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
serv'd only to confirm them in their first choice yet in deference to him they submitted to a new Election After four Days of Fasting and Pennance he was chosen the second time but he made a second endeavor to wave the Imployment He said that he would put the business into the hand of his Confessor and if he who knew all his bad inclinations should command him in the Name of Jesus Christ to submit he would then blindly obey The Fathers had great difficulty to yield to him in it They said that the will of God was sufficiently manifested and that it would be a kind of opposing it any longer to ballance upon the matter But at last his Authority carry'd it and he went to find out a Religious man of the Order of St. Francis called Father Theodosius to whom he ordinarily had used to Confess and only left him since the Holy See had confirm'd the Institute After exposing to him in a private conference both his Spiritual and Corporal Infirmities he made his Confession to him of his whole life in the three last Days of the holy Week Father Theodosius told him plainly that he resisted the Holy Ghost in resisting his Election and commanded him on the part of God to accept of the charge of General Father Ignatius did then yield and out of Obedience took upon him the Government of the Society of Jesus upon Easter-day in the year 1541. at which time they all agreed to make their solemn Profession the same Week which they did upon the Friday following being the 22th of April In this manner the Ceremony was perform'd They all went to visit the Seven Churches which are the principal Stations of Rome Being come to St. Pauls which is without the Walls of the Town Father Ignatius said Mass at the Altar of our Lady Before he took the Communion he turn'd towards the People and holding in one hand the Sacred Body of our Lord and in the other his Vows in Writing he pronounced them all with a loud voice and then took the Communion After which turning again to his Companions who were upon their Knees at the Foot of the Altar and holding five Hosts upon the Patten he receiv'd their Professions and then Communicated them They all engaged as he did to observe perpetual Poverty Chastity and Obedience according to the form of life contain'd in the Bull of their Institution They promised moreover a special Obedience to the Pope in regard of Missions set down in the said Bull and they obliged themselves to teach Children the Christian Doctrine There was this difference between the Profession of Father Ignatius and that of the others He made his Promise immediately to the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the rest made theirs to him as to their General and Chief The Mass being done they went altogether to the great Altar where the Bones of the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul are laid and there embracing their common Father they humbly kiss'd his hand in token of their Submission and Obedience The General began his Office with Catechizing in the Church of St. Mary de Strata which Peter Codacius an Officer of the Pope and Powerful in Rome caus'd to be given to the Fathers when they yet dwelt in an hired House This is he who charm'd with their holy life quitted great Benefices and by a Spirit of retirement ranged himself among them with no other intent but of taking care of their Temporals and of procuring them Alms. Tho' the new Superior made his Christian Instructions principally for Children according to his Vow yet all sorts of People came to hear him even Men and Women of Quality Divines and Canonists He explicated in Italian the Mysteries of Faith and the Commandments of God in a plain easie way accomodated to the understanding of the People In these explications he mingled some lively touches and incitements to Piety and Devotion and tho' his Language were a little Barbarous he made such Impression upon their minds that after having heard him they went away in silence with Tears in their Eyes and Compunction in their Hearts Their sorrow was sometimes so excessive that when after the Catechism they would go to Confession they could not speak for sighing and weeping He continued this Exercise forty Days together in the same Church and 't is according to this example that the Superiors of the Society make forty Days of Catechism when they enter into their Office But whereas nothing was more essential then to regulate the Conduct of the Members of this newly born Society before making any Constitutions in exact form he drew up for the present some general Regulations I. That as much as possibly they can they should always have God before their Eyes and that they should propose the life of Jesus Christ for the Pattern of their own II. That they should look upon God in their Superiors to execute their Orders and to honor their Dignity and that they should be perswaded that obedience is a Guide which never misleads an Oracle which never deceives That they should discover to their Superior the bottom of their Souls that so they may be rightly directed That they should abhor nothing more then being their own Guide and that they should wholly mistrust self-love by so much more blind by how much it thinks it self clear-sighted III. That in the Commerce of the World they should use the circumspection of those who succor Men that are drowning and that they should take heed not to lose themselves in the endeavoring to save others That they should not only love all as their Brothers but that every one should love his Brother as himself That they should never dispute in words with obstinacy and heat which often cools Charity if it doth not put it out and when they differ in opinion that the love of truth should rule their dispute and not the vain desire of getting the better IV. That silence be exactly kept among them unless it be when necessity obliges them to break it and that when they must speak they do it in a modest and Religious way That what great things soever it should please God to work by their Ministry they should not think any thing better of themselves nor Usurp the Glory of any good Action for the Instrument is nothing by its self but derives all its Vertue from the Arm which Governs it That they should reckon Wit Eloquence Learning as nothing in comparison of Vertue and that they should never think themselves better rewarded and paid for what they do in behalf of their Nighbour then when they shall receive affronts and outrages the only recompence which Jesus Christ receiv'd from the World for his Labours and Sufferings V. That if they should fall into any publick fault which might seem to dishonor them far from losing courage they should give thanks to God for having made them know their own weakness by
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
perfect tranquillity he often tasted that healing joy which the Holy Ghost doth usually pour into the Souls of newly converted Sinners so to give them a disgust of the Pleasures of the World and to sweeten to them the labour of Pennance This interior calm and these spiritual joys were now taken from him insomuch that in the times of his Prayer and in his Mortifications he found nothing but anxiety and dryness sometimes 't is true serenity of mind all on the sudden would return and with such a flood of consolations that he was even overwhelm'd and transported out of himself But these delicious moments had no continuance and he found himself often as it were precipitated from an illuminated state into desolation and darkness Having not had any experience of these different states and not knowing that Souls at their entrance into a Christian Life are often treated after that manner lest they should attribute the fervour they feel to their own forces and should more adhere to the Favours of God then to God himself In these sudden changes he us'd to cry out What new war is this Into what unknown Lists do we enter God Almighty also put him upon other trials Tho Ignatius had made a very exact Confession and was none of those weak Heads that are troubled with vain appearances yet was he now cruelly infested with the torment of Scruples Sometimes he doubted whether he had duly explicated all the Circumstances of such and such Sins sometimes he was afraid that some he had conceal'd or at least had not clearly exprest them to cover his shame To clear himself of these doubts and to dissipate his fears he had recourse to Prayer but the more he pray'd the more his doubts and fears grew upon him Every step he made he thought he stumbled and offended God imagining there to be sin where there was not the least shadow of it and always disputing with himself about the state of his Conscience not being able to decide what was sin and what was not In these continual conflicts and agitations of Mind sometimes he broke out into sighs into outcries and threw himself upon the Ground like a Man tormented with pain but for the most part he kept a mournful silence as if the sadness which oppress'd him had made him insensible and stupid Amidst all these spiritual convulsions he had no relief but from the Holy Sacrament of the Altar which he receiv'd every Sunday It happen'd also to him more then once that being ready to Communicate his troubles of Mind so redoubled upon him that fearing to commit a Sacriledge he retir'd from the Holy Table full of confusion and desolation After a great many unprofitable debates within himself in which his Understanding was lost and could see no day it entred into his thoughts that Obedience only could cure him and that his pains would cease if his Confessor did command him entirely to forget what was past But he had a difficulty to propose to his Confessor an Expedient of his own finding out True it is he had been forbid to hearken to Scruples but he had no certain Rule whereby to know what was a Scruple and what not And to decide this matter was to him a new subject of disquiet He did not fail to continue his practices of Piety and Pennance judging that the more he was in trouble the more exact and sedulous he ought to be But finding no relief neither from Earth nor from Heaven he believ'd that God had forsaken him and that his damnation was certain No body can tell the torment which he then suffer'd and none but those Persons who are afflicted with this sort of Crosses are able to conceive how heavy they are The Religious of St. Dominick in the Monastery of Manreze who govern'd his Conscience had pity of him and out of charity took him into their House Instead of having there any comfort he was more tormented then at the Hospital He fell into a dark Melancholly and being one day in his Cell he had the thought of throwing himself out of the Window to end his misery But he was withheld from yielding to this motion of Despair by the same Hand which struck him Tho Heaven seem'd wholly shut upon him he notwithstanding with an ardent Faith rais'd up his Eyes thither and with a flood of tears cry'd out Succour me O Lord my support and my strength succour me 'T is in you only that I hope nor do I seek comfort but in you Hide not your face from me and since you are my God shew me the way by which you will have me come to you Soon after he remembred to have read that an ancient Hermit not being able to obtain a favour from God which he had long pray'd for set himself to Fasting and resolv'd to eat nothing till God had heard him By this Example of the Hermit he purpos'd to take no Nourishment till he had recover'd the peace of his Soul He purpos'd I say to Fast in this manner as far as he could go without danger of death Accordingly he Fasted seven whole days without eating or drinking but not without continuing his accustom'd Exercise of Devotion But his trouble of Mind still continuing and whereas by a kind of miracle his strength was not much impair'd he would have still held on his Fast if his Confessor had not absolutely commanded him to break it Heaven did accept both of the fervour which made him undertake so extraordinary a thing and of the obedience which made him lay it down again for his former tranquility was restor'd to him and his interior crosses were chang'd into such spiritual delights as hitherto he had not tasted But a new tempest was rais'd in his Heart three days after His Scruples his Dejections his Despairings took him again with so much violence that he would certainly have sunk under them if he had not been in his hands whose Trials are Favours And it was not without great meaning that he was try'd in so many different manners For being design'd by the Providence of God for the direction of Souls it was necessary that his own experience should teach him the several ways by which God doth lead them Here ended all his troubles of this kind and Ignatius was not only deliver'd from all his scruples but had the gift bestowed upon him of curing scrupulous Consciences And as God doth usually bestow comforts on pious Souls in proportion to their sufferings and fidelity so now having freed his Servant out of his desolate state he rewarded him with many singular graces One day as he was saying the Office of our Lady upon the Stairs of the Dominicans Church he was elevated in Spirit and in a most lively manner there was represented to him the Mystery of the Holy Trinity This vision so sensibly affected him and fill'd him with such inward consolation that going afterwards in a solemn Procession he could not
now and then staid for him and in these pauses he beg'd of God upon his Knees the Recovery of his Disciple Nor did he pray in vain even in his Journey he had an assurance of being heard and he told Faber that Rodriguez would not die However they found him so ill that the Physitian who visited him and the Hermit both dispair'd of his Life But Ignatius embracing the sick Man confidently told him fear nothing Brother you shall recover From that moment Rodriduez began to mend and in few days was quite recover'd But the evil Spirit endeavour'd to rob Ignatius of him whom Heaven had newly restored to him For Rodriguez a while after being charm'd with the delights of Solitude and comparing the quiet life of the Hermit Antonio with the restlesness and fatigues of Ignatius was tempted to make himself an Hermit Nothing unites us more to God said he within himself then the Exercises of an interior life All these outward Employments dissipate the Spirit in Saints tho' never so great the Commerce of Men in the World cannot be but dangerous for him who deals with them tho' it be to save them and it is always most secure only to mind our own Soul These reasons much prevail'd upon him but the remembrance of his Vow and the consideration of Ignatius held him in suspence Not being able to resolve it came into his thoughts to consult the holy Man Antonio and implicityly to follow his Councel For this end stealing away from Ignatius Faber and le Jay with whom he was at Bassano he went towards the Hermitage He was hardly got out of the Town when a Man of a terrible aspect and of a Giants stature appeared before him with a naked Sword in his hand at first he was terrified But after a while thinking it might be only fancy and that his Eyes deceived him he followed on his way Immediately the same Man in a greater rage then before look'd dreadfully upon him and threaten'd him with his Sword as if he meant to run him through so that Rodriguez trembling and frighted ran back with full speed to the Town Ignatius received him with open Arms and with a smile full of sweetness Thou man of little Faith he said why hast thou doubted These words made Rodriguez ashamed but they Confirm'd him in his Vocation and at the same time gave him to understand that God had reveal'd the whole matter to Ignatius The Charity which the Hermit of Bassano had shewed to Rodriguez in the time of his Sickness obliged Ignatius to take his leave of him before he return'd to Vicenza They had often seen one another the Recluse who highly valued his own way of life and to whom Ignatius did not much communicate himself had no great esteem for a Man in whom he saw nothing extraordinary either in his outside or in his discourse This last time of seeing him he undervalued him even more then formerly But when Ignatius was departed he understood by a light from above that he of whom he made so little Reckoning was a Vessel of Election and a Man fill'd with the Spirit of God THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The Third BOOK THE Year being run out and no hopes appearing of a Passage into the Holy Land Ignatius who had call'd his Companions together at Vicenza gave them to understand that since the Entrance into Palestine was shut up they ought not to defer the accomplishing of the other part of their Vow which oblig'd them to offer their Service to the Pope Here we cannot too much admire the Conduct of Providence which doth sometimes infuse Thoughts and Designs into the Minds of Saints not intending that they should be executed and yet expecting from them their Obedience and Diligence towards the Execution of them It is a thing moreover very remarkable that the Ships Transporting the Jerusalem Pilgrims which in the foregoing Years never fail'd to put to Sea should only omit going in the Year 1537. Doubtless the Divine Wisdom which conducted his Servants by secret ways to higher Enterprizes then they themselves imagin'd did so dispose it for his own Glory It was resov'd that Ignatius Faber and Laynez should first go to Rome and represent to his Holiness the Intentions of the whole Company that the rest in the mean time should be distributed into the most famous Universities of Italy to plant and insinuate Piety among the young Students and to increase their own number with such as God should call in to them Before they separated they establish'd a Form of Life which they were all to follow and engag'd themselves to observe these ensuing Rules 1. That they should Lodge in Hospitals and live only upon Alms. 2. That such as were of a Company should be Superiours by turns each in his Week lest their fervour should carry them too far if they did not prescribe Limits one to the other for their Pennances and Labour 3. That they should Preach in all publick Places and in such other where they could be permitted to do it That in their Sermons they should set forth the Beauty and Rewards of Vertue with the Deformity and Punishments of Sin and that they should do it in a plain Evangelical manner without the vain Ornaments of Eloquence 4. That they should teach Children the Christian Doctine and the Principles of good Manners 5. That they should take no Money for executing their Functions and that in serving their Neighbour they should seek the Glory of God and nothing else They all consented to these Articles But in regard they were often asked who they were and what was their Institute Ignatius declared to them in precise terms what they were to answer thereunto He told them That being united together to fight against Heresies and Vices under the Standard of Jesus Christ the only Name which answer'd their Design was The Company of Jesus He had this Name in his thoughts ever since his retirement at Manreza and it is believ'd that God reveal'd it to him in his Meditation of the two Standards in which was shew'd him the first Draught and the general Scheme of his Order by Military Representations But that which happen'd to him in his Journey to Rome much confirm'd him in the thought that this Name was inspir'd by Heaven In his whole Voyage he every day receiv'd the Holy Communion from the Hands of Laynez or Faber He was all the way in constant Meditation upon the Mysteries of our Saviour with a feeling Devotion Lighting upon a ruinous Chappel in the Road from Sienna to Rome he went all alone into it to recommend that little Company to God which he was now going to offer to the Vicar of Jesus Christ Scarce had he begun his Prayer when he was rapt in spirit He saw the Eternal Father who presented him to his Son and he saw Jesus Christ loaden with a heavy Cross who after receiving him from the hands of his Father said to him
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
the Head how he is to be qualifi'd the Form of his Election his Authority and all that which appertains to him Lastly the Tenth sets down several Means for the Preservation and Growth of the Society He wrote all his Constitutions in Spanish and Father John Plancus his Secretary Translated them into Latin They are fill'd with the Spiritual Unction of Grace which an attentive Reader may easily feel and an Apostolical Zeal is every where so diffus'd in them that in every Page and almost in every Line these following Words are found For the Good of Souls For the Service of our Neighbour For the Honor of His Divine Majesty For the greater Glory of God Whereas Laws do not always descend to Successors with Explanations but that they have often need to be interpreted the Saint adds to his in Form of a Gloss Chapter by Chapter certain Declarations which have the same Authority with the Constitutions and have also the same Spirit Tho' before he wrote them he had read the Rules and Histories of other Religious Orders yet at the time of Writing them he never had in his Chamber any other Book but the New Testament and Thomas a Kempis During that time there was often seen a Flame over his Head not much unlike that which appear'd in Tongues of Fire over the Apostles when the Holy Ghost descended from Heaven And his Hours were spent in Tears of Devotion in holy Ardors in Raptures and in Celestial Apparitions as we read in a Paper-Book written with his own Hand which Providence hinder'd from being burnt with many other Papers of the same nature which he caus'd to be cast into the Fire some few days before his Death THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The Fourth BOOK WHile Father Ignatius was thus Employ'd at Rome in doing good Works and in Writing the Constitutions of his Order many Towns of Italy Spain Germany and of the Low Countries sent to him for Workmen of his own Training and offer'd him Colledges for the Forming of more They follow'd in this the Example of John thee Third King of Portugal who having sent Father Xaverius to the Indies and intending to send from time to time fresh Succors to Second him in his Apostolical Labours Founded the First Colledge of the Society in the University of Conimbria to be a Nursery of Preachers and of Apostles for the new World Alcala Valentia Gandia Collen Lovain and Padua were the first Cities which desir'd to have the Children of Ignatius In a little time they were sought for by all Catholick Countries excepting France where the Society tho' in that Place it had its Birth made the least progress whether it were that the Hereticks who were then spread about in the Kingdom made it their Business to render it odious or that the War being renew'd between Charles the Fifth and Francis the First they did not love a Society whose Head and principal Members were Natives of Spain So that far from being desir'd by the Towns of France those of the Society who Studied at Paris and were not Frenchmen were oblig'd to leave the Kingdom in Obedience to an Edict which banish'd thence all Subjects of the Emperor At the same time many Learned Men of all Nations and even French embraced the Institute of Ignatius they came to Rome to put themselves under the Direction of the Saint and to learn of him the Science of Salvation One of the most eminent was William Postel born at Barenton in Normandy and Professor Royal in the University of Paris He had in point of Learning the greatest Wit of his Age vivacious penetrating and joyn'd with a prodigious Memory an universal Genius which was ignorant of nothing and which excell'd particularly in the knowledge of Tongues Besides the Latin the Greek the Hebrew the Chaldaic and the Syriack he so perfectly knew all those that are now spoken and are the living Languages that he has been heard to say he could go the whole Round of the Earth without an Interpreter Francis the First a Lover of Learning and the Queen of Navarr his Sister not unskill'd in Literature look'd upon Postel as the Miracle of the Age. The greatest Persons and among the rest the Cardinals of Tournon of Lorain and of Armagnac were greedy of his Company and in a manner made their Court to him The most Learned admir'd him and in speaking of him it was a common Saying That there came out of his Mouth as many Oracles as Words The Reputation of the Society of Jesus all Europe over rais'd a Curiosity in Postel to see the Founder of this new Order which made profession of Learning Being come to Rome on this account and having seen Father Ignatius more then once he was so charm'd with his way of Proceeding his Maxims and with the Character of his Institute that Visiting the Seven Churches he made a Vow to enter into his Society And afterwards with so much instance he press'd his Admission and express'd so much zeal for the Conversion of Jews and Idolaters that Father Ignatius who well knew the Abilities of Postel could not refuse to receive him But the Saint soon perceiv'd that a fair out-side had dazled his Eyes whereas he knew that Science breeds Pride and that without profound Humility the greatest Wits are the least proper to do great things in the Service of God he himself took the charge of the Conduct of Postel This Novice who was about Forty years old and who before his Voyage into Italy with much Reading of Rabbins and Contemplating the Stars had rais'd Visions in his Brain concerning a new Coming of Jesus Christ could not so well contain himself but that sometimes these Extravagancies would come from him The Father who found at first that Rabbinism and Judicial Astrology had a little turn'd his Brain us'd all possible means for Two years together to set him right in his Wits After having try'd charitable Remonstrances and severe Reprehensions he put him into the hands of Laynez and Salmeron who endeavor'd to undeceive him with solid Reasons and advis'd him to read only St. Thomas He moreover Address'd him to the Pope's Vicar a Man Learned Prudent and every way Accomplish'd for the curing a distemper'd Wit But seeing that all these Remedies were unprofitable and that Postel became every day more and more Visionary to the degree of playing the Prophet he Expell'd him from his Order and forbad all those of the Society to have any Commerce with him The Event did justifie the Conduct of Ignatius As soon as Postel was Dismiss'd he set himself to Dogmatize in Rome saying for a colour of his leaving the Order That it was not to be wonder'd at if he could not agree with the holy Man Ignatius since even St. Paul and St. Barnabas were not of the same mind Afterwards retiring to Venice where he thought he should be more in safety He was so infatuated concerning a certain Religious Woman call'd Mother
have any Communication with him He highly complain'd of the Court of Rome and above all against Cardinal Farnesius who Employ'd Cardinal de Viseu in the most important Affairs of the Church That which gall'd him most was that Cardinal Contarini Legat of Paul the Third with the Emperor Charles the Fifth being dead in his Legatship of Spain they sent Michael de Silva in his Place with the Character and the full Power of a Legat Apostolical The Pope no less displeas'd on his side condemn'd the Proceedings of the King of Portugal and upon occasions made his Complaints to Father Ignatius who was wont to speak to him of this Prince as of the most Religious Monarch in Europe The Breach began to widen and to produce ill effects in behalf of Religion when the Father undertook to heal it In the first place he had his recourse to God in whose hands are the Hearts of the Great ones of the Earth and he order'd Prayers in his whole Society to draw a Blessing from Heaven upon his undertaking He wrote at the same time to Lisbon where his Councels were well receiv'd He treated with Cardinal Farnesius and with the Pope who both had confidence in him and he so well manag'd the Parties and the Business on both sides that so nice and so difficult a matter was easily compos'd In testimony of a sincere Reconciliation the King restor'd Cardinal de Viseu into Possession of the Revenues of his Bishoprick and the Pope granted to the King considerable Priviledges in favour of the Tribunal of the Inquisition Establisht in Portugal These Forreign Imployments did not hinder Father Ignatius from discharging at home all the Duties of his Charge He made divers Regulations according to the diversity of Occurrences He gave all necessary Orders but after a way rather of Intreating then Commanding In distributing imployments he had regard to the inclinations of those whom he imploy'd tho' on their parts he will have them indifferently dispos'd to any It was his custom to chuse persons of great experience for Offices in the Society And yet he would not stick sometimes to put in less experienc'd subjects to govern under him in Rome This he did to try their Talents and to form them himself by observing their deportments But he never sent in laborious missions any but Men of try'd vertue He spar'd the weak and the less perfect sometimes with design of making them take notice of their own weakness and to the end that shame should stir them up to become more Vigorous or if he gave them Imployments of some hardship it was at their own request and upon condition that if they found themselves over burden'd they should freely declare it to him Nevertheless when he met with those rough indocible tempers whose harshness of Nature was accompani'd with a robust Constitution he would load them with imployments harder then the rest and if peradventure they fell sick he was not much troubl'd at it as thinking that the Infirmity of their Body might tame their dispositions and prove beneficial to their Souls When they ask'd him any thing of Consequence he commonly told them the reasons he had to refuse it them to the end that he who obtain'd it not should be the better content and that he who receiv'd a savour should be more reserv'd in asking new ones But for the most part he never deny'd any but when his Conscience would not permit him to grant it and even his refusal he sweetened with such obliging terms that they always went away satisfi'd His very reprehensions he season'd with so much civillity or at least he so temper'd them that altho' they were smart and penetrating yet they were not harsh nor reflecting He had so good an opinion of his own that he could not believe any thing that was said against their Honor and he lov'd them all so well that every one thought himself to be the most beloved He so accommodated himself to the humor of every one in particular as if his own had been tranform'd into theirs and this with an Air so plain and natural that one would have said he was born that which he seem'd to be Tho' he would have the Novices well try'd yet he treated them like tender Plants newly transplanted which still partake of the Soil whence they came A Rich man who was receiv'd into the Society had a Crucifix well wrought and of great Prince of which he was very fond the General let him have it In the mean time the Novice made great progress in Vertue and particularly labour'd in the overcoming himself As soon as the General perceiv'd it This go's well says he since the Brother is not only disingag'd from the World but also from himself we may venture to take out of his hands the Image of Christ Crucifi'd for now he has him in his Heart And in effect he took away the Crucifix and the Novice who was now well wean'd without difficulty parted with it The Conduct which he observ'd towards Persons Illustrious by their Birth or by their Learning who embrac'd the Institute is very remarkable He shew'd great consideration for them in the beginning he call'd them Counts Marquesses Doctors till such time as they grew asham'd to be call'd by those Names and that they ask'd themselves not to be distinguish'd But when he saw that they began to relish the Maxims of the Gospel and that they march'd in the way of Perfection there were none whom he mortifi'd more He took pleasure in making a Man of Quality stoop to the meanest Offices in humbling a Doctor and he gave it not over till he had quite made them forget what they had been This he did first to let the World know that among the Jesuits advantages of Birth and of Knowledge are of no reck'ning without Humility and that to be great among them they must be little in their own Eyes and in the second place because a Religious Society always receives from such sort of Persons either a great deal of Honor or a great deal of Confusion There was nothing which he would leave undone to strengthen those who began to grow weary of carrying the Yoke of Jesus Christ and were in danger of falling from their Vocation He went one night to the Chamber of a Father who had resolv'd to return into the World and after many remonstrances both of the Rewards and Punishments of the next Life he made such impressions upon his Heart that this Father fell at the feet of the General and offer'd to undergo what Punishment he would Impose upon him One part of your Pennance said Father Ignatius embracing him shall be never to repent you more of having serv'd God for the other part I will take it upon me and perform it my self A young German who had great Natural parts was tempted to leave the Order Father Ignatius who had taken him in and judged him very proper for the
at present Be pleas'd to answer me at your first leisure and I shall always continue my Prayers to the Sovereign Goodness more and more to strengthen you with his Grace Tho' Don Francisco was very well inclin'd to follow the Councils of Father Ignatius yet still he found a Byas in himsel which made his affections lean towards Solitude such resistance doth Grace find even in the most holy Souls when it doth not comply with the natural temper But what the Father had writ to Ovideo to confirm and fix him in his Vocation did so strike the Duke that a holy Impatience took him of entring into the Society before those things were done which were prescribed to him To this end he writ to Rome so pressingly that Father Ignatius having obtain'd leave for him from the Holy See to make his Vows of Profession without leaving the World consented that he should make use of the Priviledge The Duke of Gandia therefore consecrated himself to God by the Solemn Vows of the Society in the Chappel of his Pallace in the presence of few persons retaining still his outward Grandeur and the power of Possessing his estate for three years as may be seen more at large in his Life which has been set forth by one of our best Writers in a very moving and elegant Stile Father Ignatius who from that time call'd Don Francisco de Borgia by the Name of Father Francis and who look'd upon him as one of his own Children began to direct him in the ways of God and to exercise the Authority of General upon him The Duke who liv'd like a Religious man before he had made the Vows of Religion thought himself oblig'd after his Profession to redouble his practices of Piety and Pennance But his fervor led him into excesses which were neither convenient for a Man in the World nor for a Member of the Society Father Ignatius thought it not fit to leave him to the transports of his Devotion He gave him to understand that such as are destin'd by Heaven to instruct the Ignorant and to oppose Heresies must not always be at the Foot of Altars and that sometimes they must leave Prayer for Study The Father also declar'd to him that a Person like him who had a weak Stomach and a tender Complexion ought to moderate his Fasting and in a reasonable manner to nourish himself for the support of his health You have receiv'd from God a Body as well as a Soul said the Saint in express terms and you must equally give an Account to God both of the one and the other But because the Duke did every day discipline himself to Blood in manner of the flagellation of the Son of God he forbad him these extremities which might render him uncapable of performing the Functions of the Society It was one of the principal cares of Father Ignatius to moderate the fervor of his Children and he was forc'd sometimes to make use of all his Authority to restrain them as he did towards Simon Rodriguez whom the King of Portugal had intrusted with the Education of the Prince Don John Rodriguez who passionately desir'd to be imploy'd in Foreign Missions sought all occasions to remove himself from Court. He would fain have accompani'd the Missioners who parted from Portugal into Aethiopia Afterwards he desir'd to go to Brasile he was many times upon the point of embarking for the Indies and he would certainly have satisfi'd his Zeal if the General to whom he communicated his designs had not absolutely forbad him to leave his Post telling him withal that the Educating in the fear of God the Children of Kings was virtually the saving a great many People and that the Court was a place of greater merit to us then either Aethiopia or Brasile when we staid there in Vertue of holy Obedience The Casa Professa was at that time reduc'd to great necessity by the death of Paul the Third who constantly bestow'd great Alms upon it and by that of Father Codacius who had care of their temporals However the General ceas'd not to receive those Novices who presented themselves and God seem'd to recompence his reliance on him with miraculous assistance For besides that the Cardinals in the Conclave were mindful of him and sent him a good supply of Money Brother John de la Croce who manag'd their houshold Provisions coming one Evening from St. John Laterans and passing by the Colizeum met a Man who without saying a word to him gave him an hundred Crowns in Gold Another time the same Brother going out very early in the Morning receiv'd from an unknown Person a Purse full of pieces of Gold newly Coin'd It not being quite day so as to distinguish the Countenance of the Person that put the Purse into his hands he began to fear that it was an Illusion The Fathers on their side believ'd that the Pieces were Counterfeit and that some body had put a trick upon them but at last they found that the Gold was very good Near the same time and when they were in great straits Father Polancus Secretary of the Society looking for some Papers in an open Chest found there a quantity of Crowns of Gold which seem'd to him to have been newly stampt All these Miraculous recruits as they very much confirm'd Father Ignatius in his reliance upon Providence so they did not at all diminish in him his prudential care for the subsistance of his Body The houshold Affairs he put into the hands of Father Pontius Gogordan a very able Man but without leaving the Conduct wholly to him For he himself would supervize both to observe his demeanor in that Office and to assist him in so painful an Imployment In gratitude to the Memory of Father Codacius for procuring a subsistence to the House in difficult times and for having spent himself in the service of his Brethren he caus'd the same Honors to be done him after his death which are usually given to the Benefactors of the Society and order'd a Marble stone to be laid over his Grave with an honorable Inscription The concern which Father Ignatius had for the livelihood of his subjects did not distract him in his care of promoting Study and of making Sciences to florish in his Order He oblig'd the Professors of Messina and Palermo to send him an Account every Week of their labors and he caus'd to be sent to him from the farther end of Spain the Thesis of Philosophy and Divinity together with the Compositions both in Prose and Verse of the young Regents And he expresly Order'd that they should be sent him just as they came out of their hands without being toucht over or lookt upon by any body else Nor did the great Affairs of his Government hinder him from reading them and having them examin'd in his presence by the best judging Persons Above all he solicitously inform'd himself of the progress which the Scholars of the
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
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
to time and to observe the Conduct of the Patriarch Don Alphonso d'Alencastre Grand Commander of the Order de Christo the Portugal Embassador had receiv'd a Letter from the King his Master in which he was Commanded to use his Interest with the Pope upon all occasions in behalf of the General of the Jesuits which Letter was brought by Father Lewis Gonzales when he came to Rome and in the same Letter the King declar'd to Don Alphonso how great his Confidence was in that Father Whereas the General perceiv'd that the Embassador was a little slow in the business of the Aethiopian Mission he order'd Father Gonzales to quicken him in it and for that end to Visit him every third day which the good Father so regularly perform'd for three Months together that it was said in Rome by the way of Raillery that Gonzales visited the Portugal Embassador like a Tertian Ague These Solicitations of the Fathers were not unprofitable for Don Alphonso vigorously took the business in hand and ended it in a short time notwithstanding all the delays of the Court of Rome The Pope nam'd Nugnez Patriarch of Aethiopia according to the demand of the King of Portugal who had discover'd the inclination of Father Ignatius therein He sent him a little after the Pall with the Rights and Powers thereunto belonging to be exercis'd not only in Aethiopia but in all the Neighbouring Provinces He made Oviedo Bishop of Nice Carnero Bishop of Hierapolis and declar'd both the one and the other Successors to the Patriarch Lastly he gave the Title and Authority of Apostolical Commissary to Father Gasper Barzee whom Father Ignatius nam'd to the Embassador and who was then Rector of the Colledge of Goa Father Ignatius chose for the Patriarch and the Bishops ten Companions and when they all parted for Aethiopia he writ to the King of the Abyssins this following Letter My Lord in our Lord Jesus Christ I Wish to your Highness all Grace Happiness and abundance of Spiritual Gifts The most Serene King of Portugal nsov'd by his Zeal for the Glory of the holy Name of God and for the Salvation of Souls which Jesus Christ has Redeem'd with his precious Blood has more then once signifi'd to me his Pleasure that I should name twelve Persons of our small Society which is Entituled of Jesus for the Service of the States of your Highness and that among them there should be a Patriarch and two Bishops I have executed the Orders of that Prince being oblig'd thereunto by the innumerable Favors which our Society has receiv'd from his Highness and by the due Veneration which we all owe to the Commands of so great a King I have designedly imitated the Number of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles in chusing besides the Patriarch twelve Priests of our Body to Sacrifice their lives for the Salvation of your Subjects and I have done it the more willingly in regard that we cannot better imploy our selves then in the service of a Prince like your Highness who in the mid'st of so many Nations that are Enemies to the Christian Name endeavor by the Example of your Ancestors to maintain and augment within your Empire the Religion of Jesus Christ These Good intentions and Honorable endeavours of your Highness did truly stand in need of such Spiritual Pastors by whose Ministry the Church of Aethiopia might receive both Legitimate Power deriv'd from the holy Apostolick See and also the pure Doctrine of the Christian Faith For those are the two Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which our Lord Jesus Christ first promis'd to St. Peter and afterwards intrusted him with He did but promise them when he said to him as we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew I say unto you that you are Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever you shall bind upon Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you shall loosen upon Earth shall be loosen'd in Heaven He Actually gave them to him when after his Resurrection and before his Ascention he said to him as St. John tells us Feed my sheep By these words the Son of God committed to his charge not a part only but the whole Flock with a Plenitude of Power much more ample then what he communicated to the rest of the Apostles This is that which our Lord seems to have figuratively signifi'd by the Prophet Isaiah when speaking of the High Priest Eliacim he said I will give you the Key of the House of David that shall open and no man shall shut that shall shut and no man shall open This Symbole is the Figure of St. Peter and of his Successors and the Keys which have the signification of a full and absolute Dominion denote the Power of the See of Rome This being so your Highness has great reason to give thanks to Heaven for having vouchsafed under your Reign to send true Pastors who have receiv'd their Power and Authority from the Vicar of Jesus Christ to your People who have stray'd from the Fold of the true Church And it is not without great reason that your Father and Grand-Father had difficulty to receive a National Patriarch from the hands of the Patriarch of Alexandria A Member separated from the Body receives from it neither life nor motion in like manner the Patriarch of Aegypt whether he resides at Alexandria or at Grand Cairo being a Schismatick separated from the Holy Apostolick See and from the Supream Bishop Head of the Universal Church can neither receive for himself nor communicate to others the life of Grace or Pastoral Authority For in fine as there is but one Catholick Church so there cannot be one true Church depending upon the Bishop of Rome and another upon him of Alexandria As the Bridegroom is one so is the Bride and 't is of her that Solomon representing the Person of Jesus Christ says in the Canticles My Dove is one The Prophet Osee speaks to the same purpose The Children of Israel and of Judah shall be assembled and shall have but one Head In the same Spirit St. John along time after said there is but one Fold and one Shepherd And as we read in Genesis there was but one Ark of Noah out of which none were sav'd from the Deluge so there was but one Tabernacle built by Moses but one Temple of Jerusalem built by Solomon where they Sacrifiz'd and Ador'd but one Synagogue whose Judgments were legal All these things were Figures of the Unity of the Church out of which nothing can avail For whoever ever is not United to this Mystical Body shall not receive from the Head who is Jesus Christ Divine Grace which gives life to the Soul and disposeth it to Eternal happiness To declare this Unity against certain Hereticks it is Sung in the Creed I Believe in the one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church and the holy
Prudence who succeeded Julius and took the Name of Marcellus the Second had no less good-will for it nor less esteem for the Founder So that when Father Ignatius went the first time to do his Homage to the new Pope his Holiness embracing him with great kindness Conferr'd a long time with him about the Means of Re-establishing the ancient Discipline of Manners and to extinguish the new sprung Heresies He moreover charg'd him in his Name to give the Apostolical Benediction to all the Fathers of Rome and declar'd to him that when the Croud of the first Complements was over he would see them all in particular But that which was most remarkable was that the Pope exhorting him to increase his Body with more Labourers to cultivate the Vineyard of the Church Chuse us but Workmen of your Trainining he said to him and we will find them Employment Besides this he demanded of him two Divines whom he might safely Consult in difficult Matters and who might assist him in some manner to bear the heavy Charge which lay upon him but he added out of great Humility I ask this Succour of you upon condition That you your self shall judge it necessary for me Father Ignatius charm'd and confounded with this Goodness of the Pope chose for him two Men of the Society whom he knew to be most agreeable to his Holiness and most capable of filling that Post The first was Father James Laynez with whom Marcellus had contracted a great Friendship at the Council of Trent and often made use of him for his Confessor The second was Father Martin Olavius whom the Pope when he was Cardinal took with him to his Bishoprick of Eugubio the year before and whom he ordinarily call'd his Master These good Intentions and Marcellus himself suddenly vanish'd He dy'd in few days after his Promotion and Cardinal John Peter Caraffa who was chosen in his Place gave no hopes of so happy a Reign at least for the Society He was Dean of the Sacred Colledge and wanted little of being Fourscore years old He was thought an Enemy to the Jesuits both in regard that Ignatius had refus'd to unite his Order to that of the Theatines of which Caraffa was the Founder and that Julius the Third had made void the Sentence given by Caraffa in favour of the Mother of the Neapolitan Jesuit The Fathers of Rome were all except the General alarm'd at his Election but he having made his Prayer was sufficiently satisfi'd that Paul the Fourth would be very favourable to the Society In effect the Pope did not only the first time of his waiting upon him treat Father Ignatius with great kindness but in many other particular Audiences concerning the Affairs of his Order and those of Ferdinand he would not permit him to speak upon his Knees or Bare-headed The only thing which displeas'd the Father was that his Holiness declar'd to him his Resolution as he did also in the Consistory to make Laynez a Cardinal Whereupon when he came home he was heard to say If God doth not prevent it we shall see Laynez in few Months made a Cardinal But that which comforts me he added is that if his Holiness doth not change his Resolution the World will see by the manner of Laynez 's receiving his Hat whether the Society be covetous of Ecclesiastical Dignities Father Ignatius was not deceiv'd He offer'd on his part many Vows to God and shed great store of Tears at the foot of the Altars to allay the Tempest Laynez no sooner knew the Design of the Pope but not content to implore night and day the Aid of Heaven against his Promotion he apply'd himself with all earnestness to his Friends in the Sacred Colledge to save him from it and he did it with such an Ayre of Sincerity as caus'd in them both Belief and Admiration The Pope understanding the Reluctancy of Laynez in order to qualifie and a little to prepare him before he nam'd him Cardinal caus'd him to Lodge in the Vatican under pretence of Employing him to Reform the Datary into which of late years had crept many Abuses Laynez had scarce been one day in the Vatican but he came back to the Casa Professa pretending to look upon some Books and to consult able Persons about the Affairs of the Datary but his real Design was to withdraw himself from the Eyes of the Court and to flie into the Arms of his Father to save himself from the danger And it was according to the Principles and by the Counsel of the General that he made a solemn Protestation Written and Sign'd by his own Hand to make known to all the Society and to the whole World how much his Heart was averse from a Cardinalship All these Endeavors had their effect for whether it were that God heard the Prayers of his Servants and so chang'd the Resolution of the Pope or that perswaded by the Reasons of Laynez the Pope himself laid the Matter down there was afterwards no more talk of this Fathers Promotion We cannot express the Joy which Father Ignatius conceiv'd to see the Society deliver'd from a Cardinal's Hat He and his whole Family gave thanks to Heaven and to his Holiness acknowledging it to be the greatest Favor which could be done them Paul the Fourth upon this Occasion came to understand the Spirit of the Founder of the Jesuits and the Esteem which he had for him did hereupon so much increase that in all great Affairs he follow'd his Counsels The Credit of Ignatius grew so great at Court that the Cardinal of Ausburg then at Rome was heard to say That if he had any thing to ask of the Pope he should use the Mediation of Ignatius And the occasion of his so speaking was that Cardinal John Michael Sarazin who was chief Minister at the beginning of the Pontificate having one day Presented a Memorial to Paul the Fourth for obtaining some Graces his Holiness referr'd the Petition to the General of the Jesuits Paul the Fourth was not content with these particular Marks of Honor and Kindness but to give Ignatius and his Body more solid proofs of his good-will he resolv'd to compleat the Foundation of the Roman Colledge to the Maintenance whereof and for the Subsistence of Two hundred persons which it contain'd the Liberality of Borgia and the Two thousand Crowns of Julius the Third were not sufficient But the War which broke out between the Pope and the Catholick King Philip the Second to whom Charles the Fifth had newly Resign'd his Kingdoms postpon'd and afterwards quite defeated the Execution of this Design for it put the Holy See to a vast Expence to Resist the Power of Spain and the Times grew so hard during the Wars of Italy that the most Wealthy were put to it how to live In this while the Charity of the Faithful did not cool towards the Jesuits of Rome they wanted nothing during the publick Calamities And when a
be every day Lessons in the Italian Tongue But nothing shews more how incongruous to the Functions of his Order he esteem'd a Barbarity of Language then that Passage of the Constitutions where he saith That they should be Train'd to Preach and to make Christian Exhortations in such a Way and Stile as may edifie the People which Way is very different from the Stile and Terms of the School And that profitably to perform these Functions they should endeavor to be perfect in the vulgar Tongue Hence it follows that the Jesuit who neglects to speak correctly neglects his Rule and that those who pretend that it agrees not with the Character of their Profession to study the purity of their native Language do not well consider what they say They should remember that since Hereticks in all Ages have endeavor'd to excel in politeness of Language thereby to gain the People and to insinuate their Poyson the Society of Jesus who are call'd and design'd by Heaven to oppose them ought to employ their own Weapons against them in behalf of Truth and not to permit that the Enemies of the Church should have the advantage of Speaking and Writing more elegantly then the Defenders of it Father Ignatius had all these Cares upon him and Govern'd his whole Order with such bad Health that he was often forc'd to keep his Bed And whereas his Strength every day decay'd and with the increase of the Society his Business still increas'd upon him he thought it necessary to associate some Person to ease him of part of the Burden or rather to Execute his Charge under him but he did not judge it expedient to make the Choice himself He assembled all the Fathers who were in Rome except one or two who had not yet ended their Noviceship and declaring to them his weak Condition he enjoyn'd them to nominate and assign him some Person capable to ease him of the weight of the Government After three days of continual Prayers they all with one Voice nam'd Father Jerome Nadal who was lately come out of Spain whither the General had sent him and who had all the Qualities requisite for so important a Charge Some of the Assembly were of Opinion that he should have the Title of Vicar or Commissary-General but it was his own Sentiment to have no Title at all lest it should seem to lessen the Authority of the General and his Advice was follow'd The General approv'd the Choice which was made and left the whole Care of Business to Nadal he reserv'd only to himself that of the Sick out of a charitable tenderness which made him judge that a Superior was oblig'd in Person to provide for the Necessities of those who acknowledg'd him for their Father So that he made this his whole Business nor is it to be imagin'd how sensible he was of the least Indisposition of his Children He said it was by a particular Order of Providence that he himself had so little Health and that the several Diseases to which he was subject gave him a truer feeling of others Sufferings and a due Compassion for all sick Persons Notwithstanding his extraordinary Care in providing for them he never thought he did enough and he has been heard to say That the Charge of the Sick made him tremble when he consider'd what the Obligations are of a good Superior This tenderness extended it self to all that were in Affliction or in any sort of Misery A certain French Father having been taken on the Coasts of Sicily by the Pirates of Algiers upon his return out of Spain we can hardly express the Concern and Solicitude of Father Ignatius in his behalf He employ'd all his Credit with the Viceroy of Sicily he writ in his own Hand to the Fathers of Messina and of Palermo and charg'd them to spare and to omit nothing for the deliverance of the Captive he charg'd them every Week to give him an Account what Course they took and what Progress they had made in it Tho' his Infirmities which together with his Age increas'd daily upon him suffer'd him not to manage the Business of his Order yet he would have an Account given him of all remarkable Actions perform'd in the Service of God either in Italy or elsewhere One day he was inform'd that some young Men of Macerata having prepar'd a Comedy not very modest for the Diversion of the Carnivall the Fathers who were sent in Mission from the Colledge of Loretto had expos'd the Blessed Sacrament in a Chappel magnificently Adorn'd where Prayers of forty Hours were made during the three last Days of Shrovetide and that the People drawn by the newness of the Ceremony had left the Theatre to Adore Jesus Christ upon the Altar This Devotion so pleas'd Father Ignatius that he order'd the practice of it to be every year observ'd in the Houses of the Society And to him we owe the Establishment of that solemn and seasonable Devotion now universally practis'd to withdraw the Faithful from the Follies and Debaucheries of the Carnivall Days Finding himself grown weaker then ordinary and it being much in his thoughts that Obedience was the Soul and Character of his Order he caus'd the Secretary of his Companion to come to him and after having told him that he could not long hold out Write said he I desire that the Society should know my last thoughts concerning the Vertue of Obedience And he Dictated to him what follows I. WHen I enter into Religion my first Business must be to give my self up entirely to the Conduct of my Superior II. It were to be wish'd that I might light into the Hands of a Superior resolute and industrious in subduing my Judgment III. In all things where no Sin lies I must follow the Judgment of my Superior and not my own IV. There are three manners of Obeying The First When we do that which is Commanded us in vertue of Obedience and this manner is good The Second which is better When we obey such Orders as oblige not under mortal Sin The Third and most perfect of all When not waiting for the Superiors Order yet knowing his Will we prevent it by an antecedent Conformity V. I must indifferently obey Superiors of every Degree without making any distinction between the highest and the lowest but I must equally in all of them consider God whose Place they hold and remember that the Authority is deriv'd to the last by gradation from the first VI. If the Superior judgeth that the thing which he Commandeth me is good and I am of a different Opinion without Evidence to the contrary I ought to obey but if I find difficulty upon a scruple of Conscience I am to consult two or three intelligent Persons about it and to rest upon their Judgments but if they concur with my Superior and I should adhere to my own Opinion I am very remote from the Perfection and Excellency required in a
of Grief In the mean time they press'd Father Ignatius to take something in hope that it might be only some faint Fit upon him but he told them in a dying Voice that there was no more occasion for it and with his Hands joyn'd and his Eyes lifted up to Heaven pronouncing the Name of JESUS he quietly Expir'd an hour after Sun-rising It was upon a Friday the last of July in the Year 1556. He was Sixty five years old He dy'd Thirty five years after his Conversion and Sixteen after the Society was Founded He saw it before his Death spread over the whole World and divided into twelve Provinces which altogether contain'd above a hundred Colledges He had the happiness to see it Crown'd with Martyrdom in the Persons of Father Antonio Criminale and of the Lay-Brothers Peter Correa and John de Sosa who were all three put to death for Religion by the Barbarians He was of a middle Stature rather low then tall of a brown Complexion Bald-headed his Eyes deep set and full of Fire his Forehead large and his Nose aquiline all Signs of Wisdom according to the Physiognomists He halted a little by reason of the Wound he receiv'd at the Siege of Pampelona but he so manag'd himself in walking that it was hardly perceiv'd His natural Temper was ardent and spritely in the highest degree and yet the Physicians judg'd him to be of a Phlegmatick Constitution for he had labor'd so long to overcome himself that he had quite suppress'd all the Propensions and Motions of his Nature In conclusion in his Person there was an Ayre so grave and so winning so noble and so modest all together that who only look'd upon him must judge him to be a great Man and a Saint THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The Sixth BOOK AS dear as Father Ignatius was to his Children and as great need as yet they had of him his loss caus'd no trouble in them nor gave them any discouragement In loosing him they felt a certain inward joy springing from an assurance of his Eternal happiness which promis'd greater blessings to them then ever The day that the Servant of God departed this life Laynez was dangerously ill and in a manner given over by the Physicians yet he had his Sences perfect and by some words let fall by those about him he conjectur'd what they would have conceal'd from him For when some of the Ancient Fathers came to see him he said to them The Saint then is dead They confess'd it to him and the first thing that he did was to lift up his Eyes and his Hands to Heaven Then he pray'd to God by the Mediation of so Holy a Soul to set his at liberty that he might accompany his blessed Father and enjoy with him the happy repose which he hoped from the Divine Mercy Instead of obtaining what he ask'd he recover'd his health and probably by the means of the same Holy Saint who some years before had foretold him that he should be the second General of the Society Nor are we to wonder that Laynez in that manner did then recommend himself to Father Ignatius since even he was alive he always Honor'd him as a Saint and when he saw the Society so increase in the World in the mid'st of persecutions and every where to bring forth such good Fruits he us'd to say that Christ was so in love with the Soul of his Servant Ignatius that he could deny him nothing He was also wont to say that Father Faber a Man of great Spirit and Illumination was but a Novice and a mear Child in respect of Ignatius Faber himself was much more of the same opinion He always by his Letters open'd to him the state of his Soul as to his Spiritual Master he had recourse to him to be resolv'd in all his doubts and he propos'd him to all the World as a Model of Christian perfection His other first Companions had no less veneration for him then Laynez and Faber But the Apostle of the Indies and Japony Francis Xaverius amongst the admirors of St. Ignatius seems to challenge the first place His common way of writing to him was upon his Knees he call'd him the Father of his Soul and one of his Letters he thus superscib'd To my Father in Jesus Christ St. Ignatius All his discourse of him was in the same style and with his Companions of the Mission in the Indies the sanctity of Ignatius was the usual Theme of his Conversation So that whenever he did ingage them in any enterprize of difficulty he excited them to it by the love and reverence which they ow'd to their Father Ignatius In all his dangers by Sea and by Land he implor'd the succor of Heaven by the Merits of the holy Man Ignatius and in a Reliquary which he always carry'd about him he put the Signature of one of his Letters together with a Relique of St. Thomas the Apostle of the Indies This is what was related before the death of Ignatius by the Lay Brother Bernard of Japony who was the first Christian of that Island Baptiz'd by Xaverius and whom after he had admitted him into the Society he sent to Rome Father Lewis Gonzales who had a long and intimate Conversation with Father Ignatius constantly us'd to say that his Life was the Book of the Immitation of Christ reduc'd into practice It was not only amongst his own that the Founder of the Society of Jesus was Honor'd as a Saint all Rome gave him that Title and when his Death was known about the Town and common saying was The Saint is dead When his Body lay expos'd the People in crouds flock'd about it and he thought himself happy who could come near to see it and to kiss his Hands They all would have carry'd away with them some part of his Garment but the Fathers would not permit it He was bury'd in the Church of the Casa Professa at the foot of the High Altar on the Gospel side He had been open'd before he was laid forth and his Bowels were found in a manner dry'd up his Liver extreamly hard with three petrifi'd Cores in it which were marks and signs of an excessive Abstinence by the report of the Chirurgions that open'd him and amongst the rest of Realdus Columbus the most famous Anatomist of his time who speaks of it in his Book of Anatomy Father Benedict Palmio Preach'd his Funeral Sermon Amongst the Roman Ladies who were present the Wife of Signior Andrea Nerucci was possest during the Ceremony with a strong imagination that her Daughter who had the Kings-Evil might be cur'd by the Intercession of the holy Man whose Obsequies were then performing The Physicians after five Years fruitless endeavors judg'd the Disease to be incurable and the Lady was resolv'd to carry her Daughter into France where the Kings have the gift of curing that Malady She doubted not but if she could bring her
Great-ones of the Earth who are not over-inclin'd to be Grateful would proceed in that manner what may we not hope from the King of Kings who always prevents us with his Grace and of whom we hold what we have and what we are How can we fear being unhappy and reprobate for having sacrific'd our Interests to the Glory of our Master Let others think what they please no such thing will enter into my thoughts of a God so good so faithful and so magnificent When he writ the Constitutions of his Order it came into his mind what his Sentiments would be if God should put him into Hell for his Sins hereupon he writ these following Words On one side I set before my Eyes the Torments I should endure On the other the Blasphemies of the Damned and it seem'd to me that the Pains I should endure would not be so grievous to me by many degrees as the Blasphemies I should hear against the holy Name of God It was his usual Saying What shall I desire or what can I desire besides you my God He always ended his Catechisms with these Words Love God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might He many times in the day repeated the fervent Prayer which he compos'd when he wrote the Book of the Spiritual Exercises Receive O Lord all my Liberty my Memory my Understanding and my whole Will You have given me all that I have all that I possess and I give back and I surrender all to your Divine Will that you may absolutely dispose of all Give me only your Love and your Grace and I am rich enough I have nothing more to ask He sighed and long'd Night and Day for the sight of his Saviour and for this end was desirous to be loosned from the Bands of Flesh So that as often as he thought of Death he wept for joy esteeming it better for him according to the Example of St. Paul to live with Jesus Christ but his principal End was not his own Happiness it was to see the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ in Glory in the same manner as we desire to see that Person promoted in Dignity whom we tenderly love He so much esteem'd Contumely suffer'd for Gods sake that the Chains with which in Spain he was loaded he said were dearer to him then all the Crowns of the Earth would be and that nothing could give him greater joy then what he felt in having been a Prisoner for the sake of Jesus Christ Whereas he had continually before his Eyes what the Son of God suffer'd for the love of Man he imagin'd he did not love him unless he also suffer'd something for his sake and it was his desire to give Life for Life and to requite him with a painful and opprobrious Death He once pray'd to our Lord not to give him any inward Consolations to the end that his Love might be more pure and disinteressed Another time he earnestly begg'd of God to bestow upon him a profound Reverence for the holy Mysteries but that this Reverence might be of Love and not of Fear Give me Lord said he a tender Veneration Submission and Humility springing from Love And when he pronounc'd these Words his Soul was fill'd with Delight Meeting a Lay-Brother who did his Office negligently Brother said he that which you do for whom do you it The Brother answer'd That he did it for the Love of God Certainly reply'd the Saint if you do it for the Love of God you are highly to blame and deserve an extraordinary Pennance The Sin is not great to be a little slack in Serving Men but to Serve God negligently is intolerable Whereas he lov'd and sought nothing but God he had no care but to please him and no fear but to offend him Wherefore he was in a continual watchfulness over himself he every hour of the day Examin'd all the motions of his Heart and kept his Senses so recollected that from his Conversion to his Death he never look'd a Woman in the Face tho' by the Duty of his Function he was often oblig'd to speak and treat with them For from the first years of his Renovation of Life he employ'd himself wholly in the Service of his Neighbour all his Actions and Designs had no other tendency To relieve the Poor to serve the Sick to instruct the Ignorant to comfort the Afflicted to do good to all the World was properly the Business of Ignatius's Life He had always care not only not to return Evil for Evil but according to the Counsel of the Apostle To overcome evil with good In the Year 1546 a Spanish Religious Man who was at Rome and had formerly shewn much Kindness to Father Ignatius and his Children alter'd all on the sudden and declar'd highly against him so far as to maintain That all the Jesuits in Spain from Perpignan to Sevil deserv'd the Fagot and that he would procure them to have their Deserts The General of the Society to whom this Religious Man had sent an Express with the Message receiv'd the Indignity in a most Christian manner and afterwards writ to the Bringer of the Message in these Terms Pray tell the good Father that whereas he has a desire to have all the Jesuits burnt from Perpignan to Sevil it is my desire that he and all his Friends not only between Perpignan and Sevil but all the World over may burn with the Flames of Divine You may also tell him if you please that the Governor of Rome and the Pope's Vicar have our Business before them and that if he hath any thing to say against me he should make his Depositions before those Judges to the end that if I be guilty I alone may suffer the Punishment of my Crimes and that the Innocent may not be involv'd in my Guilt A certain Father of the Society unsatisfi'd with Father Ignatius did one day express his Resentment and transgress'd the bounds not of Obedience only but of Reason The Saint fell to Prayer for the poor Man and with Tears in his Eyes spoke thus to God Pardon him O Lord my Creator pardon him for he knows not what he does God at the same time answer'd the Saint as once he did Moses Leave it to me I will revenge And it after happen'd that this Father going to see some Reliques in a Church in Rome did behold or so thought the Figure of a terrible Man who had a Scourge in his Hand and threatned to Chastise him if he did not obey Ignatius This Vision brought him back to his Duty But tho' he became thereupon very tractable he ceas'd not during his whole Life to be inwardly tormented To maintain Peace with his Neighbor Ignatius did always yield up his Right as far as Conscience would give him leave and he said that such a Proceeding was not only fair but advantagious for God never fail'd to requite those whom Charity induc'd to
whilst he was according to his custom speaking of Heavenly matters a Messenger sent from the Fathers shewing great haste and concern came to tell him something in his Ear having heard his Tale he sent him back without any Answer and then proceeded in his Discourse with the Company for the space of an hour Upon taking his leave some that were present had the curiosity to ask him whether the Man that came in such haste had not brought some bad News 'T is nothing he said but that the Bailiffs are in our Hourse and carry away all our Goods But this doth not much trouble me he added smiling If they take away our Beds we will lie upon the Ground as it becomes poor Men such as we are Once being fick the Physicians order'd him to keep himself quiet and to banish all thoughts that might cause the least sadness This made him think what there was that could afflict him in this World or give any disquiet to his Soul One thing only occurr'd to him capable of doing it which was if he should live to see the Society come to an end He went on farther and consider'd with himself how long that trouble would last upon him in case that Disaster should happen and he concluded that if without any fault of his it should come to fail he should recover his Tranquility in a quarter of an hours Recollection A Man who is Master of his Passions is easily so of his Words Ignatius observ'd in Speaking all the Measures which Reason and Charity prescribe He related things plainly without exaggeration leaving to the Hearers the liberty of weighing Circumstances drawing Consequences and of making Reflections Were the Conduct of Great Men never so irregular or their Vices never so publick he would not suffer any mention of it He cover'd with a profound silence the Faults of his Subjects and once made it a matter of his Confession that he had declar'd to three Persons what might have been declar'd only two for the amendment of the Culpable Some years before his Death he promis'd a certain Person to assist him in a Business but finding afterwards that it was a Matter not very proper for a Religious Man to solicite he repented him of his Engagement and said upon this Occasion I do not remember in twelve years time that I have made such a slip or that I have promis'd any thing which I afterwards repented Those who knew him us'd to say of him that he was a Man of few words but the little which he said had great weight and such force that no body could resist it so that he turn'd the Judgment of his Hearers as he pleas'd Ribadeneira being young was not very regular nor very discreet his unruliness went so far as to shake off the yoke of Obedience and not to endure the sight of Father Ignatius against whom he conceiv'd a secret Aversion The Father one day calling him did not speak to him above two or three words Ribadeneira immediately threw himself at his Feet and with Tears in his Eyes I will do Father he said I will do what you will have me The Business was about the Spiritual Exercises which the young Man had no mind to make he made them and put himself under the Direction of the Saint with an entire Confidence and Resignation Before there was in Rome a House of Catechumens the Jews who asked Baptism were Instructed in the Casa Professa One of these Catechumens call'd Isaac who had shewn great fervor and desire of Conversion and came every day with great diligence to the Catechisms I know not by what Impulse chang'd his Mind on the sudden and breaking out into impious Expressions in the middle of the Exhortation went out of the Church in a fury Father Ignatius overtook him Remain with us Isaac he said to him These words alone appeas'd the Jew he immediately return'd to the Company and to his former Intentions with a new fervor and at last receiv'd Baptism When the Saint had taken in hand any thing for the Honor of God the Obstacles and Difficulties which he met with in the Execution of it did rather animate then discourage him He waited one day fourteen hours together to speak with a Cardinal about a Work of Charity Another day when he was to go out of Rome towards Naples the Weather was so bad that his Companion Father Polancus advis'd him to put off his Journey These thirty years he said to Polancus no Accident of this nature has made me put any thing off till to Morrow Being broken with Sickness and having all the Business of the Society upon him he had great need of help in many Occasions Nevertheless he left himself destitute of it when the greater Glory of God did require it and he has been sometimes left alone in Rome to bear the whole weight of the Business there having sent into divers Parts all those Fathers who were capable to ease him As infirm as I appear to be he said with this Staff I would go a foot even into Spain if there were need If Sickness oblig'd him to keep his Bed and that any difficult Affair occur'd he seem'd to forget his Disease and to recover Health in a moment so that when he fell sick his Children used to say Let us pray to God that some Business of Consequence may happen to our Father Ignatius and we shall have him presently recover'd He bore Adversities with invincible courage and being ask'd which was the surest way to come to Perfection in a short time he answer'd Generously to suffer great Crosses for the Interest of God The Grace of Persecutions as he call'd it of all Divine Favours was that which he most esteem'd and it look'd as if by his Prayers he had obtain'd it for it has been often observ'd that the other Fathers when they were from him liv'd in a Calm and that assoon as the Saint came amongst them Tempests did arise on all sides In all the Storms of his Life the Confidence which he had in God so kept him up that he fear'd nothing when every thing was to be fear'd In difficult Matters which he undertook for the Service of the Faithful he sometimes to that degree abandon'd himself to Providence that such as in these Occasions look'd upon his Conduct with carnal Eyes thought him Rash and Imprudent He made it one of his chief Maxims That whoever would do great things in God's Cause must have a care of being too wise and he said That if the Apostles had consulted the Dictates of Human Prudence they never had undertaken the Conversion of the World According to this Principle he once said That if God should call him beyond the Seas and the Vicar of Jesus Christ commanded him speedily to depart he would put himself into the first Ship tho' never so badly Equipp'd and even without Sails or Rudder What Prudence Father would be in this said one that
stood by Prudence reply'd Ignatius is the Vertue of him that Commands not of him who Obeys In a very hard Time and when there was no appearance of Relief by way of Charity he ceas'd not to receive many into the Society and he told a Father who wonder'd at it That the more desperate things did appear the more hope we ought to place in God What merit is there to hope said he when we have a secure Fund and certain Recruits If we see what we hope for it is no longer hope for no body hopes for what he sees Nicholas Bobadilla not being able to comprehend whence Father Ignatius got wherewithal to maintain so many People and asking him one day about it the Father made him a particular Recital of all the Alms constantly receiv'd All this said Bobadilla is not enough for half our Company What then reply'd the Saint shall we depend in nothing upon Providence And must we relie upon the Care of our Heavenly Father no farther then the Charity of the Faithful shall give us leave For my part what comes short from the Hands of Men I always find in the Hands of God and should they give me nothing in him I should find all things The Marquess de Sarria Embassador with the Pope from the Catholick King once receiv'd Father Ignatius with more coldness then usually which was occasion'd by the Father's making little use of the Marquess in the Business and Concerns of the Society Father Ignatius who smelt out the Cause of the Embassador's reservedness told Ribadeneira who was his Companion That for above thirty years God had taught him so to make use of human Succors as not wholly to relie on them and that he would let the Embassador understand That Religious Men ought not to build upon the Credit of Great Men to the prejudice of their Confidence in God He had a particular Grace in the Direction of Souls and this Gift of God he had in so eminent a degree that many Persons consulting him about their inward Troubles and not being able well to explicate them to him he so clearly Explain'd and laid them forth before their Eyes as if with his own he had seen the bottom of their Consciences It was his Maxim That we should not accommodate Business to our selves but our selves to the Business and he apply'd this prudential Rule to Matters of Piety Wherefore he condemn'd those Directors who would reduce all the World to their manner of Prayer and to their way of Living He said that this sort of Conduct is very dangerous and that such Directors have little understanding in a Spiritual Life as not knowing that the Gifts of Heaven are of different kinds and that all the Faithful come not to God by the same way He also said That altho' in Vertues and their Acts there were several degrees of Excellence the most sublime and perfect was not always the best for every Person in some Circumstances and that if God in time of Prayer excites a Soul to Compunction she ought not to turn away from it nor for Example apply her self to rejoyce in the Infinite Perfections of his Divine Majesty He us'd to say That such as made long Prayers ought to be very much upon their guard not to abuse that Commerce which they have with God That there are a sort of People of a wilful Nature who by much Praying without observing the Rules of Discretion and wanting a true desire to overcome their own Judgment dry up their Brain and are so possest with their own Imaginations that there is no getting them out of their Head That others there are who perswaded that all comes from God which enters into their thoughts in time of Prayer take their own Fancies for their Conduct and in this manner only follow the Impulse of Nature mistaking it for that of Grace He added That Persons thus seduc'd often fell into gross Errors and that their Miscarriage discredited Prayer amongst the People of the World who wrongfully attribute the Disorder to Prayer it self and not to the bad use made of so holy an Exercise Finally that how much soever illuminated we may think our selves to be we are not to judge of divine Matters by human Measures but we ought always to submit our Judgment to the Principles of Faith and the Authority of the Church it being unreasonable that things certain should be regulated by those which are doubtful whereas on the contrary the certain ought to overrule the uncertain He valu'd more the Spirit of Mortification then the Spirit of Prayer or rather he judg'd that these two Spirits if true were inseparable and that the one could not subsist without the other Some body in his presence praising a Religious Person by saying he was a Man of great Prayer Add said he that he is a Man of great Mortification by which word he meant the Mortification of the Will more then that of the Body for tho' he judg'd Austerities to be necessary for curbing the rebellion of Flesh and Blood or for expiating Sins yet he made no great reck'ning of them unless they were joyn'd with an inward Abnegation And for this Reason in his Constitutions he Orders That the principal care of those of the Society should be to serve God with the greatest Self-denial and as much as may be with a continual Mortification of their Will When any body desir'd him to tell them the nearest way to Perfection he said The shortest and the surest was to overcome themselves He once told a young Brother who was of a violent Temper Tame and master your self Brother for if you do it your Reward will be much greater in Heaven then theirs whose Vertue costs them little Another time Father Lewis Gonzales who had the care of Domestick Discipline complaining of the same Brother Have patience said the same Saint to him he with whom you are so unsatisfi'd is more come on in a Month then such and such a one in a Year and he nam'd to him two other Brothers of a mild Temper who went for Patterns of Discretion Being inform'd that a Father naturally cholerick and hasty withdrew himself from the Company after Meals to avoid Occasions of transgressing You deceive your self he said to him 't is by Fighting and not by running away Vices are overcome He preferr'd the least Act of Charity Humility or of Patience before the highest Knowledges acquir'd or infus'd Accordingly he more esteem'd a plain simple Man full of Spirit and the Love of God then a great Scholar less Fervent and Devout tho' generally speaking he took more care of the Learned Man because he was more useful for the Service of our Neighbour He principally regarded that his Children should be apply'd to the Exercises of true Devotion without looking after spiritual Gusts Raptures or Visions Tho' God continually regal'd him with those extraordinary Favours yet he said that we never ought to desire them but rather