But these sacred Labourers, who may well be look'd upon as true Martyrs, (seeing those of _Alexandria_, under the Prelacy of St. _Denis_, who had the Charity to assist the infected, were honour'd with the Glory of Martyrdom) are almost all taken away by Death, in the Time of so great a Mortality, when their Help is most wanted: Forty two Capuchins have already perished, Twenty one Jesuits, Thirty two Observantins, Twenty nine Recollets, Ten Barefooted _Carmelites_, Twenty two Reformed _Augustines_, all the Grand _Carmelites_, the Grand Trinitarians, the Reformed Trinitarians, the Monks of _Loretto_, of Mercy, the _Dominicans_ and Grand _Augustins_ who had kept in their Convent: besides several Secular Priests, and the greatest Part of the Vicars of Chapters and Parishes.
In so great an Extremity, the Bishop recalls those, who, by their peculiar Character, and by the Nature of their Benefice, are under the indispensible Obligation of confessing and administring the spiritual Remedies to the Dying; but who being struck with shameful Terror, have basely sought their own Safety by Flight, without troubling themselves about the Salvation of others.
Had their Concern to discharge their proper Duty been too cold to light up in their Hearts that Fire of Charity with which they ought to glow, the Example of their holy Prelate should have excited them: In vain, from the Beginning of the Contagion was he pressed to leave the City, to endeavour to preserve himself, for the rest of his Diocese; he rejects all such Counsels, and hearkens only to those which the Love the Sovereign Pastor has inspired him with for his Flock, suggest to him; he tarries with unshaken Fortitude, determined to lay down his Life for the Good of his Sheep, if God is pleas'd to require it.
He is not satisfied with prostrating himself at the Feet of Altars, and lifting up his Hands to Heaven to beseech God to mitigate his Wrath; his Charity is active; he is every Day in the open Streets, through all Quarters of the Town; he goes up to the highest and worst Apartments of the Houses to visit the Sick; crosses the Streets among the dead Bodies; appears in the publick Places, at the Port, at the Ring; the poorest, the most destitute of Friends, those afflicted the most grievously and hideously, are the Persons to whom he goes with most Earnestness; and without dreading those mortal Blasts which carry Poison to the Heart, he approaches them, confesses them, exhorts them to Patience, disposes them to die, pours celestial Consolations into their Souls, representing to them the Felicity of Suffering and of Poverty; and drops every where abundant Fruits of his generous Charity, distributing Money where-ever he goes, and especially in secret to indigent Families, whom holy Curiosity prompts him to seek out and to relieve; he has already given away Twenty five thousand Crowns, and takes up what Money he can upon Pledges, to enable him to distribute more. But I should not blaze abroad what his Humility is careful to conceal, it ought to be left under the Veil which that Virtue throws over it.