Nicolas, a member of the illustrious Florentine house of Corsini, lived with his pious wife, Peregrina, for some time without children, which was to them a great grief, and they besought God to give them that blessing which He had hitherto withheld. Their prayer was heard, and on November 30th, 1302, a son was born to them, who received at the font the name of Andrew, because he was born on the festival of that apostle. His parents, who regarded him as the child of prayer, had already, before his birth, dedicated him to the Lord, and sought, in his childhood, to inspire him with devotion and morality. But Andrew was possessed of a vehement, independent spirit, which brooked no restraint, and he grew up to cause them bitter sorrow by his disorderly life. Nevertheless father and mother prayed on, hoping against hope. The wild youth passed for being one among the most dissolute young men of the city, and was acknowledged as the worst of a bad set, utterly godless and abandoned. But his parents prayed on. The mother cast herself before a figure of the Queen of Heaven, and, in the bitterness of her anguish of soul, cried, "Oh, Mother of my Saviour! Thou knowest how the soul of my child, for whom thy Son bled, is sinking to destruction. Thou knowest, Holy One! how, in his earliest youth, I dedicated my child to thee, and trusted him to thy protection, how I have done all that earthly mother can do to keep him clean and unspotted from the world! And now, pity me, weeping over my guilty son, thou, whose tears flowed for thy innocent Son! Thou, who art so mighty, entreat thy divine Son, that mine may be moved to true and broken-hearted repentance." Thus praying, and with streaming eyes, Andrew lit upon her one day, as he was going forth to the commission of some new work of evil. He stood still and looked at her, and a feeling of compunction stirred his heart. Then, turning her reddened eyes towards him, she said, "I cannot doubt it; thou art the wolf whom I saw in a dream." "What mean you, mother?" asked the young man. She answered: "Before thou wast born, my child, I dreamt that I brought forth a wolf which rushed into a church, and was there transformed into a lamb. Thy father and I, on account of this dream, placed thee under the protection of the Mother of God. My son, thou art not ours, thou belongest not to the world, but only to the service of God. Oh, would to heaven, that as the first part of my dream has been fulfilled, the second part might find its accomplishment also!" Andrew covered his face, and fell at his mother's feet, and sobbed forth: "Oh, good, pious mother! the wolf shall indeed become a lamb. Thou didst dedicate me to God, and to Him will I, also, devote myself. Pray, pray for me, mother, that I may obtain pardon for all my grievous offences."