Life of St John Vianney.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

122 THE CUR*: OF ARS.ood Angel. I had not fallen asleep, when I was startledbv three more strokes louder than the first, not on theouter door, but on that which opens upon the staircaseleading to my room. I arose and called out a secondtime, Who is there? No one answered. When thenoise began, I thought it might proceed from robbers,who had been attracted by the valuable gifts of M. d Ars,and therefore began to take precautions.I got two courageous men to sleep in the house, in order to assist mein case of necessity. They came for several successivenights, heard the noise, but could discover nothing, andremained fully convinced that it had another source thanthe malice of men.I was soon convinced of this myself;for one winter s night, when a quantity of snow had fallen,I heard three tremendous blows in the middle of the night.I sprang hastily from my bed, and ran downstairs intothe court, thinkingthat this time I should catch the evildoers, and intending to call for help. But to my greatastonishment I saw nothing, I heard nothing, and, what ismore, I saw not a trace of foot-prints upon the snow. Ihad no longer a doubt that it was the devil who wanted toterrify me.I resigned myself to the will of God, beseeching Him to be my guardian and defender, and to draw nearto me with His holy angels whenever my enemy shouldreturn to torment me." M. Vianney acknowledged thatat the beginning of these nightly visitations, while theircause was still uncertain, he felt as if he should die ofterror in his bed, his teeth chattered, his blood froze inhis veins, and his whole body became rigid as a corpse.He could not close his eyes, and his health became visiblyaffected. Charitable ueiirM onrs used to take it by turnsto watch armed in the iielfryor in some a Ijoininw housecommanding the entrance to the presbytery, and to sleep