first he corrected the corruption and bad odor of the flour; then he increased the paste from which it was formed, and in fine he so multiplied the bread that it served for distribution during several weeks. Many pious persons kept portions of this bread through devotion, there are some still provided with it, although twenty years have elapsed since the occurrence of this miracle. Catherine was yet living, when I became acquainted with the above prodigy, and as I felt anxious to know' more perfectly what passed I interrogated her in private concerning the details of this event, and she gave me the following answer: " I experienced an ardent wish to avoid throwing away what God had designed to bestow on us, together with an extreme compassion for the poor; I went therefore with fervor to the chest (or bin) containing the flour. My gentle Queen, the Blessed Virgin, appeared to me accompanied by Saints and Angels, she ordered me to do what I projected and deigned in her affectionate kindness to work with her royal hands in the kneading of the paste, and it was the virtue emanating from her sacred hands which so multiplied the loaves; she presented them to me as she finished each one, and I handed them to Alessia and her maid-servant." I said therefore, " Mother, I am no longer astonished that this bread tasted so delicious, being composed and moulded by the glorious hands of that great Queen in whose virginal womb the august Trinity condescended to make the bread that came down from heaven, and which gives life to the believer." By thus assisting Catherine, the Mother of the Word designed to show us that she gave us by her intercession the spiritual bread of salvation; just as she gave us a material and miraculous bread. It was God who had inspired us to call her Mother and truly
