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life, & will rather choose to suffer a thousand deaths, than ever willingly consent to the least thought, word or deed contrary to that virtue. I likewise declare and protest that whatsoever I shall or may suffer either in body & mind, or by any way offend His Mercy. In testimony whereof I have written this with my own blood. sr Susanna Christina Touchet. Sept. 19th 16-. I pretend not to write the life of our dear Sister Christina of happy memory, having many considerable particulars & better pens & jUdgements than my own. This only I will say, she seemed to be a soul highly dear to God, since He was pleased to conduct her by ways which lead to a continual death to nature, viz; as by pains, interior & exterior; by penances, vigorous fasts & other mortifications, & by the persevering endeavours she used to purify her intention in all her undertakings. As to strict observance, she often said to this purpose, that she found herself so powerfully moved to put herself upon the fast of the order, being fully persuaded that then was the time that Almighty God required it of her, that should she suffer all that heaven & hell could raise against her, & even shorten her life by so doing, she should esteem herself happy to die in the practice of so blessed an undertaking. And indeed the Almighty Goodness gave her so precious a death, that there is no cause left to doubt but that she followed therein the powerful attractions of the divine inspirations. For this our dear Sister dying of an incurable dropsy, she suffered incredible pains with a courage more than human. For when her body was swelled to a vast proportion, the corrupted water breaking out of her legs made such wounds there, that the surgeons daily cut off pieces of her flesh. For several weeks before she died she could not lie in bed, & we being forced to lift her up by her arms in what could not be avoided, we found after her death that we had almost torn her arms from her body, it was so prodigiously heavy; in all which she would be frequently praising & giving thanks to God; & she seemed to be so much pleased with her pains, that she was never heard to pray or wish they might be eased. As a convincing argument of which, when she drew near her end, so that we really thought her natural strength was almost quite spent, all on a sudden she seemed to gather all the powers of her soul together, and with a loud & intelligible voice cried out: "Qh, that I had a voice like an echo, so loud that I might be heard throughout the four quarters of the world, that I might discover to all mortals the happiness there is in living & dying in a Religious state! " To which she presently added: "I suffer indeed what none can comprehend; but blessed be sweet Jesus I" And as if her felicity in this life consisted in pains & torments, when her agony grew stronger upon her, smiling upon us she said: "Now it goes well indeed! " She then repeated these words more than once: "Haste, Lord; why stay you so long?" And so, after begging pardon of God & of us all for her faults, with a great faith & humble confidence in the infinite goodness of God, she happily expired in her perfect senses. After her death her face resumed its former features, to which was