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153 ST. CATHERINE 153 sbe bad leisure and seclusion for her fervent prayers. She allowed herself less and less food and sleep. In after- years she said that the hardest struggle of her life had been to overcome the desire and the necessity for sleep. She persuaded her mother to ask the Sisters of Penance (Third Order of St. Dominic), then commonly called ManteUate (closked sisters), to receive her into their number. They refused, on the ground that they had never taken young girls, and had no cloister to keep them in ; they were al- most all widows of ripe age, living each in her own home ; they hod no vows, and in their liberty they daily renewed the offering of their lives. By-and-by Catherine caught small-pox of a virulent type, and while Lapa was trembling for the life of her child, the young saint besought her to apply again to the Man^ tellate^ and beg them to accept her as a sister. They said they would receive her, provided she was not strikingly pretty. As she was now so disfigured as to be scarcely recognizable, there remained no obstacle, and as soon as possible on her recovery, she was the first virgin to be clothed with the habit of the Sisters of Penance. Tommaseo says it was in 1 362 ; Mrs. Drane follows those authors who place it a little later. Catherine loved her mantle, the symbol of her consecration ; she patched it when necessary, and took care of it as long as she lived. The next three years she spent in the strictest solitude and silence, communing with Gk)d, and learning to subdue every natural inclination, some- times afflicted by frightful temptations, often consoled by heavenly visions, which continued more or less during the whole of her wonderful life. At the end of those three years she was commanded by the Saviour to go and sit at table with her family; as she regretted the solitude in which her Lord had deigned to converse with her. He told her she could have a cell within her heart, where He would dwell, so that while she was ministering to others, she would still be alone with Him. This constant realiza- tion of the presence of Christ lifted her above all small considerations, all fears and difficulties, and gave her that clear discernment, that deep humility, ready courage and helpfulness, by which she earned the love and reverence of her contemporaries. It was about the same time that she had the vision in which she was married to the Lord, and she ever afterwards saw His ring on her finger, although it was invisible to others. St. Catherine is remarkable for the many and difficult conversions she effected. Her earnestness gave her wonderful in- fluence over all whom she addressed. When she was preaching, those who could not come near enough to hear her words were stirred to contrition and conversion by her look. One of her converts was Nicolas de Toldo, a young knight of Perugia, who was condemned to death. He cursed his fate and his judges, and although as yet he felt neither penitence nor resignation, he sent to beg Catherine to visit him in prison, and by her affectionate remonstrances she brought him to a better way of feel- ing. She persuaded him to make a general confession, and he received the Holy Communion for the first time in his life. He made her promise to stand beside him at the block. She met him on the scaffold, and, kneeling, prayed with and for him until the axe fell, when she received his head in her hands, and saw his soul ascend to heaven. She was requested to try to convert Nanni di Ser Vanni, a very troublesome, worldly, and irreligious man. Finding all her exhortations fruitless, she ceased to speak, and began silently praying for him. He immediately repented of his sins, humbly made peace with his neigh- bours, and embraced a penitential life. He gave St. Catberine his castle of Bel- oaro, near Siena, which, in 1377, she converted into a convent. There was a poor leprous woman named Cecca in one of the hospitals at Siena. The institution was so poor that it could hardly supply its inmates with the necessaries of life. As she grew worse, and became a source of danger as well as disgust to others, no one liked to attend upon her, and it was decided that she should be sent to the lazaret outside the gates. Catherine heard of the case, and went to the hospital. She