“But though there are few Liturgical savours, it is not so with regard to mystical effluences which vary infinitely.  We have, however, but little information on the subject.

“We merely know that the odour of sanctity is antithetical to that of the Devil; that many of the Elect have diffused, during their lifetime and after their death, an exquisite fragrance which cannot be analyzed; such were Madalene of Pazzi, Saint Etienne de Muret, Saint Philip Neri, Saint Paternianus, Saint Omer, the Venerable Francis Olympus, Jeanne de Matel and many more.

“We know too that our sins stink, each according to its nature; and the proof of this is that the saints could detect the state of men’s consciences merely by the smell of their bodies.  Do you remember how Saint Joseph of Cupertino exclaimed to a sinner whom he met:  ’My friend, you smell very badly; go and wash.’

“To return to the odour of sanctity:  in certain persons it has been known to assume a natural character almost identical with certain familiar scents.  Saint Treverius exhaled a fragrance compounded of roses, lilies, balm, and incense; Saint Rose of Viterbo smelt of roses; Saint Cajetan of orange-blossom; Saint Catherine of Ricci of violets; Saint Theresa by turns of lily, jasmine and violet; Saint Thomas Aquinas of incense; Saint Francis of Paul of musk;—­I mention these at random as they occur to me.

“Yes, and Saint Lydwine, when so ill, diffused a fragrance which also imparted a flavour.  Her wounds exhaled a cheerful savour of spice and the very essence of Flemish home cooking—­a refined extract of cinnamon.”

“On the other hand,” the Abbe went on, “the stench of wizards and witches was notorious in the Middle Ages.  On this point all exorcists and writers on Demonology are agreed; and it is almost invariably recorded that after an apparition of the devil a foul odour of sulphur was left in the cells, even when the Saints had succeeded in dislodging him.

“But the essential odour of the devil is amply recorded in the life of Christina of Stumbela.  You are not ignorant, I suppose, of the exploits in which Satan indulged against that saint?”

“Indeed, I am, Monsieur l’Abbe.”

“Then I may tell you that the narrative of these assaults has been preserved by the Bollandists, who have included the life of this pious woman in their biographies.  It was written by Peter of Dacia, a Dominican, and her confessor.

“Christina was born early in the thirteenth century—­1242, I believe—­at Stumbela, near Cologne.

“She was persecuted by the devil from her infancy.  He exhausted the armoury of his arts against her, appeared to her under the form of a cock, a bull, an apostle; covered her with lice, filled her bed with vermin, poisoned her blood, and as he could not make her deny God, he invented fresh torments.

“He turned the food she put into her mouth into a toad, a snake, a spider, and disgusted her so effectually with all food, that she was dying for want of it.  She spent her days in vomiting, and prayer to God to rescue her, but He was silent.