had been able to speak
during the last fourteen days of her life, she would have brought it
down to the 28th of July of the third year of the public life of our
Lord, consequently to where she had taken it up in 1820.4

Her condition daily became more frightful. She, who usually suffered
in silence, uttered stifled groans, so awful was the anguish she
endured. On the 15th of January she said: 'The Child Jesus brought me
great sufferings at Christmas. I was once more by his manger at
Bethlehem. He was burning with fever, and showed me his sufferings and
those of his mother. They were so poor that they had no food but a
wretched piece of bread. He bestowed still greatest sufferings upon me,
and said to me: "Thou art mine; thou art my spouse; suffer as I suffered,
without asking the reason why." I do not know what my sufferings are to
be, nor how long they will last. I submit blindly to my martyrdom,
whether for life or for death: I only desire that the hidden designs of
God may be accomplished in me. On the other hand, I am calm, and I have
consolations in my sufferings. Even this morning I was very happy.
Blessed be the Name of God!'

Her sufferings continued, if possible, to increase. Sitting up, and
with her eyes closed, she fell from one side to another, while
smothered groans escaped her lips. If she laid down, she was in danger
of being stifled; her breathing was hurried and oppressed, and all her
nerves and muscles were shaken and trembled with anguish. After violent
retching, she suffered terrible pain in her bowels, so much so that it
was feared gangrene must be forming there. Her throat was parched and
burning, her mouth swollen, her cheeks crimson with fever, her hands
white as ivory. The scars of the stigmas shone like silver beneath her
distended skin.

Her pulse gave from 160 to 180 pulsations per minute. Although
unable to speak from her excessive suffering, she bore every duty
perfectly in mind. On the evening of the 26th, she said to her friend,
'Today is the ninth day, you must pay for the wax taper and novena at the
chapel of St. Anne.' She was alluding to a novena which she had asked to
have made for her intention, and she was afraid lest her friends should
forget it. On the 27th, at two o'clock in the afternoon, she received
Extreme Unction, greatly to the relief both of her soul and body. In
the evening her friend, the excellent Cure of H___, prayed at her
bedside, which was an immense comfort to