to companions; he never said an abrupt word to me; he always took the worst, for the sake of giving me the advantage in everything, trying to persuade me that this better contented him. He was extremely punctual in the observance of the rules, and most sensitive in obedience. No matter how much occu. pied he was, he never omitted or lessened the time of prayer, examination, or spiritual reading,-employing therein the night, when he was hindered by day, at the cost of rest and sleep. Purity in him went apace with modesty, both truly Angelic; but I admired nothing more than his profound humility,” etc. This his companion, a very virtuous man, was also his Confessor,- to whom, when they were together, agreeably to the custom of our Missionaries in those countries, he confessed every day. I know that these things will perhaps appear to some too minute; but not to him who knows what true virtue consists in, and to him who shall weigh it with the weight of the Sanctuary. We have seen him with vile sick people on his shoulders, going 3 and 4 miles, to gain them for God; tending a long while, and many times a day, most filthy and incurable wounds, of which the patient's own relatives had a horror, with a countenance serene and full of charity. This he did in order to gain those souls, which, though in cadaverous bodies, had not cost less than the others to their Redeemer. And, the nearer they approached death, the more diligent he was in serving them, because of the danger and greater necessity,—making 30 and 40 miles on foot, in the great heat of summer, in places full of danger from the enemies; running behind a guide, so that [119 i.e., 121] he could find alive and baptize some dying man, or some

qualche prigione già condannato al fuoco, & hà in fimili occafioni passata la notte smarrito ne' boschi tra le neui, e 'l ghiaccio. Nel tempo della contagione ci chiudeuano, come habbiam detto, da per tutto le porte. Ma il fuo zelo non temeua d' esporfi à mille pericoli, per penetrare doue speraua di poter conquiftare vna fola anima à Dio. Ricorreua con gran fiducia à gli Angeli di quelle contrade, e ne prouaua euidente foccorfo. Qualche moribondo gli hà visto al lato vn belliffimo giouane, che l' accompagnaua, & efortaua l' ammalato à profittare dell' istruttioni del Padre. Haueua vn' inclinatione particolare per i più abbandonati, e per fiero, & ingrato, che incontraffe vn Barbaro gli mostraua vn' amore più che materno per ridurlo à Dio. Il fuo zelo non haueua alcun termine, aspiraua à nuoue terre, & ad altre nationi più remote, & haueua defiderato di cascar nelle mani de gl' Hirochefi, per hauer occafione di predicargli la Fede, ma Dio gli conceffe il primo fenza il fecondo. Era ftato in tutte le miffioni degli Huroni; n'haueua incominciata più d' vna, e tra l'altre quella doue morì. Non haueua alcun' attacco nè à luoghi, nè à persone, nè à suoi steffi trauagli; ogn' occupatione gli era vguale, purche gli veniffe da Superiori, che gli hanno fatto tal' hora lafciare le miffioni, doue haueua il fuo cuore per tirar come vn Cauallo nelle neui pesi neceffarij; per feruir gli ammalati; per far la cucina, portar legna, e cercar le 20. e 30. miglia lontano delle lambrufche per farne il vino per la Meffa. In tutte queste cose era eguale

captive already condemned to the fire; and he has on similar occasions passed the night astray in the woods, amid the snows and the ice. At the time of the contagion, they shut the doors on us, as we have said, on all sides. But his zeal did not fear to expose itself to a thousand dangers, in order to penetrate where he hoped he could make the conquest of a single soul to God. He had recourse, with great confidence, to the Angels of those regions, and proved their manifest help. Some dying man saw at his side a most beautiful youth, who accompanied him, and exhorted the sick man to profit by the Father's instruction. He had a special inclination for the most abandoned; and, no matter how proud and ungrateful a Barbarian he encountered, he showed him a more than maternal love in order to bring him back to God. His zeal had no limit; he was aspiring toward new villages and toward other nations more distant, and had desired to fall into the hands of the Hiroquois, that he might have an opportunity of preaching the Faith to them; but God granted him the first without the second. He had been in all the missions of the Hurons; he had founded more than one of them, and, among others, the one in which he died. He had no attachment either to places or to persons, or to his own labors; every occupation was alike to him, provided it came to him from the Superiors, who sometimes made him leave the missions, in which he had his heart, in order to draw, like a Horse, necessary burdens in the snows; to serve the sick, to do the cooking, and carry wood; and to seek, at a distance of 20 and 30 miles, wild grapes, in order to make wine of them for the Mass. In all these things he was equal to himself,- that

à fe fteffo, cioè fempre fereno, e contento, trouando

Dio da per tutto.

Non faremo (diceua) mai niente per la falute dell' anime, fe Dio non è con noi, e non c' applica per mezzo de Superiori, e cercar qualche cofa con determinatione, è cercare fe steffo In vna parola, tutti quelli, che lo conofceuano lo ftimauano vn Santo.

is, always serene and contented, finding God everywhere.

We shall never (he said) do anything for the salvation of souls, if God is not with us, and does not apply us by means of the Superiors; and to seek something with determination is to seek one's self. In a word, all those who knew him accounted him a Saint.