Page:PracticeOfChristianAndReligiousPerfectionV1.djvu/18

 mass. Lest, however,  he  should  he  deprived  of  the  precious body of  Jesus  Christ,  he  daily  received  it  from  the  hand  of another;  and  having  lived  two  years  in  this  languishing  condition, at  length,  upon  the  21st  of  February,  in  the  year  1616, in a  good  old  age,  full  of  merits,  he  happily  rested  in  our  Lord in peace. His death  was  not  less  universally  regretted  than  his sanctity was  esteemed. He was  a  great  lover  of  retirement,  an exact  observer  of  rules,  and  had  a  very  great  zeal  for  the  salvation of  souls  ;  his  self-abnegation  was  such  that  in  all  things  he had  but  God  in  view. The time  in  which  he  was  not  engaged in the  discharge  of  other  indispensable  duties,  he  spent  in  prayer and spiritual  reading,  adding  to  these  pious  exercises  very  frequent austerities,  which  he  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life ;  and when it  was  represented  to  him  that  he  could  not  practise  such penances without  shortening  his  days,  he  answered  :  "  An unmortified  religious  man  is  already  dead." Behold, in  short, the life  of  this  most  excellent  master  of  a  spiritual  life ;  but  the reading his  works  will  still  give  you  a  better  knowledge  of  him, for there  was  nothing  he  proposed  to  others  to  practise,  of  which he gave  not  first  an  example  in  himself;  his  life  being  nothing else than' a  constant  practice  of  what  in  his  writings  he  had taught others.