"Many persons knew what I suffered for six whole years, how I was worn out with a nervous, worrying cough, whose attacks were so frequent and so prolonged that one can scarcely imagine how I ever survived them. My physician himself told me that, for the first three years, my life was in imminent danger, and if in the last three I was less exposed to death at every step, as it were, the giving way of my stomach, the weakness of my chest, were such that all my days were filled with bitterness, and new crosses were laid upon me. In this condition, what ecclesiastical fasts could I keep? Four or five years ago, the desire of complying, in some degree, with the precepts of the Church led me to fast the Ember week before Christmas, and the prejudice to my health was such that I was not permitted to fast again even for a day. Abstinence from meat became impossible, and for having attempted this slight mortification, how much I suffered in consequence, even in the very month of July, 1834! Whilst my health was so impaired, and I saw only a lingering end to my afflictions, it pleased my Superiors to give me a year's rest. I received with gratitude this additional evidence of their consideration for me, and endeavored to co-operate with them in re-establishing my health, of which they had been so thoughtful; but, in my condition, the recuperative powers of nature were of slight avail. Even amidst perfect quiet and rest for four whole months, I experienced but little alleviation of my sufferings, for though my chest became, at least, apparently stronger, my stomach grew weaker and more disordered, so that I was obliged to diet, which, added to the dieting I had already practiced, reduced me to such a state of exhaustion that I could not foresee the consequences.