five in the
morning
Nay , for indigence is the great test of success , and experience shows that God only blesses the most destitute convents and abandons the others ! Is it , then , the austerity of the rule ? But this was very mild ; it was that of Saint Augustine , which yields to every compromise , and at need accepts every shade of practice . The sisters rose at five in the morning ; the diet was not restricted to Lenten fare excepting at the Paschal season , but one fast day was enjoined in the week , and even that was compulsory only to the Sisters who were strong enough to bear it . Thus there is nothing to account for such persistent failure . `` And Jeanne de Matel was a saint endowed with remarkable energy and really moulded by the Saviour ! In her writings she is an eloquent and subtle theologian , an ardent and rapturous mystic , dealing in metaphors and hyperbole , in tangible parallels , passionate questionings , and apostrophes ; she resembles both Saint Denys the Areopagite and Saint Maddalena dei Pazzi ; Saint Denys in matter , Saint Maddalena in manner .