Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/70

58 B8 B. MART Third Order of St. Dominic. She dreaeed henceforth like an old lady and made herself nsefnl in many ways abont the house, waiting dntifnlly on her father who snffered from gout. From the time of her conversion she wore a cilicinm, never tasted meat, slept very little, and that little in her (Rothes, used a scourge, and lived like a nun. She found time to learn to write and to copy out many of the sermons of B. Thomas of Siena. There was some difficulty about her becoming a nun in the absence of her husband ; but at last, at the age of twenty, with her parents' consent, she was openly enrolled in the Third Order of St. Dominic. She was already in poor health, and was very soon struck down by the pestilence which ravaged Italy in 1399. Hernando del Castillo. Pio. B. Mary (52). {See Jane (12).) B. Mary f 53) de Maillac, March 28, April 27, V. 1331-1414, was named Jeanne at her baptism, and Marie at her confirmation. Daughter of Har- douin, seigneur de Maillac, a nobleman of Tours. After her father's death, she married Robert de Silleye, a good young man whom she had known ^m child- hood and whom she had saved by her prayers from drowning in a pond. He knew that she had made a vow of celibacy. Her grandfather, who had arranged and greatly desired this mar- riage, died the day it was solemnized. While King John of France was a prisoner in England, the English laid waste the country and took many cap- tives, among them Eobert de Silleye, who was imprisoned at Gravelles. Mary sold her jewels and horses and raised three thousand florins, with the assist- ance of her friends, but as there was some delay in sending the ransom, Robert was kept in a dungeon without food for nine days, and was then liberated by the Virgin Maby in answer to the prayers of his wife. After this, they devoted themselves more than ever to the service of Christ and His poor. They took three orphans and brought them up carefully. After Robert's death, Mary was expelled from his house and was deprived of all his property. She took refuge in the cottage of one of her servants, and having no table-cloth, she ventured to share that of the maid, who ungraciously took it from her. Mary gave it up without a murmur or a blush. She was now about thirty years old. She returned to Maillac to live with her mother and learned to make oint- ment to heal wounds and diseases, and after a time went to Tours and lived near the church of St. Martin, devoting herself to the service of the poor. One day an angel came among them to eat at her table. Once when she was pray- ing before the altar of the church at .Tours, a mad woman threw a stone at her, which broke her back. Every one thought she was killed, and the most skilful doctors despaired of her cure; but she recovered by the special assist- ance of the Virgin Mary. She gave her house at Roche St. Quentin (where she was bom) to the Carthusians, and to become really poor, she gave up all her property. She was despised by her friends and relations for her love of poverty, and suffered the greatest humilia- tions and privations, sometimes taking shelter at night in a ruin. She took as a companion, Jeanne, a nun of Belmont. Louis, duke of Anjou, and Mary of Bretagne, his wife, acknowledged her sanctity and chose her as godmother to their infant son. She was anxious to instil pious ideas into her godson, and often recited prayers and portions of the Bible to him. When she told him about Paradise and the glory of the saints, he clapped his hands %nd stamped his little feet with delight. When she was fifty-five she was re- ceived into a Franciscan convent in Tours. During her whole life the Passion of Christ was always present to her mind. Once as she was medi- tating on the martyrdom of St. Stephen, she felt in spirit the stones that struck him, and became a partaker of his passion. A.ItM,, April 27. AA.SS. B. Mary (54) Mancini, Dec. 22, Jan. 22, -f- 1431, O.S.D. Daughter of Bartholomew Mancini, of a distinguished family of Pisa. She was christened Catherine. She was still young when she lost her second husband and all