“Our Lord had often incited [St. Gertrude] to desire her deliverance from the flesh; and now she became seriously ill, so that the physicians had no hope of her recovery. This intelligence filled her with joy, and she said to Our Lord: ‘Although I desire, above all things, to be delivered from the prison of the flesh, and united to Thee, nevertheless, if it pleases Thee, I would willingly remain on earth and endure the severest suffering, even until the day of judgement.’” (Chapter 25 of the Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great, translated and published in 1862 by The Poor Clare's of Kenmare.)