“I acknowledge and firmly believe, O Almighty God,” he said, in the course of this memorable interview, “that it is Thy will that I alone should wear myself out and die for the general good. So be it! I am ready, even if I must myself go into bondage and alienate all the possessions of the Church.” And, alluding to the plague which was at this time raging in Rome, he added, “Nothing will induce me to leave Rome, not even if, like so many others, I am to fall a victim to the plague. Mahomet, the enemy of our faith, compels me to remain. He does not relax his efforts, although thousands in his immense army have been carried off.” (Recounted by Ludwig Von Pastor, History of the Popes, pp. 399-400.) Pope Callixtus III