ing sent to Franconia while I
was yet a boy, I worked so hard writing that before I had returned
I had nearly lost my eyesight. After I became a monk at St. Emmerem,
I was appointed the school-master. The duties of the office so fully
occupied my time that I was able to do the transcribing I was
interested in only by nights and in holidays.... I was, however,
able, in addition to writing the books that I had myself composed,
and the copies which I gave away for the edification of those who
asked for them, to prepare nineteen missals, three books of the
Gospels and Epistles, besides which I wrote four service books for
Matins. I wrote in addition several other books for the brethren
at Fulda, for the monks at Hirschfeld, and at Amerbach, for the
Abbot of Lorsch, for certain friends at Passau, and for other
friends in Bohemia, for the monastery at Tegernsee, for the
monastery at Preyal, for that at Obermunster, and for my sister's
son. Moreover, I sent and gave at different times sermons, proverbs,
and edifying writings. Afterward old age's infirmities of various
kinds hindered me." Surely Othlonus was justified in retiring when
his time came, and enjoying some respite from his labours!

Religious feeling in works of art is an almost indefinable thing,
but one which is felt in all true emanations of the conscientious
spirit of devotion. Fra Angelico had a special gift for expressing
in his artistic creations is own spiritual life; the very qualities
for which he stood, his virtues and his errors,--purity,
unquestioning faith in the miraculous, narrowness of creed, and
gentle and adoring humility,--all these elements are seen to
completeness in his decorative pictures. Perhaps this is because
he really lived up to his principles. One of his favourite sayings
was "He who occupies himself with the things of Christ, must ever
dwell with Christ."

It is related that, in the Monastery of Maes Eyck, while the
illuminators were at work in the evening, copying Holy Writ, the
devil, in a fit of rage, extinguished their candles; they, however,
were promptly lighted again by a Breath of the Holy Spirit, and
the good work went on! Salvation was supposed to be gained through
conscientious writing. A story is told of a worldly and frivolous
brother, who was guilty of many sins and follies, but who, nevertheless,
was an industrious scribe. When he came to die, the devil claimed
his soul. The angels, however, brought before the Throne