friends at home, by the servants, and, above all, by her father, having failed to alter the firm determination of the holy maiden, it was resolved that she and her sisters should be placed under the roof of one of her uncles at Mercatello. The hope was not altogether abandoned of subduing her constancy by fresh contrivances at a future day. Her father despatched the necessary instructions to his brother, which either by inspiration, or some other means, came to the knowledge of Ursula, for she mentions them in her writings. It was requested that the whole family should take pains to anticipate all her wishes, and endeavour to please her in all things. It was expressly directed that no should speak in her presence of nuns or convents; all which injunctions were carefully attended to. Meanwhile two of her elder sisters entered the convent of S. Clare at Mercatello, "which circumstance," she writes, "inflamed my longings, so that I had no peace. It was not so much that I bewailed their departure, but that I feared there was no prospect of my following their example. I recommended my case to our Lord; but as yet the door seemed more than ever closed against my desire. I was deeply afflicted, and became so sad that I expected some great sickness to befall me, as really came to pass."

She was taken ill of a malady so strange that the physicians were unable to understand it, nor could they discover any efficient remedy. This might well be the case, for it was a complaint more of the mind than of the body. Some servants of the establishment, guessing how things were, began one day to talk to her about nuns, at which her spirits immediately rose. She presently relapsed into her usual

languid state, and was again revived by means of the same conversation. This happened several times, so that her father came to be informed of it. He, in order to gain time, compromised the matter by consenting that application for her admission should be made at two different religious houses, the names of which are not specified in the process of her canonization. This permission was no sooner obtained, and made known to the holy maiden, the choice between the two convents being left to her own selection, than she rallied as it were from the brink of the grave, rose from her bed, and immediately recovered perfect health.

After this every thought of tormenting her on the subject ought to have been laid aside for ever. Nevertheless one of her two sisters who were about to be clothed in the above-mentioned convent at Mercatello, was instigated by her father to persuade Ursula, if possible, to contemplate marriage. But the latter, with an air of extreme displeasure, reproved her in the following severe words :-"I warn you to say no more on the matter. If you insist on pursuing the subject you will see me no more. And you as a religious should be ashamed to choose such a theme for conversation, and one so contrary to the sentiments of S. Clare, who exhorted her sister to enter religion, not to engage in the vanities of the world." When her father heard this, he seemed at length fully convinced, and again granted his daughter the permission for which she sighed.

In justice to the character of this gentleman, who certainly transgressed legitimate bounds in thus trying the vocation of his child, we may be permitted to make a brief digression for the purpose of mentioning his subsequent contrition for the course he took,

which repentance he sealed by a truly Christian death. Our doing so will make our narrative more clear, and be peculiarly acceptable to our Saint, for she was careful to hand down to us the record of it in her writings. It will be seen from the account which is here subjoined that this change in his views must be attributed to the zeal and prayers of his saintly daughter. She had observed the worldliness of his life, and was particularly pained by his disedifying conduct at Piacenza with regard to his daughters. Often she felt moved to venture on some remonstrance, but was restrained by filial respect, so that she never dropped more than a few gentle hints. One day, however, when he was entreating her to give up the idea of being a nun during his lifetime, she felt moved by an extraordinary impulse to reply: "If I become a religious now, you at the moment of death will be spared the thought of having refused me. Since we have time now, let us not count upon it then. The affairs of this life pass like the wind, and at the hour of your departure hence you will enjoy great peace if your soul has been duly provided for, but that is a matter in which my presence could not help you. Now that you have time, consider what is the duty of a faithful Christian, namely, to make a good confession." At these words his countenance changed, and he asked: "Why do you speak to me thus ?" Ursula answered: "Because I feel inspired to do so." In fact it was a long time since her father had been to confession. Not long after this conversation he approached the sacred tribunal, and whenever his daughter suggested some holy maxim to his mind, he was evidently touched by a feeling of compunction. On her return to Mercatello

she reproached herself severely for not having spoken more plainly than she had done, and she wrote him a letter, in which she declares that she did her best according to her knowledge of his spiritual necessities. Not long afterwards, when she had entered religion, he came from Piacenza to Città di Castello to visit her, and declared that her words had excited him to lead a Christian life, concluding by thus appealing to her: "Dear child, to you I commit the care of my soul; let it be your endeavour to assist me in life and after death!" She gave him the required promise, which she faithfully and fervently fulfilled.

A few years after this interview, Almighty God showed her in a dream by night her father dangerously. ill, and this so alarmed the holy daughter that she arose and earnestly recommended him to our Lord. The following night she beheld him in his last agony, shortly after which he expired. When she related these circumstances to the nuns, they advised her to consider it all as a work of the imagination; and she was partly disposed to coincide with their opinion, because she had very lately received letters from him. Still she could not throw off the impression of what she had seen, and from time to time she wept bitterly, feeling, as she truly expressed it, that her heart was bursting with grief; and her visions proved correct, for ere long the news arrived, and it was known that her father had died after a short illness at the precise moment that she had witnessed his decease in her slumbers. She began without delay to offer many prayers for the repose of his soul, and our Lord vouchsafed to hear her. She was first permitted to behold him in a place so dark and fearful that she

doubted whether it were not hell itself; but thinking that this idea was suggested by the devil, she prayed for him the more. Then he turned to look at her from the midst of his torments, and seemed to pronounce these words, "It rests with thee to obtain mercy for me!" As may be conceived, she did not spare herself. After performing a number of penances and prayers, she beheld him again, and now his sufferings were greatly alleviated. The pious daughter continuing her suffrages on his behalf, our Lord one day was pleased to say to her, "Take comfort, for on the feast of S. Clare I will deliver thy father's soul from its present abode of pain, but if thou wouldst have it to be so, thou on thy part must suffer much." She willingly offered herself to endure all, and severely did she penance herself to procure him solace. On the feast of S. Clare, she saw that he was still in purgatory, but no longer in the same place of extreme suffering. Her perseverance in prayer at length induced our Lord to assure her that her father should be liberated altogether on the coming festival of the Nativity. It is thus that she relates the event. "On Christmas night I saw him in purgatory, and in a moment an angel seemed to take him thence by the hand; and I beheld my father in the same form and appearance that he had possessed in life, and clothed in white. He ac

costed me, and thanked me for all the charity I had shown him. Suddenly he appeared to become enveloped in radiance, and his human figure could be distinguished no more. In company with the angel he vanished, and I understood that the most holy Virgin had obtained this favour for me on this sacred night. I was confirmed in this idea