[1] Cf.  Psalm 18[19]:5.

[2] Luke 5:5.

[3] John 4:7.

[4] Eccl. 1:14.

[5] Ezechiel 16:8, 9, 13.

[6] Cf. Imit., III, ch. xliii. 4.

[7] Cf.  Cant. 8:1.

[8] Luke 19:26.

[9] Cf.  Luke 10:21.

[10] Cant. 2:3.

[11] Sister Agnes of Jesus.

[12] Cf.  Matt. 18:6.

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CHAPTER VI
A PILGRIMAGE TO ROME

Three days after the journey to Bayeux, I started on a much longer one —­to the Eternal City.  This journey taught me the vanity of all that passes away.  Nevertheless I saw splendid monuments; I studied the countless wonders of art and religion; and better than all, I trod the very ground the Holy Apostles had trodden—­the ground watered by the blood of martyrs—­and my soul grew by contact with these holy things.

I was delighted to go to Rome; but I could quite understand people crediting Papa with the hope that in this way I should be brought to change my mind about the religious life.  It might certainly have upset a vocation that was not very strong.

To begin with, Celine and I found ourselves in the company of many distinguished people.  In fact, there were scarcely any others in the pilgrimage; but, far from being dazzled thereby, titles seemed to us but a “vapour of smoke,"[1] and I understood the words of the Imitation: “Be not solicitous for the shadow of a great name."[2] I understood that true greatness is not found in a name but in the soul.  The Prophet Isaias tells us:  “The Lord shall call His servants by another name,"[3] and we read in St. John:  “To him that overcometh I will give a white counter, and on the counter a new name written which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it."[4] In Heaven, therefore, we shall know our titles of nobility, and “then shall every man have praise from God,"[5] and he who on earth chose to be poorest and least known for love of his Saviour, he will be the first, the noblest, and the richest.

The second thing I learnt had to do with Priests.  Up to this time I had not understood the chief aim of the Carmelite Reform.  To pray for sinners delighted me; to pray for Priests, whose souls seemed pure as crystal, that indeed astonished me.  But in Italy I realised my vocation, and even so long a journey was a small price to pay for such valuable knowledge.  During that month I met with many holy Priests, and yet I saw that even though the sublime dignity of Priesthood raises them higher than the Angels, they are still but weak and imperfect men.  And so if holy Priests, whom Our Lord in the Gospel calls the salt of the earth, have need of our prayers, what must we think of the lukewarm?  Has not Our Lord said:  “If the salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be salted?"[6] Oh, dear Mother, how beautiful is our vocation!  We Carmelites are called to preserve “the salt of the earth.”  We offer our prayers and sacrifices for the apostles of the Lord; we ourselves ought to be their apostles, while they, by word and example, are preaching the Gospel to our brethren.  Have we not a glorious mission to fulfill?  But I must say no more, for I feel that on this subject my pen would run on for ever.