CHAPTER XLIX.

Of the lovely Name of Jesus.

THE Servitor of the Eternal Wisdom once made a journey from the upper country to Aix-la-Chapelle, to visit our dear Lady. And on 250his return, our dear Lady appeared to a holy person, and said:—Behold, my Child’s Servitor has come hither, and he has carried about His sweet Name of Jesus far and wide, with the same ardent desire with which His Apostles of old carried it; and just as their desire was to make all men know this Name through the preaching of the faith, even so all his strivings have been to set all cold hearts on fire with new love for this Name of Jesus. Therefore he shall receive, after his death, an everlasting reward with them.

Afterwards, this holy person saw our dear Lady holding a beautiful candle in her hand, and it burned so beautifully that its light shone throughout the whole world; and all round and round the candle the Name of Jesus was writ ten. Then our dear Lady said to this person:—Behold, this burning candle signifies the Name of Jesus, because He in very truth illuminates the hearts of all who receive His Name with devotion, and pay it honour, and bear it lovingly about with them. To this end, my Child has chosen out His Servitor, that devotion to His Name may be lit up through him in the hearts of many, and that these may be helped onwards by him to everlasting bliss.

When this holy maiden, of whom mention has been made above, perceived that her spiritual father was so devout to, and had such firm faith in, the loving Name of Jesus, which he bore upon his breast over his heart, she conceived a great and peculiar love for it, and out of devotion she marked the Name of Jesus in red silk on a little piece of cloth, in the following form:—IHS—and wore it secretly upon her self. She also made an almost countless number of similar Names, and persuaded the Servitor to lay them on his bare heart, and then send them, with a blessing from God, to his spiritual children in different parts. Moreover, it was revealed to her by God that those who bore the Name upon them, and said daily with devotion an “Our Father” in honour of it, would be treated lovingly by God in this world, and would find grace before Him at their last passage.

Such were the austere exercises and such the godly examples of Jesus Christ and His dear friends, according to which the beginnings of this holy maiden’s spiritual life were fashioned.