A golden treatise of mental prayer/— his religious zeal and of his death
CHAPTER XII.
OF HIS RELIGIOUS ZEAL AND OF HIS DEATH.
The reverend esteem of his virtue increased so much, even in his own cloister, that there, many times (enjoined by obedience) performing the office of Guardian with great integrity, he was, at length, by the suffrages of all the fathers, elected twice Provincial of the province of St. Gabriel, where he made a happy and notable reformation. But after his three years expired, he betook himself again to his poor hermitage, where he feasted his soul with sacred contemplation, persevering in reading the ancient fathers, watchings, fastings, and regular discipline. But the more he hid himself in these obscure places, the more the fame of his learning and sanctity did shine abroad. And in testimony that Almighty God would not have this resplendent light to be put under a bushel, but to be set upon a candlestick, to give light to others to follow his glorious footsteps, and to the end that he might not only enrich his own soul with the treasures of virtue, but also instruct others, both by his doctrine and example, to aspire to heaven, the apostolic see did vouchsafe to honor him with a commission, by virtue of which, he should erect and found a new province, under the title of St. Joseph; which, before his death, he was so happy to see, not only multiplied in number of convents and religious men, by his great labor and travail, but also to be perfectly established in regular observance and true monastical discipline.
At last, the number of his merits being complete, his just master, whom he had served so long with great fidelity, was pleased to call him to reward his labors with an eternal crown of glory, and to reap in joy what he had sown in tears. He fell sick in the convent of St. Andrew de Monte Areno, where Almighty God vouchsafed to let him know the hour of his death: and before his departure, he called his brethren, exhorting them to perseverance in that happy course which they had undertaken for the love of God, and the saving of their own souls. He then received upon his knees, with abundance of tears, the sacred Viaticum with singular devotion, and a little after, his infirmity increasing, he received also the sacrament of Extreme Unction. The Blessed Virgin and St. John, to whom all his life he was very much devout, appeared to him, and gave him assurance of his salvation; which ever-comfortable news he no sooner understood, but his heart was ravished with joy, and his mouth filled with gladness, and out of that abundance of content he breaketh out into these words of the prophet David,[1] " Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus:" "I have rejoiced in those things that are said unto me: we will go into the house of our Lord." In fine, the happy hour being come, he yielded his blessed soul into the hands of his maker, and by the passage of a temporal death, travelled to an eternal life, on the 18th of October, upon the feast of St. Luke, 1562, the 63d year of his age, and the 47th of his entrance into holy religion. His body after his death became more beautiful, shining with great clarity, and sending forth sweet odors. The people from all parts flocked to behold this sacred spectacle, and greedy after so rich a prey, clipped pieces of his habit, which they conserved as holy relics. His body was no sooner in the grave, but his sepulchre began to be renowned with many miracles, which for brevity's sake I omit to speak of, because I would not be too tedious to the devout reader.
His soul was no sooner out of his body, but presently he appeared to St. Theresa, to bring unto her the joyful tidings of his reception into heaven. Many times after he appeared to her, and once, amongst the rest, he said unto her, " O happy penance that deserved such a glorious recompense. "
Happy, indeed, was his penance that changed sorrows into pleasures, mourning into mirth, tears into joys, and a momentary cross into an eternal crown. The same blessed Theresa, as we have said before, affirmed, that she received more comfort and consolation from him after his death, than in the time of his life; and that his soul flew immediately to heaven, without any passage by purgatory. All these things being well examined, and verified by persons, without all exception, worthy of credit, his holiness, for the glory of God, honor of the saint, and benefit of the faithful, vouchsafed to pronounce him beatified, to the end that, as he had a perfect fruition of glory in the church triumphant, so he should want no praise or reverence in the church militant. He was beatified on the 18th of April, 1622, and his office is celebrated in the convents of his order on the 19th of October.
- ↑ Psalm 112.