went with other ladies to the Cathedral Church, and as she remained
in her place out of bashfulness while the others crowded forward to
receive the palms, the bishop came down from the altar, and carried
a palm branch to her, as a symbol of the victory she was about to gain
over the world.

The following night, accompanied as propriety required, she arranged
her flight as her spiritual Father had directed, and according to the
earnest wish of her soul. Not being able to get out by the front door,
of which she had not the key, she had the courage and strength to break
open a small door which had been blocked up with stones and wood, and
she repaired to the church, where Francis and his brethren, who were
saying their matins, received her with great solemnity, bearing lighted
tapers in their hands. They cut off her hair before the altar, and
after she had taken off her ornaments with the help of the females who
accompanied her, she received the penitential habit, consecrating her
virginity to Jesus Christ, under the protection of the Queen of Virgins,
while the religious chanted hymns and canticles.

It was a touching scene to see a young noble lady, only eighteen years
of age, in solitude, in the middle of the night, renounce all the
advantages and allurements of the world, put on sackcloth and a cord,
and devote herself to a rigorous system of penitential exercises,
solely for the love of God. Similar sacrifices can only be made by a
supernatural virtue; they prove that the religion which inspires them
is divine; and justly does St. Ambrose consider them to be far above
the most heroical pagan virtues.

It must be remarked, moreover, that the Church of St. Mary of the
Angels, which was the cradle of the Order of the Poor Evangelical