I have known people who could neither read nor write and yet nonetheless could pray exceedingly well. (…) One day a brother of the Order of St Francis said to St Bonaventure: 'How fortunate you are, Father, to be so learned and how well you pray. It must be a great help to you.' 'Oh Brother, to pray well you don't need any learning at all; it is enough to love God truly. That is why the most insignificant woman and the most ignorant brother in the world, if they love God, pray far better than I do …' [p. 123]

(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)