Page:Lifeofsaintcatha.djvu/55

 and strove to profit by a moment in which her anxious and loving mother was ready to accord her any thing she requested. She said to her sweetly: " Dearest mother, if you wish me to recover my health and strength, try to obtain for me the habit of the "Sisters of Penance." I am convinced that God and St. Dominic who call me, will take me from you, if I wear any other religious dress."

Lapa gave way to sadness on hearing these words, but as she feared losing her daughter, she once more addressed herself to the Sisters, and was so importunately persuasive that they were shaken in their resolutions. They answered: "If she be not handsome, nor of a beauty too remarkable, we will receive her, on her account and yours, but if she be too pretty, we are bound to avoid the inconveniences that might spring from the malice of men of the present period." Lapa invited them to come and judge for themselves. Then, three or four of the sisters, selected among the most enlightened and prudent, accompanied her to see Catherine and examine her vocation. They could not judge of her personal appearance, for her whole body was covered with a kind of eruption consequent on her malady, which quite disfigured her, besides her beauty was not excessive; but they heard her express herself with so much fervor, and remarked in her such a profound wisdom that they were quite enchanted; they comprehended that the maturity of her mind redeemed the fewness of her years, and that there were not very many aged persons who were as rich in virtues before God

They retired filled with pious joy and edification, and rendered an account of their visit to their associates. These after having taken the opinion of the monks of the Order, assembled and received Catherine unanimously.