given thanks to God for having rais'd it in so corrupt an Age And that they desir'd to aid and assist it according to their Power to continue their Holy Ministery notwithstanding all Contradictions and Persecutions which inseperably attend the life of perfect Christians Thus these two Religious Orders which seem to have the least of similitude in their Institutes were the most united by the Spirit of Charity And after this we are not to wonder if the Jesuits at this day have a particular friendship and veneration for the Carthusians They have inherited these sentiments from their first Fathers and they are glad of the Occasion to manifest them But that which gave the greatest Credit to the Society was that Pope Julius the Third who had taken particular notice of it at the Council of Trent being now chosen in the room of Paul the Third gave to Father Ignatius publick marks of his good Will This was about the beginning of the Jubile year 1550. The Father went to do his Homage to the Pope and to beg of his Holiness that the Labourers of the Society who were in Africa in Brasile in the Indies and in Japan might together with their Neophits gain the Jubile without coming to Rome The Pope embrac'd him and after having declar'd to him how much he lov'd his Order As to the Favor which you ask of me he said smiling I grant it with this restriction that you shall have all my Power in that particular and that for your Brethrens gaining the Indulgences of the holy Year you shall Prescribe them to do what you think fit He granted him the same Favor not only for several persons in Messina in Venice and in Paris but also for the Troops which Don John de Vega Viceroy of Sicily had carry'd into Africk and for the whole Town of Gandia which in consideration of Don Francis de Borgia had this Preheminence above all the Towns in the World Besides this Julius the Third gave permission to Father Ignatius and to all the Priests of the Society to exercise in the Jubile year all those Privileges which Paul the Third had granted them Tho' according to the usage of the Church Religious Orders who have Power from the Holy See to absolve in reserv'd Cases are not to use their Power in the time of the grand Jubile To crown all his Favors he again confirm'd the Institute and by an express Bull in which all things are clear'd and explain'd His Liberalites were also very considerable to the Jesuites of Rome and what is worthy of remark he commanded the General in vertue of holy Obedience to come and tell him as often as the profest House should be in any necessity In the mean time Father Ignatius having finish'd his Constitutions had it in his thoughts to Print them but he would first submit them to the Judgment and Censure of the chief among the Fathers and the opportunity of the Jubile year favor'd his design Wherefore he summon'd to Rome all that were eminent in Merit and Authority and they all came except Simon Rodriguez whom the King of Portugal detain'd at Lisbon He put the Constitutions into their hands praying them strictly to examin and weigh them and to tell him freely what they thought might need amendment or alteration Intending that the Design and Spirit of the Society should be uniform in all places and that the Rules of Government should be suitable to different Nations and Tempers he was very glad that the Fathers Assembled who were of several Countries and of unlike Constitutions should be themselves Judges of these Rules He sent a Copy of the Constitutions to Rodriguez upon whose Judgment he much reli'd he also sent one for the same reason to some of the Spiritual Coadjutors who tho' not so Learn'd were Men of great Prudence After having heard the Opinions of those who were present and receiv'd the Answers of the absent he toucht over his work again and joyning their lights with his own he finisht the Piece Nevertheless being perswaded that only time and experience can demonstrate the Perfection of Laws he would have no absolute obligation laid upon the Society of observing the Constitutions until the whole Order assembl'd in a Body should approve them and this did not happen till after his death under the Generalship of Laynez They were not only Review'd and Authoriz'd by the first general Congregation but they were also confirm'd by the Holy Apostolick See after an exact discussion which four Cardinals made of them without changing one word As the year of the Jubile seem'd very proper to Father Ignatius for convening the Fathers in Rome so the Opportunity of their being there appear'd no less favorable to him to execute a design which he had long in his thoughts He at first took the charge of Government upon him with great repugnancy as we have already seen and when it was laid upon him against his will he made account that he should be one day freed from it to enjoy the ease of Obeying and the merit of Obedience He did believe that the happy day was now come and his continual Infirmities in an Age far advanc'd seem'd to promise him that which he so passionately desir'd To this end he call'd all the Fathers together but remembring the opposition they had made him when he refus'd to receive the charge of General instead of being present at the Assembly he sent them a Letter writ with his own hand and couch't in these terms To my dearest Brethren in Christ my Brethren of the Society of Jesus AFter divers Reflections which I have made at leisure not being mov'd thereunto by any Passion I will tell you sincerly as in the presence of my Creator and my God who must judge me for an Eternity what I believe to be most for the Glory of his Divine Majesty Considering my Sins my Defects and all my Infirmities Corporal and Spiritual I have often thought that I was very far from having those Qualities which are requisite to sustain the Burden which you have laid upon me I desire therefore in the Name of our Lord that you would find out and chuse some Body by whom this Office may be better or at least not so ill discharg'd and tho' another should not do better then I have done yet I desire to leave the Place After due consideration had upon it in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost I depose my self and simply and absolutely I renounce all pretentions to the Generalship I Conjure in the Name of our Lord and with all my Soul the Fathers profest and those with whom they shall please to consult I Conjure them I say to receive my Demission which I make in the presence of God for Causes so just But if there should be diversity of Opinions among you I beseech you for the love of our Saviour Jesus Christ well to recommend the
makes a Reconcilation and doth other good Works He hinders the Incorporating the Barnabites the Somasques and the Theatines with the Society He condemns the Conduct of Miron and Gonzales He reprehends Laynez and how Laynez receives the Reprimand He keeps up Regular Discipline in the Colledge of Naples Troubles in the Province of Portugal and the General 's Conduct in quieting them The General overcomes great Oppositions He sends a Visitor into Portugal He gives Advice to the Provincial He moderates the Fervor of the Portuguez The Epistle of Obedience Two Missioners accus'd and justifi'd A new Persecution in Spain A Testimony in favor of the Exercises of Father Ignatius The King of Portugal demands of Father Ignatius a Patriarch and Bishop for Aethiopia The Fathers propos'd by the General oppose their Promotion The General engageth the three Fathers to submit The Geneal's Letter to the King of the Abyssins How the General treats Rodriguez He makes a Regulation for the Visits of Women He caus'd Rules of Behaviour to be publish'd The Pope incens'd against the Society The General appeases the Pope The Affection of Popes for the Society He hinders Laynez's being made a Cardinal The Confidence of Father Ignatius in the Providence of God The Society Persecuted in France The Decree of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris against the Jesuits The General will have no Answer made to the Decree He Confers with some Doctors of the Sorbon His Care for the Advancement of Learning in the Roman Colledge His Infirmities oblige him to give over Business He reserves to himself the Care of the Sick He Institutes the Prayers of Forty hours during the three last days of Carnivall He disposes himself to die The Contents of the Sixth Book Page 347. THe Effect which his Death produced The Judgment of the first Fathers of the Society concerning St. Ignatius He is honor'd as a Saint in Rome A Miracle wrought upon the Day of his Interment The Place where his Body lies and his Epitaph Testimonies of several Persons in Praise of St. Ignatius He is Reverenc'd by the People as a Saint The Prediction and the Apparition of St. Ignatius A miraculous Cure The Saint Religiously Reverenc'd by Cardinal Baronius The Pope orders Informations to be taken of Ignatius's Life His Gift of Prayer His Love towards God His Charity towards his Neighbor His Humility His Disengagement from the World His Command over his Passions His Reserv'dness in Speaking and how weighty hir Words His Constancy in what he undertook for God and his Greatness of Soul His Confidence in God His Prudence in Spiritual Matters His Beatification His Cononization THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The First BOOK THE providence of God never appear'd more visibly in the preservation of his Church then in the last Century so fatal to Germany to England and to France by the Apostacy of Luther by the Schism of Henry the Eighth and by the pretended Reformation of Calvin As the manners of Men generally grow corrupt by the same degrees that they loose their Faith so were these new Heresies followed by a general licentiousness The People after they had revolted from the common Pastor of the Faithful Rebelled also against their Lawful Princes and having shaken off the Yoke of Ecclesiastical Obedience and of Allegiance to their Soveraigns they abandoned themselves to all those disorders which Men are capable of when they are govern'd by the Spirit of Lying Thus did Impiety ravage the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and in those places where Religion had been most flourishing Altars were prophan'd the use of Sacraments abolish'd the Evangelical Councils contemn'd and all Laws both Humane and Divine trampl'd under foot Then it was that Heaven rais'd up Ignatius of Loyola to serve and relieve the pressing necessities of the Christian World and it looks as if the Divine wisdom had intended specially to declare that very purpose by a concourse of Accidents then happening which could not be the product of meer chance For in the same year that Luther publickly maintain'd his Apostacy in the Dyet of Worms and retiring himself into his solitude of Alstat wrote a Book against Monastical Vows which made an infinity of Apostates Did Ignatius consecrate himself to God in the Church of Montserrat and in his retreat of Manreze write his spiritual Exercises which serv'd to form and model his own and to re-people all other Religious Orders At the very time that Calvin began to Dogmatize and gather Disciples in Paris Ignatius who was come thither to Study did in like manner assemble his company to declare War against the Enemies of the Catholick Faith And Lastly When Henry the Eighth first assum'd the Title of Head of the Church and Commanded all his Subjects under pain of Death to raze out the Name of the Pope from all their Papers and Books Did our new Patriark whose life I now write lay the Foundation of a Society devoted to the service of the Holy See Ignatius was born in the year 1491. in the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella and in that part of the Spanish Biscay which reacheth towards the Pyreneans and is at this day called Guipuscoa Don Bertram his Father Lord of Ognez and Loyola was of the Ancient Nobility in that Country and Head of a Family which had always enjoy'd the first charges and had produc'd many eminent Persons His Mother Marina Saez de Balde was of no less Illustrious an Extraction He was the last born of three Daughters and Eight Sons well shap'd of a temper inclining to choller his Aire and his Genius lofty and above all he had an ardent passion for Glory Tho he seemed outwardly something violent and haughty he was nevertheless in his conversation affable and obliging He was naturally Wise and in his first years a certain discretion was observ'd in him which had nothing of Childishness His Father who judged him proper for the Court sent him thither betimes and made him Page to the Catholick King Ferdinand took pleasure to see a Child so lively and rational and upon occasions gave him Marks of his good liking But young Ignatius was not of a humor to lead so unactive a life the Love of Glory and the Example of his Brothers who had signaliz'd themselves in the Army of Naples soon gave him a disgust of the Court and put thoughts of War in his head at an Age in which others only mind the plays of Children He declar'd his intentions to the Duke of Naiare Don Antonio Manrique Grandee of Spain his Kinsman and a particular friend to his Family The Duke who had a Martial Soul and was esteem'd one of the most accomplish'd Gentlemen of his time did not oppose the design of Ignatius He took care to have him well taught his Exercises and delighted himself in forming and instructing him in them Ignatius under so good a Master became in a short time capable of serving his Prince He pas'd through all the
along the Rock sometimes hanging upon the Shrubs sometimes upon the Stones that stood out always in hazard of rowling down to the Bottom of the Precipice which he saw under him This adventure was the most perilous of his whole Life and he was us'd to say that without a kind of Miracle he could never have come out of so great a danger The Rains then falling did almost drown the ways by which he so much suffer'd that he came very sick to Bologna Entring into that Town as he past over a narrow Bridg his foot slipt and he fell into a Ditch full of Mire out of which he came forth so cover'd with dirt that he was a frightful spectacle However he was not nice to shew himself about the Town as dirty as he was and to beg Alms But whether it were that his figure made him less acceptable or that Charity was very cold he could not all that day get one piece of Bread and he must have starv'd if the Spaniards who in that Town have a rich Colledg had not taken pity of him As soon as he had a little recover'd his strength he went forwards on his Journey and came to Venice about the end of the year 1535. From his first coming thither he employed himself in the Service of his Neighbour following the Spirit of his Vocation Two Brothers Gentlemen of Navarre the one called Stephen the other James d'Eguia were newly return'd from the Holy Land They both had sentiments of Piety and some thought of quitting the World but were held back by other humane motives Ignatius who had seen them at Alcala engaged them to make the Spiritual Exercises that so they might be well directed in chusing their course of Life They found during their retirement that God had design'd them one day to be the Children of Ignatius They promis'd to follow in due time the Grace which called them and they were so true to their engagement that as soon as the Society of Jesus was form'd they both enter'd into it There was in the Town another Spaniard of Malaga of an Ancient Family that came out of Cordova and was called James Hozez He was Batchelor of Divinity a Man of good Life and a declared enemy of the Novelties of Germany The desire of his Spiritual profit made him seek out Ignatius who had been represented to him as a great Master in the Science of the Saints But having learnt that he had been suspected of Heresie in Spain and in France he durst not wholly rely upon his Conduct However he one day resolv'd to begin the Spiritual Exercises first Arming himself with preservatives against any Poyson that he might find in them He took therefore along with him an Abridgment of the Councels some of the Holy Fathers and a great many Books of Divinity to examin the Doctrine of the Exercises by solid and certain Rules Scarcely had he ended the first Meditations but he found a Character of Truth where he was afraid he should have met Errors Going forwards he clearly saw that nothing was more Orthodox then the Faith of Ignatius But that which most of all convinced him was what Ignatius himself declared to him of his Sentiments about Religion That true Christians ought to submit themselves to the decisions of the Church with the simplicity of an Infant that in order to this we are bound to believe that the Spirit of our Saviour Jesus Christ doth animate his Spouse the Church and that the same God who in former times gave the Precepts of the Decalogue to the Israelites doth govern at this day the Society of the Faithful That far from disapproving the Customs in ure among Catholicks we ought always to be provided with reasons to defend them against Libertines and Hereticks that we must receive with profound submission the Ordinances of Ecclesiastical Superiors and when their lives should not be so blameless as they ought to be to abstain from speaking against them because such Invectives always cause Scandal and make the Sheep revolt from their Pastors that we cannot too much esteem the Science of Theology whether Scholastick or Positive That the chiefest aim of the Ancient Fathers was to excite Mens hearts to the love of God but that St. Thomas and the other Doctors of the last Ages propos'd to themselves to reduce the Principles of Faith into an exact Method for more surely confuting Heresies that we cannot be too wary in speaking of Predistination and of Grace and that Preachers ought to be very circumspect when they treat of those Mysteries that they may not seem to take away the Power of our free will and the Merit of good works in exalting Predestination and Grace nor on the other side to undervalue Predestination and Grace in raising the Power of our will and the Merit of our works that often by exagerating the Excellency of Faith without any distinction or farther explications the People are made prone to neglect the practice of Virtues In conclusion that tho' it be the part of a good Christian to serve God out of a Principle of pure love we must not neglect to recommend the fear of God nor that only which we call Filial which is most Holy but that also which is called Servile because it may help a sinner more readily to get out of his sinful state and may dispose him to that other fear which unites the Soul with God All these Articles and Rules of an Orthodox Belief as the Saint calls them in his Book of Exercises into which he has inserted them made Hozez ashamed of the distrust he had concerning the Doctrine of Ignatius to whom he made a Confession of it shewing him the Books he had Arm'd himself withall by way of prevention and now without any fear he so adheared to his Director that he embraced the same form of life with Ignatius and his Companions Many Noble Venetians did put themselves under the Direction of Ignatius as the three Spanish Gentlemen had done and among the rest Peter Contarini Administrator of the Hospital of St. John and Paul afterwards Bishop of Batto He found great advantage for a Spiritual life in the Exercises and if afterwards he did not embrace the institute of Ignatius as some of the Venetian Nobility did it was only that he might be the Protector and Father of the whole Order The World which commonly misconsters what it doth not understand could not look upon the good Actions of Ignatius without Judging ill of them They imagin'd him to be an Heretick in Masquerade and that after he had infected Spain and France he was now come to do the same in Italy some were so mad as to say that he had a Familiar which informed him of every thing and that when he was discover'd in one place he saved himself in another before Justice could take hold of him As soon as Ignatius heard what Rumors were spread of him he apply'd himself to
it but what was Orthodox one passage only excepted which could not be excus'd from Heresie This passage was further examin'd and upon comparing the Printed Books with this Manuscript there was a plain discovery made of Cano's foul dealing Thus Truth carry'd the cause against Forgery and the Inquisitors of Judges to Condemn became Compurgators of the Spiritual Exercises While an Ecclesiastick and a Religious Man vainly endeavor to stain the Reputation of Father Ignatius and to overthrow his Order the King of Portugal Solicited the Pope to chuse for Aethiopia a Patriarch and Bishop out of the Society of Jesus The choice which was made and the occasion of making it cannot well be understood unless we look a little back into the Affairs of that Country The People of Aethiopia which are at this day call'd Abyssins are the most Ancient Christians in the World they receiv'd the Faith in the very beginning from the Apostle St. Matthew and from the Euenuch of Queen Candace who was Baptiz'd by Philip the Deacon as it is related in the Acts of the Apostles But in process of time they left the law of Jesus Christ for that of Moses or rather they confounded these two Laws together using both Circumcision and Baptism so that intending to be at once Christians and Jews they were truly neither the one nor the other They acknowledg'd the Patriarch of Alexandria for their Head in matters of Religion from whose hands they receiv'd their Abuna or High Priest They embrac'd with the Cophtes of Aegypt the Heresies of Dioscorus and of Eutyches On the other side being mixt with Mahometans and Idolaters they every day contracted something of Mahometanism and Paganism In this manner their Religion was a mixture of all Sects But they had no Communication with Rome both in regard of their great distance and that the Greeks infus'd Hatred into them against the Latin Church When the Portuguez in their Navigation to the East-Indies discover'd that part of Aethiopia which is under the Obedience of Prester John or to speak properly the Kingdom of the Abyssins whose King we call Prester John by a popular Error which has prevail'd in Europe of attributing to this African Potentate a Title Anciently us'd by the Monarchs of the Asian Tartars he that then Reign'd among the Abyssins was a young Prince call'd David naturally Wise and Vertuous He was instructed by the Portuguez in the Mysteries of Faith and he so open'd his Eyes to Truth that relinquishing the Patriarch of Alexandria he writ to the Sovereign Bishop of Rome Clement the Seventh and by a solemn Embassy yeilded him Obedience in the Assembly at Bologna and in the Presence of Charles the Fifth who was newly there Crown'd Emperor David being dead his Son and Successor nam'd Claude who had been bread up in the Roman Religion and was a Man of good sence judg'd that the true Faith could not well be Propagated and Establish'd in his Kingdom unless the Pope sent thither a Patriarch and Bishops Whereas he had contracted an Amity with John the Third King of Portugal who had assisted him with Money and Forces against the King of Zeilan Gradamete he requested him likewise to procure these Spiritual Succors for him from Rome John the Third undertook the business with a great deal of Zeal But the troubles of the Church in those times retarded the effecting it nor was it dispatch'd till under the Pontificate of Julius the Third when it was brought to pass in this manner The King of Portugal writ to Father Ignatius to send him the Names of some of his Order whom he might propose to the Pope for Patriarch and Bishops of Aethiopia These Titles of Dignity for any of his Subjects did at first very much startle the Father But upon reflection that a Patriarcate and Bishopricks of this nature were rather Crosses then Dignities and that it was a single Case not likely to be drawn into Example he took courage and consented to all that the Prince requir'd of him He nam'd to him three Fathers of profound Capacity and of eminent Vertue John Nugnez Andrew Oviedo and Melchior Carnero without determining which of them he would have chosen for Patriarch tho ' his desire was that Nugnez should be the person which he only shew'd by recommending him with a little more advantage then the rest He only declar'd himself upon this point that those who were the Bishops might succeed the Patriarch when the case should require it Nugnez who had been imploy'd many years in Africa about the Redemption of Slaves and the Conversion of Renegades was then come to Lisbon to procure Money to redeem those Christians whom the King of Algiers had taken from the King of Fess when he drove him out of his Kingdom Upon the first rumor of his new employment he writ with all earnestness to Rome to break the design He represented to Father Ignatius that he did not refuse the Mission of Aethiopia but that he could not yeild to go thither with a Miter and that he had a great deal rather spend the rest of his days in a Chain among the Slaves of Barbary He conjur'd him by the precious wounds of our Crucifi'd Saviour to have consideration of his weakness and not to charge him with a Load which might possibly be the cause of his Damnation He added that if his good Father would not relent he should at least send him his Will in writing to the end that an Order under his hand might be a comfort and support to him in his difficulties Carnero who was then at Rome and Oviedo who was call'd thither from Naples made no less Resistance They would themselves plead their cause before the Pope As painful as their design'd Dignities seem'd to be they still thought them more illustrious then painful and the Luster gave them a Horror of them Tho' Father Ignatius had other thoughts yet he prais'd their modesty and was well pleas'd that all three upon this occasion had need of an absolute Command from the Vicar of Jesus Christ But he made them understand that all the Honor and all the Revenue of these Prelatures consisted in great Labors in continual Dangers by Land and by Sea in Poverty and possibly in Martyrdom Julius the Third was so well satisfi'd with the Conduct of the Father and of his Sons in this matter that he said publickly before all the Cardinals that now it might be seen what the Jesuits pretended to in this World since they refus'd Miters that were more splendid then burdensome and accepted those that had nothing belonging to them but Labors and Sufferings Tho' Father Ignatius did not fear that any one of the three Fathers was capable of abusing the Patriarchal Authority yet he judg'd that the more securely to oblige him who should be Patriarch to do his Duty it was convenient that an Apostolical Commissioner should reside at Goa to make his Visitation from time
that were about him That altho' they both seem'd very vertuous yet their inward Vertue was greater then it seem'd Not long after Discoursing familiarly with Father Lewis Gonzales and upon the occasion of News lately come from the Indies their Discourse falling upon the happy progress which the Society made in all Places he said That these Prosperities caus'd in him more fear then joy That when Persecution ceased he should be in apprehension lest the Society should somewhere relax in the observance of their Duty That good Fortune was never to be trusted and that we are then most to fear when all things go according to our Desires But this Calm which he so much fear'd did not last long A Storm arose which was the more terrible in regard it proceeded from Pope Julius the Third who had been so kind to Father Ignatius Charles the Fifth made an Order in Spain according to a Decree of the Council of Trent That Priests and such as were Benefic'd should not absent themselves from their Diocess nor from their Churches The Spanish Ecclesiasticks who were at Rome and whom this Edict particularly regarded made their Complaint to the Pope of the Emperor's Proceeding as being derogatory to the Rights of the Holy See and they stickled so much in it that at last the Pope complain'd of it to the Emperor Who briskly reply'd That the Order came not from him but from the National Council which would have the Decrees of the Council of Trent observ'd and that his Holiness who assisted at the Council in Quality of Legat ought rather to maintain Ordinaces of this nature then to oppose them The Pope more irritated at the Answer of Charles the Fifth then at the Thing it self in question shew'd great Indignation at it And because it was reported that the Jesuits at the Court of Castile were the Authors of the Edict or at least had a good share in it his Holiness so chang'd his Countenance towards them that the Fathers at Rome were deny'd all access to the Pope's Palace and no body dar'd speak a word in their behalf not Cardinal de Carpi himself who had great Credit with the Pope and who was Protector of the Society What much agravated this Misfortune was that Father Ignatius who possibly might have found the Secret to appease his Holiness lay dangerously sick in this unhappy Conjuncture But when the Matter seem'd desperate all was unexpectedly heal'd again Ferninand King of the Romans writing to the Pope about some very important Affairs desir'd him to give Credit to what the General of the Jesuits who had his Secret should say to him and whom he had order'd to impart it to none but to his Holiness The Pope who had no less Concern in the Business then Ferdinand himself sent for Father Ignatius the same Moment that he had receiv'd his Letters out of Germany But the Father was still sick and in so bad a Condition as would not permit him to hear any Business spoken of As soon as he began to recover and was able to go abroad he went straight to the Vatican every body wondring what should carry him thither All the Fathers were startled at it that he should so little regard the Pope's Indignation and no body could divine upon what account he expos'd himself to it He had Audience immediately and the Pope seeing him very weak would not permit him to speak upon his Knees nor Bare-headed The Father imparted to the Pope what he had Order to say to him from the King of the Romans After which taking occasion to speak to him about the Edict of Spain he so well justifi'd the Society from those Reports that had been rais'd against them that his Holiness wholly changing his Sentiments or rather returning to his former Affection for the Jesuits told Father Ignatius that he would never more believe what was said against them and at the same time made him a promise of Two thousand Crowns a year or of the first vacant Abby for the support of the Roman Colledge The Pope in the next place asked the Father if the Casa Professa were in no want of Necessaries The Father answer'd That it wanted nothing tho' all its Subsistence was upon Alms and that they had nothing to desire but the good Favour of his Holiness Before the Father had ended his Audience the Pope call'd for his Maistro di Camera and in the presence of Ignatius I Order you he said that as often as the Father shall demand Audience you immediately admit him and that you give me notice of it tho' Cardinals or any other Persons of Quality should be with me The day following he sent to the Casa Professa an Alms of Five hundred Crowns in Gold This return or rather this increase of the Pope's Kindness towards the Jesuits enabled Father Ignatius to come off in a Business which otherwise might have been of pernicious Consequence A young Neapolitan call'd Octavius Caesar who was Son to the Duke of Mont-Leon had been receiv'd into the Society with the Consent of his Father and after his Noviceship he had been sent to the Colledge of Messina and about this time the General call'd him to Rome His Father being also come thither about a Business of Importance took a Resolution of requiring his Son from the General under pretence that he had been taken from him against his Will and he so well solicited the Matter with the Pope by the Mediation of Cardinal Caraffa Archbishop of Naples who was his Friend and no lover of the Jesuits that the Pope referr'd the Business to the Cardinal himself The Mother also came on purpose from Naples to act her part in this Matter And whereas Octavius had been a great Darling she made use of all those little Arts which Passion usually instructs Women withal She went up and down the Town like a distracted Person weeping and calling for Justice from God and Men against those who had Spirited away her Son The Cardinal whether ill inform'd of the Business or touch'd with the Lamentations of the Mother gave Judgment That the General should restore Octavius and should be liable to Ecclesiastical Censure if he did not immediately obey the Sentence Father Ignatius who well knew what S. Jerome prescribes concerning Children call'd by God and that such Orders are not to be submitted to as contradict the Maxims of the Gospel went himself to the Pope to inform him of it His Holiness annull'd the Sentence of Cardinal Caraffa and declar'd the Pretensions of the Father and Mother to be unjust But in regard the same Case might often recur to settle the Vocation of young Jesuits against the Assaults of Flesh and Blood he appointed a Congregation of Cardinals to Judge all Causes of this nature Julius the Third continu'd even to his Death to protect the Society upon all Occasions The Cardinal De Sancta Croce Marcellus Cervinus a Man of extraordinary Vertue and
certain Father told the General that this could not be done without a Miracle What Miracle reply'd the General with a serious Countenance and with a severe Tone It would be very strange if things should go otherwise for God has engag'd his Word upon it let us Serve him he will Conduct us and we shall want nothing Whereas the War did every day augment the scarcity of Provisions they advis'd him to send away part of his Company into other Provinces Far from following this Counsel he sent for an excellent Architect to come to him to Rome call'd Antonio Labaco who had a Son in the Society and caus'd him to draw Models for the Roman Colledge and for the German Colledge and to cast up the Charges of those two Buildings So much he rely'd upon the Fund of Providence It was according to this Principle that in the same Year he caus'd to be built out of Town near S. Balbina's Church a pleasant and commodious House where Convalescents might sometimes take fresh Air and the young Scholars might once a Week Recreate themselves after their Studies Some there were who told him it had been better to have laid up a Sum of Money and that it was no time to Build when there was so much difficulty to Live I prefer said he the Health of the least in all the House above all the Treasures in the World It pleas'd God to manifest as formerly by extraordinary ways how much his perfect Dependance and his sincere Charity were agreeable to his Divine Majesty For Father Polancus who at that time manag'd the Temporals of the Roman Colledge and had charge of the Building not having Money one day to pay the Workmen and not knowing where to get it went to the General and told him in what Straits he was The General lock'd himself up to make his Prayer which being ended he call'd for Father James Laynez and Father Christopher de Madrid together with Father Polancus and told them smiling Tho' I am no Prophet nor the Son of a Prophet yet I am assur'd that our Lord will not abandon us Then turning to Father Polancus he said to him with a gay Countenance Make but the Colledge subsist for Six months and afterwards I 'le take care for it The Prediction of the General was verifi'd almost at the same instant for it being then Night yet as late as it was two Persons of Quality sent him a considerable Sum tho' unacquainted with his Necessities and before the Six months were over such plenty of Alms came in as serv'd to pay off all the Debts of the Colledge These unexpected and seasonable Supplies did so affect Father Martin Olavius that Writing to Father Ribadeneira who was gone into Flanders he told him That to be convinc'd of the Sanctity of their common Father he needed not to see the Sick cur'd or the Dead rais'd for what pass'd in Rome in sight of all the World sufficiently prov'd that Ignatius was a Saint without the help of any other Miracles The News receiv'd out of France did somewhat surprize Father Ignatius but as bad as they were they did not afflict him When all things seem'd dispos'd for Registring the Letters which the Jesuits had obtain'd from the King there was suddenly rais'd against them in Paris a furious Storm occasion'd in this manner Henry the Second into whose Mind the Cardinal of Lorain had infus'd a good Opinion of the new Society was inform'd by the Commissioners whom he appointed to inspect the Matter that the Institute of the Jesuits was neither prejudicial to the Church nor to the State and being advertis'd that the Parliament still refus'd to Register his first Letters he sent them new ones with Order to proceed in Registring them without having regard to the Remonstrances of his Attorney-General who pretended that the new Jesuits destroy'd the Authority Royal and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy The Parliament not well pleas'd that the Jesuits should have so much Credit with the King protracted the Business as long as they could But not being able to avoid any longer at least seemingly to obey so precise an Order they past a Decree That whereas the Business of the Jesuits did principally concern Religion their Bulls should beshew'd to the Bishop of Paris and to the Dean of the Faculty of Divinity and that both the one and the other should give their Judgment of the Matter to the Court. The Bishop who was Eustace du Bellay a declar'd Enemy of the Jesuits made his Report that their Institute was repugnant to the Rights of Bishops and to the Concordates made between the Popes and the Kings of France But the Dean of the Faculty devoted to the Bishop and animated by a Doctor whose near Kinsman had against his will enter'd into the Society drove the Matter a great deal farther For not contenting himself to deliver his Opinion in a full Audience with a great deal of passion and bitterness he of his own head call'd together the Faculty of Divinity and in this Assembly it was that a bloody Decree was Pass'd against the Society much like to that which the same Faculty in former days made against the Order of St. Dominick Tho' many Doctors of the Sorbon refus'd to Subscribe this Decree yet they fail'd not to publish it and every where to disperse it Pasquier Brouet who was Superior of the Jesuits in Paris sent a Copy of it to Rome The Decree Imports That the new Society which attributes to its self the Name of JESUS receives into their Body without distinction all sorts of People how Criminal and infamous soever they are That they of it differ in nothing from Secular Priests having neither Habit nor Quire nor Silence nor Fastings nor any of those other Observances which distinguish and constitute a Religious State That it seems to violate the Modesty of Monastick Profession by so many Immunities and Liberties which they take in their Functions chiefly in the Administration of the Sacraments of Pennance and of the Holy Eucharist without any distinction of Places or Persons and in Dispensing the Word of God and in the Instruction of Youth to the prejudice of the Hierarchy of other Religious Orders and even of Princes and Temporal Lords against the Priviledges of the Universities and to the great Charge of the People That it enervates the holy practice of Vertues of Pennances and of the Ceremonies of the Church That it gives occasion of Apostatizing from other Religious Societies That it refuseth due Obedience to the Ordinaries That it unjustly deprives of their Rights Ecclesiastical and Temporal Lords That it brings every where Law-Suits Divisions Jealousies Quarrels and Schisms Lastly That for all these Reasons this Society seems Dangerous as to Faith an Enemy to the Peace of the Church Destructive to Monastical Profession and born more for the Ruine then for the Edification of the Faithful The Fathers of Rome to whom the General communicated this
austere Life which he was resolv'd to lead The good Father who was himself a very mortifi'd Person confirm'd Ignatius in his Design and withal gave him Rules for his conduct discovering to him those snares which the evil Spirit might possibly lay for him in his first Fervours The Sentiments of Pennance which Ignatius then had went farther then bare Sighs and Tears In the Evening he went forth to find out a poor Man to whom stripping himself to his Shirt he privately gave all his Clothes then putting on his long Weed and girt with a Cord which he had bought by the way he return'd back to the Church of the Monastery Entring in there came into his thoughts what he had formerly read in Amadis and such other Books of Chivalry that those Knights before they were receiv'd into the Order did watch a whole Night in their Arms. He to convert into a holy usage this profane Ceremony in like manner made his Vigil before the Altar of our Lady sometimes standing sometimes kneeling but always praying and devoting himself to Jesus and Mary in quality of their Knight according to those Warlike Idea's which were still in him and by which he represented to himself the things of God He hung up his Sword upon a Pillar near the Altar in testimony of his renouncing secular Warfare Very early in the Morning he Receiv'd the Communion and then departed from Montserrat fearing lest he should be discover'd by some of those persons who came from Biscay and Navarr For that Day happen'd to be the Feast of the Annunciation which is Celebrated in that holy Place with much Solemnity and great concourse of Pilgrims from all Spain He left his Horse to the Monastery and carry'd away nothing with him but some penitential Instruments which at his request were bestow'd upon him by his Ghostly Father He march'd with his Staff in his Hand his Scrip by his Side bare-headed one Foot bare for the other which had still a weakness since his hurt and swell'd every Night he thought necessary to be shod but he march'd with such vigor and speed as well shew'd what Spirit mov'd him mightily comforted in having cast off the Liveries of the World and put on those of Jesus Christ He was scarce advanc'd a League when he heard the noise of a Horseman riding with full speed after him He was an Officer of the Justice belonging to Montserrat Is it true says he being come up to him that you have bestow'd rich Clothes upon a Beggar Notwithstanding the poor Man's protesting the contrary he is not believ'd he is suspected of theft and clapt in Prison At these words Ignatius was sensibly griev'd and could not refrain tears To deliver the innocent he confess'd the truth but would not declare tho press'd to it neither his Quality nor his Name He pursu'd his Journey with some trouble of mind for the Misfortune of the poor Man which he reckon'd his own in that he could not assist his Neighbour without bringing him into trouble With these thoughts he went on towards Manreze where he resolv'd to conceal himself and to wait till the Plague did cease at Barcelona and till the Port was open that he might proceed in his Journey to the Holy Land Manreze is a little Town three Leagues distant from Montserrat a Place famous at this day for the exemplary Pennance of the Saint whose History I write and for Devotion of the People who resort thither in Pilgrimage from all Parts but at that time hardly taken notice of having nothing in it considerable but a Monastery of Dominicans and an Hospital for Pilgrims and sick Persons Ignatius went straight to the Hospital which stood without the Walls of the Town and was call'd the Hospital of St. Lucius He took great content to see himself in the number of the Poor and in a condition of doing Pennance witout being known Which he began by Fasting the whole Week with Bread and Water excepting the Sunday when he eat a few boil'd Herbs but sprinkled over with Ashes he girded his Reins with an iron Chain under his course Habit he wore a Hair Shirt thrice a day he Disciplin'd himself slept little and lay upon the Ground In this ill treatment of himself he had at first no other aim but to imitate those holy Penitents whose Lives he had read and to expiate the Disorders of his Life past Afterwards he conceiv'd an ardent desire of pursuing the Glory of God in all his Actions and this desire render'd the Motive of his Pennance more pure and noble The truth is he had always his sins before his eyes and always he had a horror of them But after some time his own concern did not touch him and in those rigours which he us'd upon his Person instead of minding to satisfie for the pains which his sins deserv'd he only thought of revenging the injury and repairing the Honor of the Divine Majesty He was every day present at the whole Service of the Church and spent seven hours in Prayer upon his Knees and tho he had not as yet the Rules of Mental Prayer yet he was so recollected that he many times continued several hours together without any motion He often visited the Church of our Lady at Villa Dordis which is but half a League from Manreze and when he perform'd these little Pilgrimages he commonly added to his Hair Shirt and his Chain a Girdle of certain Herbs full of little Thorns and Prickles Reflecting upon his own conduct he rightly judg'd that the macerations of the Flesh would little advance him in the ways of Heaven if he did not make it his business to stifle in himself all motions of pride and self-love To this end he begg'd his Bread from Door to Door endeavouring to appear a real Beggar and lest any should guess at his Quality either by his Countenance or by his Behaviour he affected clownishness in his Carriage so to liken himself to the meanest sort of People And the better to disguise himself he entirely neglected his Person and studied how to deform himself he who formerly made it his chief happiness to appear graceful and comely in the eyes of the World His Face all cover'd with Dirt his Hair clodded and uncomb'd his Beard and his Nails grown out to a fearful length made such a Figure of him as seem'd at once both frightful and ridiculous so that whenever he appear'd in the Town of Manreze the Children pointed at him threw Stones at him and follow'd him in the Streets with shouts and outcries Most part of the People of whom he ask'd Alms instead of giving him any thing laught at him and one there was more brutal then the rest who not content to abuse him only when he met him in the Street would often go on purpose to the Hospital to revile him and to insult over him Ignatius suffer'd all these outrages and scorns without saying a word as if
hold back his Tears before all the company All his thoughts were fix'd upon that Mystery he could not speak but of the Trinity but he spoke with so much unction and light and in such proper and sublime expressions that the most Learned admir'd him and the most ignorant were instructed by him He wrote down the conceptions he had of that Adorable Mystery and his writing which since by I know not by what misfortune has been lost contain'd no less then fourscore Leaves if notwithstanding we may call that his writing which had something in it of the Language of the Prophets and wherein the Spirit of God had a greater share then the Spirit of Man For Ignatius could only Read and Write and an ignorant Cavalier without being inspir'd could not possibly treat of so high a subject From hence he conceiv'd a most tender devotion to the Trinity and had a custom many times in the day to make his Prayers to the Three Divine Persons sometimes to them altogether sometimes to each in particular according to the different dispositions he felt within himself A little after this by another illumination was represented to him the order which God held in the Creation of the World and the motives which induced the Divine wisdom to that outward communication of himself Once in time of Mass at the Elevation he had an intuitive knowledge that the Body and Blood of the Son of God were truly under the Elements and in what manner they were there One day as he went to visit the Church of St. Paul lying a quarter of a Mile out of the Town setting himself down on the banks of the Cardenero which runs along the plain of Manreze he had a profound knowledge of all the Mysteries together and at another time when he pray'd before a Cross upon the way to Barcelona all that he had formerly learn'd was set before his Eyes in so full a light that the verities of Faith seem'd to him to have nothing obscure in them And he remain'd so enlightned and so convinc'd of them that he has been heard to say that had they never been Recorded in the Scriptures he should still have maintain'd them to the last drop of his Blood and that had the Scriptures been lost no part of his Faith had been diminish'd But of all the favours he at that time receiv'd the most remarkable was an Extasie which lasted Eight days A thing hardly to be believed if many Persons of credit had not been witnesses of it This began upon a Saturday about the Evening in the Hospital of St. Lucy where Ignatius had again taken up his Lodging and it ended upon the Saturday following just at the same hour He had no use of his senses all that time they thought him dead and would have bury'd him if those who came to visit his Body had not perceiv'd something of motion about his Heart He came to himself as out of a sweet sleep and opening his Eyes he said with a tender and devout voice Ah Jesus No body ever knew the secrets which were reveal'd to him in this long Rapture for he would never discover them to any body And all that they could draw out of him was that the graces with which God Almighty favour'd him could not be exprest These divine illustrations did not hinder him from consulting the Religious of St. Dominick and of St. Benet about the state of his Soul nor from punctually following their directions Many times he went to his Confessor of Montserrat to render him an accompt of his interior and to ask advice for his Spiritual advancement Altho this holy old Man did the office of an instructor to Ignatius yet he look'd upon his Disciple with great veneration and said to the Religious of his Monastery That this Penitent of Manreza would one day be the Support and Ornament of the Church that he should be a Reformer of the Christian World a successor of St. Paul an Apostle who should transmit the light of Faith into Idolatrous Nations But Ignatius open'd himself only to his Directors and no farther to them then was necessary for his conduct otherwise he kept a profound silence and shut up all his secret favours from Heaven within himself Yet notwithstanding his care to be conceal'd from the Eyes of Men he miss'd of his aime either because God would recompence the humility of his Servant or in regard that vertue has marks which discover her against her will His Austerities and his Extacies grew famous round the Country And that which added Luster to them was that no body doubted of his being a Person of Quality who had disguis'd himself upon the account of doing Pennance A certain Religious Woman esteemed a Saint in those parts spoke of him with great Admiration and pronounced him a Saint This is the same person who at that time was Celebrated all over Spain and who was often consulted by the Catholick King in matters of Conscience and was call'd the Beata of Manreza They had in fine so great an opinion of Ignatius that falling sick again and being remov'd to the House of a rich Burgess who was a good Man and would not suffer the Servant of God to continue in the Hospital the people hereupon commonly call'd this Burgess by the Name of Symon and his Wife by the Name of Martha as if in receiving Ignatius within their walls they had received Jesus Christ His reputation drew every body to him some only to behold him others to hear him And when he went to Pray before the Crosses which are set up about Manreza or when he went in Pilgrimage to our Lady at Villa-Dordis and to other places of Devotion the people usually crowded after him Hitherto in all his practices of Piety he only propos'd to himself his own perfection But providence which design'd him for the Evangelical Ministery and had already prepar'd him for it without his knowledge by contempt of the World by retirement and mortification gave him now other lights and measures He began to consider that Souls having cost our Saviour so dear nothing could be done more acceptable to him then to hinder their loss He comprehended that the glory of Gods Majesty did most shine in the Salvation of Souls purchas'd with the Blood of his Son These were the notions which kindled in him his Zeal for Souls It is not enough said he that I serve our Lord all Hearts must love him and all Tongues must praise him As soon as he had turn'd his thoughts towards his Neighbour how dear soever solitude was to him he gave it over and least he should fright those from him whom he design'd to bring to God he chang'd his austere penitential Dress into a more decent Attire Moreover knowing that the Ministery to which he was call'd requir'd health and vigour he moderated his Austerites and put on a Garment of course Cloth because the Winter was very sharp
and dayly look'd for The Provincial being come he Councel'd Ignatius to return into Europe not only because Alms were very scarce in those parts for they themselves had much adoe to Subsist but also because there was no security for Pilgrims in a Country where the Grand Signior was Master And that not long since some had been made Slaves and some kill'd that were found walking in the Neighbourhood of the Town Ignatius who as yet thought of nothing but of Converting the Barbarous people did not relish this Councel He answered that he neither fear'd Slavery nor Death and that nothing but the fear of displeasing God should make him leave the Holy Land Why then says the Provincial with an Ayre and tone of Authority you shall be gone to Morrow for you cannot resist me without offending God I have Power from the Holy See to send back what Pilgrims I please and moreover to Excommunicate those who will not Obey As St Ignatius insisted upon his Staying for fear of going against his Conscience so he no sooner heard the power of the Holy See injoyning his Return but he instantly submitted taking the words of the Provinical as of an Oracle from Heaven without so much as staying to see the Popes Bull which the Religious man offer'd to shew him At the same moment an extream desire took him once more to see the Print of our Saviours feet which he left upon the stone when he Ascended into Heaven To this end he Privately slipt out and went alone to Mount Olivet and for want of Money giving his Pen knife to the Turk that kept the Mosque where the Footsteps are to be seen he entred in and fully satisfy'd his Devotion When he was come back as far as Betfage it came into his mind that he had not observ'd to what quarter of the Heaven the impression of those Sacred Feet was directed he therefore comes back again so much Curiosity there is sometimes in Piety it self and to procure his Entrance the second time he presented the keeper with a little pair of Sizzers and having made his Observations and finish'd his Devotions he return'd In the mean time the good Religious of the Franciscan Convent understanding that the Spanish Pilgrim was gone towards Mount Olivet and fearing least he should be ill treated by the Turks sent after him a Servant of the Convent an Armenian who was known to the Guards The Armenian met Ignatius coming down the Hill and with great Choler held up his stick at him and taking him by the Arm drew him along with him to the Monastery But Ignatius did not feel nor scarce know what he did to him He was wholly rapt with an interior joy caus'd in him by the Presence of our Saviour who appear'd to him in the Air shining with Glory and marching as a Guide before him He parted the day following from Jerusalem and embark'd in a ship which carryed him to the Isle of Cyprus Coming there he found three Vessels in the Port ready to set Sail for Italy one was a Turkish Gallion the other a great ship of Venice and the third a little Bark very weak and ill Equipp'd They who came with Ignatius desir'd the Venetian Captain to receive him on board upon the Score of Charity telling him that he was a Saint The Captain who being very Covetous but not very Religious did not care for the Company of a poor Saint answer'd in raillery that if the Pilgrim were so great a Saint as they said he had no need of a Ship he might go into the Sea and the waves would carry him whither he pleas'd The Master of the little Bark was more Civil and Charitable he receiv'd him Gratis The three Vessels made Sail together and had at first a favourable wind but the weather changing all on a sudden there rose a furious Tempest The Turkish Gallion sunk with all her company the Venetian ship endeavouring to get to land and to recover the Island was dash'd in pieces upon the Rocks The little Bark which carry'd Ignatius was very ill treated but all in disorder as she was she sav'd her self by the favour of a good wind which seem'd to rise on purpose to bring her on the Coast of the Kingdom of Naples where having gain'd a Port she refitted And thence she put again to sea and happily arriv'd at Venice about the end of January in the year 1524 after a voyage of more then two months Whence may be seen that Saints are under the Protection of Heaven and that Providence doth Conduct them even when to outward appearance it seems to abandon them During this Voyage Ignatius had leasure to make a great many refflections He consider'd that to work Profitably in the Conversion of Souls some parts were requir'd which were wanting in him and that without the foundation of humane Learning nothing could be solidly perform'd He was every day more and more convinc'd of this Truth which made him resolve to return to Barcelona where he had acquaintance with the Master of the School and where he hop'd to find wherewithall to subsist during his Studies So that without making any stay at Venice he began his Journey in the deep of Winter and very ill clad for the season The Spanish Merchant who knew him would have cloath'd him but he could not make him accept of any more then a little Piece of Course cloth to cover his stomack which the Air of the Sea had extreamly weakened The Merchant also forc'd him to take fifteen or sixteen Reales but he took them only to part with them again of doing which he soon had the opportunity Being come to Ferrara he went to pray in the great Church A poor man immediately came to him and held out his hand He gave him a Real another came after and he gave him as much These Liberalities drew all the Beggers to him and he refus'd none of them as long as his money lasted When he had done his Prayers they follow'd him out of the Church and seeing him beg there himself they all cry'd out a Saint a Saint He needed no more to make him leave the place he continued his Journey through Lombardy and took the way of Genova There being War at that time between the French and the Spaniard and the two Armies spreading all over the Countrey made the ways exceeding dangerous Every body adviz'd him not to venture forwards But being under the Protection of God he conceiv'd he ought not to fear any thing He moreover believ'd that if he did not go the strait Road he should go out of the way in which Providence design'd to Conduct him He took up his Lodging every night in some Cottage where he could hardly lye dry in a season of Rain and Snow He travel'd all the day in the bad weather both through the French and Spanish Armies coming near a Village where the Spaniards were entrench'd some of the out Guards took him
His Habit and Figure made them believe he was a Spie They examin'd him but not being able to draw a word out of him they stript him and carryed him in his shirt to their Captain The Remembrance of Jesus Christ expos'd naked to the Eyes of the Jews fortify'd Ignatius in an exigence of so great Humilitation But the fear of being tortur'd did a little terrifie him He began to think that if he did make himself known he could get clearly off at least that by speaking fairly and rationally to the officers they might hear reason and not treat him as a Spie But upon Reflection Judging these thoughts to be suggestions of a bad Spirit and Illusions of self Love he affected and immitated more then before the Stupidity of an Ideot He remain'd without motion in presence of the Captain casting down his Eyes and answering nothing to the Questions which the Officiers put to him He never spoke but when they ask'd him if he were a Spie then he readily answer'd No the Officer taking him to be a silly Poor Wretch was angry with the Soldiers that they could not distinguish a Spie from a natural Fool and Commanded them to give him his Cloaths again So that the semblance of an Ideot which out of the Love of Suffering and humilitation he took upon him was that which sav'd him and brought him off But the Souldiers before they parted with him us'd him very roughly both in words and blows being enrag'd for having had a Reprimand from the Captain upon his account The joy which Ignatius had in being us'd in the Camp of the Spaniards much after the same rate of Jesus Christ his usage in the Court of Herod hindred him almost from feeling the rude treatment of the Souldiers Yet among them there was one less Barbarous then the rest who out of Compassion lodg'd him that night and gave him meat Following on his way he fell into the Quarters of the French the officer to whom he was brought was a Basque a neighbour to the Province of Gypuscoa and a very Gallant Man He judg'd favourably of the Pilgrim by his Physiognomy And having learnt his Country he treated him very Civilly This diversity of entertainment confirm'd Ignatius in his relyance upon the Providence of God and in his resolution to receive from the hands of God with the same Equality comforts and Crosses At Genova he met Roderigues Portundo General of the Spanish Galleys who knew him They had seen one another at the Court of the Catholick King and were both of the same Country That which pleas'd Ignatius most was to meet a Ship ready to go for Spain in which he easily procur'd his passage by the Favour of Portundo The Pirates which haunt the Coasts of Genova gave chase to the Vessel and the Galleys of Andrea Doria who had embrac'd the French Interest did also pursue her but she scap'd both the one and the other and happily gain'd the Port of Barcelona Ignatius went immediately to see Jeronimo Ardebale who taught in the Grammar School and he Communicated to him his new design He imparted it also to Isabella Rosella who was infinitely glad to see him again and promis'd to supply him with all necessaries He was then thirty years old and had no natural propension for study for he had been train'd to Military Exercises from his Childhood as we have already seen and the love of Arms which before his Conversion had wholly possest him gave him a disgust to Latine in an Age when People of quality took Pride in their Ignorance There was little appearance of Success in beginning to Learn at that time of day a Language which is only well learnt in the years of Childhood On the other side a man wholly apply'd to the Practice of an interior life must find a great deal of difficulty to interrupt it with beating his brains about the Rules of Grammar However Ignatius fell to study the first Rudiments of the Latine Tongue and went every day to School with the little Children The desire he had of making himself useful to his Neighbour and the aim he took of Gods greater glory which he now Propos'd to himself for his only Rule made easie to him that Crabbed Task and overcame in him all his disgusts and repugnances But the enemy of the salvation of Mankind who foresaw where the Science of Ignatius would one day end us'd his Artifice to defeat the Pious design That Spirit of darkness which is sometimes transform'd into an Angel of Light continually instigated our new Schollar to Practices of Piety fill'd him with Consolations raised in him such tender sentiments for God that all the time of his study was spent in devout Aspirations Instead of conjugating the Verb Amo he made Acts of Love I Love thee my God said he you Love me to Love to be Lov'd and nothing more When he was in the School his thoughts flew up to Heaven and while his Master explicated the Rules of Grammar he was attentive to another Master within him who open'd to him the difficulties of Scripture and the Mysteries of Faith So that he learnt nothing or the little which he did learn was soon rub'd out of his Memory by other more lively and strong Idea's which he could not be rid of Had he stopt at appearances or follow'd the motions of self love he would have believ'd that God had only call'd him to the repose of a contemplative life and that study had been an Obstacle to perfection But considering the Matter according to that light which he had for the discernment of Spirits and regulating all things by the greater glory of God he had no difficulty to comprehend that the Malignant Spirit deceiv'd him He discover'd the temptation to Ardebale and carrying him one day along with him to the Church of St Mary of the Sea he fell down upon his knees ask'd him Pardon for his negligence and made a vow at the foot of the Altar to continue his studies with greater application He also intreated his Master to use him with severity when he did not perform his Task and to spare him no more then the least of his Schollars T is very marvilous that after Ignatius had in this manner combated the illusions of Hell they so absolutely vanish'd that they never return'd more Some Learned men counsel'd him to read the books of Erasmus Famous at that time over all Europe and amongst the rest the Christian Souldier as most proper for Piety and for the Purity of the Latine tongue He read him and also markt the Phrases and best ways of expression but he perceiv'd that the Reading this Author diminish'd in him his Devotion and that the more he read the less fervour he had in his Exercises of Piety By often experience finding this to be so he threw away the Book and conceiv'd so much horror of it that he would never read it more and when he came to be
much the more rigorously by how much he found himself better recover'd in his health But withall this not to be unprofitable to his Neighbour he every day taught poor Children the Christian Doctrine Don Garcias who was a wise Worldling and who look'd upon all these Actions of his Brother with Carnal Eyes could not endure that any of the Name of Loyola should lead so abject a Life which he several times reproached to him It mightily disgusted him to see his Brother constantly with a Troop of little Children about him and once when Ignatius was going out to Catechise to disswade him from it he told him that no body would come to hear him If I have but one Child at my Catechism reply'd Ignatius I shall be very well content with my Auditory Besides this he Preached every Sunday and two or three days in the Week The Churches not being able to contain the great Crouds which flock't to him he was forced to instruct them in the open Fields An infinite of People from all the Neighbouring Towns came to hear him and many got upon the Trees to see him The first time that he Preached he told his Auditors that one of the reasons which mov'd him to return into his Country after an absence of so many years was to quiet his Conscience concerning a sin of his youth and to make satisfaction to an Inhabitant of those parts The Person of whom he spoke was there present and he had found him out in the Croud He told them therefore that on a certain time breaking into a Garden with other young Boys as mad as himself they stole and spoiled a great quantity of Fruit that a poor Man was accus'd of the Theft put in prison for it and condemn'd to pay the Dammages Then he rais'd his Voice saying Be it known to all this Assembly that in satisfaction of the injustice and the loss which that Innocent man has sustain'd I do here give and grant to him two Farms which belong to me He then called him aloud by his Name and asked him Pardon before all the People The words of a Preacher whose Actions are of this sort will easily perswade After he had Preached against the Costly and Immodest Attire of Women it was presently seen that the richness of their Habits their undecent Fashions and naked throats so common in Spain did all disappear The same day that he spoke against Play all the Gamesters threw away their Cards and Dice into the River and not a Man in the Town touched them any more in three years time When he Explicated the Ten Commandements during the ten Days between the Ascention and Pentecost to prepare the Faithful for receiving the Holy Ghost he so well acquitted himself that in the Second day he quite abolish't and exterminated all Blasphemies and false Oaths which were too frequent in that Country The sixth Day made a great Conversion of Curtezans of which some made long Pilgrimages a foot and the most famous among them bound her self to serve the Sick in the Hospital all the days of her Life so to Expiate their former sins But Ignatius was in nothing more successful then in reforming the manners of Church-men who thereabouts were great Libertines and for the most part lived in open Concubinage He made them change their Conduct by laying open to them the Holiness of their Profession and to the end that temporal punishments might restrain them if the principles of Christianity would not he engaged the Magistrates and all Governors rigorously to execute the Laws against Scandalous Priests He did some other good works which still last and will last to the end of the World For he instituted a Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament for the relief of the Poor that are not Beggars and he founded it with a part of his Estate which he had not yet renounounc'd he Introduced the Custom of Praying at Mid-day for such as were in Mortal sin and least time should wear out this practice he gave something in perpetuity to the daily Ringer of the Bell for this Prayer He establish't also the Prayer commonly called the Angelus Domini He renewed the ancient Custom of the Country of Praying every Night for the Dead He engaged his own Family at Loyola to give every Sunday in the great Church twelve Loaves of Bread to so many poor People in Honor of the twelve Apostles In conclusion he did what he pleas'd in Azpetia These were the very Words of the Witnesses who were heard after his Death in the Process of his Canonization and who had seen with their own Eyes what they deposed While Ignatius labour'd in this manner at home his Companions follow'd their Studies at Paris without intermitting their Works of Piety They were all animated with his Spirit and Faber who Govern'd in his absence had so well learn'd his Maxims that they all liv'd as if Ignatius himself had Govern'd them Their number was then increas'd by three other Divines whom Faber found to be very proper to be their Fellow-Labourers after a due trial made of them in the Spiritual Exercises of their common Father The First was Claude l' Jay who was of Anessy a Man of an extraordinary Genius and of an excellent Disposition The Second John Codure and the Third Pasquier Brouet both of them Learned Men and both Frenchmen one of the Diocess of Ambrun and the other of Amiens So that the first Fathers of the Society of Jesus were Ten in number Upon which Subject a certain Hugonot Writer strains hard for a Conceit telling us a little nonsensically that among the Pythagoreans the number of Ten is surnamed Atlas and that it is not without Mystery that Ten Men made up the Foundation of a Society which upholds the See of Rome as Atlas doth the Heavens These three last made their first Vow at Mont martyr when the other six renew'd theirs the second time And they were all so united together that notwithstanding the difference of Nation and of Humor they all seem'd to have but one Heart and one Soul Such happy News much comforted Ignatius in the absence of his beloved Disciples But the Reputation which he had gain'd in Biscay did sensibly mortifie him and this was that which made him resolve to hasten his Journey to Venice He pass'd every where for a Saint and the People believ'd he could do Miracles Whereupon they brought to him a Woman who had been four years possess'd and had all the signs in her of a true Possession He remanded her to the Exorcisms of the Church saying that he was no Priest and that a Sinner like himself had no command over the Devils But they still press'd him at least to make the Sign of the Cross over the possess'd Person which he could not refuse them to do and immediately she was deliver'd Some few days after they brought him a Maid whom the People would needs have to be also Possess'd she
Decrees of the Councils of Lateran and of Lyons under Innocent the Third and Gregory the Tenth concerning the multiplication of Religious Orders With this disposition of Mind he would hardly look upon the Memorial that was put into his Hands and he often said That whatever the Institute were the Church had no need of it The Authority of Guidiccione who was an able Divine and a great Canonist drew along with it the other two Cardinals At the same time that Paul the Third nam'd these three Commissioners he spoke to Ignatius for some of his Companions to be employ'd in some necessary Occasions of the Church This he did at the instance of some Princes Bishops and other considerable Persons who had knowledge of the Disciples and of the Master Pasquier Brouet was sent to Sienna to reform a Monastery of Religious Women which was in great disorder Claude le Jay to Brescia to extirpate the Heresie which some Uncatholick Preachers had there sow'n and Nicholas Bobadilla to the Island Ischia upon the Coasts of Naples to make Peace among the principal Inhabitants who had mortal Feuds among them James Laynez and Peter Faber attended the Cardinal of St. Angelo in his Legantine Voyage to Parma Laynez was left at Placentia and Faber at Parma from whence he was afterwards recall'd to accompany Doctor Ortiz who had receiv'd Orders from Charles the Fifth to be present at Worms where there was to be a Colloquie between the Catholicks and the Protestants Lastly Simon Rodriguez and Francis Xaverius parted towards the Indies and the occasion of their Journey was this James Govea that Portuguez Principal of the Colledge of St. Barbara who penitently acknowledg'd the Innocence of Ignatius when he was upon the point of exposing him to publick shame being yet at Paris and hearing the great things which Ignatius and his Companions had done in Italy judg'd that Men of their Mould would be very useful in the East-Indies which were newly conquer'd by the Portuguez He writ about it to Father Ignatius whose Sentiment he would first know before he made any Overture of it in the Court of Portugal The Father prais'd God that he had open'd to him the Door of a new World after shutting that of the Holy Land and he conceiv'd an ardent desire of going himself to carry the Gospel into so many Idolatrous Nations He answer'd Govea That he and his Companions were ready to go into any Place in the World where the Vicar of Jesus Christ should please to send them That they had devoted their Service to him upon the account of Missions and that they could not dispose of themselves without the leave and good liking of his Holiness Govea sent the Answer of Ignatius to John the Third King of Portugal together with his own Thoughts concerning the Conversion of the Indians This Prince who was very Religious and no less careful of Establishing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in those Countries newly discover'd then of Enlarging the Dominion of Portugal gave Order at the same time to Don Pedro Mascaregnas his Ambassador at Rome to obtain of his Holiness six at least of these Evangelical Labourers recommended to him by Govea and to bring them along with him The Ambassador who was particularly acquainted with Ignatius and even made use of him for his Confessor shew'd him the Order of his Master The Father answer'd That it belong'd to the Pope to determine upon the matter but if he might speak his own thoughts he was of opinion that two of the Fathers were as many as could well be spar'd for the Indies When Mascaregnas insisted upon the number prefix'd by the King Good God! reply'd Ignatius if of ten that we are six should go to the Indies what would there remain for all the other Countries of the World The Pope to whom Mascaregnas made all possible instance referr'd the Matter to Father Ignatius who still adher'd to his first Sentiment So that the Ambassador brought away no more with him but Simon Rodriguez and Francis Xaverius a small Supply indeed if we look only upon the number but very considerable in weight and value The two Missionaries being arriv'd at Lisbon labour'd there for the good of Souls while they waited for the departure of the Admiral in which they were to Embarque in Company of Martin Alphonso Soza who Commanded the Fleet. And their Labours from the very beginning gain'd them the Title of Apostles which in that Kingdom remains at this day to their Successors Some Lords of the Court inamor'd with the zeal of Xaverius and Rodriguez represented to the King that perhaps it would be more advantageous to keep them both in Portugal then to send them to the Indies The two Fathers who had their Mission appointed for the new World having some inkling of the Design of the Portuguez wrote presently to Rome and conjur'd their Father Ignatius to Interest his Holiness in behalf of their Mission Paul the Third would not appear in it but was of opinion the disposal of it should be left to the King Accordingly Father Ignatius sent to the two Fathers that they should follow the Direction of the King of Portugal whom they were to obey in this Circumstance as God's Vicegerent But he added that if perchance the King should ask what his Opinion was of it they might tell him his Judgment was That Xaverius should go to the Indies and that Simon Rodriguez should remain in Portugal The King received this Advice as an Oracle and as Ignatius Propos'd so it was Executed Wherefore for this reason alone we may in a manner attribute to him all those glorious things done by St. Xaverius in the Indies The Joy which Ignatius had to see his Companions preferr'd to be Apostles of a new World was a little allay'd by the opposition made to his chief-Design by the three Cardinals However he continu'd his Applications to the Pope with more warmth then ever At the same time he redoubled his Prayers to the Divine Majesty with great confidence and as if he were certain of success he promis'd one day to God three thousand Masses in acknowledgment of the Grace which he hoped to obtain His hopes were not deceiv'd Cardinal Guidiccione found himself chang'd all in an instant not knowing why and this sudden change seem'd to himself so extraordinary that he doubted not but God was the Author of it Now he read the Memorial which before he would not look upon and after well Examining it he said his Sentiment was still in general the same that new Orders of Religion were not to be admitted but for this which was now Presented he could not oppose it He farther declar'd that he even thought it necessary for the present State of Christendom and above all for stopping the Course of Heresies which began to over-run all Europe In effect there hardly appear'd any footsteps of the ancient Religion in the greatest part of Germany where the Lutherans
and the Anabaptists branch'd out into many contrary Sects only agreed together to destroy the Catholick Faith England separated from Rome follow'd the Deviations of Henry the Eighth whom she acknowledg'd for Head of the Anglicane Church Switzerland Piedmont and Savoy and all the Neighboring Parts were infected with the Errors of Zuinglius and Oecolampadius France was every where tainted with the Contagion of Geneva even into Italy it self the Venom had crept whither Calvin had sent his Institutions Translated into French and had so insinuated himself and his Doctrine into the good liking of Renée Dutchess of Ferara who was Daughter of Lewis the Twelfth that she and part of her Court had embrac'd the Heresie The Pope judg'd that in so fatal a Juncture the Church had need of extraordinary Succors He understood at the same time that the Disciples of Ignatius who were employ'd out of Rome did every where awaken and stir up the Spirit of Christianity and that the most harden'd Sinners could not resist the force of their Exhortations Among the remarkable Conversions that of a Priest of Sienna was most admir'd by the Pope This Priest had liv'd a very dissolute Life He was not content only to compose Comedies to entertain the People but he would sometimes Act in them himself to the high scandal of all good Christians who could not endure to see the same Man sometimes at the Altar and sometimes upon the Stage Brouet and his Companion Strada that young Spaniard whom Ignatius had gain'd in his return from Monte-Cassino had toucht him so to the quick with their Discourses that after having made a Spiritual Retirement he with the leave of the Grand Vicar publickly asked pardon of the People with a Rope about his Neck for the Scandal he had given and afterwards shut himself up in a Convent of Recollects where he spent the rest of his days in rigorous Pennance The Pope being mov'd with so many extraordinary Actions and more powerfully incited by an inward Impulse confirm'd at last the Institute of Ignatius under the Title of The Society of Jesus by the Bull Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae This Bull which was Expedited the 27th of September in the year 1540 contains the Elogy of the first ten Fathers and says in express words that there is nothing but what is Good and Holy in this new Institute The Pope by the same Bull gave them leave to make Constitutions such as they should think most proper for their own perfection for the Good of their Neighbour and for the Glory of God It is true that he limited the number of the Professed and restrain'd them to Sixty but this restriction he took away two years after by another Bull and it was the Interest of Christianity which oblig'd him so to do as he himself declares As soon as the Holy See had approved the Society of Jesus Ignatius judged it necessary to begin with chusing a Superior and to this effect he called to Rome with leave of the Pope such of his Company as were free to come For Xaverius and Rodriguez were at the Court of Portugal Faber was at the Dyet of Worms and Bobadilla had Order expresly from the Pope not to leave the Kingdom of Naples till the business committed to him was ended So that these four Fathers assisted not at the Election The two first left their suffrages behind them when they left Rome Faber sent his and tho' Bobadilla did not do so either for want of conveniency or for that he hoped from day to day to be back in Rome yet at his return he confirm'd the choice which the others had made When le Jay Brouet and Laynex were come they took three Days seriously to consider whom they should chuse which time they past in Prayer and Recollection The fourth Day they met and all the Voices were for Ignatius except his own which he gave to him who should have most Suffrages but still excepting himself He did not declare for any body by Name either because he could not decide who was most worthy or that he would not shew any partiality but hold the ballance even Whereas some of these Suffrages which every one gave in Writing are still preserved the Reader perhaps may be curious to see them as they are taken out of the Originals I protest says Francis Xaverius in his own Tongue that without having been solicited by any Person I judge according to my Conscience that we ought to chuse for Head of our Society our antient Superior and true Father Don Ignatius who after having gather'd us together with so great pains will best know how to maintain and govern us as best knowing each of us in particular Our thrice honor'd Father Don Ignatius de Loyola says John Codurus in Latin is he to whom I give my voice as having always found him inflam'd with the Zeal of Gods Glory and of the good of Souls I farther believe that he ought to be the Superior over the rest because he has always made himself the least and has ever been the servant of us all The Suffrage of Salmeron is the most in Form and the Largest In the Name of Jesus Christ says he I Alphonsus Salmeron most unworthy of this Society after having besought God and duly examin'd the thing in question as far as I am capable do hereby chuse and declare Don Ignatius of Loyola for my own and the whole Societies Superior General Whereas by the wisdom which has been Communicated to him from above he hath ingender'd us all in Jesus Christ and nourisht us with Milk in our Spiritual Infancy now that we are grown more adult and strong in our Lord he will give us the Solid nourishment of Obedience will conduct us in the Celestial Pastures to the Fountain of life to the end that when he shall give up this small Flock to the chief Pastor Jesus Christ we may truly say We are his People and the Sheep which his hand has conducted and that he with joy may also say Lord I have lost none of those which you have given me May the Good Pastor Jesus give us all this Grace Amen Ignatius afflicted and even surpriz'd to see himself chosen General Brethren said he I am not worthy of this imployment and I assure you I shall not be able to discharge it For how shall I conduct others who am not able to conduct my self I speak to you with all possible sincerity when I consider the disorders of my former life and the weaknesses of my present life I cannot resolve to accept of this charge of General wherefore I conjure you in the Name of God not to take it ill that I refuse it and that you would again for the space of three or four Days implore the Divine assistance so to enlighten us all that we may chuse for our Father and Superior him who is most capable of well governing our Society Tho' this refusal
permitting their fall and for having undeceiv'd the World which thought them to be greater Saints then they were and that for the future they should always have their fall before their Eyes to make them more humble and to walk more warily that others also may learn by their example to have a care of falling even when they think themselves least in danger VI. That in the hour of Recreation after Meals they should be mindful of that Modesty which the Apostle requires in our conversation to be chearful without Levity and to be sober without fullenness That in their exterior Functions they should never let pass the occasions of a present and certain good out of imaginary hopes of some great good to come which is uncertain In conclusion that they keep themselves firm in their Vocation and continually upon their Guard against the deceits of the malignant Spirit who labors to draw every one out of his way tempting Monasticks to outward Imployments and Apostolical men to the repose of Solitude Francis Xaverius for whom the King of Portugal had procured without his knowledge a Brief of Legate Apostolical in the Indies parted about this time from Lisbon and left there Simon Rodriguez The same year Paul the Third sent Alphonso Salmeron and Pasquir Brouet into Ireland with the Characters of Nuncius to maintain the Catholick Faith among those People who notwithstanding the Edicts of Henry the Eighth still remain'd in Communion with the Holy See The Common-wealth of Venice demanded James Laynez Doctor Ortiz carry'd Peter Faber along with him to Madrid Nicholas Bobadilla and Claud le Jay went to succeed in the place of Faber at Vienna and at Ratisbone While these Gospel Laborers animated with the Spirit of Ignatius were at work in so many different places for the good of Souls Ignatius upon the same account was in his own person no less active at Rome Assisting the sick in the Hospitals and elsewhere he found that the greatest part of them went not to Confession till almost at the hour of death when for the most part Repentance is ineffectual He represented this disorder to the Pope and at first humbly propos'd to him to renew the Decretal of Innocent the Third which Ordains that the Physician shall not visit the sick till they have first been at Confession But afterwards he judged that to the end such a Decree might be more duly observ'd it ought to be a little moderated so as it might be lawful for the Physitian to make two visits to a Patient before Confession but that the third should be forbidden under grievous Penalties The Pope follow'd the advice of Father Ignatius and this Christian practice is exactly observ'd in Italy even to this day Rome was at that time full of Jews and some of them open'd their eyes to the Truth since the new Society explicated the Mysteries of Faith but the fear of Poverty hinder'd them from declaring themselves Father Ignatius offer'd his house to those who would be made Christians and many there were who abjured Judaism The number of the Converts daily increasing by the Conversion of some prime Men of the Synagogue who disabus'd he rest he undertook to found a House where all such Jews should be instructed who demanded Baptism and he engag'd divers Persons of Piety to concur in so holy an Establishment He obtain'd of the Pope that the Jews who were Converted should lose no part of their Goods which were lawfully gain'd that such Goods as had been gain'd by Usury and of which restitution could not be made for want of knowing to whom they belong'd should be imploy'd towards the relief of the new Converts and that the Children who embraced Christianity against the will of their Parents should inherit as if they had not chang'd their Religion There were also in the City many Maids and Women whom necessity had cast into evil courses some of them who had not quite lost the fear of God had a horror of their infamous life but yet they continu'd it as not knowing whither to go or how to live There was indeed at that time a Monastery establish'd of the Magdalenists but they receiv'd only such as would be Religious and would pass the rest of their days in Solitude and Penance Father Ignatius considering that the Grace which excites sinners to leave Vice doth not always carry them so far as to leave the World and that the state of Marriage is not consistent with that of Religion Form'd the design of another House where secular Maids and Married Women might be indifferently admitted He communicated this Project to the principal Gentlemen of Rome who all approv'd it and promis'd to contribute to so beneficial a Foundation provided that some body would undertake to begin the Work The Father finding that no body would be the first to embark in it boldly began it himself Father Codatius Procurator of the Casa Professa caus'd some great Stones to be drawn out of the ruins of Antient Buildings in a place belonging to the new Society which stood before their Church Father Ignatius order'd him to sell as much as came to a hundred Duckets and having receiv'd the Mony he carry'd it to those Roman Gentlemen who durst not venture to lead the Dance in so Pious an undertaking If no body will be the first he said smiling at least let some body second me and threw down his Mony before them They all of them furnisht great Sums and in less then a Month a House was built for the Married and Unmarried Penitents called the Monastery of St. Martha He carried them thither himself and was not ashamed to appear about the Town in the company of Publick sinners He was sometimes told that he lost his time and that such Women were never heartily converted If I did hinder them but one night from offending God he reply'd I should think my time and my labour well imploy'd He also took great care of young Maids that were expos'd to great hazard either for want of Education or for want of means and for these he caus'd another Monastery to be Founded by the name of St. Catharine The method which he observ'd in this sort of good Works was first to engage as many Rich and devout Persons as he could next to chuse some Cardinal of great Piety to be their Protector and then to settle Trustees for the Temporal and Directors for the Spiritual who might prudently govern such Houses according to those Statutes they should agree upon But when the business was well Cemented and went currantly on it was his custom to withdraw himself that he might not give jealousie to any body and to betake himself to some other work that might be profitable to the Publick The next affair that he chiefly labour'd in was to procure a Fund for the subsistance of Orphans in which he also succeeded and two Houses were Erected in Rome the one for Boys and the
Joan as to hold forth That in this Coming of Jesus Christ which according to his Predictions was to happen in few years she should be the Redeemeress of Women as Jesus Christ was to be the Redeemer of Men and he compos'd a Book on this Subject Entituled De Virgine Veneta As we wander without end when we leave the straight Line of Truth and whereas Fanaticism borders upon Phrenzy Postel publish'd in his other Books That all Sects should be saved by Jesus Christ That the greatest part of the Mysteries of Christianity were only Fables That the Angel Raphael had reveal'd to him the Divine Secrets and that his Writings were the Dictates of Jesus Christ himself So many Impieties would perhaps have cost him his Life if he had not been judg'd Distracted He was shut up for his Extravagances and remain'd several years in Prison at last he made his escape and after having a long while roam'd about he return'd into France by the way of Geneva more Libertine and more Extravagant then ever Yet at last it pleas'd God to give him his Wits and the Grace to acknowledge his Impieties in an extream old Age and to die in the Communion of the Church It is said that he liv'd an hundred years and that about the end of his days he in a manner grew young again so that his white Hairs return'd to be black About the time that Father Ignatius Expell'd Doctor Postel his Holiness Paul the Third who ever since his Promotion still had it in his thoughts to remedy the Evils of Christendom and who had lately made Peace between the Emperor and the King of France demanded two Divines of the Society who should Assist in his Name with his Legats at the General Council to be held at Trent The Father chose James Laynez and Alphonsus Salmeron both of them indeed very young the first being Four and thirty and the other but Thirty years old but both of them so Learned and so Instructed in the Matters of Religion that the old Divines look'd upon them as their Masters Laynez whom the Venetians obtain'd from the time that the Institute was first Approv'd by the Holy See was Employ'd over the whole State of the Signiory and the chief of his Business was to preserve Venice Padua and the other Towns from the Errors of Germany where they had insensibly crept in Salmeron did the same at Modena whither after his return from Ireland he had been call'd by the Cardinal John Moron Bishop of the Town into which Place those new Heresies had also found their way Tho' Father Ignatius did much relie upon the Vertue both of the one and the other yet the fear he had least the Title of The Pope's Divines in the most August Assembly of the World should a little dazle Men so young oblig'd him to give them before their departure some Advertisements and Instructions for their Conduct After recommending to them in general to seek in all things during the Council the greatest Glory of God and the common Good of the Church without neglecting their Neighbours Souls and their own Perfection he prescribes to them in Particular these following Rules Always to give their Opinions with modesty and in those occasions to shew more Humility then Learning To observe with great attention the Sentiments and Reasons of those who first Opine that afterwards they may either speak or be silent as the Matter requires When any Points are Debated always to set forth the Reasons on both sides that they may not appear wedded to their own Judgment and never to quote any living Author for a Guarrantie of their Opinions that they may not seem to be ty'd up to any Man's Judgment To Visit Hospitals at least every Fourth day to Catechize Children to Preach Pennance to the People but without touching in their Sermons upon any Point of Controversie which may perplex their Understandings but only in general exhorting them to submit their Judgments to the Decisions of the Church Lastly to excite their Auditors incessantly to pray for the good success of the Council This farther Advertisement he gives them That as in the Assemblies where Questions of Faith are Treated a moderate and concise Discourse is most suitable so when they come into the Chair they should be more diffuse and vehement He afterwards declar'd to them that these Directions did as well regard Claude le Jay who was at that time in Germany much employ'd in making head against the Hereticks and whom Cardinal Otho Bishop of Ausburg was upon sending to Trent in Quality of his Divine and of his Legat. He added That when they should be all three together they should live in a perfect Concord without interfering in Opinions and Judgments That every Night they should confer upon what had pass'd that Day and deliberate every Morning upon what they had to do the rest of the Day That they should let slip no occasion of doing good Offices to every body and to themselves in admonishing one another of their Faults in not leaving any thing uncorrected and in mutually animating one another to lead an unblameable Life The satisfaction which Father Ignatius had to see the Council open'd at last after so many Lets and Delays was much allay'd by the Misunderstanding then happening between the Pope and the King of Portugal which arose upon the account of the famous Michael de Silva This Portuguez descended from the Illustrious House of the Counts de Portalegre and Son of Don Diego de Silva who had been Governor to the King Don Emanuel having resided a long time with the Popes Leo the Tenth Adrian the Sixth and Clement the Seventh was call'd back from his Embassy of Italy by Don John the Third Successor to Don Emanuel and provided at his return not only with the Bishoprick of Viseu but also with the Office of Protonotury of Secretary of the Kingdom He was afterwards nominated Cardinal by Paul the Third who had known him in the former Pontificates Whereas his Promotion was properly the Work of Cardinal Alexander Farnesius his Friend and the Pope's Nephew Portugal being wholly a Stranger to it it shockt the King who would not have his Subjects owe their Preferment to any but himself So that this Prince would never be induc'd to give way that the Bishop of Viseu should receive his Cap. The Bishop perswaded that Princes do not easily recede and that having lost the good Graces of his Master he had more yet to fear departed secretly out of Portugal and went into Italy whither Fortune seem'd to call him Being come to Rome he was made Cardinal with great Solemnity and his Disgrace in Portugal joyn'd with his great Merit were the occasion of extraordinary Honors done him The King irritated with the Flight and with the Reception of the Bishop began his Resentment by depriving him of the Revenue of his Bishoprick and by forbidding his Subjects under grievous Penalties to
himself oppos'd it earnestly requesting Father Ignatius that he would leave him Rodriguez to instruct and educate the Prince his Son A young Portuguez called Antonio Monis who had been receiv'd into the Society about three or four years fled out of the Colledge of Conimbria upon the only motive of Libertinism After having lurk'd some time at Lisbon without daring to appear he rambl'd about all Spain and his curiosity led him to Montserrat This holy Place put good thoughts into him He grew sensible of his Apostacy when he beheld the Sword of Ignatius which still hung up near the Altar of our Lady and his Heart being touch'd he said with the Prodigal Child I will go to my Father He did so but being come to Rome he had not the confidence to appear before Father Ignatius who was inform'd of his desertion but he writ to him from the Hospital of St. Anthony of the Portuguez whither his necessities had forc'd him to retire The Father immediately took him out of the Hospital and provided him with all necessaries but he would not receive him into his House he made him lodge close by and so for twelve days kept him at a distance Monis spent that time in bewailing his Crime and the fervor of his Repentance went so far that he visited the seven Churches of Rome disciplining himself all the way Father Ignatius at last receiv'd him again among his Children and by divers marks of his kindness gave him to understand that he no longer look'd upon him as a Desertor This Charitable Reception did not hinder the Portuguez wounded with remorse of his sin from falling into a lingering Feaver which by degrees brought him to his end But he conceiv'd no little comfort and joy to die in the Arms of his good Father and he ceas'd not from praising the Mercy of God which had recall'd him into the Society In this while Father Ignatius had news that the three Divines who were come to Trent to assist in the Council which was now begun did worthily maintain the Honor of the Society and the Interest of the Church Le Jay who first arriv'd there immediately enter'd into the good opinion and esteem of the Cardinal of Trent who consulted with him upon the most difficult affairs Salmeron pronounc'd before the Fathers of the Council a very Eloquent Oration in Latine which gain'd the applause of the whole Assembly Laynez made himself admir'd from the first time that he spoke and they all three made their profound Learning so eminently appear that the Popes Legates gave them the Imployment of making a Collection of all the errors of the Antient and Modern Hereticks with all the Authorities of Scripture Fathers Councils and Doctors which directly oppose them But that which most pleas'd Father Ignatius was that when they were not imploy'd upon the business of the Council they visited Hospitals Catechiz'd Children and begg'd Alms not only for poor Catholick Soldiers who had serv'd in Germany of whom the Town was full but also for themselves The Popes Legates seeing their Cassocks all worn out caus'd new ones to be made for them that they might appear more decently in the Council but they when the Sessions were over did still put on their old ones again Of all the Transactions they duly gave an Account to their General and ask'd his Advice in difficult matters Having once made their Application to him to know how they were to carry themselves upon the subject of certain new opinions propos'd by some of the Prelates which did a little lean towards the Sentiments of Luther tho' they seem'd not to be very unreasonable he nevertheless expresly Commanded them not to leave them unoppos'd declaring to them that in matter of Religion the most plausible Novelties were often the most dangerous that speculative Arguments did not render a Doctrine more Catholick and that till such time as the Church shall decide what we are to believe of such suspected Opinions we should have a care how we judge or speak favorably of them They took his Answers for Oracles and Laynez did usually say that if Father Ignatius were at the Council he would do great Service to the Church In the mean time the Emperor not being able to resist the Prayers of the Catholicks declar'd War against the Protestants who would not acknowledge the Council Frederick Duke of Saxony and William Landgrave of Hesse were at the Head of an Army of fourscore thousand Men who were in their March against the Emperor's Forces so that whereas the troubles of Germany for some time had interrupted the Council Father Ignatius who had need of Laynez at Florence would have call'd him from Trent during this Recess But the Cardinal of Sancta Croce the Popes Legate stopt him not by his absolute Authority nor without writing to Father Ignatius For after having represented to him that they could not spare Laynez at Trent because he was appointed to make an exact Collection of the Heresies which regard the Sacraments he intreated him not to take it amiss that he detain'd the Father at least till such time as the Collection was finisht adding withal that if his reasons did not seem to him sufficient he would dismiss him upon his next orders The Bishop of Trieste dying about that time Ferdinand King of the Romans who had Zeal for Religion and to whom Trieste with its dependancies belong'd as being a Town within the Precincts of Istria of which the Arch-Dukes of Austria are Supream thought this Diocess being a near Neighbour to Germany would require a very Learned and Vigilant Pastor He cast his eyes upon Claud le Jay who was at Trent and immediately wrote to him about it The Prince had been inform'd what this Missioner of the Society had done at Ratisbon at Ingolstat and at Nurenburg in the Conversion of Hereticks and he had been himself a witness of the good effects which his Sermons had wrought at Worms among the Faithful The nomination of le Jay was a stroke of Thunder to him and it s said that he was like to die with grief He was a Man of the greatest modesty and who had propos'd to himself all his life time to shun Honor and Dignity according to the Spirit of his Father Ignatius He answer'd the King of the Romans that so heavy a charge was above his strength that dignities did not suit with the Society of Jesus and that Bishops were not thence to be chosen At the same time he inform'd Father Ignatius of King Ferdinands design and humbly requested him vigorously to mediate with the Pope to break it protesting withall that if Obedience did not tie him to attend the Council he would hide himself where no body should find him This refusal serv'd only to confirm Ferdinand in the choice which he had made He sent to Venice the Bishop of Labac his Confessor to prevail upon le Jay whom the Popes Legates had made
go thither against his will But understanding that the Bishop could work nothing upon a Man whom principles of Conscience had render'd inflexible he earnestly intreated the Pope that he would lay his Commands upon Father le Jay to accept of the Bishoprick of Trieste and he order'd his Embassador to follow the business with all Vigor at Rome Father Ignatius who had been allarm'd when he first heard the nomination of le Jay was much more so when he saw that the Pope and the Cardinals did approve it Whereas he was perswaded that the true interest of the Church requir'd that his Society should be extempt from all Ecclesiastical Dignities he spar'd no pains to convince the Sacred Colledge of it But finding that they were not of his sentiment and that Ferdinand still persisted in his he took a course which seem'd to him the most Natural and it was to write to Ferdinand himself Having therefore according to his custom implor'd the assistance of Heaven and caus'd the business to be retarded by the entermise of Margaret of Austria whose conscience he govern'd after the death of Father Codurus he writ in these terms to the King of the Romans We are not ignorant of your Majesties Zeal for the good of your People nor of the affection you are pleas'd to have for our Society We praise God for both and we humbly pray his Divine Majesty to furnish you with means happily to accomplish what your Piety undertakes But in rendring you our most humble thanks for the Favors and Graces you vouchsafe to heap upon us we must be bold to say you cannot oblige us more then by assisting us to march in the strait way of our Institute Ecclesiastical Dignities are so contrary to it that according to the Idea which we have of it nothing is more capable to alter and destroy it For those who form'd this Society made it their principal end to Preach the Gospel in all parts of the World and its true Spirit is to seek the Salvation of Souls and the Honor of God without being confin'd to imployments or places Religius Societies no longer can subsist then they preserve their primitive Spirit and if ours be lost or taken from us how can our Body be kept alive We are but nine Profest of which four or five have already refus'd Prelatures If one of us now should accept a Bishoprick will not the rest believe they have right to do the same And when the Members are thus separated what will become of the Community This little Order since its Birth has made no small progress by the way of Humility and of Poverty If the People should come to see us Cloth'd with Honors and Dignity will they not be scandaliz'd at the change of our Maxims and of our Conduct And will they not receive Impressions of us which may render us useless in the Ministery of the Gospel But what need we offer our reasons to your Majesty we implore your Goodness and your Wisdom We lay our selves under your Royal Protection We humbly supplicate for the service of Jesus Christ and for the good of Souls that you will vouchsafe to maintain to the Honor of his Divine Majesty this little new born Society May it please the same Infinite Goodness long to preserve your Sacred Person and to pour on you all sorts of Benedictions The Letter of the General had all the effect that could be desir'd Ferdinand laid down his thoughts of Father le Jay for the Bishoprick of Trieste and he charg'd his Embassador to inform the Pope of it The occasion seem'd favorable to Father Ignatius fully to instruct the Pope upon this Subject One day he represented to him that this small Society which in the whole number did not contain more then two hundred Persons would in a little time grow weak and be quite dissipated if their ablest Subjects which are the support of the rest should be drawn from them That the promotion of one might cause great disorders by stirring up Ambition in the rest That when Religious Persons have once pretentions of Greatness they grow more Worldly then the very Men of the World That those who had embrac'd the Institute of the Society out of a Spirit of Charity and of Zeal would easily fall off from their laborious Imployments through the hope of Ecclesiastical Preferment or at least the prospect of it would make their motives less pure and their intentions less direct That Jealousie would not fail to insinuate it self among several Competitors and that if all did not aspire to Honors there would at least be but little union among those who acted not by the same designs and principles He added that the Profest being devoted to the Service of the Holy See in regard of Missions and having more access in the Court of Rome they would be more in the occasion of seeking and would have more opportunity of obtaining Preferments That laboring in the Courts of Princes they would be less free and courageous in discharging the duty of their Ministery if there were something for them to hope here below and that the Princes themselves would perhaps make less use of them if their services look'd for Recompence Nor did he pretend herein to disapprove the accepting Ecclesiastical Dignities nor to condemn those Religious who are thereunto rais'd for the good of Christianity and who possess them with the Edification of the Faithful That there is great difference between this Society and other Orders That these by their Antiquity and long continuance had acquir'd strength sufficient to bear the weightiest charges but that the other being newly enter'd into the world was yet too weak for them Holy Father he said recalling his Antient Idea's of the War I consider all other Orders in the Army of the Church Militant as so many Squadrons of Cuirassiers who are to remain in the Post assign'd them who keep their Ranks and face the Enemy always in the same Order and with the same manner of fighting But for us he continu'd we are as so many Light Horsemen who must be always ready upon occasion of Alarms and Surpizes to Attack or make a Stand according to different conjunctures to go every where and to Skirmish on all sides He concluded that Missioners such as they were who must not only go from Town to Town from Province to Province but must fly from one Pole to the other at the least beck of the Vicar of Jesus Christ could not be fixt any where With these reasons the Pope did acquiesce and was perswaded that their refusal of Ecclesiastical Dignities would not be less beneficial to the Church then to the Society Some have believ'd that the business of Trieste gave the first occasion to the General of obliging the Profest by Vow not to seek after Prelatures and to refuse them when offer'd But it is certain that he had taken that Resolution before and from the time that he
Society made who Studied at Paris because he look'd upon that University as the principal Seminary of his Order But if he understood that any of the Professors of Spain Italy and Sicily did follow singular Opinions in opposition to those commonly receiv'd in Schools he presently remov'd them how great Wits soever they were and he said that if he liv'd a thousand years he would never give over crying down all Novelties in Divinity in Philosophy and even in Grammar After the same fashion he treated those whom their Learning had made self-conceited or less devout And he was wont to say that Science is lost upon him who makes ill use of it By devotion he did not mean Spiritual Gusts and Interior Consolations but a steady and faithful performance of Devout Exercises and of Religious Vertues For he well knew that the time of Studies was not the proper season of those Celestial Favors which require a Spirit of Recollection and we read in one of his Letters that we are not to be startled at it if speculative Sciences and human Learning should diminish in us that kind of sensible Devotion That provided in Studying we only seek God our Studies are good Devotions and that if we allot to Prayer the whole time which the Rule prescribes we ought not to concern our selves whether we find in it sweetness or driness So that there was nothing which he recommended more both to the Professors and to the Scholars of his Order then to Dedicate all their Labours to the greater Glory of God and to perswade themselves that Study with so noble an intention was more agreeable to Heaven then continual Prayer The Zeal of William Duke of Bavaria furnisht Father Ignatius with a fair occasion of shewing the Abilities of three Learned Persons This most Catholick Prince who was the support of the Ancient Religion in Germany demanded of the General some able Divines that might raise up the Honor of Theology in the University of Ingolstadt where the Hereticks had render'd Divine Sciences very contemptible The Father chose Salmeron and Canisius to whom he joyn'd le Jay whom the Duke by name requir'd and who was spar'd for a time by the Duke of Ferara at the instance of Cardinal Farnesius But to the end that these three Divines might have a Character to Authorize their Doctrine he would have them as they past through Bologna to receive the Degree of Doctor after the usual Examens And this was solemnly done by the order of Cardinal John Maria de Monte who was then Nuncius Apostolicus and was afterwards chosen Pope by the Name of Julius the Third With this Title of Doctors of which the Germans are very fond and which by the Protestants was so much magnifi'd in the Person of Luther Le Jay Canisius and Salmeron were well receiv'd at Ingolstadt Salmeron undertook to explicate the Epistles of St. Paul le Jay the Psalms of David and Canisius the Master of the Sentences Each of them perform'd their Readings with so much Credit and Fruit that Duke William resolv'd to Build for them a magnificent Colledge His death disappointed the design but he recommended to his Son Albert the care of these Children of Ignatius Tho' the Saint extreamly desir'd that the Society which was born in France should also grow and have Credit there as it had in Germany and in many other places yet in that Kingdom it still remain'd obscure without making any progress The Jesuits of Paris were shut up in the Colledge of the Lombards where they lodg'd applying themselves only to Study and to good works True it is that William de Prat Bishop of Clermont who had known the new Society at the Council of Trent very much favor'd them But the Bishop of Paris who had receiv'd doubtful impressions of them was not their Friend and a certain Doctor who had the Bishops friendship declar'd War openly against them every where saying that this newly born Society had something of the Monster in it and that it could not be long liv'd that he who had set it on foot was a little Spanish Visionary that it was better to relieve Beggers and Vagabonds then these Jesuits and that it would not be ill done to have them driven out of the Kingdom While this Doctor was so violent at Paris against Ignatius and his Order the Father Master John Avila that famous and fervent Preacher and that enlightned Director publisht in Spain that the Society of Jesus was the work of God and that if his Age would have permitted it he should have embrac'd the Institute of Ignatius He added that he knew no man more interior and fill'd with more supernatural wisdom That he had conceiv'd formerly within himself the same design which this new Founder had executed but that he was in respect of Ignatius but as a Child compar'd to a Giant or to a Man of great Strength who carries a burden without feeling it which the Child cannot lift up This Doctor very much approv'd what Father Ignatius had writ to him concerning the invectives of Melchior Cano That according to the Authorities of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church we ought not to suffer the Reputation of Evangelical Ministers to be run down And that when ill meaning prepossest Persons would bring suspicion and infamy upon them it was necessary to implore the Assistance of the Holy See to stop the career of Calumny or at least to shew the injustice of it On the other side Lewis de Granada so famous for his Piety and for his Writings one of the Chiefest Ornaments of the holy Order of St. Dominick highly exalted the Society in Portugal and Preaching one day in the Town of Ebora before Cardinal Henry he said that the new Society was an Assembly of Apostolical men chosen by God to renew in these latter times the sanctity of the first Ages He said upon another occasion that he had receiv'd so much light from the Spiritual Exercises of Father Ignatius that his whole life would not suffice to write down what God had communicated to him in the Practice of those Exercises The affection which the Carthusians testifi'd in all places to the Society did it no small Honor. This holy Order which has always preserv'd its primitive Spirit and which respresents on Earth the life which the Angels lead in Heaven not content to Favor the Jesuits upon all occasions would farther contract with them a strait Alliance in making them participate of their Prayers their Sacrifices and Abstinences requiring the like from them to be made partakers of their Works of Charity To this effect the whole Order writ to Father Ignatius in the time of their General Chapter and the Letter which was sign'd by Don Peter de Sardis Prior of the Grande Chartreuse mentions that he and his Religious being edifi'd with the innocent Life the holy Doctrine and the Apostolical labours of the Society of Jesus had
himself whom Manar had preacquainted with the Matter and so Michel left a Paper of the Propositions in their hands that they might Examine them at leisure But instead of Examining them they carry'd the Papers to Father Ignatius whereupon the Father doubting no longer neither of the Doctrine nor of the Intentions of Michel inform'd the Grand Inquisitor John Peter Caraffa who was afterwards Pope of the whole Matter and at the same time Expell'd the Impostor The Inquisitor caus'd him to be Arrested and after he had been kept some Months in close Prison which oblig'd him tho' unwillingly to confess the truth he was condemn'd to the Galleys This Artifice not having succeeded with the Protestants they had recourse to another which was to send to the Fathers at Rome two great Chests of Books of which the greatest part were very proper to poison Youth Oliver Manar who open'd the Chests found that those at the top were Catholick Books and all the rest Heretical he presently advertis'd Father Ignatius of it The Father at the very first divin'd whence such an Alms should come and order'd that all the Books should be burnt and their Ashes to be thrown into the Wind as if he were afraid they should infect the House nor could he according to his own Maxims otherwise do being perswaded that all that comes from Hereticks ought to be suspected and not permitting that any of their Books should be read in the Society how good soever they might be For said he when we read a good Book writ by a bad Man after having taken pleasure in the Book we grow insensibly affected to the Author even sometimes to believe that all that such an Author writes is reasonable This he particularly apply'd to Erasmus and to such like Authors a great while before their Works were condemn'd And he grounded his Opinion upon the Authority of S. Basil who says in express terms That a Religious Person ought not only to have in horror the Doctrine of Hereticks but also not to read any Books but such as come from an Orthodox Pen and are approv'd by the Church because the Words of the Impious according to the Sentiment of the Apostle are like a Gangrene which taints and corrupts by degrees all that is sound But Father Ignatius had yet more troublesom Rencounters even with Catholicks and with a principal Prelate of the Church The Archbishop of Toledo newly declar'd himself again against the Society notwithstanding the Bulls which Approv'd the Institute and Exercises His pretence was that the Jesuits whom they call'd Theatines did intrench upon the Rights of Episcopacy by the liberty which they took of Administring the Sacraments in all Places under colour of their pretended Priviledges There was but one Colledge of the Fathers in his Diocess which was that of Alcala He one day Interdicted them all and thunder'd out a Sentence of Excommunication against all Persons that should Confess to them He commanded at the same time all the Religious and Curates within his Diocess not to suffer any of the Society either to Preach or to say Mass in their Churches and that which exceeds Imagination he suspended all the Priests in Toledo from hearing Confessions who had made the Spiritual Exercise The General far from being afflicted at this violent Persecution did in some manner rejoyce at it This new Tempest said he to Ribadeneyra is a good Omen If I am not mistaken it is an evident sign that God will be serv'd by us in Toledo For Experience has taught us that to our Society Contradictions and Persecutions always prepare the way and that the more it is oppos'd in any Place the more fruit it there produceth In the mean time he writ into Spain that all Endeavors should be us'd to satisfie the Archbishop Villanova who was Rector of the Colledge of Alcala a moderate and prudent Man made to him all manner of Submission but the Archbishop grew more inflexible by how much the Rector was more submiss All means were us'd to mollifie and appease him The Friends of the Society and especially Cardinal Francisco Menâ—za who design'd to Erect a Colledge in the Town of Burgos of which he was Bishop left no means untry'd to procure their Peace When Father Ignatius understood that nothing could prevail with the Archbishop he at last inform'd Julius the Third with what had pass'd at Toledo and also order'd the Fathers of Alcala to â—â—â—sake their Complaints to the Privy-Council of Spain The Pope caus'd a Letter to be writ to the Archbishop by Cardinal Matheo Secretary of State which imported That it was much wonder'd at in Rome that the Society of Jesus should be so ill treated at Toledo since it was in so good Esteem and so well receiv'd in all other Parts of the World On the other side the King's Council having examin'd the Bulls and the Priviledges of the order and judging that the Conduct of the Archbishop did directly oppose the Holy See they made a Declaration in favour of the Fathers The â—â—â—ter from Rome and the Declaration of the Counâ—â— brought the Prelate to reason He presently annull'd his former Acts and re-establish'd the Jesuits in all their Rights As soon as Father Ignatius had news of it he sent him his most humble thanks in a Letter full of Acknowledgment and submission and the more to gain him he promis'd that the Fathers of Alcala should make no use of their Priviledges nor receive any Person among them without his Approbation At this time the Society had two great Losses Claude le Jay dy'd at Vienna in Austria and Francis Xaverius in the Island of Sancian near China They were also in danger the same year of losing Father Francis de Borgia but after another manner and they would certainly have lost him if Father Ignatius had not preserv'd him by such means as I shall now relate Borgia upon his return out of Italy retir'd himself into Biscay and made choice of the Colledge of Ogniate to consummate his Sacrifice by renouncing the Dutchy of Gandia and all the remainders of his Greatness He chose that Place in regard of its Neighborhood to Loyola whether his Devotion led him before he came to Ogniate And it is said that entring into the Chamber where Father Ignatius was born he fell down upon his Knees and kiss'd the Ground with a Religious respect and after having given thanks to the Divine Goodness for having brought such a Man into the World he made it his Prayer that since he had taken Ignatius for his Guide and his Master he might have the Grace exactly to follow his Counsels and his Example He departed from Loyola animated with a new Spirit and he liv'd so holily that all admir'd to see in him at his very entrance into Religion consummated Sanctity When the Emperor Charles the Fifth understood that Don Francisco de Borgia of a Grandee of Spain was thus transform'd into a Jesuit he sent to
the Pope to bestow upon him a Cardinal's Cap for which his Holiness needed no great Solicitation for he had seen Father Francis the Year before and was so edified with his Vertue that even then he had it in his thoughts to make him a Cardinal So that now he resolv'd to comply with the Emperor and the Matter was resolv'd with the general Approbation of the sacred Colledge Father Ignatius being inform'd of the Pope's Resolution thought himself oblig'd to oppose it for the Interest of the Society and for the Honor of Father Francis whom the World would not fail to reproach with having resign'd his Dukedom of Gandia to his Son in prospect of a Cardinal's Cap. But the better to find out the Will of Heaven in a Matter so nice and so important he shut himself up three days together and communicated only with God in Prayer The first day he found himself altogether indifferent without inclining more on one side then on the other The second day he felt a propension in himself rather to break the Design then to let it go on But the third day he was so convinc'd that it was not the Will of God to have Father Francis made a Cardinal that he said to an intimate Friend If all the World should throw themselves at my Feet to beg of me not to oppose the Promotion of Father Francis I would not desist In effect notwithstanding all the Intreaties of the Emperor's Ministers and of those who pretended Zeal for the Honor of the House of Borgia he would not relent He began his Solicitation by interessing those Cardinals in the Matter who were best instructed in the Nature of his Institute but finding that they more consider'd the Honor of the Sacred Colledge then the Advantage of the Society and the Reputation of Father Francis he apply'd himself immediately to the Pope and ply'd him with so many strong Arguments that his Holiness was forc'd to yield The truth is that he found an Expedient to content the Court of Rome and the Court of Spain and also to do Honor to Father Francis without doing wrong to the Society which was That the Pope should offer him the Cap but that if the Father did refuse it his Holiness should not compel him to take it The thing was Executed as Ignatius had laid it And the Cap of which the Offer was sent to Father Francis in his Solitude at Ogniate no otherwise pleas'd him then in giving him an occasion of Sacrificing to God the Dignities of the Church after his having made a Sacrifice to him of the Grandeurs of the World The Conduct of Father Ignatius and the Example of Father Francis caus'd a Resolution in Don Antonio de Cordoua to enter into the Society He was the Son of Laurence Suarez de Figueroa Conde de Feria and of Catherine Fernandez de Cordoua Being young and very well accomplish'd he made himself a Churchman only upon the Motives of Piety Philip Prince of Spain who particularly lov'd him desir'd the Emperor to procure for him a Cardinal's Cap. Charles the Fifth did what the Prince desir'd but Don Antonio resolving wholly to leave the World by the Example of his Cousin Borgia thought the surest way to avoid the Honor which was prepar'd for him would be to shelter himself in the Society of Jesus as in a Sanctuary He writ a long Letter to Father Ignatius upon this Subject in which after having laid open the Motives of his Vocation Father he said to him since God has placed you in his Church to be the Refuge of those who are out of their way I desire you to receive me into the number of your Children The young Lord was receiv'd and in time became one of the greatest Men of the Society THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The Fifth BOOK WHereas Father Ignatius secluded his Order from Ecclesiastical Dignities upon the only Motive of better Serving the Church accordingly his thoughts were always watchful to observe and relieve the Necessities of Christianity and his Care extended it self even to the remotest Parts of the World But his principal Consideration was of the Northern Countries desolated by Heresie The greatest part of Germany had in a manner quite lost their ancient Piety the Books of Hereticks were every where scatter'd and every where read with Impunity And the younger sort out of those poyson'd Fountains drew their first Principles of Religion The greatest part of the Catholicks could not endure the Name of Papist given them by the Protestants and grew almost asham'd of their Profession The Priests and the Religious were in great disorder and notwithstanding the Zeal of many Bishops for the Reformation of their Diocesses they could hardly find sufficient Curates to whom they might confide the Care and Government of Souls Father Ignatius Discoursing one day upon this Subject with Cardinal Moron they were both of Opinion that the only way to remedy so many Evils was to place in all Churches Pastors found in their Doctrine and unstain'd in their Life which should be of the German Nation but that it was necessary in the first place to have them well Form'd and Train'd which could not be done without Founding a Colledge where the young Men of the Country might be Educated in Learning and Piety That Germany being generally perverted there could be no Security there for the Establishing such a Colledge and that a properer Place could not be chosen then Rome where not to speak of the holiness of the Place which would inspire Catholick Sentiments the Presence and the Liberality of Popes would much conduce to the rise and support of so good a Work The Pope to whom Cardinal Moron and Cardinal Santa Croce first open'd this Matter very much approv'd this Design which he himself had formerly conceiv'd in his thoughts and gave a beginning to it by assigning a Fund for the Maintenance of the Colledge After which he order'd Father Ignatius not only to seek out and chuse young Students out of Germany but also to Govern and to Instruct them The Father immediately gather'd together Four and twenty out of several Provinces of Germany all of good Capacity and Education He afterwards by the Pope's Order drew up Rules and Statutes for their Government He appointed Fathers out of the Casa Professa and the Roman Colledge to be their Directors and Masters but with the management of their Revenue he would have nothing to do He said that such Administrations besides the fatigue and trouble of them often give occasion of suspicions and murmurings The principal Revenue of the German Colledge failing upon the death of Julius the Third Father Ignatius was in some apprehension lest the Colledge should break by reason of the Dearth then at Rome and of the Disturbances in Italy under the Pontificate of Paul the Fourth He therefore distributed a part of these young Strangers into several Colledges of the Society abroad and the rest he
Councils have Condemn'd of Error the Opinion of those who maintain'd that the particular Churches of Alexandria or of Constantinople were true Churches without being United to the Bishop of Rome the common Head of the Catholick Church out of which have descended in a continual Succession all the Popes from St. Peter to this day who by the relation of St. Marcellus the Martyr fix'd his Chair at Rome by order from Jesus Christ and cemented it with his own Blood These Popes have been held without Controversie to be the Vicars of Jesus Christ by innumerable holy Doctors Greek and Latin and of all Nations they have been acknowledg'd by Anchortes Bishops and other Confessors Illustrious for Sanctity Lastly they have been Authenticated by an infinity of Miracles and by innumerable Martyrs who have dy'd in the Union and for the Faith of the holy Roman Church It was therefore with good reason that in the Council of Calcedon all the Bishops cry'd with one Voice in Saluting the holy Pope St. Leo Most Holy Apostolick Universal and that in the Council of Constance those were Anathematiz'd who deny'd the Primacy and Authority of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World These Decrees so Express and so Authentick are farther confirm'd by the Council of Florence which was held under Eugenius the Fourth and in which were present the Greeks the Armenians the Jacobites and other Nations We Define say the Fathers of this Council that the holy See Apostolick and the Bishop of Rome hath the Primacy over all the Churches in the World that he is Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Head of the whole Church the Father and Doctor of all the Faithful that our Lord Jesus Christ hath given him in the person of St. Peter a full power to instruct to direct and to govern the Universal Church Wherefore the most Serene King David Father to your Highness with great right did formerly acknowledge by a sollemn Embassy the Church of Rome for the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And amongst the many illustrious Actions by which both he and you have recommended your Names to Posterity two there are which will outshine all the rest and for which your People ought to render immortal thanks to God Your Father is the first King of the Abyssins who put himself under the Obedience of him who holds the place of Jesus Christ upon Earth and you are the first who hath brought into your Dominions a true Patriarch a Legitimate Son of the holy See and deputed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ For if it ought to be reckon'd the highest Blessing as in effect it is to be United to the Mystical Body of the Catholick Church which is enliven'd and directed by the Holy Ghost teaching her all Truths according to the Testimony of the Evangelist If it be a great happiness to be enlightned with sound Doctrine to be settl'd and to rest upon the Foundations of the Church which the Apostle St. Paul writing to Timothy calls the House of God the Pillar and Basis of Truth to which our Lord Jesus Christ hath promis'd an Everlasting Assistance when he said to his Apostles Behold I am always with you to the end of the World as we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew These Nations have certainly great reason to thank their Saviour and Creator whose merciful Providence has made use of your Father and of your self to bestow such benefits upon them and their acknowledgment should the more shew it self in regard also of the Temporal Advantages which are likely to follow these Spiritual Blessings For we may justly hope that by the means of this Reunion with the Church your Enemies will soon be vanquish'd and your Empire enlarg'd The Priests which are sent you are indeed all but principally the Patriarch and the two Bishops of try'd Vertue and selected out of our Society for so important a Function in regard of their eminent Learning and of their perfect Charity They want neither Courage nor Zeal well to acquit themselves of their Ministry hoping that they shall Labour usefully for the Glory of God for the Conversion of Souls and for the Service of your Highness Their only desire is to imitate in some sort the Son of God who willingly suffer'd death to redeem Mankind from Eternal Damnation and who saith by the Mouth of the Evangelist I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd gives his Life for his Sheep The Patriarch and the rest animated by the Example of our Saviour come dispos'd to relieve and gain Souls by their Counsels by their Labours and even by their Death if need shall require The more freely your Highness shall be pleas'd to open your mind and to communicate your thoughts to them the greater I hope your inward Consolation will be And for what regards the Credit to be given to what they shall say either in private or in publick your Highness is not Ignorant that the words of these Missioners sent by the Holy See and chiefly those of the Patriarch have Apostolical Authority and in some sort are no less to be credited then the voice of the Church whose Interpreters they are And in regard that all the Faithful ought to adhere to the Sentiments of the Church obey her Decrees and consult her in doubtful Cases I am perswaded that your Piety will lead you to make an Edict which may oblige all your Subjects to follow without resistance the Orders and Constitutions both of the Patriarch and of those whom he shall substitute in his place The Deuteronomy teaches us that it was the Custom among the Jews in the Controversies and Difficulties which occur'd to have recourse to the Synagogue which was the Figure and Forerunner of the Christian Church For this reason it was that Jesus Christ said in the Gospel the Scribes and Pharisees are seated on the Chair of Moses the wise Man teaches the same thing in the Proverbs Do not neglect the Precepts of your Mother This Mother is the Church And in another place pass not the bounds which your Fathers have set these Fathers are the Prelates of the Church In conclusion Jesus Christ requires of us to have so great deference to his Church that he plainly tells us by the Evangelist St. Luke He who hears you hears me and he who contemns you contemns me And by St. Matthew If he hears not the Church let him be to you as a Heathen and a Publican Hence it follows that we must not hearken to those who hold forth any thing that is not conformable to the Sense and the Interpretation of the Catholick Church of which we are admonish'd by those words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians But altho ' we or any Angel from Heaven should Evangelize to you otherwise then we have Evangeliz'd to you be he Anathema In fine the Testimony of the Holy Doctors the Canons of Councils the Consent and
the Opinion of Ignatius his Sanctity did every day increase time making his Vertues more conspicuous yet the Fathers of Rome would not permit that any Vow-offerings should be made at his Tomb and a devout Person having once set up seven Lamps before it Father Claudius Aquaviva caus'd them to be taken away But the Piety of two famous Cardinals carry'd it against the Caution of the General of the Society The Children of Ignatius had a Custom once a Year to meet at the Tomb of their Father upon his Anniversary day and one among them made a short Oration setting forth the principal Actions of the Saint In the Year 1589 Cardinal Bellarmin who was the second of the Society whom Clement the Eighth oblig'd by special Command to receive the Hat desir'd to make this Speech Tho' the Cerimony was only for the Jesuits Cardinal Baronius would needs make one of the company to Honor the memory of a Man whom his Father Philips Nerius had esteem'd a Saint Bellarmin prov'd in his Harangue that the Illustrious Person Deceas'd had all requisites for being Canoniz'd among the Saints Baronius toucht and convinc't with Bellarmins discourse made a long Prayer upon the Tomb of Ignatius and many times kiss'd the Ground which cover'd his Body then suddenly rising up and turning towards the Fathers I came with a resolution said he to hearken and not to speak but the words of Cardinal Bellarmin have been to me as the stream of a River to the wheel of a Mill Tho' cumbersom and heavy of my self they have put me into motion He went on like a Man inspir'd and enlarg'd upon all that Cardinal Bellarmin had said before After which he reprov'd the Fathers for not having yet set up the Picture of their holy Founder over his Tomb and causing it to be immediately brought to him he set it up with his own hands and kneel'd before it with great Devotion all the Company following his Example with Tears of joy and affection No sooner was it known in Rome what Cardinal Baronius and Bellarmin had done but the People no longer doubted to give a Religious Veneration to Holy Ignatius which was Authoriz'd not only by the Example of two the most Exemplary and Learned Cardinals of the Sacred Colledge but also by a great number of Miraculous Cures in all parts Paul the Fifth mov'd by the reports of Father Ignatius his Holiness found within himself a strong impulse to have him honor'd as a Saint among all the Faithful To proceed in it according to the Rules of the Church he began the business by causing juridical Informations to be taken of the Life and Actions of the Servant of God Wherefore in the Year 1605 which was the first of that Popes Pontificate an exact enquiry was made of the Vertues that were most eminent in the Person of Ignatius and the account given by witnesses of known credit was as follows He was so recollected in his Prayers as if God were visibly present before him and that he spoke to his Divine Majesty like Moses face to face At the beginning of his Prayer his Countenance was inflam'd and commonly in the heat of his Devotion he had very violent Palpitations of the Heart and not unfrequent Raptures For his manner of Prayer it much resembl'd that of the Divine Hierotheus Master of St. Denis which by the Relation of St. Denis himself consisted in passively receiving the impressions of the Divine Spirit And one day he told Father Laynez who askt him about it that God Acted in him much more then he Acted himself All Objects spoke to him of his Creator He admir'd his beauty his wisdom his power in the least things a Worm a Flower a blade of Grass were any of them sufficient to put him into Contemplation But nothing rais'd him more to God then looking up to Heaven which he so frequently did that some who did not know his name us'd to call him the Man that still lifts up his Eyes to Heaven and always speaks of God Being General of the Society it was his Custom to go up into the Leads of the House where he had a free prospect of Heaven There he remain'd some while standing with his Eyes sixt on Heaven then he fell upon his Knees and ador'd God with all possible reverence next he sat down upon a little seat because his weakness did not suffer him long to remain otherwise and there he spent whole hours in great repose his Head bare his Face all in Tears and his Soul absorpt in God Not content to pass the Day in this Divine Exercise he divided the Night into three parts one was for Sleep another for Business and the chiefest for Prayer When he was first made Priest Illuminations and Tears came so thick upon him in reciting the Divine Office that he was forc't to make a pause at every Verse but when he said Mass he had such Lights and Affections as made him sigh and weep at every Word One Christmas-day saying Mass in the Church of St. John Lateran he was seis'd with such tender Devotion that he fell into a holy Passion of Weeping in the middle of the Sacred Mysteries insomuch that a Stander by who did not know him told Francis Strada who serv'd Mass Certainly you have a very wicked Priest there sadly tormented in his Conscience for all Mass-time he did nothing but weep for his Sins These continual Tears did in time so exhaust him and dissipate his Spirits that he grew very infirm and was in danger of losing his Sight Being admonish'd by the Physicians of the bad consequence of them to his Health he pray'd to God that their course might be stopt or at least that he might be master of them He obtain'd what he ask'd and got so absolute a command over his Tears that he could keep them back or let them flow at his pleasure but with this advantage that when they were kept in he felt in his Soul an Inundation of spiritual Delights The better to know what his Communications were with God it will not be amiss to hear him speak himself in a Paper which contains his interior Dispositions of four Months where he sets down day by day what pass'd in his Soul which Writing had the fortune to scape the Fire when he caus'd all other Papers of that nature to be burnt The Tears which I that day did shed seem'd very different from those which formerly came from me They dropt softly without noise or agitation they issu'd out of so deep a Source as I know not how to express Every thing excited me to the love of God as well the interior Voice as what I heard abroad but these divine Words had an unexpressible harmony which penetrated the bottom of my Heart The next Morning in time of Mass and also after Mass great store of Tears as the day before I then tasted a secret joy produc'd by the interior Voice and
this Voice was so melodious that it seem'd to me the Musick of Heaven In proportion to my Tears the ardor of Devotion increas'd in me and I seem'd to know and to understand in a manner altogether incorporeal Invocating the holy Virgin to Mediate for me to her Son and to the Eternal Father and then addressing my self to the Son of God to joyn with his holy Mother their Intercessions for me to God the Father I saw my self elevated in the Presence of the First Person of the Trinity and all my Hair stood an end I began my Prayer with a large profusion of Tears a vehement Devotion and many Illuminations concerning the most blessed Trinity So frequent and sweet were these Illustrations that I want Memory and Understanding to relate them I was so overflow'd with divine Lights with celestial Visits with spiritual Delectations accompanied with continual Tears that as often as I pronounc'd the Name of God or of Saviour I found my self struck with so profound a Submission as cannot be express'd After Prayer my interior Motions were extraordinary producing outwardly innumerable Sighs and Tears My Heart was inflam'd with the love of Jesus Christ and with the desire of dying with Him rather then to live with all the World besides When the Altar was prepar'd for the holy Sacrifice of Mass having Jesus Christ before my Eyes I found my self ardently inclin'd to follow him and looking upon him under the notion of Head of the Society I was by that Motive more powerfully determin'd then by all other Reasons inviolably to practise Evangelical Poverty Calling then to mind the time when the Eternal Father gave me to his Son and when the Name of JESUS was printed so deeply in me I fell into a new Fit of Sighing and Weeping Speaking to the Divine Majesty a torrent of Tears flow'd from my Eyes and the flames of my Love seem'd to have no bounds or limits and even to be joyn'd and united with the Divine Love it self Being at the Altar I had more tender Sentiments of Devotion and I wept so much that I was in fear of losing one of my Eyes if that course of Tears had continu'd At those Words of the Mass Placeat tibi sancta Trinitas there came upon me a deluge of Tears with an extraordinary ardency of Love All these Aspirations terminated in the most Holy Trinity which led me and drew me to the love of it Addressing my self to the Holy Ghost that I might be rightly dispos'd to say the Mass Instituted by the Church in his Honor it seem'd to me that I heard him and saw him in a visible Light under the appearance and colour of a bright Flame I clearly knew that the holy Virgin did Mediate for me to the Eternal Father I likewise saw at the time of Consecration that the Grace which I had came by her Intercession and that her Flesh was radically contain'd in that of her Son I had in time of Prayer from the beginning to the end great Sentiments of God In the Church out of the House it seem'd to me that I beheld our Country above and the Lord of Heaven by the intelligence I had of the three Persons of the Trinity Entring into the Chappel to pray I receiv'd a light and a power from above which enabl'd me to know or rather in a manner to see the most blessed Trinity Jesus Christ was shewn to me at the same instant to have obtain'd for me from the Trinity this intellectual Vision I had great Devotion in preparing my self for the Sacrifice of the Mass upon the consideration that to approach the holy Altar I ought to be as an Angel and this Sentiment brought Tears into my Eyes which were not of Grief but of Joy During Mass I made many Pauses and upon the sudden I was so enlightned concerning the Mystery of the Trinity that I thought I could not have acquir'd so much Knowledge by a long Study Another time in Prayer I felt so lively and fervent Devotion with such spiritual Delectation as rais'd me beyond and above my Senses After this at Mass more Tears then before came upon me even to the loss of my Speech In this while I had Lights in so great number and of such a nature that methought there was nothing more for me to learn concerning the most holy Trinity Celebrating the Divine Mysteries with a great deal of Fervor it seem'd to me that when I Pray'd to the Eternal Father Jesus Presented to him my Prayers and accompany'd them with his own I had then a Feeling and a View which cannot be exprest By the Fire-side I had again a Vision of Jesus and once more without-doors in the Streets as I went to Cardinal de Carpi and also as I came back from him and in divers other Places During these Apparitions I had many interior Motions and the sight of Jesus did so inflame me that I thought nothing could separate me from him This is part of what was contain'd in the Spanish Memoire writ by the Hand of Ignatius Whence may be seen how far that holy Man was advanc'd in all the Ways of an interior Life and to what pitch he was arriv'd of Union with God Accordingly he lov'd him so ardently and with so filial an Affection that he propos'd to himself in all his Actions no other Motive whatsoever but the Honor of his Divine Majesty He took for his Devise To the greater Glory of God not being content only to glorifie our Lord but to do it in the most excellent and perfect manner that Man is capable of with the assistance of Grace Entertaining himself one day with Father Laynez in the Company of Andrew Oviedo and Peter Ribadeneira What would you you do said he if God should tell you in case you would be content to die instantly I will give you eternal Glory but if you will still live I give you no assurance of your Salvation but I will judge you according to the state you shall be in at the hour of your death If I say our Lord should make this Promise to you and at the same time you should believe that remaining longer in the World you might do some Service to his Divine Majesty what would you chuse I confess Father reply'd Laynez that I should chuse without demurring to be secure of my Salvation I should not do so reply'd the Saint and if I thought that I could in any thing advance the Glory of God I should intreat him to let me live because it appears to me that I should not hazard much in so doing If a King should offer a great Recompence to one of his Subjects and this Subject should not take it upon the account only of being more at liberty to serve his Prince would not the Prince hold himself oblig'd to keep in store for him and even to increase the Recompence which for the sake of his Service only was not accepted But if the