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.