And because she was such a friendly person, with such a good nature, and was filled with compassion from within, so she came once to confess, and she confessed, that she had stroked the cat a little out of loving good-naturedness. And because her confessor was very free toward her, so he wanted to humble her somewhat, and commanded her that she should crawl under the counter* where the cat had her place to eat; and there, she should sit to eat a meal. And she should set her dish by the cat’s dish, and if it were the case that the cat then came to her and wanted to eat out of her dish, she should not forbid it to do so.
This good sister Nyese, who had planted and established the true virtues in her heart, fulfilled this humble command so honorably, without any moaning or groaning, which one might notice externally, as though our dear Lord Himself had commanded it of her.
And she went thus humbly and crawled under the counter and sat there an entire mealtime and thus ate from the earth. And nevertheless her own superiors had not commanded this of her, but an ordinary priest from Mr. Floerens’s house, who heard confession here at that time.
And because she was such a good, humble person, and did not seek praise nor favor from humans, she used to tell the younger sisters about it afterwards in such a manner that conveyed how poor and sinful a person she was, who had so many faults that her confessor had humbled her as though she had been a child.
— Notes —
* a sort of table, usually long and narrow, with cupboards at the bottom, on which the food is placed in the kitchen and prepared for serving. (See the Historische woordenboeken Nederlands).