sought the kingdom of God in the fulfilment of the divine precepts, torrents of peace and happiness poured on his family. As to material prosperity, by the cook's economy the house not only recovered from the losses suffered in the late struggle, but its means were increased in proportion to the generosity exercised towards the poor.

In the year 1295, Henry contracted a second marriage with Margaret Hochenekia. She was a pious Christian woman, very compassionate to the poor, and consequently agreed well with the good cook, to whom she gave full liberty as well to pursue her devotions as to exercise her works of mercy. There were several children from this marriage, and as soon as they were able to lisp, Notburga taught them to bless the God of mercies, and invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary. Under her influence the whole palace breathed piety and fervour. Through the ascendant her virtues had acquired for her she banished all loose and idle talk, so that nothing was spoken of in her presence but ordinary things, or indifferent events, or good and edifying examples. It is wonderful what can be done by a person animated by zeal and prudence for the reform of customs and habits among acquaintances. The baron himself, moved by her example, and remembering the chastisement inflicted on Otilia for her hardness to the needy, gave orders for an annual dinner for five hundred poor in the convent of St. George, on the anniversary of her death. The two sons, who successively inherited his property, one belonging to Otilia and the other to Hochenekia, not only continued the donation, but increased the number of poor to a thousand. Notburga lived eighteen years under her new mistress, and during all that time never gave her cause of complaint; on the contrary, by her anxiety to please all for Jesus Christ, she gained the affection not only of her employers, but of all who knew

her. At last she was attacked by a serious illness, and after reminding Don Henry of his promise about her burial, and receiving the holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, she slept the sleep of the just, to rise on the last day as the accuser of those who regard, without commiseration, the misfortunes of the needy. Great was the grief manifested by the poor at the loss of their amiable benefactor, and they proved it publicly at the solemn office celebrated for her.

V.

The funeral car was prepared, and on it were placed the mortal and venerable remains of the saint, and the castle gates were opened to give free passage to the oxen, who at once went on the high road. Behind followed the priest, and the lord and the heir of the house on horseback, and all the rest of the family on foot; and a great multitude of poor bewailed the death of their benefactor. The oxen soon left the road, and went straight to the Yun. The river was swollen and unfordable, but the oxen did not stop. When the car entered the river, to the great astonishment of all, the waters divided and made a free passage for the sacred remains, as formerly the Jordan did in presence of the Ark of the Covenant. When they reached the opposite side the oxen stood, as if awaiting the funeral procession, and as soon as it had arrived they again went forward and halted not till they reached the chapel near Eben, where Notburga was accustomed to pray to the Blessed Virgin when she was in the farmer's service. And thus the Lord turned to the glory of his servant what she had intended for her humiliation. The venerable remains were buried here according to the deceased's desire. As soon as the fame of the miraculous translation of the holy cook was known, many people came to implore her

protection. And they were not disappointed; for the Lord, who delights in exalting the humble, glorified with numerous prodigies His faithful servant, who so well negotiated with her talents of grace in her humble position. Later on, the gratitude and liberality of the faithful erected on the same spot a beautiful temple under the invocation of St. Notburga.

ANNA, OR THE POOR WOMAN OF SEVILLE, LACEMAKER AND SPINNER.

I.

SHE was called the poor Sevillian because she was born in Seville of parents whom reverse of fortune drove from the mountains to that town. A few months after her birth she lost her mother, who also left behind four other children; but Divine Providence sent her a protector in the person of a rich merchant, a countryman of her father's, who with his wife's consent adopted her. This charitable couple reared her with great care, and as soon as she was able to lisp, taught her the Christian doctrine, which she repeated with singular grace. She learned to commune with God before she could speak with men, and she was scarcely three years and a half when she would go with the girls of the house to perform exercises of piety and penance; and she would inflict chastisement on her tender body as if it were guilty of sin whilst offering her prayers for the souls in Purgatory. In this line she persevered all her life.

She once found a cross painted on a piece of paper, and surrounded by the instruments of the Passion, and she took it with great reverence, and pinned it to the wall of her room, where she often contemplated it with deep devotion. After these fervent exercises she would roll it up in another paper and keep it in her bosom as a great treasure. At five years she could talk of nothing but God and holy things, and she would retire to her hiding-place to pray and chastise herself. This attracted the curiosity of the servants, who admired her saintly inclinations, and found her sometimes absorbed in contemplation. What consolation this occasioned her putative mother it is not difficult to imagine, when we take into account the piety of this fervent matron, and the love she had for the child. And Anna had also her own infantile delight in it.

From her ardent love of God sprung, as from its proper source, the charity which in her tender years she had for the poor; not a sterile charity, but an ingenious and fruitful one. Every day she kept something of what she got to eat at home, and when going to school would give it to the poor on the street, endeavouring to do so as quietly as possible that she might not be observed. But as she did it so often it became known to her parents, as we may call them, who reprimanded her, not for the act of charity, but for depriving herself of what they gave her for her own use. But her spirit of self-denial and compassion was so great that she could not restrain the impulses of charity for her neighbour.

At five years of age she knew how to read, and she spent all the time she could in perusing books of devotion, particularly lives of saints, in the consideration of which she took special pleasure. She experienced such delight in this and in prayer that, in order to make her go out to play, they had to take her books and her beads from her, and yet they could not wean her from these

holy things. The devil could not bear these promising auspices, and to scare her from her retirement he appeared to her in a fearful form, which caused her such horror that she fell down as if dead and got an attack of the heart, which remained with her some years. But what caused the poor child the greatest grief was, that on this account they deprived her of her books, and devotions and penances, as they scarcely left her alone a single minute. When awake her loving aspirations to Jesus and His Virgin Mother Mary were almost continual, and when she slept, the Queen of Angels would appear to her with the Child in her arms, and let her kiss his feet, whilst He bestowed on her His benediction. When she awoke she was filled with such peace and sweetness by her dreams, that during the day they served as the subject of her meditations and the source of new delights. God often miraculously saved her in terrible falls and imminent risks of her life; and this made her own people and others regard her as the elect of the Lord. This idea was contributed to by her discretion and grace in speaking of holy things, which were the subject of all her conversations, and other events with which the Lord confirmed it.

II.

One

The merchant who had adopted her went to America, whence he sent a picture of Christ crucified, after which several months passed without a letter from him. night they were speaking of this delay round the fire, and they knelt down to say the Rosary, and pray that they might soon have news from him. Then they went to bed, and Anna said three Credos on her knees before the image, beseeching the Lord in all the simplicity of