secluded in her cell, exclusively occupied in exercises of piety and penance for the relief of the poor souls. Suddenly her angel appeared to her, took her by the hand, and conducted her in spirit into Purgatory. Among the first souls which she saw, she recognised that of her father, plunged in a pond of icy water. Scarcely had Gothard seen his daughter than, coming towards her, he reproached her sorrowfully for having abandoned him in his sufferings, whilst she showed so much Charity towards others, whom she constantly relieved, and frequently delivered those who were strangers to her.
Archangela stood for some time confused by these reproaches, which she knew she had merited; soon, however, shedding a torrent of tears, she replied, " I will do, my dear father, all that you ask of me. May it please God to give ear to my supplications and speedily deliver you." Meanwhile she could not recover from her astonishment, nor understand how she could thus have forgotten her beloved father. Having taken her back, her angel told her that this forgetfulness had happened by a disposition of Divine Justice. "God," he said, "has permitted it in punishment for the little zeal which, during life, your father manifested for God, his own soul, and that of his neighbour. You saw how he was tormented and benumbed in a lake of ice; this was the chastisement of his tepidity in the service of God, and his indifference with regard to the salvation of souls. Your father was not an immoral man, it is true, but he showed little inclination for the acquirement of virtue and for the practice of those works of piety and charity to which the Church exhorts the faithful. . . . This is the reason why God permitted that he should be forgotten, even by you, who would have given him too much relief. This is the chastisement ordinarily inflicted by Divine Justice upon those who are lacking in fervour and charity. He permits that others should conduct themselves in their regard as they have
