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 epoch; Samuel, Esdras and the other prophets continued his sacred recitals, and we religiously preserve their sacred words. The Evangelists are, by their dignity, entitled to the first rank among historians; not only did they announce the word of God, but they preserved and fixed it by committing it to writing; and a great voice said to one of them: Quod rides, scribe in libro, What thou see write in a book. (Apoc. i. 11)

I, therefore, brother Raymond of Capua, called in the world Delia Vigne, humble master and servant of the order of Friar Preachers, in the justifiable astonishment, excited by the wonders I have seen and heard, am resolved to write, (after having proposed them with the living voice to the admiration of the faithful,) the deeds of a holy virgin, named Catharine, to whom Sienna, a city of Tuscany, gave birth. The present age as well as future ages, on becoming acquainted with the prodigies that Almighty God produced through this woman, must praise him in his Saints, and bless him according to the multitude of his great works, and excite themselves to loving him with all their strength and above all things, as well as to serve him interiorly and exteriorly without ceasing.

I assure all the readers of this book, in presence of the God of truth, that there is in my narrative neither fiction nor falsehood, and that the facts are as faithfully reported as my weakness would allow. In order to satisfy even the least credulous, I will cite, in the different Chapters, the witnesses of what I relate; and it will be clearly seen from what source I have drawn what I offer to refresh the soul. And as I purpose doing all in the name of the adorable Trinity, I have divided the book Into three parts. The first will contain the birth, infancy