supernatural records of Christianity from those of both Patriarchal
and Jewish times. The undying power of the Cross is manifested in the
peculiar sufferings of the Saints, in their mystic communion with
the invisible world, and in that especial sanctity to which alone
miraculous gifts are for the most part accorded under the Gospel. Not
that all these three peculiarities are to be observed in the life of
every Saint under the Gospel. Far from it, indeed. The supernatural
life of the Saints varies with different individuals, according to the
pleasure of that Almighty Spirit, who communicates Himself to His elect
in ten thousand mysterious ways, and manifests Himself according to His
own will alone. Still, at times, they are found united, in conjunction
with those miraculous powers which were possessed under the old
dispensations in one individual. In such cases we behold the Life and
Passion of the King of Saints visibly renewed before our eyes; the
law of _suffering_,--that mysterious power, as life-giving as it is
unfathomable,--is set before us in an intensity of operation, which at
once calls forth the scoffs of the unbeliever, and quickens the faith of
the humble Christian; the privileges of eternity are anticipated, and
the blessings of a lost Paradise are in part restored. Jesus Christ
lives, and is in agony before us; the dread scene of Calvary is renewed,
united with those ineffable communications between the suffering soul
and its God, which accompanied the life and last hours of the Redeemer
of mankind. Our adorable Lord is, as it were, still incarnate amongst
us, displaying to our reverent faith the glories of His Passion in the
persons of those who are, in the highest sense that is possible, His
members, a portion of His humanity, in whom He dwells, who dwell in Him,
and whose life, in a degree incomprehensible even to themselves, is hid
with Christ in God. Such a Saint was St. Frances of Rome, one of those
glorious creations of Divine grace by means of which, at the time when
the Holy City was filled with bloodshed and ravaged with pestilence, and