xcvi 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



loitering in the streets through which he passed 

 from one church to another, where he spent 

 nearly the whole of the day, either standing in 

 profound recollection, or on his knees absorbed 

 in prayer. He added, that he saw all Rome in 

 motion on the day in which Benedict died, and 

 that on the following days, all ranks of people, 

 from the highest to the lowest^ were incessantly 

 flocking to the church of Santa Maria dei Monti, 

 where the body lay, in order that they might have 

 an opportunity of showing their respect for it. 



Benedict was a Frenchman, born of very 

 respectable parents in the diocese of Boulogne- 

 sur-Mer. His family knew not that he existed, 

 having lost all trace of him from the time that 

 he wrote his last letter to them on his way to 

 Rome, where he passed the remainder of his 

 life, a voluntary beggar, unknown and un- 

 noticed, in the exercise of every Christian 

 virtue. He lies buried on the epistle side of 

 the high altar in the church of Santa Maria dei 

 Monti, with a slab of white marble over his 

 grave, mentioning his name, and age, and death, 

 and the day of his interment. Benedict will 

 probably be canonised ere long, as the process 

 of his beatification has already commenced. 



