The life of the Mother Angelica is, however, perhaps her best eulogium. ⠀

The foundress of an institution which was the light of her century and of her church, by its example; as it still is of ours, by the luminous precepts of piety it has left behind; the latest posterity will be under obligations to the fidelity, with which this excellent nun, when a girl of seventeen, corresponded to the light then vouchsafed her.

Those who are more intimately acquainted with the history of Port Royal, will venerate in the character of the M. Angelique, a rare union of the wisdom of the legislator, the energy and intrepidity of the hero, the fervor and spirituality of an evangelist, and the constancy of a martyr.

The Mother Angelica died at the age of seventy. Her corpse was exposed, according to custom, at the grate which divided the chapel from the nuns' choir. The news of her death was soon spread over Paris. The common people, who revered her as a saint, filled the church, and came in crowds

to look at her. For a whole day and night, two nuns were continually employed in distributing through the grate, little remembrances of her to the multitude without, who were all bathed in tears.

At the time of M. Angelica's death, M. Singlin and M. de Saci, the directors of Port Royal, were concealed in an obscure lodging in the neighbourhood. They heard the solemn stroke of her passing bell. They saw the crowds which thronged the convent-door, and they heard the tolling for her funeral. They guessed the occasion, but it was impossible to have any communication with the monastery. Neither could they make any inquiry, without betraying themselves, and, consequently, exposing

their lives.

A short time after the M. Angelica's funeral, the lieutenant of the police, with two hundred archers, went to both the houses of Port Royal. They forcibly entered the chapter-house, and seized eighteen of the nuns. They were placed in separate carriages. Each was conveyed, under a strong

escort, to a different monastery. There they were imprisoned in small cells, and treated with the greatest rigor. Among these nuns, were the venerable Mother Agnes, then very infirm; and the sister Angelica of St. John Arnauld. This lady, afterwards so celebrated as Abbess of Port Royal, possessed all the strength of mind of her aunt, the M. Angelica. She had, perhaps, a still superior genius and intellectual cultivation. After a very rigorous imprisonment for a considerable time,they were all sent back to Port Royal des Champs..

The sister Angelica was chosen Abbess, and the community flattered themselves with the hope of a peaceful enjoyment of their beloved seclusion. In this hope they were mistaken. The house was immediately surrounded by an armed guard, sentries were placed at every door. They were forbidden from even taking the air in their own gardens. They were deprived of their ministers; interdicted the sacraments; and declared rebels and heretics.

F

This iniquitous persecution lasted some

years. During that time great numbers died, in consequence of the cruelties and insults they underwent. They expired, praying for their persecutors, though they were, even then, denied Christian communion, and were, after their death, refused the rites of Christian sepulture. It was at this juncture that M. Lancelot's letter was written to the M. Angelica of St. John. He happened to have an opportunity of sending it by M. de Brienne. During this heavy persecution, the constancy, prudence, and piety, of the M. Angelica, was the stay and support of the community.

The recluses, meanwhile, were exposed to sufferings little less severe than the nuns. Hand-bills were posted in the corners of every street, offering rewards to those who should apprehend them. Many of the clergy did not hesitate to express their hopes of bringing them to the Bastille, or the stake.

They wandered from one hiding place to another, with their lives in their hands. Not unfrequently the police-officers search

ed the very rooms in which they lay concealed. At length, M. Singlin died from the extremity of suffering, M. de Saci and M. Fontaine were seized, and put in the Bastille. Their arrest was accompanied with many circumstances of unnecessary cruelty. During their stay in the Bastille, they were continually threatened with poison. How often may the just retribution of God be traced even in this life! The officer, who thus exceeded his commission, in unmercifully persecuting the servants of his Lord, himself died a death of torture, two months after, by the hand of his own child. This officer was M. Aubray, father to the famous, or rather infamous, poisoner, the Marchioness de Brinvilliers.

This persecution of the Port Royalists continued for some years.

Meanwhile, that part of their friends, whom I have described as only occasionally retiring to Port Royal, escaped the extremity of the tempest. They were, indeed, marked as Jansenists in the public eye, but their high rank exempted them