[B.] St. IGNATIUS of LOYOLA Presentation: The ... - St. Gaspar Bertoni

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Lord provided her with a liquid of an unsupportable taste. [cf. Resitretto, Book 2, chapter 5; and
her Life 104 & 212].
2151: Penance regarding her sleep: her rest lasted usually about an hour, often interrupted by
affections and disturbed by battles with the devil. Who tempted her especially in the night. She
slept on the bare ground, or on a very low bed. On her bed, she often put thorns, or hard objects.
She would sleep on a kind of container holding stones, and this for the whole night, and often
on the hard bin containing the fire wood.
Regarding the flesh: in addition to her sharing in the torments of the Passion, on her own
she added so many other practices that for her to survive it all was something of a miracle: she
underwent terrible disciplines, for even as long as two and one half hours. She would mark her
body with little wounds. She placed a kind of garment of thorns inside her habit, that she would
wear also at night, and she would call this her embroidered gown. She would scratch herself with
pieces of iron, she would puncture herself with sharp pins. She would hold to her body very hot
plates inscribed with the name of ‘Jesus’ In the garden she would carry a heavy kneeler along
pathways covered with ice.
2152: She would allow the hot wax from candles to drop on her flesh; she would sometimes
pinch it with hot pliers. Her sandals were often without soles, or she would put small stones and
thistles in them. At night, she would ascend a long stair-way on her knees, marking each step
with the sign of the Cross made by her tongue. At times, she would place her tongue on the
window sill and place on it a heavy stone. She would often extend herself, hanging with two ropes
tied at her wrists. She suffered in so many ways that her flesh could not stand it any longer, and
demanded some respite. Very often her rest was spent with bad tooth aches, and real sufferings
in her members. In the middle of December she went barefooted through the garden, walking
across the ice, saying: This is my rest. She prepared herself with great penance in the
Christmas Novena. [125].
2153: However, at the slightest hint of obedience, she would set aside all her penance, which
still did not suffice for her ardent yearnings.
She would offer prayer for sheer suffering. - There are two expressions attributed to her
indicating her insatiable desire for suffering [216].
Could anything greater than all this be read in the biographies of the greatest penitents
What was lacking in her that she could merit the title ‘a martyr of penance’ She had gifts beyond
all others, and yet held herself to be less than all others, this is the summary of her humility. She
merited supreme honors, and always loved the lowest place, and even to be disregarded. This is
the most perfect level of humility. She would glory only in the cross Ga 6:14. However, this is
already something common to the most illustrious saints. For this most singular Saint, like Francis
himself, it did not suffice to glory only in her own cross, but she wished to glory also in the very
Cross of Jesus Himself: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ; because while it is said of all the just and the saints who will ever follow Christ:
Take up his Cross, Mt 16:24, and to each one his or her own. To singular saints there is
granted this addition: save in the Cross of our Lord. Veronica loved sheer suffering, and not
the glory that might accrue from that. However, she likewise loved the disdain of sharing in
suffering for Christ. She loved all this through the inclination of her own will, disdaining her own
humanity, but always in obedience to god and to her superiors, and for her love for her neighbor,
the Church and sinners. [Book 3, chapter 3].
2154: Her suffering [Book 2]. God began this, when Veronica reached the age of thirty-three,
being an express image of His Son [76]. Jesus Christ predicted the chalice for her and its
torments: The Virgin Mary to animate her, appeared to her in the night of the Feast of the
Assumption and the Feast of St. Augustine. She had a natural repugnance for the chalice, which
was overcome by the strength of her penance. Her thirst was not so much for consolations, but