The Marian Garden: Ancient and New

13. The love and fear of God are two strong bulwarks, from which one resists and fights against the devil, the world, and the flesh. We gather that the Blessed Father Benincasam Benincasa of Florence was strongly fortified by these, from the fact that, like another Antony, he mocked the infernal furies and magnanimously put them to flight. Cent. 2. l. 5. c. 11.

14. Blessed Sister Magdalena Carpensis Magdalena of Carpi burned with the love of God in such a way that, especially when hearing the verse original: "Christe fili Dei vivi miserere nobis" "Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us" being sung in the choir, she was suddenly rapt into ecstasy; that is, contemplating the immense and infinite goodness and mercy of Him who, for the love of us, when He is immortal of Himself, deigned to become mortal, and being the eternal Son of God, became the temporal Son of man. Cent. 4. l. 1. c. 14.

15. The taste of divine love is so delicate that only those who refuse to be consoled in this world can acquire it. Whence it is no wonder if Blessed Sister Dorothea Ancaiana Dorothea Ancaiana of Spoleto, having spurned the allurements of the world and become a handmaid of the Blessed Mary Virgin, progressed so much in the love of God that, dying with her beloved spouse Jesus Christ, having already shed much blood, she desired to be given gall and vinegar to drink. Cent. 4. l. 6. c. 16.

16. With what ardent flames of divine love Blessed Sister Victoria Senensis Victoria of Siena was filled, this is a manifest sign: that she exhaled her soul with a broken heart from the fullness of love.

17. The pious Father Angelus Montursius Angelus Montursius, in order to attain divine love—in the fulfillment of which commandment the whole law and the Prophets hang—directed all his thought, desire, words, and works. Indeed, he even desired to undergo martyrdom for the love of Jesus Christ, and frequently and diligently turned his mind toward those things which would make this holy love be born and excited in him. To obtain this, he insisted with frequent sighs and fervent ejaculatory prayers before the Lord God, groaning:

O most Benign God, when shall I love Thee with my whole heart? Kindle the fire of Thy love in my heart. O most pious Lord, make me, I pray, ever more and more pleasing to Thee, and in the love of Thee more fervent, stable, and perfect; give me an increase of faith, hope, and charity. He frequently poured out these and many more prayers, which are omitted here for the sake of brevity.