:

say to the Lord: Thou art my protector and my refuge my God, in Him will I trust. For He hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters, and from the sharp word. He will overshadow thee with His shoulders; and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flieth by day: .........of invasion, or of the noon-day devil......... Because Thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the Most High thy refuge. There shall no evil come to thee; nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling. For He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample underfoot the lion and the dragon. Because he hoped in Me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known My name. He shall cry to Me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation. I will deliver him, and I will glorify him. I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him My salvation."*

*Psalm xc.

CHAPTER VI.

ST. JULIANA IS ELECTED PRIORESS.

HITHERTO We have had occasion simply to speak of Juliana as a subject, and we have seen with what zeal, fervour, and perfection she performed her duties as such; how she was to all a model of regularity, piety, simplicity, obedience, and of every virtue. But we have now to speak of her as a superioress, and we shall see that in this capacity also, she accomplished all her duties with such zeal and charity, such fervour and prudence, such wisdom and discretion, that St. Benedict himself would have recognised her as a superioress full of the spirit of his rule.

Sapientia, the prioress of Cornillon, died the death of the just in the year 1222, to the great regret of all her children, who loved and revered her, as she justly deserved to be. She is mentioned in the Cistercian Menologium; and all who have written the life of Juliana, have spoken of this holy woman in terms of the highest commendation. The name of Sapientia was fitly bestowed upon her, for she was truly wise, (Sapientia means wisdom), not indeed with the wisdom of the world, but with the true wisdom of the children of God. She had ruled the souls committed to her care well and wisely, (some, however, as we shall presently see, had not profited by her wholesome admonitions,) she had been a good mother to all; she had, as an old author remarks, "fed their bodies as a nurse, and refreshed their souls as a mistress of the spiritual

life, by teaching them, and instructing them in the law of life and love." She had taught her children to "draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains;" and if she was grieved to find that some did not follow her wise teachings, she had the consolation of seeing others profit by them, and attain a high degree of sanctity. She had embraced the Cistercian institute in her youth, and had persevered in the observance of its holy laws until death; she was, indeed, a woman adorned with great virtues, wisdom, and discretion; and God took her out of this troublesome and wicked world, to bestow upon her, in reward for her great virtue and holiness, a crown of glory which shall never fade away. We may well believe that Juliana keenly felt the loss of one who had been to her more than a mother; but however deeply she may have felt it, she was too resigned to the holy Will of God to allow it to interfere, even in the least degree, with that close and intimate union with God which had now become her habitual state.

Sapientia being now no more, and the house without a prioress, it became the duty of the sisters to elect one to fill her place. The virtues of Juliana being so well known to all, it seemed to them that no one was more fitting to occupy the place of their beloved deceased mother than our saint. She was, therefore, by the unanimous voice of the sisters, elected prioress. Doubtless, the humble virgin would infinitely have preferred to have been sent back to her old employment of keeping the cows, but the sisters would take no denial, they had elected her to be their mother and their mistress; and however much Juliana may have loved to obey, and submit herself to others, she was now compelled to undertake the office of ruling and governing those committed to her care.

The fact of Juliana having been chosen for such an office, at so early an age, gives us an evident proof of the eminence of her virtue and sanctity; since, if these virtues and sanctity had not been very great and well known to the sisters, they would never have passed over those whose age and wisdom fully qualified them for the duties of Superioress, and chosen one who was scarcely thirty years of age.

Juliana entered upon her new duties with a due sense of the awful responsibility of such an office; she ever remembered that she should one day have to give a strict account of "her entire administration," and "that she would most certainly have to answer on the day of judgment for every individual soul committed to her care, and for her own soul in addition." These words of St. Benedict were constantly ringing in her ears, and exciting her to greater fervour in the performance of her duties. She had naturally a great love of souls, and an ardent desire to bring them to Christ; but now that she was bound by her office to excite her children to the practice of virtue, her zeal knew no bounds. She entirely cast aside all the privileges that her office might have procured her; she was far more the servant of all, than the mistress. St. Benedict, in the second chapter of his Holy Rule, in which he speaks of the duties and responsibilities of the Abbot or Superior, says: "He who is appointed to the Abbatial office should instruct his subjects by a two-fold manner of preaching; that is, he should teach them all that is good and holy, more by his deeds than by his words. To such as are well disposed, or of good understanding, he should announce the law of God verbally; but to those of weak capacity, and to the hard-hearted, he should preach it by his works." Now this advice

of our holy father, Juliana followed to the letter; for the patient and the meek, a word, nay, a look was sufficient, so great was their love for her; but if she noticed any whose docility and submission were not yet quite perfect, she never imposed upon them any duty without first showing them in her own person, an example of the manner in which it should be performed. Such as these she sought to draw to God by using all the gentleness and sweetness of her angelic disposition; in all her commands to them she never allowed the least spirit of domination or authority to appear; 80 that they were forced to admire in her the humility of a servant, the tender care of a nurse, and the charity of a superioress, who was an enemy of everything which is calculated to make the yoke of inferiority heavy and burdensome. She caused her subjects to obey her rather through love than fear.

The sisters had so great confidence in the wis dom and prudence of Juliana, that it was to her they had recourse in all their pains, doubts, diffi culties, trials and temptations; nor was their confidence misplaced, for, in addressing themselves to her, they were sure to receive consolation; and the succour that they always obtained through her prayers was as prompt, as it was efficacious. She consoled the afflicted, animated the feeble, instructed, encouraged and assisted the pusillanimous, stimulated the fervent to still greater fervour, and excited others to imitate them. She endeavoured to inspire all her children with an ardent desire of perfection, a love of solitude, recollection and prayer, and above all, a great devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. She exhorted them without ceasing to endeavour to acquire as close and intimate a union with God as is possible for man here below to attain, and