"I  was,''  he  said  in  1530,  "like  a  mad  saint  in  Eome;  ran
through  aU  churches  and  holes ;  believed  everything  that  is
lied  and  stunk  there.  I  have  also  said  more  masses  than  one
at  Eome ;  and  while  there  was  heartily  sorry  that  my  father
and  mother  were  yet  living,  so  willingly  wotild  I  have  released
them  from  purgatory  by  my  masses  and  other  excellent  works
and  prayers.  There  is  a  saying  at  Eome,  '  Happy  the  mother
whose  son  reads  a  mass  on  the  Saturday  of  St.  John  ! '  How
willingly  would  I  have  made  my  mother  happy !  But  it  was
too  thronged,  and  I  could  not  get  to  the  altar."  Yet  there
were  interruptions  to  this  mood  of  exaltation.  The  confessors
to  whom  he  opened  his  conscience  were  very  ignorant  men.
