Letters of Maria Celeste:

16 April 1633

Most Illustrious and Beloved Lord Father

You have wanted me to remain mortified through these holy days, Sire, depriving me of your letters, which, as much as I have felt about it, I cannot express in words. But still I do not want to neglect, despite the severe constraints on my time, to greet you with these two lines, wishing you joyfully a most holy Easter, replete with spiritual consolations and good health and temporal happiness, for all that I promise myself for you and hope from the most generous hand of the Lord God. Here for the present, God be praised, we are all well, but not so our Giuseppe, who, after the holidays, will need to go to the hospital to have his fever treated, and see to his spleen, which is greatly distended; wherefore I am trying, with the help of our Mother Abbess, to have him received in Bonifazio, where he will be better cared for than anywhere else. La Piera fares well and sends you her regards, as do I with all my heart together with our usual friends, and I remind you that you now owe me responses to three letters.

From San Matteo, Holy Saturday 1633.

Most affectionate daughter,
S. M. Celeste