Page:Lifeofsaintcatha.djvu/216

 the good odor of Jesus Christ, will return to the sheepfold, and will surrender themselves to the Chief and Bishop of their souls. Give thanks to God for the great calm, that he will grant to the Church, after that tempest." She said no more; and I who know that the Almighty is more prodigal of his kindness than of his rigors, I have a firm hope that after the ills which are happening, the blessings foretold by the Blessed Catherine will arrive; and that all the tribes of Israel shall know that she is truly a prophetess from God.

As there is here question of Catherine's prophecies, I think it the best place to confound the ignorance of those who presume to contest her sincerity, and spread shameful calumnies against her sanctity. To give a specious coloring to their falsehoods, they say that she predicted a general Crusade of Christians which she and her disciples were to follow into the Holy Land. She being dead many a year, as well as those who followed her, it is impossible that this pilgrimage should be accomplished, and they concluded thence that all her sayings were no prophecies, but discourses unworthy of attention.

I acknowledge, first, that it is very true that Catherine always desired a Crusade, and that she acted with diligence in the hope of realizing this desire: it was, it may be said, the ruling motive of her journey to Avignon; she intended engaging Pope Gregory to organize a holy War; and I am witness that she did so; because when she conversed with the Sovereign Pontiff on that subject, I acted as interpreter; Gregory XI. expressed himself in Latin, and Catherine in the dialect of Tuscany. The Sovereign Pontiff said to her: " First of all, peace must be established among Christians, and then we might organize a Crusade." Catherine replied to