Port of Fortune
(See Astrology.) Postel, Guillaume : A visionary of the sixteenth century, Precipitation born in the diocese of Avranches. He was so precocious that at fourteen years of age he was made master of a school. It is said that he was in the habit of reading the most profound works of the Jewish rabbis, and the vivacity of his imagination threw him into constant troubles, from which he had the greatest difficulty in extricating himself. He believed that he had been called by God to re-unite all men under one law, either by reason or the sword. The pope and the king of France were to be the civil and religious heads of his new republic. He was made Almoner to a hospital at Venice, where he came under the influence of a woman called Mère Jeanne, who had visions which had turned her head. Because of his heterodox preachings, Postel was denounced as a heretic, but latterly was regarded as merely mad. After having travelled somewhat extensively in the East, and having written several works in which he dealt with the visions of his coadjutor, he retired to the priory of St. Martin-des-Champs at Paris, where he died penitent in 1581.