when Adam dwelt in sinless peace in Eden, surrounded by the creatures
which the hand of God had made. All nature is bid thus to arise to
welcome the elect of the Lord of nature. Flowers spring up beneath their
feet; fruits suddenly ripen, and invite them to gather and eat; storms
cease, and gentle winds refresh the sky. Every where the presence of Him
who lulled the tempest with a word is recognised in the souls in whom He
dwells, and in whom He thus, in a mystic sense, fulfils His own promise,
that the meek shall possess the land.

Thus, again, time and space are in their degree comparatively
annihilated for the sake of some of these favoured servants of the
Eternal and Omnipresent. St. Pius V., while bodily in Rome, was a
witness of the naval victory of the Christians over the Turks; St.
Joseph of Cupertino read letters addressed to him while their authors
were writing them far away; St. Dominic foresaw the war of the
Albigenses, and the death of Peter of Arragon; and St. Ignatius beheld
his successor in the Duke of Gandia. A similar mysterious faculty
enables its possessor to discern the presence of relics and other sacred
objects, more especially of the adorable Eucharistic species; or even to
behold Jesus Christ Himself in His glorified human form, in place of the
usual appearance of bread and wine; while in some instances the Host
has darted, unborne by mortal hand, into the mouth of a Saint about to
communicate at the foot of the altar.

On those species of miracles which are in no way peculiar to the
Christian dispensation I need not linger. Such is the gift of healing,
whether by the Saint's will and touch while alive, or by his relics and
intercession when dead. Such is the gift of prophecy, which abounded, as
we might have expected, far more in the Saints before the advent of
the Redeemer than since His coming, and which, indeed, was not rigidly