long one; in almost every community there was a local saint of great
renown and wonderful powers. Ignorance, superstition, and credulity had,
perhaps, much to do with the miraculous power which these saints
possessed, but there can be no doubt that most, if not all, of the
legends which concern them had some good foundation in fact. The holy
Rosalia of Palermo is one of the best known of these mediæval saints,
and even to-day there is a yearly festival in her honor. For many years
she had lived in a grotto near the city; there, by her godly life and
many kind deeds, she had inspired the love and reverence of the whole
community. When the pest came in 1150--that awful black death which
killed the people by hundreds--they turned to her in their despair and
begged her to intercede with them and take away this curse of God, as it
was believed to be. Through an entire night, within her grotto, the good
Rosalia prayed that the plague might be taken away and the people
forgiven, and the story has it that her prayers were answered at once.
At her death she was made the patron saint of Palermo, and the lonely
grotto became a sacred spot which was carefully preserved, and which may
be seen to-day by all who go to visit it on Monte Pellegrino.

In the first part of the thirteenth century two new orders for women
grew up in connection with the recently founded orders of the
Franciscans and Dominicans; the story of the foundation of the former
sisterhood in particular is one of striking interest. This organization
originated in 1212 and its members were called Les Clarisses, after
Clara, the daughter of Favorino Seisso, a knight of Assisi. Clara,
though rich and accustomed to a life of indolence and pleasure, was so
moved by the preaching of Saint Francis, that she sent for this holy man
and conversed with him at great length upon religious topics. Finally,
after a short but natural hesitation, she made up her mind to take the
veil and establish an order for women which should embody many of the