Page 12 - INTRODUCTION_LETTER 1824_1825

partly to the large amount she had to write which, come to
think of it, was most astonishing for a young girl who was often
sick, very busy teaching at her own school, keeping the house
clean or running the Hospital, conducting ‘Oratorio’ meetings
and directing so many Sodalities, not to mention the
considerable time dedicated to devotional practices or to
works of charity for the benefit of her neighbour.
What has been compiled in this edition cannot be
considered complete at all. Witnesses during the Processes
agree in attesting on the vast amount of her writings. Several
of them say that for a long period of time she used to receive a
letter from her every day. Others say that she «used to spend
night hours writing out novenas, triduums, methods of life, etc»
– because a «constant flow of requests for novenas,
devotional practices and methods of life came from very many
people, including parish priests, eminent spiritual directors,
persons of high merit, and her writings were distributed in very

many country-towns»; – «It is almost incredible how a young
girl could do so much in her short lifespan». Lastly, it was said,
«Her Guardian Angel must have come to her assistance to
enable her to write so many letters and so many other writings,
without ever neglecting her other duties: more especially, that
all are not only well written but also permeated with heavenly
wisdom and with evidence of a life of holiness, illumined by
God himself». From these and similar testimonials we can
easily infer that there must have been very many more letters,
a large part of which has unfortunately got lost.

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