ST. CATHERINE 151 doctrines with a Christian priest who sometimes visited at the honse. She said nothing, but it always seemed to her that the Christian had the best of the argument. When she was five years old, her parents went to live at Louvain, and there Bachel sometimes played with Christian children. She began to think Christian names mnch prettier than Jewish ones ; the name of Mary in par^ ticnlar pleased her very much, and, although a Jewish name, it was mnch more general among Christians than Jews. Sometimes she went with her little friends to the house of a good priest named Eeynier. He and his servant Martha taught her for a year and a half, and she wearied them with her insatiable desire to learn. At last her parents looked up from their money- bags, and began to perceive what their daughter was doing under their very eyes. They were very angry, but as most of the persons in authority in the place were Christians, they tried to pro- ceed quietly, and made a plan to take Bachel away and marry her, although she was only eight years old. Bachel determined to leave her home. Having made her little plan, she lay down and slept so long and soundly that the time of her intended flight passed by. Next night she thought she would stay awake, but sleep again overcame her. However, the Virgin Mary awoke her, and said,
- Oet up, Bachel, and go to Father
Beynier." She did so, and he took her to the Cistercian monastery called the Pare des Dames, near the city of Louvain. Here she was christened by the name of Oatherine. Her parents complained to the Duke of Brabant and to Pope Ho- norius, saying their daughter was not of an age to take any important step with- out their permission, and begging that she might be restored to them until she should complete her twelfth year, when they promised that if she persisted in her wish to be a Christian, they would give their consent. At the same time, they tried bribery and every underhand means to obtain a decision in their favour, and there were not wanting wicked theo- logians, who, for the sake of money, £avoared the claim of the Jews to have their child given back to them at least until her twelfth year. The duke in- clined to give up the child, but was talked over by the Abbot Ganthier de Yillars. The bishop ordered the nuns to give her up ; and the abbess, fearing to disobey him, said, "Catherine, your father wants to see you." Catherine flatly refused to go to him. The bishop continued to worry the nuns until the case was referred to the Archbishop of Cologne, who decreed that they were not to be molested any more. The bishop then ordered Catherine to appear before his tribunal, that it might be finally settled whether she had a true vocation for a Christian and religious life or not. The Jew engaged a clever advocate. Catherine relied solely on the protection of Christ and the Virgin Mary, who had again appeared to her, and promised to befriend her. The Abbot of Clairvaux interfered, as the head of the Cistercian Order, to which the Pope belonged ; he threatened the advocate that he would have him suspended from the exercise of his profession for his impiety, but the lawyer whispered, *' I will not say a word against the Jewess. Let me but gain this money from the Jew." Accordingly, as soon as he had the fee in his hand, he refused to proceed with the case. Several learned clergymen asked questions of the young convert, and were convinced that her call was the work of the Holy Spirit The bishop, however, continued to take the Jew's part from time to time for two years. In five years more Catherine took the veil in the same monastery, and spent the rest of her life there, distin- guished by great holiness, and honoured after her death by miracles. Soon after she had taken the veil, a young man, who was related to her, asked for an inter- view, on pretence that he also wished to be converted. Catherine declined to see him, or address a single word to him. Analecta^ ii. 1455. Bucelinus, Men. Ben. AAJSS.j May 4. Manrique, Anntda of the Cistercians J took the story from the writings of Thomas Cantipratensis and Cesarius, both of whom knew Catherine, and heard the details from her own mouth. St. Catherine (3) of Siena, April 30, V. 1347-1380. Called at Siena, « The
