the others carried her off in their arms. All that this innocent lamb
could do, thus torn by the wolves, was to cry out: "My dear sister,
come to my aid; do not let them separate me from Jesus Christ." Clare
could give her no assistance, but by praying to God to render her
steadfast, and to check the violence of her ravishers. This prayer was
followed by a miraculous effect, similar to what the Church records
in the life of the illustrious virgin and martyr, St. Lucia.

As the relations of Agnes dragged her down the mountain, tearing her
clothes, and scattering her hair along the road, because she continued
violently to resist, she became suddenly so heavy, that they were
unable to raise her from the ground, even with the help of persons who
flocked from the fields and the vineyards. They were blind to the
finger of God in so extraordinary an event, and they even made a jest
of it; for ill-disposed persons, like the Pharisees of the Gospel,
do not submit to the evidence of miracles, but carry their impiety to
the length of turning all miracles into ridicule. The one which God
was pleased to perform in the person of Agnes, threw her uncle, whose
name was Monaldi, into such a rage, that he raised his arm to strike
her in such a manner as would have killed her, if the Divine power had
not arrested the blow by bringing such an excessive pain into the limb
as to disable it; this pain lasted a considerable time. This is a grand
lesson for those parents who prevent their children from consecrating
themselves to God in a religious state. If they do not experience in
this world the effects of His anger, they ought to fear the consequences
of the anathema in the next with which the Council of Trent menaces,
not only them, but those also who compel their children to embrace a
religious state.

Clare came to the field of battle, where she found her sister half