It is an exalted degree of perfection to assimilate and conform ourselves to the spirit of the sacred Infancy of our most humble and most obedient Saviour.--_St. Francis of Sales._ Whoever wishes to acquire virtue, and does not possess humility, is like to one who carries dust in his hands when there is a high wind.-- _The same._ EXAMPLE. _Punishment of the Profaners of a Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin._ The holy Hermitage of Voiron did not escape the profanations of the heretics. They invaded it with arms in their hands, as if they were going to besiege a fortress; they ill-treated and expelled the Monks, took away the sacred vessels, the papers, documents, indulgences, etc., committed horrible sacrileges, and at last set fire to the place and entirely destroyed it, and rolled the remaining stones down the mountain. This atrocious impiety was not left unpunished, for soon afterwards all who had taken part in the destruction of the hermitage perished miserably. It is remarkable, however, that in spite of all the devastation effected by these impious men, they could not gain their principal object, which was to carry off the statue of the Most Holy Virgin, which was preserved miraculously. John Burgnard, a native of Chablais, who had embraced the heresy of the Bernese, and was the leader of these profaners, had no sooner reached the hermitage, than he mounted the Altar to carry away the statue of the Most Blessed Virgin. He threw a rope round its neck, and descending from the Altar was walking out of the Church, dragging the statue after him, and uttering at the same time these words: 'Come along with me, come along with me, little black woman' (the face of the statue was black); 'if you are as powerful as the Papists say, let me now have a proof of it. Why do you allow yourself to be thus shamefully dragged on the ground? Why do you not defend yourself?' He had no sooner uttered these blasphemies than the statue became immovable. The wretched man, finding that he was unable to drag it further, turned his head round to see what was hindering him, and by a second miracle his head remained turned in that direction, so that he could never again place it in its right position; and, moreover, he became crippled in an arm and a shoulder. Being obliged to leave the statue, he left the spot with great difficulty, and bore the chastisement of his impiety throughout his life, giving an undeniable proof of the sovereign power of the Queen of Heaven. But more terrible is the fact that he persevered in heresy, and died in despair in the presence of many of the parishioners of Bons. Amongst these were Michael Novello and Claude Ippolito Cortager, who gave testimony of this fact on oath A.D. 1629.