The king, Charles I., assigned him a monthly pension, rather as a token of his royal favour, than as a reward for his services. The pilgrim who visits the Dominican convent at Naples, sees at the entrance of the great hall a representation of S. Thomas, and beneath it an inscription, "Before thou enterest, venerate this image and this chair, from which Thomas Aquinas uttered his oracles to a large number of disciples for the glory and felicity of his age." The cardinal-legate of the holy see, wished to have an interview with our saint, and invited the archbishop of Capua, an old pupil of S. Thomas, to accompany him. The saint on being told of their arrival, went down into the cloister, but happening to be absorbed in thought, he forgot the object for which he had been summoned, and gravely continued his walk without taking any notice of them. The cardinal was offended, but the archbishop explained the cause of the saint's apparent rudeness. When Thomas woke from his reverie, he apologised, laying the blame on his feebleness of mind, which had not allowed him to find the solution of a theological difficulty without trouble and delay. The cardinal-legate withdrew, not knowing which to admire most, the learning, or the humility, of the doctor. During the short space of a year and a half S. Thomas composed the 549 articles, which are all that we have of the last part of his Summa. Some commentaries on divers passages of Holy Writ came from his pen at the same time. The fleeting elements of this world faded gradually from his thoughts; his eye was fixed on other horizons. The transports which he had always experienced in prayer, became daily more frequent. Yielding to the entreaties of his friends, to the vow of obedience which he had taken, contrary to the inclination to which his natural humility led him, he revealed some of the supernatural favours which Heaven had vouchsafed to him. Whilst praying in the church at Naples one day, we are told that Romanus, whom he had left in Paris as master of theology, stood before him. S. Thomas approached his friend and said, "Welcome here, when didst thou come?" "I have passed from this life," replied the figure, "and am permitted to appear on thine account." The Angelical exclaimed, "I adjure thee then to answer me these questions. How do I stand? Are my works pleasing to God?" "Thou art in a good state, and thy works do please God," was the reply. "Then what about thyself?" enquired the Angelical. "I am now in Eternal Bliss, but I have been in Purgatory." "Tell me," continued Thomas, "whether the habits which are acquired in this life remain to us in heaven?" "Brother Thomas," was the reply, "I see God, and do not ask for more." "How dost thou see God," rejoined the saint, "dost thou see Him immediately, or by means of some similitude?" The other answered, "Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts," Ps. xlvii. 9, (xlviii. 8,) and then instantly vanished.