ON THE MIRACULOUS LIFE OF THE SAINTS,

BY J. M. CAPES, ESQ. _N.B. The proprietorship of this Series is secured
in all countries where the Copyright is protected._ The authorities on
which the History of St. Frances of Rome rests are as follows:

Her life by Mattiotti, her Confessor for ten years. Mattiotti enjoined
her, as a matter of obedience, to relate to him from time to time her
visions in the minutest detail. He was a timid and suspicious man,
and for two or three years kept a daily record of all she told him;
afterwards, as his confidence in her sanctity and sanity grew complete,
he contented himself with a more general account of her ecstasies, and
also put together a private history of her life. After her death, he
wrote a regular biography, which is now to be found in the Bollandist
collection (Venice, 1735, vol. ii.).

Early in the seventeenth century, Ursinus, a Jesuit, wrote a life, which
was highly esteemed, but which was never printed, and, except in certain
fragments, is now lost.

In 1641, Fuligato, a Jesuit, wrote the second life, in the Bollandist
collection, which contains particulars of events that happened after
Mattiotti's time.

Other well-written lives have since appeared: especially a recent one by
the Vicomte de Bussiere, in which will be found various details too
long to be included in the sketch here presented to the English reader.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

THE MIRACULOUS LIFE OF THE SAINTS.