th snow.

From her infancy to the day of her death she was indefatigable in
relieving the sick, and in dressing and curing wounds and ulcers, and
she was accustomed to give to the poor every farthing she possessed. So
tender was her conscience, that the slightest sin she fell into caused
her such pain as to make her ill, and absolution then always restored
her immediately to health.

The extraordinary nature of the favours bestowed on her by Almighty
God was no hindrance in the way of her devoting herself to hard labour,
like any other peasant-girl; and we may also be allowed to observe that
a certain degree of the spirit of prophecy is not unusually to be found
among her country men and women. She was taught in the school of
suffering and mortification, and there learned lessons of perfection.
She allowed herself no more sleep or food than was absolutely
necessary; passed whole hours in prayer every night; and in winter
often knelt out of doors on the snow. She slept on the ground on planks
arranged in the form of a cross. Her food and drink consisted of what
was rejected by others; she always kept the best parts even of that for
the poor and sick, and when she did not know of anyone to give them to,
she offered them to God in a spirit of child-like faith, begging him to
give them to some person who was more in need than herself. When there
was anything to be seen or heard which had no reference to God or
religion, she found some excuse for avoiding the spot to which others
were hastening, or, if there, closed her eyes and ears. She was
accustomed to say that useless actions were sinful, and that when we
denied our bodily senses any gratification of this kind, we were amply
repaid by the progress which we made in the interior life, in the same
manner as pruning renders vines and other fruittrees more productive.
From her early youth, and wherever she went, she had frequent
symbolical visions, which showed her in parables, as it were, the
object of her existence, the means of attaining it, and her future
sufferings, together with the dangers and conflicts which she would
have to go through.

She was in her sixteenth year, when one day, whilst at work in the
fields with her parents and sisters, she heard the bell ringing at the
Convent of the Sisters of the Annunciation, at Coesfeld. This sound so
inflamed her secret desire to become a nun, and had so great an effect
upon her, that she fainted away, and remained ill a