she watched over each person with solicitude. When therefore on a certain day she sat ill upon a mat, wearing only one little tunic of coarse cloth in the time of winter cold over her hairshirt, she learned by the Lord's revelation that in a certain village many miles distant, a certain man dwelt who was modest and poor, having a family small in age and therefore useless and helpless, yet numerous, lacking both sustenance and clothing. Therefore she received a command from her beloved Christ that she should without delay graciously send the tunic newly sent to her for his love to the aforesaid man. Then with joy and wondrous fervor, stripping herself, she clothed that poor man, saying: "Lord, willingly would I give my heart, if it were right, to the poor."

[208] She had arranged her prayers for the common benefit, as she had been taught by her unlettered mother in the world, saying: "I beseech you, Lord, for the salvation of all those for whom you wish me to pray." But as the ardor of charity grew further, beseeching the Lord for all without exception of persons, she began to fear because she had broken the custom of her mother in praying. To which word Christ replied, saying: "Daughter, your mother did not teach you correctly. For since you ought to pray for all, your general prayer greatly pleased me. For I came for all and died for all. Concerning your father, for whom you prayed to me so urgently, I tell you that he has been led out of purgatory. And do not doubt on account of his past life, which you knew, for the purgatorial punishments are various, and very afflictive ones were reserved for him, so that he might be purged more quickly. My daughter, tell Friar Giunta, for whom you pray to me, to preach diligently, hear confessions fervently, sow concord among the discordant, not be soft but strong, abhor the praises of men, and not rush through his Masses."

[209] Christ had disposed his bride for so very wide a charity that not only did very many hasten from distant provinces, but also, by divine permission, the souls of the dead, coming from their places of confinement, urgently sought her suffrage. Among these, two who had been killed said to her: "Although at death we could not confess, because we foresaw our death when the robbers drew us off the road along which we were going, leading us through the forest, our Creator suddenly gave us contrition for our sins and patience in the death which they cruelly inflicted, and thus by his mercy he freed us from the eternal fires. We, beloved of God, were both cobblers, and I especially, who speak with you, did not have the integrity which I owed in trading. Therefore I beseech you, loving mother, to arrange with my household that they make satisfaction for me especially, and similarly for this one who is with me: for we are in great torments of purgatory, and I more so on account of treacherous and friendly speeches made deceitfully, in feigned affection. Pray therefore for us, bride of God." When God's servant Margaret prayed for these two and the others who are tormented in such great anguish, the Lord replied, saying to her: "Tell the Friars Minor to keep in memory the souls of the dead, who are in such great multitude that the hearts of men could scarcely imagine it, and yet they are little helped by their loved ones. And tell them that religious who involve themselves too much in secular cares suffer more grievous punishments in Purgatory."

[210] On the feast of Blessed Clare the Virgin, while Christ's servant was beseeching God for a certain person placed in bitterness and levity of spirit, the Father of clemency told her to send immediately for her Confessor and to tell him on his behalf to induce that person's Prelate to have compassion on his subject, who is like a stone in a machine, ready for ruin. "And however much the Prelate grieves over the injury done to me, let him nevertheless remember that I replied to Peter: 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.' Therefore I will that he show full mercy to the weak one, and he shall afterward grieve bitterly over all the things in which he gravely offended me. You also prayed to me for Gilia, whom, on account of love for you and her virtuous works, I shall place in the glory of Paradise in the order of the Cherubim."

[211] October 25 On the feast of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, after the reception of the body of Christ, Christ himself spoke to Margaret, saying: "Although tribulations are increasing for you, do not on that account omit to extirpate the vices of the vicious, and to sow and plant virtuous sprouts in their minds. Daughter, sow, and I shall give you the seed, and I shall infuse grace into the words of your mouth. And if I speak more rarely with you and without speaking bestow upon you illuminations, it is so that your words may be able to foretell true things. Daughter, your God is immaculate innocence, and therefore do not marvel if such things are related to you, who have attained a certain dove-like purity of innocence."

[212] At the time when I was staying in Siena, the Savior said to Margaret as she prayed: "Write: The Father God sends to his son his blessing and an inner commendation of his children, whom he redeemed at so great a price, and especially of those who have departed from my way. Grow in the degrees of graces, so that you may always ascribe to God the things that are of God, and appropriate to your Creator the light given to you. For I, the supreme and one God, wish to honor my friends both in heaven and on earth. Whence let it not be hard for you, my son, to labor for me; for if you are mindful of my labors and of the infinite reward which I have prepared for you, your labors shall be sweet, and you shall toil with unfailing gladness. The fault which my friend Francis saw mentally while praying for you signifies the sacrifice of the works of your God, because you bear my name, so that with fervent devotion you may preach before the hardened people. That cross placed in your hands invites you to return often to the Cross. And the rose given to you signifies the most pure chastity, whose fragrance extends to your friends. Therefore I teach you, as a father his son, that when you preach to the people you should show yourself tractable and humane to sinners; and in the threats which you make against sins, mingle with those words my clemency, which I willingly bestow upon the returning sinner. You also, my son, make yourself grave in conduct in all your works, for I shall always be with you, unless you lose me through your own fault."

[213] On the day following the feast of Blessed Magdalene, as she received the body of Christ with reverence, the Savior spoke to Margaret, saying: "Weep over my mercy, which cries out day and night and is reckoned viler than dung, because it is not recognized by the human race. Weep over your disobedience, because you have not obeyed me concerning the fishing for souls, who need me, the supreme and true good -- not I them." And Margaret replied: "My Lord Jesus Christ, I have doubt about my frailty." And the Lord said to her: "Do not call my benefits and works your own, which I cause to be done through you; and do not doubt, for I shall not permit you to fall into any mortal sin, if you walk by the way along which I shall lead you. For I have mercy, and with it I execute justice. Therefore love, daughter, your only God, and seek and honor him alone, and desire the honor of your God alone, not your own. And tell the Friars Minor on my behalf that they should not care about murmurings, infirmities, tribulations, and the withdrawal of their necessities, hunger and thirst, nor about honors; but let them seek only me and hold to the truth. For it is necessary that their honor honor me, and that all honor be referred to me, the source of all good things."

[214] A certain worldly lady of great reputation, on account of the frequency of her confessions, was so tranquil in spirit that she did not believe any grave sin remained in her soul. But because she was attentive to the salvation, honor, and needs of Margaret, God's servant, the Savior spoke to her who was fervently praying for her, saying: "Daughter, begin to relate to Friar Giunta the faults of the woman for whom you prayed; and when you begin to speak, I shall show them to you in order, and let him write them down for her benefit. Tell her, therefore, to confess to you for love of me with devotion, because before she was given in marriage she was too bold, or forward, and not perfectly honest in heart. Let her confess her excessive eagerness regarding the man whom she afterward had, and her immoderate desire to go quickly to him. Let her confess regarding the propriety which she maintained in her eyes, speech, and handiwork, because she desired it for the sake of worldly honor. Let her confess that before she was pledged with a ring she adorned her head and back, and going with excessive joy of heart to that man, dwelling with him, she had no true knowledge of me, nor relish for me. Let her confess her inordinate glances with him, and that in conversations and touches, even on my feast days and those of the Saints, she transgressed the order and rights of marriage. Let her confess her excessive desires to be with him, not only in his presence but in his absence. Let her confess that at the time of a certain great adversity of a kinsman of hers, she swore unlawfully and, insofar as it lay in her, procured a false sentence to be given; nor did she grieve so much at the mark of infamy upon the accused as at the loss of the money to be paid in common. Let her confess that she offended me by going to the palace of the Podesta, in which she desired to be commended above her companions for the beauty of her body. Let her confess that she often secretly accused her household, and showed signs of a more tender affection toward them and the affairs of the house, so that she might be loved by them more than others; and yet she did not truly love those whom she cultivated with such effort, nor other persons, except her husband and children, whom she loved too much. Let her confess her fault regarding the praises of the world, for which she was eager, and that she never received me worthily at the altar: for she did not receive communion with bitter contrition, nor with completeness of confession; and although she frequented the church a great deal, she tasted little devotion in my Nativity, Supper, Passion, Resurrection, and other solemnities of the Virgin and the Saints; for in these times and in Lent she thought little of me, nor did she know how to spend her time in an ordered manner in prayer; but she had dry prayers without tears, and her fasts were done without honor and the love of devotion. Let her confess her disordered desires for food, and weep over her stinginess in almsgiving. Let her confess diligently that she used things wrongly acquired, and let her remember well how much she spent: for the coins which she spent and drew from her husband's purse were either violently and fraudulently acquired or from gambling. Whence I will that she make satisfaction to certain persons whom she herself knows, either by herself or by another, diligently; and regarding uncertain amounts, at the discretion of her Confessor. And because she did not restore these things from her husband's goods when she could, let her now restore them fully from her own. Let her remember that as mistress of the household she held the purse of her house and made many useless and superfluous expenditures from ill-gotten goods, for which she must make satisfaction for that portion which she did not refuse to spend on herself. Let her confess that she did not grieve over the destruction of her land, because she wished that one party should overcome the other and dominate it; on which account she had a concealed envy toward many of her kinsmen if they were not conformable to her husband in their faction. For she grieved greatly if she was rendered even slightly lower in her pretensions. Let her also confess her fault regarding every domination which she wished to hold in her father's house, which she would by no means have tolerated from her husband's sister. Let her confess her fault regarding all the goods of her husband's partner, and let her restore whatever had been taken from him with her consent. Let her confess also that she was excessively sparing toward the wards of her husband's partner, to whom she ought to have made satisfaction as to poor persons, regarding insults uttered against men and women of the household, with both truth and falsehood. Let her confess her fault regarding every adornment of the body."

[215] The lover of all perfection, desiring to heal completely the soul which he had redeemed, powerfully expelling the remaining vestiges of disease, said: "Let her confess again regarding detractions and judgments concerning the nobility, goodness, and beauty of her neighbors; for she scorned and despised the sufficiency of others, expressing faults which she knew, and if others spoke of them, she gladly learned; but she kept silent about whatever good she knew of her neighbor; and in heart, mouth, and gestures she judged others for pride and other vices, and very often for vices which they had never committed, as she had; for even if she had certainly committed none of the vices which she imputed to others, she ought not in the least to have murmured about others. Let her confess that if she found a person in whom she had confidence, she would detract mordantly, while flattering those present in speech, saying good things about them. Let her confess that, proudly desiring to dominate others, she wished to be praised above others for nobility and abundance of possessions, which she envied in others with sorrow of spirit. Let her also confess her fault regarding the wandering of her mind and the straying of her senses, because she desired whatever desirable things she saw others possess. Let her confess that although she frequented the church, she did not have her heart set on the divine office, but on conversing with women in the church; and if she was silent, her heart there wandered in external things. And although she sought and had acquaintance with holy persons, and especially with the Friars Minor, she did not draw savor from them, nor did she conform herself to their ways; but, what is worse, she murmured about their preachings and offices; and if sometimes a sermon or the divine office pleased her, once outside the church she forgot God and his words. Let her confess her fault for ingratitude toward my benefits, because I freed her from many perils in which she believed she would surely die; and despite all this she could not be torn from the world, but clung to it in mind, nor does she now strive to redeem the lost time. Let her confess her fault regarding the time of her life spent in my displeasure; and that if she did any work pleasing to me, she did not do it solely for love of me, but either from fear of eternal punishment or from fear of temporal shame. But if she had firmly believed herself to be damned, her heart ought to have served me with intimate love, which through treacherous speech she concealed in malice. Let her also confess that she commended many virtues in several persons which she knew the commended ones utterly did not possess. And although she was pure from the vice of impurity except with her husband, with whom holy matrimony had joined her, she nevertheless did not grieve for those who had fallen into the vice of the flesh, but by detracting against them she often rejoiced with others. Let her confess her fault that she reproached others for ill-gotten gain, possessions, washings, ornaments, and bindings, saying that such precious and costly things did not at all befit their possessors; because she often ate inordinately, and had she not avoided the expense, she would have eaten more inordinately and ardently. She condemned others for the vice of gluttony, and distributed her goods to the poor for the honor of my name, yet she asked for and expected the return of a temporal rather than an eternal reward. Let her confess her fault that her prayers were oppressed by desire for worldly honors. Let her confess her indiscretion toward the servants of her house, and that she extended her hand with little compassion to poor creatures for love of me; and hence she judged the poor regarding their way of life, their weeping, laughter, jesting, food, and drink, withdrawing her alms and similarly, through detraction, that of others. Let her confess that, wearing double and precious garments, she neglected to have compassion on and to pity those suffering from nakedness and cold. For she willingly accumulated money and scarcely troubled to help the poor with a crust of bread. Let her confess her fault because that name which belongs to my Mother by antonomasia -- that she alone be called Lady -- she ascribed to herself; and if any nobler women were called by that name, she derided them; and being unwilling to serve others, she demanded servitude from all. Let her confess her fault because she offended me in food and fasting, in solitude and company, standing and walking, in time of adversity and prosperity; and although she willingly associated with women who were beautiful, adorned, and well-groomed, she loved herself with such a private love that she wished to be reckoned better and more beautiful than all others. Let her confess that, to the injury of me her Maker, she adorned herself at a mirror, and seeing herself there meditated on the miseries of this world, often envying the beauty and plumpness of other women. Let her confess because she reckoned her own small tribulations great, and the very great tribulations of others small, murmuring so harshly about those who bore them that she did not grieve in her heart over murders and the illnesses of her neighbors, but rejoiced, however much she wept with those who wept in churches or in their homes. Let her confess her fault because she did not refresh her servants after labor, but was stingy regarding their needs, not only in time of health but of sickness; for when they needed consolation, she spoke many insults to them and defamed them throughout the house for gluttony and negligence; in her own childbirths she attended too much to luxuries. She also kept silent about things she wished to say, and spoke things she would gladly have kept silent about, conforming herself to others. Let her confess because she avoided wayward persons for the sake of worldly honor, and did not admit them to her company and familiar conversation, because she was full of pride both within and without. Nevertheless, let her take comfort in me and not delay to examine her life, recalling her faults to memory; and I shall infuse the light of grace into her mind."

[216] A certain Friar named Philip, doubting whether to question penitents in their confessions on account of the foolishness of those who badly interpret the questions, and fearing not to question them on account of those who out of shame conceal their vices, had Margaret asked through me, her Confessor, to obtain from the Lord in prayer the truth about this doubt. To whom the Lord said: "Tell him on my behalf to hear and question those who confess with confidence, for the divisions of graces among men are distinct; therefore I have granted this virtue of hearing and questioning on account of the purity of his heart and body. Therefore, even if he could hear a thousand confessions in one day, let him turn away no one who desires to confess; and let him not postpone questioning anyone whom he reasonably believes to be in need of questioning. For sinners do not confess of their own accord, because they contract blindness of mind from sin and therefore cannot see their faults. They are justly blind, because they cannot retain me, the true light, in their minds because of the stench of sin. But after a soul has been cleansed through confession, it is illuminated, and sees its vices, and seeing them truly, weeps and grieves. Therefore, daughter, it is necessary for Confessors to question about sins; for on account of this devout endeavor and fervent zeal for souls, I love the Friars Minor more than any Order, because from their studious labors I gain more souls."

[217] Visiting Christ's servant Margaret, I celebrated in the oratory and gave her the sacrament of the body of Christ. She, receiving communion with great reverence, prayed, saying: "Lord, restore to me the lofty counsels which I used to receive from you." And the Lord said to her: "Because I give you what is more expedient for your salvation, do not ask for the former counsels to be restored to you. For I reserve my familiar conversation with my beloved ones for elsewhere. For in this life I stood in tribulation, and my friends likewise ought to wish to stand there. And if no tribulation were to touch them, because nonetheless I am offended everywhere by sinners, they ought to be afflicted, and defend my rights with all their strength and teach them. And those who do this should fear nothing, for I shall be with them. Therefore tell Friar Giunta, your bearer, to preach fervently to the people the words of my Gospels and the epistles of Blessed Paul, my chosen one, and I shall place in him a special gift of grace. And whatever I shall show you from now on, speak of it only. Know also, daughter, that simony has increased so much in the world that fathers cause their sons to become priests out of greed for worldly goods; and as this grows, my Church shall be struck with great tribulation. And the Friars Minor shall be afflicted at that time; and even if all who are in the Order were to perform no other penance, the one they shall have seems great enough for them. Tell your bearer also that I have few champions who fight manfully for the honor of my name. Since therefore I have chosen him to fight for me, let him always strive to accomplish what is pleasing to me as best he can; and let him be a light in his Order before me, and when he is occupied let him not combine his Hours."

[218] On the Monday after the first Sunday of Advent, she heard intellectually in her soul a voice saying to her: "In the desert of this world I have placed you, like a rose among thorns. For I, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, who speak these things, shall fulfill what I promise." But the fervent zealot for souls, feeling humble things of herself, said: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should fulfill such great promises in me; but for the glory of your name, which I have so greatly offended, and for the salvation which I desire, let that which your grace promises come to pass." And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, you speak truly, and I shall interpose healing remedies for many languishing souls, not only in this land but in many distant places and provinces, for love of you." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I commend the people of Cortona to your goodness, that you would deign to respond to the faith which they have had in me for love of you." And the Lord said to her: "Because the people of Cortona have been generous to you for love of me, I shall respond to their faith; and for every coin they have spent on you, they shall receive a gold mark in the house of peace and consolation." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I did not pray to you for them with such fervent desire because I wish to receive the slightest praise of temporal honor from them; but I seek only their salvation, so that those who for love of you inclined themselves so much to labor for me may receive in me a special grace." And the Lord said to her: "And I shall place them in a great state; and they have sold to me my goods at a dear price. And you shall not be recognized until men see what they do not see and hear what they have not heard. For you are a daughter, a chosen one, a sister, who follows only my love." And Margaret replied: "Since no creature has offended your majesty more than I, and I have been deeper in vileness than any abyss, how could great things be believed about me?" "You say," said the Lord, "that you love nothing except me and desire to serve me alone. And I tell you that you shall love me and serve me so purely that you shall never offend me mortally; and your love, insofar as befits a creature, shall be able to be called without measure, and you shall be able to be called immeasurable. You say that I am the ineffable joy of the elect; but few there are in whom I can rejoice as in your mind. For my lovers and my elect ought to be most humble and pure in heart, so that they may merit to behold me; and at their end I shall embrace them through love, coming to meet them with the Blessed."

[219] On the feast of Blessed John the Evangelist, in the schools of the Friars, with Friar Ranaldo and Friar Ubaldo, I, the writer of these things, assisting Margaret after communion, Friar Ranaldo, then Custos of the Custody, began to speak to her, saying: "Behold, while I rest in the sweetness of Christ, it is shown me by a new report that a certain soul is so burdened with crimes that it is utterly to be consigned to eternal punishments, unless you lead it back to the state of penance by your counsels and exhortations; and only one of two things is granted to you: either that you be deprived of the sweetness which you now enjoy and lead that soul back to grace, or if you dread to be deprived of so joyful a consolation, it shall be entirely consigned to the punishments of hell. Which of these will you decide to relinquish?" And Margaret replied: "Anguish is upon me on every side, and I am struck with fear from both parts; for if I abandon so ineffable a sweetness of Christ which I taste, I incur the most bitter suffering of a new death; and if I abandon a soul redeemed by the blood of Christ, I doubt lest I offend my Creator. On which account, I leave the proposed question unsolved; for so great is this sweetness which I feel that if it were to continue in my soul, I believe I could live unharmed in suffering forever without food."

[220] When evening had come, therefore, Margaret returned trembling to her cell and spent that night sleepless, praying and weeping, and with sorrowful sighs she questioned the Creator about the remission of her sins. Christ, the King of piety, graciously assenting to her prayers, replied, saying: "I would never have called you on the day of my beloved John, daughter, if I had not granted pardon for all your sins; in certain confirmation of which truth, just as I then absolved you, so also now I absolve you in the name of my heavenly Father, with whom I am coeternal and consubstantial Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And although all your sins have been forgiven, you must nevertheless always examine your conscience and not delay to confess all the desires of your heart by which you offended me." A wondrous thing, worthy of being committed to memory: for as soon as she received the aforesaid precept, mentally irradiated by the splendors of the wisdom of God, all desires, both confessed and unconfessed, were laid open in a single light.

[221] Moreover, on the following night, concerning the question proposed to her by Friar Ranaldo, Christ spoke to Margaret, saying: "O daughter, because you did not answer the Friar when he gave you the option, you did well; for not believing yourself able to live without my presence, already communicated to you through grace, and not wishing to free a soul to be damned for its crimes -- for I have revealed to you many times how much you love the souls which I redeemed at so great a price; and on account of zeal for them the Friars Minor please me more than any order of my Church. For they are the most useful zealots for souls that the world has today. Whence, just as I, the Savior of the world, founded and planted the aforesaid Order, so let them strive to fortify one another with the bond of charity and to preserve such complete charity that the lesser are treated among them without distinction of persons just as the greater. And so that so great an Order may remain in its purity, I will that the aforesaid shepherds of the Order strive with the greatest effort to remove whatever is now found in the holy Order that must be abolished. For just as the sea casts out every impurity, so should they cast out every defect that stains so exalted an Order. Furthermore, regarding the preachings which they make, let them have constancy and fervor, and let them not be turned aside from the path of truth by love or fear. And if sometimes there is murmuring against their preachings by some, let them humbly remember that against me, the Creator of all, the envious prepared many injuries and snares in my preachings and miracles. This is the Order," said the Lord, "daughter, which raises souls to me from the death of sin; and to which I gave, give, and shall give a special grace in their works." But Margaret, loving the aforesaid Order cordially, gladdened by what she had heard, replied, saying: "Shall all enter, Lord, this garden of your love?" And the Lord said to her: "All shall enter, but they shall not taste equally of its fruits. For nothing can please me as much as love, nor can anything more beautiful than love be found. For if the whole world

were given for love of me without the savor and fervor of love, even if I were to endure it as regards mercy, what was done would avail little as regards pleasing me. For no one can come to me except by the way of love." And Margaret replied: "Why, Lord, do you call the Order of Friars Minor the Garden of Love? Is there no other such singular garden of charity?" And Christ replied, saying: "There is no college of such great love in the world as the aforesaid Order. And therefore I have given it and give it to you for your instruction, just as I gave the Apostles, whom I shall cause to understand the things that shall be given to you." And then he showed her his Mother, saying: "This is she who loves you." At these words her soul was filled with such great sweetness of tenderness that she said that if it were to increase even slightly more, she could not endure it. And she asked our Lord to hide her from the world during her life with the consolations which she could not keep silent, because she shunned human praises.

[222] On a certain day when Margaret was praying for her Fathers, she heard the Lord saying to her: "My deceased servant is in the desired glory. Whence tell also my living servant: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God in the kingdom of heaven.' When he has been devoted to the occupations of men, let him immediately return his mind to me, referring all things that he does to me, the source of all good; and I shall so illuminate him that he shall not offend me. Let him never consider the opinion of worldly people, nor fear the withdrawal of their support; but let him always maintain in his mouth the use of and preserve the discourse of the most holy truth against their vices. And I tell you, daughter, who now refuse these things which are laid open to you for the salvation of the human race, so that it may be truly drawn to me, and may learn in you that for a little penance one can quickly ascend to the excellence of graces."

[223] On the Monday after Pentecost she received the body of Christ, who told her to greet the Blessed Virgin, up to "Blessed is the fruit of your womb." When the salutation was finished, he said to her again: "If you render all good things to me, Christ, and not to yourself, with desire for the progress of souls, all things which you shall promise in my name and not for your own fame shall be fulfilled, and you shall heal the souls devoted to you, as has been foretold to you. But not all whom you heal shall persevere in me." And Margaret, doubting over the promised word, replied: "Shall I, Lord, promise the generosity of your piety indiscriminately?" And the Lord said to her: "Likewise promise to the imperfect and the perfect, as long as they are willing to serve my majesty and to love and praise me. For in those who shall not persevere, the splendor of your charity shall shine in hell against them, because in this respect they shall suffer greater punishments. And to those who persevere in your counsels, I shall communicate the merit of my blood when I reward them in the glory of my kingdom; and through your examples they shall follow me, they shall render to me acts of thanksgiving and the voice of praise." And because she did not see the sweetness of the tranquility which she was accustomed to enjoy, the Lord replied to her who was marveling, saying: "I give myself to you such as I find you."

[224] On the Wednesday after Pentecost, having received the Son of God with wondrous reverence, at the altar she heard him saying to her: "Do you love me?" And before she could reply, the Lord said: "Say that you do not. Where is the former fervor of your desires, by which, set on fire and sweetly led by the movement of violent love, you continually sought me with tears, inclining my will to your prayers?" Inquiring of Margaret again about this love, the Lord said: "Love me, daughter, for I love you." But she, fearing lest she might have something in her mind that would offend the sight of the divine majesty, said: "My Lord, is there anything hidden in my soul that displeases your will?" And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, you have no mortal sin in you, but the fog of worldly things heard and the noise of the words which those who approach you relate impede the place of rest of your conscience and separate your mind from contemplation of me." Then she asked the Lord for a certain person placed in the greatest tribulation; and she heard the Lord Christ responding: "Know that I am with him as regards the mercy of retaining him lest he perish; but the hardness of his heart impedes the generosity of my consolations."

CHAPTER IX

On the Revelation of Her Own State and That of Others.

[225] A certain noble and devout lady, having a small and only son placed at the point of death, commended him with tears to God's servant, with confidence in the recovery of his health. While she prayed to God for him as a suppliant -- both out of piety toward the mother and out of gratitude which she bore in her heart on account of the great reverence she had for her -- she heard him saying to her: "You have more compassion for the mother of the child than for the blood which I shed. For you know that those of advanced age do not wish to come to me; and therefore I adopt in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven the little ones who depart from the world without stain. I, the Son of God, born of the Virgin, although I withdraw, remain with you."

[226] A certain Friar dear to God, desiring to receive communion daily but held back by fear, so that he did not dare to receive communion even rarely nor approach the sacrament of the body of Christ, on this account sought God's servant Margaret and asked her to obtain from the Lord by her prayers the gift of frequent communion. The Savior, assenting to her prayer, said: "Tell the Friar, whom I have numbered among the elect and love as a son, that as regards the purity of his innocence I would grant him myself every day, but not as regards the use of his tongue. Therefore let him first restrain his tongue, however much he speaks from great zeal; and with my blessing let him receive me whenever he wishes."

[227] Friar Benignus, benign in deed and in name, doubting about the frequency of his Masses, merited through Margaret a response from the Lord in this form: "Tell Friar Benignus, who fearfully frequents the sacrament of my body, to celebrate frequently with my permission; but before he approaches the altar to celebrate, fully confessing his faults, let him order his spirit to peace. And in the mercy which he has so vigilantly toward the poor, I command him to persevere to the end; for his manner has greatly pleased me, which he has hitherto maintained, of seeking through the houses the poor, the feeble, and the sick, whom he more willingly receives in confessions than the wealthy and worldly." For he was so intent upon the needs of the poor that he not only procured for them whatever he could, but withdrew from himself what was necessary and contracted debts on their behalf with the permission of his Prelate. And the Lord said further to her: "Tell him also that, short of giving the clothes off his back, he should not spare those who are obliged to restore ill-gotten gains. If, however, those who confess do not have the means to make restitution, and they grieve and are prepared to restore faithfully if they had the means, let him absolve them on my behalf."

[228] A certain Friar, lest he be further burdened with the office of prelacy in the administration of the province of Tuscany, urgently sought the suffrage of Margaret's prayers. And the sister, praying for him, heard the Prince of shepherds thus responding: "Although the aforesaid Friar's flight from prelacy pleases me, let him nevertheless remember that for the sake of obedience I was willing to die -- which a religious ought to place before every virtue, patiently obeying Prelates, since it pleases me so much that I pardon many faults in one who truly obeys."

[229] Once when the devout sister was beseeching the Lord for a certain Friar, she heard him saying to her: "I bless the Friar for whom you pray. Tell him to preserve his mind always in purity and, without delay when he can, to confess his faults and thoughts. Let him not be soft and timid, but strong and steadfast. When approaching to say Masses, let him say them with great tranquility of mind. Let him not be curious in his preachings, but fervent in charity and pacified with inner peace. Let devotion, prepared beforehand, precede his Masses. Let him not rush his Masses, nor wish to speak with the Friars before them. And if he must speak, let him ask the Friars to defer speaking with him; and let him take with him such a server as will not disturb the spirit of the celebrant by ignorance, weariness, or negligence. And if it happens that he does not taste in the Masses the consolations he desires, let him not lose heart, for on that account grace shall not diminish. Let him preach my word diligently, with all rectitude and vigor, and fervently extending the nets of preaching, let him relate to the people what he is about to treat. And if he can gain nothing in his preaching, let him securely await the gift of eternal reward. Let him strive with a watchful spirit to aid sinners, not only by preaching and hearing confessions, but let him not abandon the work of making peace on account of the discouragement which he incurs from the hardness of sinners. For he often, when he sees his counsel scorned and finds the hard hearts of the disobedient, withdraws from what he has begun -- but not so when he finds a heart that is ready."

[230] When she was beseeching the Lord for Friar Giovanni of Castiglione, the Savior replied to her, saying: "Tell him to remember my word, 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' etc. When he has meditated subtly upon this word, I shall give him light to understand it with that subtlety with which it ought to be understood and kept. Let him strive to invoke me in his prayers, for I shall give myself to his soul. In the past he served me in the office of the Inquisition; now let him strive to serve me in purity of heart, constancy of mind, mortification of body, and in the state of prayers. Nor is the divine counsel to be passed over -- indeed, it is a good pleasure and commandment -- in which the soul finds the means to be purged of vices, regulated in morals, illuminated with ineffable wisdom, and to grow in virtues."

[231] The Lord therefore said to Margaret as she prayed: "Tell my son to commend himself to me, to remember his crucified Father, not once but many times -- indeed, continually. And let him know that from the land where he now is, on account of the multitude of the people dwelling there, more go to the punishments of hell than from any other Christian land. For their pride is so great that it is sown by them not only there but in many parts of the world, and is nourished in manifold ways. Therefore, just as Blessed Francis, my beloved son, compelled a well-dressed woman to carry the intestines of animals upon her head through the streets of Assisi, so worldly women and others ought similarly to be compelled by their Confessors, to their own detestation of pride. You complain that you do not have the accustomed sweetness, nor can you have it now in me; because in your heart, scattered by fears and various anxieties, I could not be found; and because you have separated me from my delight, I will that he reprove you harshly. Tell him also that with constancy of mind and sweetness of speech he should preach urgently from the Epistles of Paul and from my Gospels. For sweetness is a habit that draws the hearts of hearers to love the preacher. And when he rebukes for criminal vices, let him rebuke in general terms; for the world is so universally infected with vices that he can truly rebuke the world in general, saying: 'Every Christian person, of whatever state, ought to guard against such-and-such a vice, ought to seek counsel from the holy Scriptures regarding what is to be done, and ought to entreat God continually.' Likewise he himself, who knows how to preach these things, should seek me with tears in his prayers; and I shall teach him, illuminating his heart in his preachings. Let him always offer me his heart, and diligently appropriate to me alone, the sole Good, all the good things he does, and let him carry everywhere with him the bridle of my fear. Daughter, the Apostles doubted about me, and yet I have kept you so robust in faith that you have felt no doubt about me. Tell your bearer also that I have made him the chamber of my treasure; on which account he ought to be more perfect in his relationship with me, his Creator. Whence, as he loves my blessing, let him ardently extract the truth in his preachings, for today I find few preachers who bring it forth as they ought."

[232] On the day of the Translation of Blessed Francis, after communion, the Savior whom she had received spoke to her, saying: "I complain of the injuries of worldly people." And Margaret, compassionating the world, replied to Christ, saying: "Lord, you know of what fragile material their bodies are made; and therefore I beseech your majesty not to refuse to condescend to their weakness." And the Lord said to her: "If they knew how much is forgiven them on this account, they would be more grateful than they are. Therefore tell your devotees to weep, for I wept; to fast, for I fasted; to pray, for I prayed for them according to my humanity to the Father; to do penance, for I performed harsh penance in this life for them, not for myself, and I bore their sins, not my own. And the things which you shall promise in my name to those who believe you, I shall do for them. But avaricious sinners have made me, who am generous, avaricious, and the hard have made me, who am merciful, hard -- not that I am avaricious or hard, but their merits requiring it, I have become such toward them."

[233] The Lord said once to Margaret as she kept vigil and wept: "Hold most firmly that a great tribulation shall come upon the world, which a demon shall stir up against the Church from Lucifer -- one who, since he had been bound, had never gone forth from hell. He shall traverse the whole world and shall diligently prepare the way for the Antichrist, as his precursor. And the tribulation shall be such that many religious shall leave their Orders and nuns their monasteries. At that time the Order of Friars Minor shall be greatly afflicted. But let them take comfort in me, for I shall protect them and shall give the aforesaid religious Order my grace. And let them know that I have given them a more ample grace than to any religious in the world. Let them prepare themselves for tribulations, through which they shall be made conformable to me; for I love them so much that I wish their life to be conformed to mine in order. That malignant spirit shall likewise organize treacheries and murders in the world, gathering the ranks of demons against the human race, just as one city prepares armies and ambushes against another city. He shall stir up many perils against the holy Church, so that the faithful may despise it; and they shall murmur against the divine office and preachings, and my word shall not be able to be freely preached."

[234] On Friday in Easter Week I found Christ's servant Margaret shedding tears with great sorrow of heart. When I expressed to her the words of the Gospel of the Resurrection, she was filled with joy from so joyful a report and was twice caught up in rapture before the Friars; in that mental ecstasy she saw many things and afterward related them, which for lack of time I did not collect. But committing one thing that follows to memory, I humbly asked her to relate to us the virtues which a true Friar ought to possess; but out of profound humility she was unwilling to relate them. On the following night the Savior asked her as she prayed why she had been unwilling to answer us, and said to her: "Tell your Confessor Friar Giunta that he is a true Friar Minor in whom, after my likeness -- for I am the truth -- truth is found. He is a Friar Minor whose heart is pure according to my word, 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' etc. He is a Friar Minor who spends his time in prayer, if he is not a cleric; but if he is a preacher and priest, it is expedient for him to spend it in preaching, the Office, Masses, and hearing confessions. And I tell you that the tears of a preacher praying illuminate more than the reading of the Scriptures. He is a Friar Minor who loves poverty for love of me, who was poor. He is a Friar Minor who is obedient, as I was obedient to my Father even to the death of the Cross. He is a Friar Minor who is prepared to undergo death and beatings joyfully if necessary, and amid the shames and insults inflicted for my sake shall be humble and joyful in every tribulation. For I too, your Creator, patiently endured bitter sufferings."

[235] The little plant of the Friars Minor, desiring to render grateful fruit to the Order, on a certain day besought the Lord for her nurturers. To whom the Lord said: "Tell my Friars Minor that their souls should not delay to enter into me through love, for so I shall enter their souls through grace. And those desiring to enter, let them begin from my manger, and let them direct their meditation with sorrow, in order, all the way to the final torment of my Passion. At each step of my torments let them consider the love of a burning heart. For by doing thus they shall be strong in their tribulation, and transferring myself into their souls I shall confirm them to myself, together with their diligence in preachings, prayers of my life, and my reproaches."

[236] In the month of May in the year of the Lord 1288, Christ spoke to his servant, saying: "My chosen one, that malignant spirit which I foretold to you has now gone forth from hell, sent for the destruction of souls with his army -- namely, a very great host of demons -- and is now with the demons in a vast solitude to which there is no approach by men, whom they would gladly kill if they dared. And this envoy of Lucifer, so cunning, fears to present himself to Lucifer if he cannot accomplish the evils for which he was sent. All the demons under heaven strive to obey his nod, and as to their master, the most sagacious instructor of malice, they report individually all the evil they perpetrate throughout the world. The subtlety for evil of this new and most wicked leader is so great that from the beginning of the world men have never been more sagacious for sinning and sowing discord than they now are and henceforth shall be. This harsh and agile procurer of all perdition shall make a greater slaughter of souls in his time than the Antichrist shall make when he comes -- who has not yet been born. For the Antichrist shall capture many souls, but in the end shall retain few. And because this most cruel one shall organize many evils and shall cause many men to be killed throughout the world, tell the Friars Minor to be manfully prepared against his malice, for he shall organize many afflictions against them. But let my Order take courage, for I shall be with them; and let the Friars know that sinners make stables of vices out of their souls. I will that they purge them by their preachings and that they lead no one by their terrors to despair. And if a sinner refuses the penance that is imposed, let the Friars accept from him what they can, totally uprooting all the sprouts of vices from their minds through thorough confessions."

[237] A certain Friar, namely Friar Corrado, going from a remote province to see God's servant, commended himself to Margaret's prayers. When she prayed, she received an answer from the Lord saying these things: "Tell him to celebrate Masses in this manner: on Sunday let him say Mass for the memory of my nativity and resurrection; on Monday, a Mass for the dead, for those who suffer in Purgatory; on Friday, for my Passion; and on Saturday, for my Mother the glorious Virgin. If he says them thus, he shall be melted in my love. Let him not lament about the services which he was accustomed to render to the Friars and now does not; for I do not impose upon him that, once his Mass is finished, he should serve in other Masses as much as he can. Then, with Masses completed, let him go to his cell; and sometimes, speaking of me, he may refresh himself with the Friars. Nor let him communicate his fervor to all. Let him never dare to ask for a specific gift; but let him commit to my will all that he asks in prayer. If he does this, I shall give him spiritual graces. But let him do one thing, and let him know that never has he purchased them at so dear a price as henceforth."

[238] And because as a sign of grace she desired to be corrected by Christ, she said: "O my Lord, why do you not correct me as you correct him, since I am to be corrected in all things?" The Lord said to her: "Then I correct you when I separate you from the worldliness of men. Then I correct you when I place you in fear. Then I correct you when I keep you in diffidence concerning the things promised." That Friar, however, when on the following night he besought the Lord for Margaret, saw her in spirit all ablaze with the fire of divine love, and then heard the voice of an Angel saying to him: "This is that Margaret who desires nothing and seeks nothing except our Lord Jesus Christ."

[239] On the day of Blessed Lawrence, seeing Christ in great joy, Margaret said to him: "Why, Lord, since you are infinite joy, do you not fill me with that gladness of yours which alone I desire?" And the Lord said to her: "When you contemplate me in joy, then I show you what I am. When otherwise, you ought to meditate on what I became for the salvation of the human race." At that same hour there were shown in that fountainhead of light many warring against the Order of Friars Minor; at the spectacle of which battle Christ rejoiced wondrously over the Order of Blessed Francis, and he seemed to be moved with such great gladness toward them that God's servant could not describe it. But toward those persecuting the aforesaid Order he seemed neither to rejoice nor to be troubled. At which, placed in wonderment, she said: "What is this, Lord? Are not all creatures yours? Why then do you turn your gaze with such serenity toward the Friars Minor, but do not show yourself to those who attack them with a troubled face, as toward those who can perish from such great fault?" And the Lord said to her: "Daughter, I rejoice thus over these because I reserve them for myself and shall place them in the highest state. But I do not seem troubled about the others because in the end, through the counsels, examples, and teachings of the Friars Minor, they shall return to me. Amen indeed I say to you, in what way the persecution which the envious shall make shall not please certain of those religious, and yet they shall follow them, just as in my Passion certain Jews did not consent to it nor carry it out, but did not prevent the conspiracies."

[240] On the feast of Blessed Catherine the Virgin, after communion of the body and blood of the Savior, she asked her companion with an abundance of tears to beseech the Lord Jesus quickly, that he would give nothing but the Lord himself, with generous condescension, to her who thirsted for him. For she said that after the soul begins to taste the sweetness of God, it grievously endures whatever it hears, whatever it feels, that is not God. Then to the burning soul God sent his Angel, who said that she should dismiss the woman assisting her, lest she reveal Margaret's joys to outsiders. When she had been sent out, the Lord spoke to her, saying: "My daughter, your sufferings are pleasing to me; and because they are increasing for you, prepare yourself for them." And Margaret replied: "My Savior, name them for me." And the Lord said to her: "I shall not name them all for you, but I say that you are a hand drawing out those who are suffocated in the sea of the world's vices. You are a light drawing those who sit in darkness. You are a daughter, chosen and blessed by the Father and me the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the most blessed Virgin Mary my Mother, whom together with Catherine the entire heavenly court of the Blessed blesses, awaiting the coming of your soul, praying urgently that I hasten your departure from the world. Nor do I wish you to come to me until you first experience and see what my Apostles felt. Tell also the Friars Minor that the time draws near for which they should prepare themselves for tribulations, in which they shall seem to have fallen from their former state; but I shall be with them, nor shall there remain in the world a religious order so beloved, nor any order that shall serve me so much."

[241] A certain Friar had so devoted himself to the practice of prayer that whatever else he did besides praying, attending divine offices, or preaching the divine word seemed to him tedious and harmful alike. Among other things, he especially desired to be able to receive Christ once within eight days; but because he considered the sublimity of the divine Majesty and his own vileness, he by no means presumed to approach the Sacrament of such great Majesty unless Christ's servant first gave him assurance. When she prayed to the Lord for him, she heard him saying to her: "Daughter, you had said that he should receive me, his Creator, once a fortnight, and this I grant; nor do I consent to this prayer on account of the affections which he had, but so that thirst for me may increase in him and he may receive me eagerly. When, however, he desires me and does not receive, let him remember my Doctor who says: 'Believe, and you have eaten.' Therefore tell him to dispose himself for a new grace and to strive to amend and purge those faults which he recognizes from his manner of life. Let him hold my Cross, and before himself in the dormitory, choir, and cloister, kitchen, refectory, and all places within and without and wherever he may be, let him crucify himself in me; for from this fountain he shall draw not only the graces he desired, but other saving ones which he shall seek. And tell him to take courage in me, for the time shall come when I shall grant him that he may receive me every day, and then he shall be separated from the kitchen." And afterward it was thus fulfilled, just as she had foretold.

[242] Margaret, not unmindful of her bearer, received these things from Christ concerning him: "Tell him that just as I was not recognized while I was on earth with my disciples, so he shall not be recognized in places and lands by religious and worldly persons as long as he is with them," etc. To God's servant supplicating for the soul of Gilia, her servant, now deceased, the Angel replied, saying to her: "Gilia shall remain in the place of Purgatory for one month, in which nevertheless she shall suffer light punishments, on account of her fits of anger through zeal," etc. On the feast of the Purification of the glorious Virgin it was revealed to Margaret by the Lord that on that morning he had sent four Angels for the soul of Gilia, and he placed her, as he had foretold to her, in the order of the Cherubim, etc. On the same morning, "for the three deceased, for whom you urgently prayed to me, Margaret," said Christ, "I answer you that according to the opinion of those who judge them, they are by no means damned; but they endure such painful torments that, were they not visited by the ministry of the blessed Angels, they would believe themselves to be damned, because they stand near the damned. Know that the world shall be afflicted with various tribulations on account of sins; for the iniquities of the men of this age have increased so much that, if it could be said on my part, I would fear to entreat the Father for them on account of their crimes; and my Mother, the advocate of all, would fear to beseech me, her Son, for them. Know also, daughter, that just as the cells of the Friars are distinct, so the punishments of Purgatory are in different places: for some are purged in the thickness of darkness, others in flowing waters, others in ice, and others in the fire of blazing flames," etc.

[243] On the night of the second Sunday of Advent, and in what follows, Christ spoke thus to Margaret: "I will that all my friends should have purity of mind, truth of mouth, chastity of the flesh, mortification of the senses, and perfect and inseparable charity. And just as I, the Lord of all, subjected myself for all creatures, so let my servants esteem themselves more vile than all and desire to be reckoned more abject. And if they are white through the purity of chastity and ruddy through love, I shall cause their praises to be fragrant before me; and from me, the bestower of all good things, they shall obtain a more abundant grace and shall truly be called my elect. I complain to you about dissemblers and double-dealers, whose works do not serve me but offend me. I complain also, as I have complained at other times, about kings, potentates of lands, rulers, judges, scribes, officials, brokers, and arbiters of disputes. I complain about bad virgins, married women, and widows, about false merchants and wicked usurers, who shall be harshly punished for their offenses. For those who in this

[244] When God's servant Margaret believed she was about to receive a sign of new consolation from the Lord, she would first say within herself: "What shall the Lord give me now?" For which meditation the Savior rebuked her, saying: "Why do you strive to estimate infinite wisdom? Never dare to set a limit to my works; touch my works in no part of them by scrutinizing them. But if you wish to attain what you desire, run by the way of the Cross, and thence you shall be able to come securely to the greatest gifts which you await. And in this simplicity of yours I have not abandoned you, because the thirst which you have for my grace excuses you. I ask that every day you pay special reverence of praises to the Blessed Virgin and to Saint Joseph, my most devoted foster-father, for 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'" And then he showed Margaret the good works of the human race, done tepidly and half-complete, with deficiency and negligence. And although they are so imperfect, they are nevertheless accepted by God through the inclination of his mercy. And Jesus said to her: "Why do you not adorn for me a place in your soul, in which I wish to sit?" And Margaret replied: "I do not know how to prepare a place, nor am I able without you. And since today is Friday, on which I ought to feel what you felt, I ought to afflict myself in meditation on your wounds which you bore." To which word Christ, responding, said: "As long as I remained a wayfarer on earth, I did not have perfect consolation in my body for a single day; and yet I often make my friends feel Paradise and rest in this life." And Margaret replied: "What is it, Lord, that I cannot retain in my mind such lofty gifts which your generosity grants me?" And the Lord replied: "This happens to you because your thirst compels you to run to other consolations which you believe you are about to receive." And the Lord said to her again: "I will that you grieve over the time in which you offended me." And Margaret replied: "Lord, if my body were as great as the structure of the world and all of it were to melt in tears and sweat of blood from the grief of the injuries which I inflicted upon you, I could not fully make amends for the smallest offense. And yet I grieve and desire to grieve as much as your grace shall deign to grant me." And she was soon filled with such great sweetness that in her wonder she said to the Savior: "How can, Lord, all the hosts of the Blessed who are in the fatherland before you sustain such sweetness?" And the Lord said to her: "They can insofar as my graciousness bestows upon them the power to do so. And this degree, in its own measure, is likened to the state of John the Evangelist, when he saw ineffable things, and from that state there remained in him such light that he was prepared to teach the whole world and to write copiously about me for all the churches. And this I bestowed upon him through my graciousness, because at the time of my passion he had doubted about me." And Margaret replied: "Lord, I have never heard in preachings that your Scripture said this." And the Lord said to her: "If my Scripture had set down everywhere the doubts of the disciples, although it would have been useful to some, it would indeed have been harmful to many." And when he showed that he wished to end the discourse, Margaret said to the Lord: "Lord, do not permit me to be separated from you." And when Christ said to her that she would never be separated from his grace, she was filled with a new heart with such great sweetness that her soul was drawn toward heaven, saying: "Lord, I humbly beseech your majesty to fill the hearts of all with this sweetness; for if they taste you, they shall never presume to offend your majesty."

[245] After the Purification of our Lady, having received communion, she heard Christ saying to her: "In your desires you labor, and I labored. But your labor shall not be fully known as long as you live; but after the end your works shall be examined and shall bear fruit, and from your labors you shall receive such great glory as the hearts of men could not conceive." At that time, on a certain morning, having devoutly received the bread of life, she heard Christ complaining of the injuries perpetrated by sinners and saying: "I complain of that unspeakable vice which I punished at my nativity. I complain of married persons who use their marriages so viciously that they are not true spouses but are called adulterers. I complain of the vainglory newly invented in garments and other ornaments, which are occasions of illicit gains and cause those who behold them to sin mortally, impressing images of impurity upon their minds; and therefore through such washings, ornaments, and bindings they often offend mortally. For in their face they bear the audacity and weapons of Satan, and in their hearts they also conceal the works of the most wicked leader and tempter. And hence it is that not only their thoughts, words, and works end in him, but thence it arises that their prayers, pilgrimages, alms, and fasts, together with other good works, are by no means pleasing to God. I complain of false potentates and rulers of lands, who do not direct the eye of right intention toward God, but look with oblique thought both toward their own reputation and toward seeking a treasure of money. And out of a hundred today you will not find one who renders his right to another without obliquity. For the aforesaid reasons, therefore, whether on account of faction or carnal connection, they search the laws and find new tricks to deceive and oppress the innocent. I complain of

[247] When at a certain time she was commending to the Lord Jesus Christ the Order of the Friars Minor, she heard Him responding and saying to her: My daughter, whoever desires to please Me should endeavor to be such as the beloved Blessed Francis was; in whose Order, which you commend to Me with such intimate devotion, there have never been so many holy men as today, nor so many weak ones; but the strong and righteous who are in it sustain and cherish the weak and infirm by their prayers and examples. The Friars Minor are commanded to preach an expedition to the Holy Land. Wherefore, tell them on My behalf -- whom I have appointed fishers of souls -- that they should not cease to cast the nets of their preaching into the sea of this turbulent world. Moreover, I would wish that they undertake the preaching of the Cross, so that a general passage might be made for the desired recovery of that Holy Land, in which I deigned to be born and to die. For many, if this were done, would return to My faith, and I would be honored there by the faithful. Let them also preach My word with fervor of the Spirit, and promise to the penitent the abundance of My mercy, and threaten the impenitent with eternal punishment. And let the Friars Minor know that I have given them, and shall give, more abundant graces than to any religious who are in the world. Yet let them prepare themselves for the endurance of tribulations, to prepare themselves for imminent tribulation, through which they may be conformed to Me, and I shall be with them. Let them not fear, since I wish them to be like Me with regard to the order of life, for I shall never desert them. For they shall have, through the Father, one who shall appear to be the orderer of the whole world, but shall rather be its destroyer. But after that tribulation, I shall exalt the aforesaid Order and magnificently raise it up. Therefore let them be strengthened in Me, desiring to please Me alone, and let them diligently receive from among the small and great whomever they can lead to the Order; for the world is today so stained by vices, and it is so perilous to remain in the world, that if those received into the Order with the observance of chastity would only say their Hours, to admit readily to the Order, I would accept the reception of such persons, and I command that they be received for this alone, if they are unable to do more in the Order than what has been said. This is that Order which pleases Me above all others, because the Friars Minor are men of tears and abstinence, and they bring a greater harvest of souls than any other religious order in this world.

[248] On a certain morning, after the sun had risen, with great joy of mind she recited the following things, saying: Know, Father, that this night I passed in quiet with sweetness, and I heard the Lord saying: My beloved sister, you wish so to fail in My consolations that your eyes see nothing, and all the members of your body, like a dead person, feel nothing; this gift indeed you shall have Margaret is admonished to die fully to the world, whenever you shall have died to the world with respect to your thoughts, just as you are dead in mind with respect to worldly works. For you are not yet fully dead, because the winds of various thoughts enter your soul; therefore make the wall of the charity of guardianship around your heart so strong that nothing besides Me may be able to enter. For in you, My bride, I have placed My tabernacle; therefore be solicitous to serve Me alone, living in obedience to My precepts and in the solicitude of love, to cling to God, after the manner of a person wishing to kindle a fire, who, after he has arranged the wood in a heap, blows and fans to kindle the fire. Moreover, to the aforesaid admonitions having been premised by Christ, He added, saying: You must also live in continual fear, because you still find yourself in battle among your enemies. to walk in fear: Act therefore like one who walks alone through the lands of cruel enemies, from whom he fears to be captured, wounded, plundered, and killed -- one who looks around on every side, never casting aside his weapons, neither resting nor trusting in anyone, until he arrives at his beloved place. Die to the world utterly, acknowledging the graces bestowed by Me. And remember that hitherto you have fled the visits, conversations, and faces of worldly persons on account of fear of Me. And now with full will you earnestly petition that I render you wild to worldly people, and make you removed from them in both body and mind. Therefore be strengthened, My daughter and poor little one, be strengthened in Me, the Lord Jesus Christ, for I am with you, and I bless you on behalf of the Father, of Myself, and of the Holy Spirit.

[249] The prince of darkness, deceitfully lying in wait for God's handmaid and showing himself to her with a most cruel disposition, approached and said to her: Know that you will never receive pardon or mercy from the Lord your God, A demon inciting her to despair, which you expect, because you have killed yourself through abstinence. When she said to him, Depart, for I do not yield to your blandishments, he immediately vanished from her sight, to return again. After a very brief interval of time, he returned so horrible and so astonishing that she believed nothing more terrible under heaven could be imagined or described, and he said to her: O most miserable of all women under heaven, whom do you serve? Whom do you strive to follow with such faithful spirit? To whom have you joined yourself with such singular and unique love, with all other loves driven far away? For such is that beloved of yours, Jesus Christ, then urging her to bring death upon herself, whom you seek day and night, and for whom you afflict yourself with such various punishments, that He is willing to share His love with no one except the one who deserts, destroys, and kills herself. Then Margaret replied to the ancient serpent, saying: Now from your deceptions I perceive that you are not to be believed, because you are a pretender of contradictory propositions; for a little before you told me that God had deprived me of His mercy on account of abstinence, and now you argue the contrary, that I must destroy myself if I wish to find divine grace. then making dire threats, The ancient enemy, more sharply provoked to anger by so prompt a response, appearing most foul and savage, said: Do you not know that power over you has been given to me, so that I may pluck out all the hairs of your head, and drag you, solitary, through your cell as vilely as cruelly? But Christ's handmaid Margaret, broken nor changed by no terrors, knowing that he who can do nothing unless permitted is not to be feared, she bravely repels him, replied fearlessly, saying: If my Lord Jesus Christ commands you to do this, do what He has commanded more quickly, so that you may not delay in fulfilling His mandate. At which word, humbly spoken, the vanquished one immediately disappeared.

[250] When he disappeared, Christ spoke to her, rebuking Margaret because she had been afraid at the first suggestion; and He instructed her not to fear his threats, saying that she had made abstinence from food though she had feared at the first temptation: and a moderate taking of refreshment according to the pleasure of His will. And I tell you, said the Lord Jesus, that the fraudulent variety of temptations often leads you to the brink; but I shall not permit you, thus driven, to fall. For I am with you in all your battles; and the more you withdraw yourself from conversations with worldly people, the more abundantly you shall enjoy My grace. she is encouraged by Christ, Remember that hitherto in the struggle of temptations you have abounded in tears, not only refreshing but also purging your sins, which I withdrew from you in your distresses because I have now already mercifully and fully forgiven all your sins. Yet your sorrows without tears are more painful, because I am preparing you to receive an inestimable ornament of grace, without which no one is permitted to enter the glory of My kingdom. But it was necessary, daughter, that you first strip off the old tunic of guilt, with which you offended My omnipotence. Because sinners here disdain and defer stripping it off, in the punishments of Purgatory they shall be compelled by various and cruel torments to lay it aside and burn it. And just as I was naked for the salvation of the human race, nailed to the Cross, so every soul desiring to please Me must strip itself of that wretched garment; so that, first purged through contrition and confession, it may at last resolve never to offend Me nor further stain itself with vices. And when it has fervently placed its effort in avoiding what is to be avoided and doing what is to be done, let it confidently petition for grace, because I shall graciously introduce it into the house of mercy, whose door I have never closed, with joy. And tell My Friars Minor about the fervor of preaching they should have, and the Friars Minor are to be urged to be like the Apostles in preaching, which I announced to you in the past, and let them not deliver to oblivion that, just as My Apostles were unable to win all the souls they desired or to accomplish all things desired according to their wish, since they had within themselves the Holy Spirit, neither shall they. And just as those Apostles, neither by threats, nor by scourges, nor by other dangers confronting them on every side, deflected the truth or brought it forth tepidly, but exposing themselves to all dangers were prepared to die for the truth, so too let My Friars neither by the blandishments of worldly men nor by threats withdraw from preaching the truth. And because peoples wrapped in darkness will scorn their preaching and contumaciously refuse to hear them, they shall merit no less if they persist importunately; and adversities: but their reward shall be greater. Therefore, since martyrdom is not yet inflicted upon them on account of the universal state of the Church, I wish that in place of punishments they humbly bear the murmuring of a people in darkness, and when they have preached My word to them, let them mix with threatening words the Scriptures and the abundance of mercy, lest they incur despair over their sins. But I, who say this, am your Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who took flesh from the Blessed Virgin for the human race; and reveal all that I have disclosed concerning the truth of the people. And because you are near the port of your salvation, therefore the ancient enemy, lying in wait for your end, attacks you more fiercely than usual, and strives with the utmost effort to contrive whatever he can against your salvation, she is warned of her approaching death, against which the demon plots: which he so cruelly envies. And he endeavors to manage this more vigilantly, because he now finds nothing in his possession that he can set against you on account of your former state. But do not fear; rather, be strengthened always in Me, for I am with you in every struggle and in every work of yours.

[251] On the night of the Sunday after the Epiphany, Margaret, regarding herself as being adorned without any merit of her own with such copious gifts of graces, feared that beneath the pretext of such sacred revelations the tempter might be concealing himself in deception. From which fear she was also compelled she fears lest she be deceived in the revelations: to ask Jesus, who was speaking with her, whether He who had deigned to speak to her was truly the one who was born of the Virgin Mother, adored by the Magi, treacherously sold by Judas, and had suffered on the Cross for the salvation of mankind. To dispel her fear, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, responded, saying: I am, daughter, your Lord Jesus, born of the most pure Queen, adored by the Magi, who underwent death for the salvation of mankind, rose again, and ascended into heaven. Why then do you fear? Why do you doubt? Have you not already seen and infallibly received what I promised you in the past? she is made secure by Christ, So also I shall fulfill what I have promised you. In many temptations I shall sustain you, lest you fall; nor shall I ever permit you to be separated from My grace, by which I am joined to you. The tribulations which you suffer conform you to Me, and until the day of your death, My daughter Margaret, I shall be with you. For that I might bestow these things upon you, the entire heavenly court petitions, together with My Mother, the glorious Virgin Queen of Heaven, to whom you have commended yourself both living and dead; and there stand on your behalf John My Forerunner, with Blessed Francis your Father, Magdalene, and Catherine. In which words she was so illuminated by the splendors of truth that she descended within herself in tears, discerning in her mind the hours and times of the offenses of absent persons who were offending our Creator, and even the modes in order; with a wonderful illumination: yet the fear of ostentation and diabolic deception restrained her, and she presumed to reveal nothing of what she had seen. On account of which she asked me she is commanded to do nothing without the counsel of her Confessor: to confer concerning this knowledge given to her with Brother John, who was then Custos, because she had this as a command from the Lord, that she should never depart from his counsel.

[252] On the Octave of Blessed Lawrence, while Christ's handmaid Margaret was praying, the crafty enemy approached her, and that foul spirit showed her such foul vices assailed by foul sins shown by the demon, that the very horror and pain tormented her exceedingly; and immediately her entire past worldly life was placed before the eyes of her mind. From this representation made in order, and her own past life, she is overcome: she fell into such weakness of body from the anguish of grief that she was received as if lifeless in the arms of a certain devout Lady who was then attending her. Then the consoler of His own spoke to her soul, laboring in such excessive sorrows on account of the memory of past offenses, saying: Confess now to Me, daughter, to your Lord Jesus Christ. At which word, all things that she had ever thought, she confesses all things to Christ, said, or committed in this life were universally laid as offenses before Him; and with unspeakable bitterness of mind, having said her guilt concerning all those faults which the divine light had shown her, she petitioned the Lord that He would leave her in the perpetual memory of her sins until the end, entirely bitter and painful and full of anguish, so that all the joints of her body might fail from the sharpness of grief. When that prayer was finished, the supreme Pastor, extending His hand over her, said: I absolve you on behalf of My Father, daughter, and is absolved by Him: and of the Holy Spirit, from all your faults which you have thought, spoken, and committed up to this hour.

[253] Within the Octave of the Nativity of the glorious Virgin, having received Communion, among the other things which Christ spoke to her, He also said this: Fear shall increase for you, and you shall not have your accustomed sweetnesses except rarely, although I shall speak with you more often; and the pain of your mouth, which you suffer, pleases Me, where rheum corrodes and consumes your body, throat, tongue, and lips. she is afflicted by a troublesome catarrh: And Margaret replied: Lord, on account of the greatness of Your love, I greatly delight in this pain. And the Lord said to her: It shall endure for you until your end, and it shall henceforth be more painful than usual and more afflictive. And again the Lord said: Few are those today joined in the conjugal bond who receive Me worthily at the altar; and because they receive Me unworthily, they irritate Me by their foulness to vengeance. And He added: Now, however, as to the manner of familiar speech, departing I leave you with the blessing of the eternal Trinity and of My blessed Virgin Mother, from whom I took passible flesh. To this Margaret replied, saying: O God, my life, because without You I cannot live, I beseech Your mercy that You would not disdain to be with my soul, which thirsts for You alone. Then Jesus asked her, saying: Do you love Me? And when she said that she did, He said: Does not this whole world seem to you as if it were hell for love of Me? It pleases God, And when she said, My Lord, it does. And He said: Would you not give everything, reserving nothing for yourself, inflamed by the fire of My love? And when she again affirmed, Truly so, He added: Would you not, expropriated of all worldly things, gladly and most joyfully endure all punishments, if it were necessary, for the love of My name? And when she affirmed that she would, the Lord said to her: In all these things, daughter, you serve Me. For the handmaid of the Lord feared that her whole life might be displeasing to Christ the Judge in all things, because, weakened by excessive bodily infirmity, she could not lead her accustomed harsh life or inflict upon herself the customary afflictions of disciplines and fasts. To which fear the Savior responded, modifying it, saying: Know although she is unable on account of infirmity to undertake her usual penances: that Joannella and Gillia, your companions, by the severity of the penance which they wished to perform in imitation of you, shortened their days, imitating the footsteps of your life; which footsteps many more will yet follow, yet they shall not offend Me.

[254] On the feast of St. Martin the Confessor, having devoutly received our Savior in the Sacrament of the Altar, she was suddenly filled with such sweetness that every joint of her body and all the powers of her soul seemed to fail in that sweetness. Then the Lord said: What do you ask of Me, Margaret, My Martyr? She is called Martyr by Christ. And Margaret, so adorned with virtues and beauties, forgetting the former penance in which she had compelled the body to serve the spirit, forgetting the labors, tears, fasts, vigils, sorrows, fears, and other virtues to which she had ascended beyond human estimation and conduct, affirming that there was no virtue in her, responded to Jesus, Son of the eternal Father, saying: My Lord, why do You call me a Martyr, when I have suffered nothing harsh, nothing virtuous, for Your love? To this the Lord said: Your martyrdom is the fear which you have lest you lose Me, the fear of offending God, and lest you offend Me, your Creator. But I say to you that you are a new light which I have given to this world, illuminated by Me. and a light of the world: To which word the humble Margaret, responding, said: May Your mercy be upon me, Lord, that I may not be darkness in this world, but by Your illumination -- You who remain the illumination -- make me to shine. And the Lord said to her: Daughter, have you not deprived yourself of all the world's delights for love of Me? Do you not desire for love of My name to bear all punishments? Do you not for My sake enclose all the poor in your heart? And when she replied to the Lord she humbles herself: that although she gladly did all these things for the honor of His name and would gladly bear all kinds of torments, she affirmed with certainty that all these were nevertheless nothing in comparison with the least inclination of divine favor which He had shown toward her in this life.

[255] On the feast of St. Peter in Chains, after having devoutly received Communion, she heard Christ saying to her: Rejoice, daughter of Jerusalem, for the Emperor of Jerusalem has come to dwell in you and shall make His seat in you through grace. And I tell you that I rejoice in My works which I perform in you. On another occasion, ascending into an ecstasy of mind and having devoutly received the Body of Christ, she said: Lord Jesus, I ask to serve You without fault or offense in all the works that I shall do; she desires to serve God without fault, for with this gift I refuse no tribulation. Having said this, suddenly coming into a certain new security, she said: My good Lord Jesus, this petition You owe me by right and can grant, since it is reasonable, and Your justice withholds from no creature what is just. And the Lord said to her: Does it not seem to you that you ask a lofty gift? And Margaret replied: You have given me a greater gift than this. And the Lord said to her: You have spoken truly. But Margaret petitioned that her days be shortened, and the Lord, responding, said: to die soon: What would these sheep of yours do? And Margaret replied: Lord, who govern all things, Your grace shall so govern that they will be content after my end. And again the Lord said to her: Henceforth say without fear that you are My daughter and My chosen one, and I am your chosen Lord Jesus Christ, who took flesh from Mary, the Virgin Mother. And tell Brother Conrad that, unless an occasion of illness prevents him, he should celebrate once a week the Mass of My most blessed Virgin Mother, to whom My Father has granted that everyone who wishes to receive consolation from Me, the true God and man, it is taught that consolation is obtained through the Blessed Virgin should confidently petition her; for inclined and moved by the pious prayers of My Mother, I grant what is asked in prayers. And let him know that whoever has charity and peace in the works which he does for love of Me shall be a vessel capable of containing My grace. And again He said to her: Daughter, you are the sheep now led back to the fold; from whom I have taken away your Brother

John, who in word and example was truth and life; but I am both of these to you, and I alone am life, in whom you shall live, because all things live for Me. You also already know from Me that he whom I cast out from the mountain of the glory of Paradise has sent from hell many most cunning satellites against the assembly of the faithful. Against these I have set the Friars Minor as My Apostles. And I command you that you always make use of the counsels of the Friars Minor, she is commanded to obey the Friars Minor: and that you strive to obey Me, your God, faithfully; to whom you shall say on My behalf that they should not compel you to beg from the alms of the poor, because you must observe the strictest poverty; and therefore let nothing be reserved either secretly or publicly for your needs. For you strip yourself for love of Me, who am about to say when I shall judge the living and the dead: I was naked and you clothed Me. You fast for love of Me, and what you subtract from your necessity you convert to the nourishment of the poor; to whom I shall say, I was hungry and you gave Me to eat. You abandon yourself for love of Me, and I gather you into the bosom of My love. Matthew 25:36 ibid. 35 Having heard these things, laboring in inestimable fear from the meditation of her sins, she could by no means believe that God would incline Himself to her in so wonderful a manner. once again anxious lest she be deceived by the demon, But He to whom the hearts of men are pleasing, compassionating her as she wept and prayed, sent an Angel from heaven, who said: Do not fear, bride of God; but trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has deigned to speak with you, who deceives no one; and carry out His commands in deed. For your adversary, who everywhere sows discord, would never strengthen you to make peace; but true peace is Christ, the guardian Angel teaches her that these consolations are from God, who has instructed you concerning making agreements. And I who speak these things with you am His Angel, appointed for your protection.

[256] On the fifteenth day of the month of July, having received the Son of God with reverence, she heard Him speaking these things intellectually: Daughter, you are one from whom light, fire, and the ardor of the Holy Spirit have been withdrawn. And this happens to you whenever you more quickly direct your mind to the edification of your neighbor for your own sake rather than for the sake of My honor. But know why were these withdrawn from her? that there would be no matter so great which you would refer with a pure mind to My honor in which I would withdraw My grace from you. After this, our Savior commanded Margaret to give Him her heart and to spend her time in meditation upon His own life, beginning from the mystery of the Incarnation, running through each of the labors and sufferings which He deigned to undergo for the salvation of the human race. In her sickness, when deserted by her companion, Christ is present to her: And because at that time her companion had deserted her while she was laboring mightily in bodily infirmity, He who never deserts His servants said: Do not fear; for just as I, the Creator of all, clothe the birds and nourish all that moves in the waters, the air, and the earth, so shall I clothe and feed you. You only ask for Me, but I more attentively ask for you than you for Me. But you exchange Me for the least thought; and in that very thought for which you exchange Me, I do not exchange you, but as a father I spare you as a daughter, and I bless you on behalf of the Father, of Myself, and of the Holy Spirit, and also of My Mother, who with the entire court of the Blessed unceasingly beseeches Me the Blessed Virgin and Saints pray that she may soon come to heaven to shorten your days; and that you may rejoice with them in glory, Margaret, they await you with eagerness. And you also, until you shall be called, keep your heart clean for Me, and let every word that shall go forth from your mouth be preordained and uttered according to the good pleasure of My will.

CHAPTER X.

Various consolations and favors granted to Margaret from heaven. Her desire for death.

[257] The Son of God had condescended to such familiarity with God's handmaid Margaret that whatever she was about to suffer from any creature, Margaret foreknows all things about to happen to her: invisible or human, whether by sickness or otherwise, and whatever consolation and grace she was about to receive, He would reveal by foregoing illuminations in an ineffable manner. From such familiar colloquy with Him, she was so kindled into the flame of heavenly love that, unable to cloak with silence the ineffable sweetness which she felt within concerning God, she expressed it in a loud voice with tears, saying: So ineffable, Lord, is the sweetness of Your conversation she cannot dissimulate her interior consolation: that all things placed beneath You could not fill my soul; and therefore I wonder greatly that the souls of men, whom You created for redemption, do not embrace and love You alone; and how they can love or regard any created thing. And because it seemed to her that her soul, which had already been made like a delightful garden, was as a field full of briars and uncultivated, the consoler of the sorrowful, leading her back to the citadel of hope as she wept, said: Do not fear, why this is given to her only later: My daughter, nor be saddened if your desires are deferred; for when you await Me in mental quiet, not doubting My goodness, you merit more while you thus desire Me in exclusion; and I shall console you more afterwards than if you found immediately what you ask.

[258] On the Saturday of the first Sunday of Lent, after the devout reception of the Body of Jesus Christ, the wondrous sweetness which had filled her mind was immediately withdrawn by divine dispensation. But Margaret, turning her heart without delay to the refuge of the wretched, said: My Lady, Your Son, the Spouse of my soul, has abandoned me, in desolation she implores the Blessed Virgin, without whom I cannot live, nor do I rest. To her, praying with tears and beseeching the Son of God, the mirror of mercy appeared, and deigned to bestow her dearest Son graciously through her prayers. And He, whose eyes regard faith, communicating Himself with wondrous sweetness to her who thirsted, with whom Christ appears to her, said: Do you believe that I am the true Son of God, Jesus Christ? And Margaret replied: Truly, Lord, I confess that You are the Son of the living God, whom I always await and desire with all my heart. And the Lord said to her: And I, the Son of the Virgin Mary according to the flesh, who am with you, bless you together with that eternal Father, whose Only-begotten I am. Keep the law of life and conduct which I have given you, and never forget it. and blesses her: And if at times the ray of My brightness is hidden from you and you cannot taste the sweetness of My sweetness, so that you burn, this is therefore done to you so that you may fully see what you are of yourself apart from the supreme and infinite joy. But when I communicate Myself to you abundantly, then you experience ineffably how great, luminous, and gracious you become through Me, Christ. But trust in Me, for however much I may seem to be withdrawn from you, I shall be with you; you shall by no means be deserted. For who will give you the burning thirst for Me, if not I, the eternal font, refreshing Angels and the Blessed, who am in your soul? For if you did not have Me, you would by no means thirst, He is present to her even in desolation: and in that thirst your merit and grace increase; hence in the pain of that thirst which you suffer, never cry out as you have hitherto. she does not feel a burning brand upon her foot. So great had been the sweetness with which Margaret was filled a little before, that a burning brand falling on the foot of her while she was in contemplation, although it burned her foot, she nevertheless felt no pain from it upon returning to her senses; nor did the burned foot cause her any distress.

[259] On the third Sunday of Lent, devoutly receiving the Body of Christ, she was illuminated by the accustomed words of Christ, who said: Do you love Me, daughter? To which word the humble Margaret, responding, said: My Lord, with Blessed Peter Your Apostle I respond to You: John 12:17 You know that I love You. I, said the Lord, bless you; and know that in this I have made you like Myself; you should therefore be content, because just as I sought you with distresses and various sufferings, so with many tribulations you shall seek and find Me. But because you always wish to enjoy My consolation and to continue the spiritual joy of mind, in tribulations she becomes like Christ: therefore I say to you, as to Paul: My grace is sufficient for you.

[260] On the Octave of Blessed John the Evangelist, finding Christ's handmaid in sorrow mixed with joy -- for on account of the excessive consolation which she had received from the presence of her Spouse in the past night, she was not a little afflicted because the desired last day of her life was not appearing; she grieves that her life is prolonged: for desiring to be clothed upon, she sought to be dissolved that she might be with Christ. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But the orderer and dispenser of all things, Jesus, not responding a word to this petition, answered the wonder which she had many times had concerning His Nativity, saying: You marvel, daughter, that on My Nativity I do not bestow upon you the solace of inner joy; and so marveling, you complain that on such a day the Angels and shepherds rejoiced and were filled with great joy. But be mindful on the day of the Nativity she lacks consolation, that you must be conformed to Me your Lord, who, taking upon Myself without sin My poverty and sufferings at My birth, began to wail, the joy of all the Angels, amid the confines of the manger, in order to free the human race from its weeping. Since therefore that day was for Me the beginning of death, so that she may be like Christ: and your life has been ordered so that, as far as is possible for you, you may imitate the footsteps of My way of life, do not marvel if on such a day the accustomed joy and gladness of mind is withdrawn from you. Then, placed in an ecstasy of mind, she asked the Most High to deign to lead her back to perfect solitude; and He did not assent to this.

[261] When these most gracious addresses had been somewhat concluded, shortly thereafter the Angel appointed for her protection was sent to her, who, to remove the doubt from her heart, saluted the Mother of God with reverence, saying: Hail Mary, in full. From which salutation so devoutly rendered to the Queen of Heaven, she was made more secure, and she asked the said Angel with tears when, stripped of the garment of flesh, she might be able to see the face of her Creator, from the guardian Angel she learns that she will yet live a long time: and be placed in the sublime glory of the Blessed. To which the Angel, responding, said: Know, Margaret, that you shall remain in the exile of this life for a long span of time. And because the Angel had promised her great things concerning her blessedness, about which the humble handmaid of God doubted, returning to the Most High whom she loved, she heard Him saying to her: My daughter and beloved Margaret, when you shall have completed the penance of your mouth, I shall call you, and what My Angel has promised you, I shall fulfill in you. And Margaret replied: Lord, a vessel of the greatest purity would be required for such sublime gifts which You have given and which hereafter You are to bestow so liberally without any merits of mine. she professes herself unworthy of the gifts promised to her: And because I am not such a vessel, I am utterly compelled by my wretchedness to renounce these wondrous gifts of graces. And the Lord said to her: These things are not done for you alone, but also for many sinners, to be recalled to the bosom of My mercy. And because you have faithfully rendered praises, for love of Me, to all the orders of Paradise individually, I shall grant them that each of them may communicate to you of their virtues by which they are mutually distinguished. You marvel that on Sunday morning I bestow upon you a sign of joy when you receive Communion, greater than on that day on which I first deigned to institute the Sacrament of My Body; know that on that day I rose from the dead and, appearing resurrected and glorious, restored to the Apostles and disciples the joy I had promised; so also I shall be spiritually with you now.

[262] On the same day, when she devoutly sought the divine conversation again, He sent her His Angel; and when she perceived him, she spoke to him, saying: My Angel, ask our Lord to deign to speak with me again. But the Angel said to her: Daughter, blessed by our Lord, who created heaven and earth, she learns that she is written in the Book of Life: blessed be all the care which I have had for you, Margaret; for you are written in the Book of Eternal Life. And I tell you that the Most High God, who has bestowed this gift upon you, will speak great things to you, as you desire, when it shall please Him.

[263] On the Friday of the second Sunday after the Epiphany, having received the Son of God, reverently, with great joy of mind she spoke, saying: O ineffable joy of my soul! O inestimable gladness, which I desire! Having said this, she immediately turned to her Angel and said: I beseech you, by that guardianship which you bear over me by the command of the eternal King, that you show me some sign whether I am in His grace! For she doubted not a little from divine fervor she tears her tunic: lest the unspeakable fervors which she had in the memory of her Creator -- in which she often tore her tunics -- had been substituted in place of the familiarity of divine conversation. But He who is the consuming fire, from whom all holy fervors proceed, spoke to her, saying: You are My sister, you are My daughter, you are a light placed in darkness who shall change night into day, you are a candle placed in the hands of sinners, who shall lead to Me not only virgins but married women and widows. Know that to mitigate the severity of the Father, for love of the human race, I show Him the scars of My wounds. Tell Brother Giunta to preach, for from the hour of My Passion until now the world has never needed such urgent preaching as now; and let him say, "Blessed are the pure of heart." And let him be certain that he shall see Me face to face in the heavenly court of the Blessed. she always seeks consolation, And I tell you that you love Me for your own consolation. For every well-ordered soul that perfectly loves Me seeks some consolation on earth, because it is reserved for her in the blessedness of heaven. But you are like a child who always desires to stand at the breasts of its mother, who immediately weeps, sighs, and cries out if separated even a little. And do you not remember that I, your Creator, from the day I was born of the Virgin Christ Himself was deprived of it: she is commanded to suck from His side wound, until the giving up of My spirit on the gibbet, did not know what consolation was for a single day in the world? Therefore I command you to come often to the wound of My side, and to draw from it and experience what came forth for the salvation of the whole human race. And when she had heard from the Lord what has been said, she responded, saying: My Lord, the fear which I have of Your withdrawal so crucifies, disturbs, and terrifies me that I can receive no consolation if I do not feel and taste You. And the Lord said to her: As I said to Paul, I say to you, that My grace is sufficient for you. And although you believe that I am far from you, who is present to her even in desolation, nevertheless I am near you through grace; and know that within your soul the deceiver could not speak -- he who would gladly deceive you -- as I speak, the true Son of the eternal God, made man from the Virgin Mary. And having given His customary blessing, He said the entire salutation of the Blessed Virgin. And He said: For this reason I have responded to the thoughts of your heart, which the enemy, the deceiver of souls, cannot know except by outward signs and conjectures.

[264] On the Octave of the Blessed Virgin, when she felt the Body of Christ being brought to her cell, having first made a devout Confession, she was suddenly filled with such joy of inner consolation that, having all her life restrained herself from laughter showing divine grace, she could not contain herself, and having received Christ in the lodging of her heart, she laughs from spiritual joy: she heard Him saying to her: Since you are exceedingly weak and infirm, have your companion lay your head upon a pillow. When this was done, He told her that she was His little plant, which He Himself had planted in the dry garden of the world. Nor marvel, because I said that I planted you in the garden of love: first in the Order of your Blessed Father Francis, because that is green in Me, but the dry and barren world I call such. From My Father a new gift is granted to you, that you, My little plant, may sprout new branches and spread them, so that they may be spread among the unbelievers; from which branches I wish that the waters of mercy may flow to moisten the dry little plants of the world. This new grace was, together with a crown given to you on the feast of My Virgin Clare. Having heard the words of so great a gift, immediately the soul, illuminated by grace, saw itself adorned with an admirable diadem, clothed in a white garment, she sees her soul crowned: interwoven on every side with the purest gold, and Margaret said to the Lord: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, my Lord and my God, who came into this world for our salvation. And the Lord said to her: And I say to you she is the bride of Christ, that you are My chosen daughter and bride, and a pearl both red and white in Me, holy and white for Me. Nor is there found in the world a heart capable of perfectly meditating or believing how great you are in Me. You say that you cannot be satisfied with My love; and I say to you that I shall not cease to love you. Nor do I set a limit to your love, constantly loved by Him, saying: Such and so great a grace I have bestowed upon you, and do not expect greater graces. Nor shall I say: I have loved you until now, and henceforth I shall cease to love you. You say with great pain that your heart has grown cold in loving Me, your Lord. This seems so to you because your infirm body cannot in its accustomed manner be exercised in virtuous actions, and loving Him fervently, even in infirmity, nor continue its accustomed prayers and praises; which although it may seem to you as if dead, yet I tell you that it lives in Me and is always fervent in Me. Does it not seem fervent to you, since you give Me all things? And even if these are small, does not God, who judges all things and knows all things, judge that you would more willingly bestow more precious things upon your poor? And you speak truly, for you would more gladly give for My sake a golden castle than what you do give. And Margaret replied: ready to give Him the whole world: My Lord, do not say a golden town, for if the whole world were under the command of my will, I would keep nothing except the time needed to consider the way of spending all things according to the good pleasure of Your will. And the Lord said to her: You, My daughter, be poor for love of Me, and do not doubt the promises. Those who saw Me did not at all recognize Me; but you have not seen Me and have recognized Me. And tell Brother Giunta, your bearer, to collect all these things diligently, because a time shall come when they shall be read and heard with great joy of mind. For in the Order of My beloved Francis, whom I have with Me, there is more love than from any state in the world; and those Friars are loved by Me more closely. Therefore you, daughter, never have harshness toward them.

[265] And Margaret replied: Lord, I greatly wonder that all souls do not run panting after You. And the Lord said to her: Daughter, to those who do not run after Me, I give little of Myself. And Margaret replied: Indeed, Lord, You are so sweet and gentle in every thing that even in the tears shed for Your injuries, which Your servants recall having committed, they ought never to make an end, so that thus they might be able to come after You. And because without You, Lord, no one has ever come to You, I truly confess that the calling of our salvation is to be ascribed to Your mercy alone. And the mediator of God and men, receiving with grateful intimacy the words devoutly uttered, she acknowledges that her conversion and all good things are from God: replied to Margaret, saying: Who, daughter, caused you to come to penance? Who gave you the weeping for My offenses? Who bestowed upon you such great strength for fasting? Who adorned you with such great modesty? Who led you from virtue to virtue? And when the degrees of the virtues given to her had been described in order by the Lord, Margaret responded, saying: You, O great Jesus, the source of all virtues, have freely given me all these things. And the Lord said to her: Tell Me therefore your guilt of ingratitude for such great gifts, because you did not appropriate to yourself what is yours, nor to Me, the fountain of all good things, whatever you had received from Me. To which words of divine correction, she is rebuked for ingratitude, as if struck by a sword sharp on both sides, she responded, saying: I, Lord Jesus Christ, confess that what You say is true, and I humbly and with sorrow say my guilt to Your Majesty. How then can my love be pure, since I am so very great a sinner? But the Father of immense mercy, relieving Margaret from such painful fear, said: O daughter, do you not remember the Magdalene? Hearing which word, fearing more than before, she replied: Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Magdalene was pure and fervent, her upright love is nonetheless praised but mine is not. And the Lord said to her: My daughter, your love is upright among all loves that are under heaven today concerning Me. Concerning Margaret of Siena, I tell you that I love her more than any woman remaining at Cortona. So greatly does her conversion and manner of life please Me that I shall bestow upon her an abundant grace of My gifts.

CHAPTER XI.

Various revelations of Blessed Margaret, victory over the devil, death, miracles.

[266] On the second Sunday of Advent, the Lord said to Margaret: You are she who shall wage a great war against My enemy. And I tell you that My people, not knowing Me, have forgotten Me and do not care about Me. And although they consider Me so worthless Christ complains to her of the multitude and enormity of sins: and offend Me so grievously, I do not complain before My Father about them as I do to you, nor do I present their offenses to Him so that they may be punished, but I present Myself as an advocate before Him and delight in revoking their sentence. But I tell you that sinners shall receive bitter afflictions; for they shall endure the perils of wars, famines, and pestilences before the end of the age comes. For the promoters of vices of mind and body have so greatly increased that they are no longer to be tolerated. For the malice of Christians in their inventions of crimes is greater than that which was in the minds of the Jews at the time of My Passion. Therefore I wish that the preachers of My word should die utterly to the world and to themselves, He wills that preachers should die to themselves, so that they may always be able to live in Me, the true life. Having said these things, He blessed her in His accustomed manner.

[267] Then God's handmaid Margaret, responding to Christ, said: What shall I do, my Lord, that I may persevere in living in You? So greatly have I been made bold by the taste of Your sweetness that I neither consider Your greatness with due fear nor attend to my own vileness. And the Lord said to her: Daughter, keep your mind pure. Your prayer also which you made to Me, that you might be subject to all creatures, because it greatly pleased Me, I command that from now on you subject yourself not so much to Me but to all, insofar as it pertains to My honor, and that she consider herself more vile than all: and for love of Me reckon yourself more vile than all, after My example, who subjected Myself to all and willed to be considered the most despised. For this humble inclination shall exalt you among the Blessed who are in heaven. Be also white through innocence and red through love, for you are the third light granted in the Order of My beloved Francis. For in the Order of the Friars Minor, he himself is the first light; in the Order of the nuns, Blessed Clare is the second; and you in the Order of the Penitents are the third. When this most glorious colloquy was completed, shortly after, her Angel appeared to her, saying: That Angel of the Seraphic order who descended to you has left you the fire of love and the splendor of a higher knowledge of God.

[268] On the Epiphany of the Lord, having devoutly received the Most High, that Jesus who transfers Himself into holy souls spoke to her, saying: Are you truly, My daughter, now filled with a special joy? And Margaret replied: You well know, Lord, that where You are, there is true and perfect joy. And the Lord said to her: You, chosen daughter, companion, and sister of Mine, ask what you will. And Margaret replied: My Lord, I ask nothing else from You she asks nothing of Christ except to love Him always: except that I may always love You and serve Your Majesty without fault. And the Lord, responding to Margaret, said: And I grant you this gift, that as long as you live you may love and praise Me, and your life may serve Me. And Margaret replied: Today, Lord Jesus Christ, You received from those wise Kings incense for souls and myrrh. And the Lord said to her: Does it not, He said, seem great to you that He who was the Father and God of all made Himself the Son of a woman for the salvation of the entire human race? Does it not seem great to you that the invisible God became visible, and the impassible One suffered? But Margaret, failing at the memory of so inestimable a gift, responded to Christ the King, saying: I am unable, my Lord, to respond to You concerning this, because I have never comprehended so much of the inclination of Your love she understands the inclination of Christ toward us in the Incarnation, as I do now.

[269] And the Lord said to her: Daughter, after I endured a death of such bitterness for sinners, ought they further to crucify Me through sin and to renew the wounds in My body? For the pain is harsher, as far as it pertains to them, which sinners renew in Me, than was the pain of the Jewish passion; and that He is again crucified and wounded by sinners: and therefore My Father, moved by the injury done to Me, is prepared to pronounce a severe sentence against the human race. But I, their Redeemer, mild and solicitous advocate, not yet deserting them, inwardly beseech the Father for them. But you, daughter, who have been accustomed to respond to Me reasonably, respond to these things. And Margaret replied: Lord, I do not know how to respond; but I greatly wonder at one thing, that now, so fully satisfied, I find myself hungry. And the Lord said to her: Thus are My consolations made, that neither the Angels nor the Saints can comprehend them, nor do they know how to speak of them fully. In that very hour of such great joy, Christ began to promise her such exalted things concerning her future state great things are promised to her by Him, that the humble Margaret, lacking confidence in her own merits, said: Lord, since I find no good in myself, I ought also to be deprived of the gifts already received. And the Lord said to her: My daughter, weep, for your weeping shall be turned to joy; and as I said to My Apostles, weep because I wept; labor, because I labored and was wearied; but she is commanded to be like Him in endurance: be humble, because I humbled Myself; love Me, because I loved you; pardon all who injure you, because on the Cross I spared My crucifiers; be poor, because from the beginning of My birth from the Virgin until My death I was poor; endure murmurings, because there was much murmuring concerning Me. To all these things the reverent Margaret responded, saying: Lord, if You had given these things to the Apostles, so that Your life might be represented in them, it would have been the greatest gift. And the Lord said to her: Daughter, you shall come to Me through the way of tribulations. And Margaret replied: May Your mercy grant to me, Lord, that I may not offend You in the promised sufferings, and rejoicing on that account I offer myself to all of them and run joyfully toward them. To this the Lord said: And I tell you that you shall never offend Me mortally. And again the Lord said to her: Daughter, My beloved ones ought not to weep over their own sufferings but over My peoples, after My own example. My friends also ought to have three forms of weeping: the first indeed for their own offenses, the second for the most bitter Passion her threefold weeping: which I endured for them, and the third for sinners who perish by offending Me. For never since the redemption of the human race has the world needed this weeping as much as now. And upon this weeping, Margaret, humbly excusing herself, said: Lord, pardon me, for I run after You with such great desire that I am unable to exercise my weeping -- both for my offenses, for Your torments, and also for lost children -- as I used to; but I beseech Your charity, supreme Father, that You would bestow full mercy upon sinners, for whom You deigned to die so lovingly, with complete remission of all faults, lest they perish in their sins.

[270] On the feast of Blessed Prisca the Virgin, Christ's handmaid Margaret reverently received the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ; and in that devout reception He spoke to her, saying: 18 January. You are My daughter, My chosen one, whom I have made a light and a mirror before darkened eyes -- in those eyes, I say, which can see Me, the light. But Christ's handmaid, who despised herself in all things, responding to the Lord, said: How could I become a light, who was a darkness more obscure than every obscurity? And the Lord said to her: Daughter, I have made you a light in the darkness, and by your example the hand of the fallen, the confidence of the despairing, the way of those who wander, and the life of the dying. And know that the leaps, the joy, and the terrible threats which the enemy showed by rising up against you indicate that he is striving to take away from you the Friars Minor the demon strives to alienate the Friars Minor from her and many persons who serve you diligently for love of Me.

[271] On the Sunday after the Resurrection of our Lord, while Margaret was weeping bitterly because it seemed to her that she could not serve our Lord Jesus Christ according to her desire, that pain was immediately mitigated she is stirred to fervor of prayer by the pious conversation of a companion: when a certain one of her companions began to speak sweetly about God. Inflamed by these words, she sought the mental advent of the Savior with that fervor. Then that Master of truth, who said, "Seek and you shall find," responded to His handmaid as she sought Him, saying: What do you wish, My daughter? Matthew 7:7 Do not fear, for I, your Creator, am with you. Wherefore, what you have meditated concerning the altar, be solicitous to fulfill; and let no one stand on that part of the altar except you when you wish to pray; but on the other part, eat and lie down. And because she feared that her life was displeasing before the eyes of her Creator, since by reason of infirmity she could not render the accustomed services to the Lord according to her desire, as a sign of security the Son of God invited her with a paternal blessing. And when she asked for the blessing from the Lord, He said: I, she is blessed by Christ, said the Lord, bless you in all your works. But the humble Margaret, reckoning all the virtuous works which she had done as practically nothing before God, responding to the Lord, said: What sort are my works, Lord? And the Lord said to her: Daughter, and all her works: your food and drink and sleep and vigil, your silence and speech and your whole life, now because you have a continual desire to serve Me and a fear lest you offend Me, is prayer. And therefore I bless you in My accustomed manner, and for love of you, who are a new light, I bless the cell in which you hide yourself for My sake. And I tell you that you are a rose placed among flowers; you are pure, placed for the sake of chastity, which you love, among virgins; after whose death many shall beat their breasts.

[272] On the Friday after the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, growing fervent in mind in the praises of the Savior, she sensed two Angels immediately, who in their descent made from heaven to her cell one most pure and empty path, and they said to her: Now, Margaret, we have made a slaughter in the air of our enemies, by two Seraphim, who put demons to flight by their fragrance, for they could not tolerate the fragrance of our coming, which we have drawn from the fellowship of the Most High God and bear with us. But terrified, they fled and gave way before us. We also cannot tolerate the stench of pride which they bear with them as rebels against God. And immediately before her a great circle appeared, in the middle of which one of the Angels appeared affixed to a Cross in the likeness of the Lord and Savior. When she beheld this and asked what it was, one of them responded, saying: If you had one son who was so wounded in body as our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, was for the salvation of the human race, would you not daily tend his wounds according to the ability of your strength? she is stirred to meditate constantly upon the wounds of Christ: But you neither examine, nor meditate upon, nor wash, nor anoint the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ as you ought. Then the handmaid of the Lord asked that their names be recited to her. To which one of them responded, saying: We are of the supreme Seraphic order of Angels, in which you shall be placed. And do not inquire concerning our names, for few names of Angels are expressed on earth. And Margaret responded, saying: Commend me to our Lord by your prayers, and to the glorious Virgin His Mother, that I may persevere in their grace. Assenting to her petitions, they said that she should remain with the blessing of the eternal God.

[273] In that hour, the companions who were attending were filled with such joy that they could by no means conceal from one another the gladness of their minds. After a brief interval of time, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared, saying: she is visited by another Angel: Receive your Creator today, for He shall confer upon you a new grace. And Christ, coming into His own house, then by Christ, which He loved on account of its humility and purity, said: Daughter, this morning I have placed you in a sublimity before My Father, and your soul is continually placed through grace before the divine omnipotence. And Margaret replied: My Lord, how shall these things be, since my soul does not ascend to You in the fervor of love? And the Lord said to her: Your desires come, and the works which you continually and faithfully perform for My children, who approves her desires, and your most generous courtesy, which I have planted in your heart. But those good things which I work in you are not recognized; for if no more were done in other creatures of the world today, from this example the nations ought to run fervently to Me and be converted to penance; for in the gifts bestowed upon you there is no deficiency in reaching My glory. and sets forth His benefits upon her. And whatever has been given to you has within it ordered prayer, humility, charity, and the clarity of wisdom for obtaining all things of which the soul has need. And because a grace so great and copious is infused into your soul, therefore it has made your body feeble under so great a weight of graces. Nor do I do these things in your soul so much on account of your merits, but from the immense love which I have for you.

[274] And when the magnificent King had set forth His love for her, Margaret, responding, said: My Lord, every faithful friend of Yours has charity. And therefore it is no wonder if I should have it, who am so greatly obligated to Your love. and He praises her charity, And the Lord said to her: Very many of My friends have the charity of the will; but you have that of will and of deed, and such is My love. Daughter, remember that you call discretion the mother of virtues. also of deed: And you speak truly; but you are incredulous, which incredulity the humility of your heart excuses, to which it seems impossible that so immense a majesty should incline itself to so lowly a vileness. But you say that I am Christ, your Lord; and I say to you that you are My daughter, whom trials touch as smoke at first touches the eye, and after a little while is not felt. And Margaret replied: Lord my God, give me leave so that whenever I shall have thought anything contrary to Your Majesty, she prefers death, indeed even hell, I may be able to seize a sword and without sin pierce this heart that thinks such vain things. And I say more to You, my Lord: I would rather choose to be sent to hell, purged of vices, than, if it were possible, to be crowned in the glory of Your heavenly kingdom without full purgation of faults. rather than sin:

[275] On the Thursday within the Octave of Pentecost, having reverently received the Son of God, she heard Him saying to her: You are a white rose through innocence and red through love, and whatever you shall ask My Father in My name, you shall have; the efficacy of her prayers. and whoever shall come to you in My name shall receive a special grace. For when your mind is offered before the Father, the entire Seraphic order rejoices in your love; for the divine Majesty then reveals to them that you shall be placed in the seat of that order.

[276] On the Saturday after the second Sunday after Pentecost, having received the Son of God, she was suddenly lifted up in an ecstasy above herself into God, and heard Him saying to her: I am the living bread which came down from heaven, and whoever eats Me shall live because of Me forever. I am the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And I tell you that it is a beautiful thing for a soul to delight in being in the desert. To which Margaret, responding, said: My Lord, why do You not place me there? And the Lord said to her: If you were there, one of your words would be worth more than many words are worth now; but you shall receive in all things in which I was afflicted a martyrdom, with the sole exception of the blows and wounds of the body. When these speeches were completed, she began gradually to be deprived of the joy she had felt. Nor is this surprising. For our adversary came, and at least clapping his feet and hands in the manner of a mime dancing, she sees the demon dancing like a mime, and of a plunderer returning from battle with victory and captured prey. When she said to her Confessor, I see our enemy dancing with great joy, and he responded to her that she should stand intrepid against him, because just as she had conquered him in former battles, she would yet deal a greater wound than any woman dwelling under heaven at that time; a voice was immediately heard from heaven, saying: What are you doing with that soul which our Lord shall place in the order of the Seraphim? And the lying spirit, responding, said: You do not speak the truth, nor do I intend to despair concerning the perdition of this soul placed under divine protection until her end. and gaping after her perdition: And the good Angel of God said to Margaret: Daughter of Jerusalem, do not fear nor doubt, for he shall be able to do as much against you she is encouraged by the guardian Angel as one who has the foot of the victor upon his throat and lies prostrate on the ground; who, although he strives to defend himself and to rise for the love of living, nevertheless lies vanquished and captive beneath the victor. For I, the guardian of your soul, which is a noble fortress of God, am with you.

[277] But the ancient one, not withdrawing on account of all these things, but rather more boldly waging war, who vomits new insults upon her began to contend against the daughter of the most high King, hurling unnamed and new insults. He who is worthy of contempt called the Lord's spouse a stinking beast, saying: What is this putrid beast and brute doing here, who has invented a new law against the law of the world which my Lord left to sinners? Under which rule and law we profit more today than from former jewels; and you with your new law wound my Lord and me, your enemy, more than any creature alive today under heaven. And you say that you have the wisdom of God, which I have just as you do. But the Angel of the Lord, her guardian, responded to him, saying: It is not so; for she has the wisdom of God, and you the malice of the ancient serpent. At these words, more indignant, he said: Behold a beautiful vessel in which God has placed His wisdom, with which she gravely wounds my Lord, as I have said. But if your Lord would permit, refutes him, I would instantly debone you completely. And he began after saying these things to commend himself deceitfully, saying: I am one of his courtiers and of the greatest of his court. And Margaret, smiling, said: Are the courtiers and the Lord so beautiful? And the enemy said: You cannot avoid coming to see. But her guardian responded, saying: It shall never happen that she be your companion. And the enemy: I still do not despair of her. And the holy Angel of God said: and making many threats Just as you despair that you can never after your fall return to us in heaven, so you shall never touch this soul in your punishments; although it has been permitted to you by God to inflict upon her many pains in this life, so that she may be more gloriously crowned in the next, and her crown may be more beautiful. And therefore I command you not to contend further with me, since between us and you there can henceforth be no agreement; but returning to hell, bear this dish to your master, saying that even if he sends all the satellites of hell against her, the omnipotence and wisdom of God shall protect her. To which words the enemy, blazing into fury, represses him, responded, saying: How did the Lord set this one woman alone as standard-bearer against us? The holy Angel said: We have many who maintain the war against you; and the victory which Margaret shall achieve against you, you do not yet know. You have brought with you Margaret, a courtier of the infernal court; but I have the power of dominion from that eternal and true God, under whose rule all things are placed. To this Satan responded, saying: Because we fell from the highest joys of Paradise, you say that we are very proud; and yet in this it is clearly shown that you are that pride, for it was pride to say that you are powerful. And the Angel said to him: Most wretched one, it is not to be imputed to pride if I have magnified the Lord, the eternal God, ruler of all, in vain ferociously assailing: you who once were an Angel with me in the city of the Lord and now are turned into a stinking beast. Tell me, what is the difference between falling and ascending? For we grow daily in the wisdom and grace of God, but you in malice, guilt, and punishment. And in this you grow in malice, because those who have more among you communicate it to those who have less. And the Angel of God, turning to Margaret, said: Daughter, has your adversary now received a great blow? Behold, he said, I place the standard in your hand, on which are two Crosses, one of which is white and the other red, which signify the water and blood from the side of our Lord; and with it defend yourself and conquer all the battles of your enemy. and bestows upon Margaret a mystical standard. Then God's handmaid invited her Confessor to help her make a most thorough Confession, for she intended to confess more carefully and more frequently than usual. At which word, the tempter, made even more furious against her, said: Evil thanks be to him who gave you so subtle a conscience. And because it seemed to God's handmaid that she had not responded to the adversary as much as she should have, she began on the contrary to fear greatly; and her Angel, wishing to calm her fear, said: Do not fear, daughter, for our Lord has commanded why he himself responded to the demon before her? that I should speak on your behalf against him, and that he should give me his responses before you, which you have perceived to your advantage.

[278] On the Saturday after the feast of St. Anthony, having received our Savior, suddenly that sacred soul, ascending to a degree of excessive wonder, adored Him, humbly giving thanks for such infinite mercy, saying: Lord, I beseech Your Majesty that You would deign to illuminate me, so that I may never err; to hold me, so that I may not fall; to correct me, a vehement desire in her for receiving Communion, so that I may not offend; and to lead me to You, my guide, so that I may not fail. Having said this, her joy in the Lord increased even more, with an eagerness to receive on the following day her joy, Jesus Christ, for whose worthy reception she prayed, saying: I beseech You, Most High, who today told me that You live in me by Your grace, that You would deign so to prepare me for Your grace that until my death I may receive You every day at Your good pleasure. For You are so sweet in my soul, and the eagerness conceived from Your wondrous sweetness has so grown in me, that without You, even for a moment, I cannot be without the pain of grief.

[279] On the third Sunday after Pentecost, having reverently received the Son of God, she heard Him saying to her: a continual desire to serve God preserves from mortal sins. I am the living bread which came down from heaven, who live in you, and you live in Me. Nor henceforth shall you die through fault, because I find you without mortal sins and in a continual desire to serve Me and never to offend Me; on account of which I tell you that whenever you wish, you may receive Me every day.

[280] On the feast of the Purification of the glorious Virgin, having reverently received the Body of the Savior, the Angel of the Lord spoke to her, saying: Remember, Margaret, what our Lord did in the bush. For I tell you that you are like a bush where a great fire is set and fire is applied which burns until the whole is consumed; so also you are placed in continual tribulation until your end. For if you have peace, you live in war on account of the fear of conscience, Margaret is purged by tribulation. and you are afflicted by fear. But just as gold is purged in the furnace, so also you, Margaret, shall be purged in tribulation. And because she was intent only upon divine consolations and sacred meditations, so that she might taste divine consolations, the Angel said to her: Our Lord diligently awaits the heart up to the petition of love; and when love has ardently sought Him, He defers coming into the soul. For love inclines Him to do suddenly in the soul what is done in tepid lovers over great intervals of time. Three degrees of love. Now the degrees of this love are three, by which the faithful and fervent soul draws the Creator Himself to itself. The first is sorrow for the offense done to its Creator. The second is compassion for itself; for when the soul considers itself destitute of all divine consolation, nothing but God can console it. Then the Most High, our God, is moved after the manner of a father to mercy, and He cannot any longer contain the sign of His mercy, taking pity on the soul that thus grieves. But before the Father of all comes into the soul which He has redeemed, this love purges all the delusions of the heart. And Margaret, hearing the word "delusions," responding to the Angel, said: Is this, Angel of God, the delusion which the Brothers say is done through our enemies in dreams? And the Angel said to her: Not only is that a delusion, but for a soul placed in a sublime state of graces, every thought which does not direct toward the Lord our God is called a delusion. The third degree of love is also the desire which inflames the mind after the manner of fire; in which degree the soul, establishing itself, does not cease to investigate on all sides and in all things how it may find its beloved, its spouse, our Lord Jesus Christ. And because in the description of these she could not, on account of fear and sorrow, the joy of such great sweetness on that morning so wonderfully began to frighten her. Against her fear the Angel, bringing a remedy, said: That joy is drawn forth in you, Margaret, on account of the continual practice of chastity, Whence comes spiritual joy in the soul of Margaret? reverence, and truth, as well as on account of the devotion which you have to this most exalted Sacrament. And I tell you that in the Communion so reverently given to you by the Friars Minor, the light of a more abundant grace grows in you, on account of the singular reverence and devotion which you have toward the Lord, who delights in the hands of His friends.

[281] And many things being omitted, which could by no means be collected, both because of the humility of Margaret skillfully concealing the secrets of God, and because of the absence of the Confessor for a period of seven years, who had collected the foregoing; at the end, God's handmaid, weeping, petitioned to depart from this world. And the Savior, the font of mercy, she yearns for death; hastening to fulfill her desire, not only announced the year, the month, and the day of her migration long beforehand, but also the happy hour -- namely, the dawn close to sunrise -- full of joy, in which she was to pass with gladness to Christ, she foreknows its day and hour: together with no small happy throng of souls to be given to her and freed from the punishments of Purgatory.

[282] She therefore began to be so deprived of her bodily members that for seventeen days she tasted nothing of human food; and with her vital moisture utterly failing, in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven, on the feast of the Chair of the Blessed Apostle Peter, the ninth of the Kalends of March, she dies on 22 February 1297, she migrated to heaven with jubilation and an angelic countenance. Then all who were present were filled with so wonderful a fragrance the bystanders being suffused with a wondrous fragrance: that in the mental satiety of sweetness they truly recognized that Margaret had been a vessel of sanctity and a container of the grace of heavenly gifts.

[283] And indeed in that very hour, a certain excellent soul suspended in divine contemplation, in the city of Castello, saw the most blessed spirit of Margaret being assumed into heaven with ineffable joy, she was seen taking her soul to heaven with many freed from Purgatory: and with a great multitude of souls brought forth from Purgatory; and from that day she called her the Magdalene, the spouse and handmaid of Christ.

[284] When the people of Cortona heard of her glorious passing, a general council was convened in praise and glory of the Most High King, and they most devoutly assembled at the church of St. Blaise. The body, embalmed and clothed in a purple vestment, was solemnly entombed in a new sepulcher with torches and with a gathering of clergy and religious. The body is honorably buried, In which, according to the promises of God, it shone with many miracles; and therefore it remains to write the twelfth chapter, divided into ten sections, it shines with miracles. concerning the signs which Almighty God has performed and does not cease to perform in her honor through both nearby and distant places. Thanks be to God. The twelfth chapter of this Life is lacking, in which the miracles of Blessed Margaret are related at greater length. Then are subjoined the attestations of others concerning the truth of the Legend.

APPENDIX

of several miracles of Blessed Margaret.

Margaret the Penitent, of the Third Order of St. Francis, at Cortona in Tuscany (Blessed)

From Bombacius.

[1] Since the twelfth chapter of the Life of Blessed Margaret written by Brother Giunta Bevegnati, Miracles from Bombacius. which contained the miracles wrought through her merits, we have not yet been able to obtain, we shall here briefly relate a few recorded in Italian by Gaspar Bombacius.

[2] There is a village of the territory of Cortona named Casale. Here a young man named Naldus, when he saw the oxen which he had driven to pasture running away, was so seized by a frenzy of anger that he begged for help from the powers below. The demon was present and immediately carried him away through the air. When the oxen returned voluntarily to their stables toward nightfall, the master, whose name was Nutius, wondered where his cowherd might be. A cowherd possessed by the demon whom he had invoked, He therefore took some companions with him and searched for Naldus the whole night in vain. On the following day, which was a Sunday, returning home about the ninth hour, they found him lying in the woods, raised him from the ground, and attempted to bring him back with them. The demon soon gave another proof of how vain is the confidence of foolish mortals who rely on his help. For when a pit full of water was encountered on the road, he hurled the cowherd headfirst into it, so that he might thus drown him and seize him for eternal punishment. Nutius pulled the wretch from the water and at last perceived that he was being tormented by an indwelling evil spirit. He ordered the demon to declare when he would depart from the domicile he had unjustly occupied. Today, he said, in the church of that holy woman. By what sign, said Nutius, will you mark your departure, and what pledge of your promise will you give? The villain extended the boy's left hand. At the sepulcher of Blessed Margaret he vomits a coal and is freed. Why then, said the other, do you lie even now, treacherously? But the father of lies said: I have spoken the truth; I shall depart, and then the one whose tongue I now use shall vomit a coal before the tomb of Margaret. They hastened at once to Cortona; there, before the sepulcher of Blessed Margaret, he vomited both the coal and, together with it, the denizen of the Tartarean flames.

[3] The wife of a certain Accursius of Luciniano had placed her nursing infant, lulled to sleep, upon the bed. Her older brother, while hastily pulling out weapons hidden under the feathers, neither turned his attention to the infant and suffocated him with the weight of the bedding and the overturned bed. A suffocated boy is restored to life by her aid. The mother, marveling at the long sleep of her son, whose crying she was accustomed to soothe from time to time by offering the breast, approached of her own accord to give him her milk. When she found him crushed beneath the bed, she immediately unwrapped him and loosened his swaddling bands, trembling with grief and fear; there was no sign of life. She beat her breast with her hands, lacerated her cheeks, loosed her hair, and at last, having shed a great abundance of tears, a ray of divine light slipping into her mind, she raised her still tear-moistened eyes to heaven and vowed that if her son should come back to life, she would carry him to the tomb of Blessed Margaret. She had scarcely uttered the vow when the infant opened his eyes and recovered his vivid color, and eagerly sucked milk from his mother's breasts.

[4] In the village of Megiano of the diocese of Perugia, there lived a certain Dinus, a harsh and fierce man, who by his brutality drove his wife to leave him and take refuge at her parents' house. When he returned home and learned of this, he blazed into such monstrous fury that he violently tore his three-year-old son from the grandmother's lap and arms where the child was resting, and so violently compressed his throat that copious blood flowed from his mouth, eyes, and nostrils. Nor was the rage of that most cruel father thus satisfied; but, as if to exact punishment from an innocent child for his mother's wrong, he cast him to the ground, and pressing upon him with his knees, squeezed out his life; and lest he be compelled to undergo the severe penalties of so monstrous a parricide once it became known, he immediately fled. Also another child killed by his own father: What was the wretched grandmother to do, thus nefariously bereaved of her grandson and fearing that she would soon be bereaved of her son too by the just sentence of a judge? She mourned the slain child and feared terribly for the slayer; nor could he be avenged without fresh grief and loss to herself; nor could she share her mourning with anyone. What if she herself should then be called under suspicion of the murder? Fearing this, she kept her grandson hidden at home for three days, devoid of all motion and breath, not even thinking of burying him. On the third day, a timely recollection of the miracles of Blessed Margaret occurred to her; she made vows to her, and at that very moment her grandson was restored to life. Thus Bombacius.

[5] Wadding, at the year 1297, number 28, writes thus concerning the miracles of Blessed Margaret: She immediately began to shine with many miracles, which we here briefly summarize. She wondrously raised ten dead persons; freed sixteen from incurable diseases and from the very jaws of death; gave sight to six blind persons; Other dead persons raised, restored as many broken in body; caused three mute persons to speak; healed as many others from the most vehement pain of kidney stones; restored the ability to walk to five lame and crippled persons; rescued four from demonic possession; and many more helped in extreme necessity. likewise miraculously came to the aid of four persons shipwrecked; gave present help to five who had fallen into wells or from rooftops or who suffered from epilepsy; and provided a remedy for twelve who were troubled and afflicted. All of which were written and verified, partly before the Lord Napoleone Orsini, Cardinal of St. Hadrian, Legate of the Apostolic See in Italy under Clement V, and partly before other men of the greatest gravity. What he here says, that Margaret miraculously helped four who were shipwrecked, Bombacius explains as those caught in a violent storm to whom serene weather, favorable for sailing, was restored through her aid. He adds that one insane woman was restored to her senses.