y was a small price
to pay for such valuable knowledge. During that month I met with
many holy Priests, and yet I saw that even though the sublime
dignity of Priesthood raises them higher than the Angels, they are
still but weak and imperfect men. And so if holy Priests, whom Our
Lord in the Gospel calls the salt of the earth, have need of our
prayers, what must we think of the lukewarm? Has not Our Lord
said: "If the salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be
salted?"[6] Oh, dear Mother, how beautiful is our vocation! We
Carmelites are called to preserve "the salt of the earth." We
offer our prayers and sacrifices for the apostles of the Lord; we
ourselves ought to be their apostles, while they, by word and
example, are preaching the Gospel to our brethren. Have we not a
glorious mission to fulfill? But I must say no more, for I feel
that on this subject my pen would run on for ever.

Now let me describe my journey in some detail. At three o'clock in
the morning of November 4, we passed through the silent streets.
Lisieux still lay shrouded in the darkness of night. I felt that I
was going out into the unknown, and that great things were
awaiting me in Rome. When we reached Paris, Papa took us to see
all the sights. For me there was but one--Our Lady of Victories. I
can never tell you what I felt at her shrine; the graces Our Lady
granted me were like those of my First Communion Day. I was filled
with peace and happiness. In this holy spot the Blessed Virgin, my
Mother, told me plainly that it was really she who had smiled on
me and cured me. With intense fervour I entreated her to keep me
always, and to realise my heart's desire by hiding me under her
spotless mantle, and I also asked her to remove from me every
occasion of sin.

I was well aware that during this journey I should come across
things that might disturb me; knowing nothing of evil, I feared I
might discover it. As yet I had not experienced that "to the pure
all things are pure,"[7] that a simple and upright soul does not
see evil in anything, because evil only exists in impure hearts
and not in inanimate objects. I prayed specially to St. Joseph to
watch over me; from my childhood, devotion to him has been
interwoven with my love for our Blessed Lady. Every day I said the
prayer beginning: "St. Joseph, Father and Protector of Virgins"
. . . so I felt I was well protected and quite safe from danger.

We left Paris on November 7, after our solemn Cons