Note 207 — Chapter V · CATHERINE’S LAST FOUR YEARS, 1506 TO 1510—SKETCH OF HER CHARACTER, DOCTRINE, AND SPIRIT

Vita, p. 155b, c. A third paragraph, pp. 155c, 156a (equally wanting in all the MSS. and claiming to be based on the authority of Argentina), follows here, and tells how the latter saw one of her mistress’s arms grow over half a palm in additional length, during the following night; and again how Catherine had told her, Argentina, that she, Catherine, “would before her death bear the stigmata and mysteries of the Passion in her own person.” These “facts” are thoroughly characteristic of the source from which they are no doubt derived.—A fourth paragraph, p. 156b, c, has also been omitted by me, although it occurs also in the MSS. It contains a long prayer put into Catherine’s mouth, and modelled on our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer in John xvii, 1-13. It is far too long, elaborate, and uncharacteristic to be authentic.