d these three months pass? They were fruitful in sufferings
and still more so in other graces. At first the thought came into
my mind that I would not put any extra restraint on myself, I
would lead a life somewhat less strictly ordered than was my
custom. But Our Lord made me understand the benefit I might derive
from this time He had granted me, and I then resolved to give
myself up to a more serious and mortified life. When I say
mortified, I do not mean that I imitated the penances of the
Saints; far from resembling those beautiful souls who have
practised all sorts of mortifications from their infancy, I made
mine consist in simply checking my inclinations, keeping back an
impatient answer, doing little services to those around me without
setting store thereby, and a hundred other things of the kind. By
practising these trifles I prepared myself to become the Spouse of
Jesus, and I can never tell you, Mother, how much the added delay
helped me to grow in abandonment, in humility, and in other
virtues.
______________________________

[1] Joel 2:19.

[2] _Imitation of Christ,_ III, xxiv. 2.

[3] Isa. 65:15.

[4] Apoc. 2:17.

[5] 1 Cor. 4:5.

[6] Matt. 5:13.

[7] Tit. 1:15.

[8] Montmartre--the "Mount of Martyrs"--is the hill whereon St.
Denis, apostle and bishop of Paris, was martyred with his two
companions in the third century. It was a famous place of
pilgrimage in medieval times, and here St. Ignatius and the first
Jesuits took their vows. Under the presidency of Marshal MacMahon,
the erection of the well-known Basilica was voted in 1873 by the
French Chamber of Deputies as a national act of reparation to the
Sacred Heart. [Ed.]

[9] Cemetery.

[10] Cf. Cant. 7:1.

[11] Office of St. Cecilia.

[12] Luke 12:32.

[13] Luke 22:29.

[14] Cf. Matt. 20:22.

[15] Luke 24:26.

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CHAPTER VII
THE LITTLE FLOWER ENTERS THE CARMEL

Monday, April 9, 1888, being the Feast of the Annunciation,
transferred from Passiontide, was the day chosen for me to enter
the Carmel. On the evening before, we were gathered around the
table where I was to take my place for the last time. These
farewells are in themselves heartrending, and just when I would
have liked to be forgotten I received the tenderest expressions of
affection, as if to increase the pain of parting.

The next morning, after a last look at the happy home of my
childhood, I set out for the Carmel, where we all