the bad success of his Jerusalem Voyage and he still imagin'd that God would be serv'd by him in the Holy Land Faber who had been for some time deliberating upon the Course of life he should chuse presently took fire and as if the Holy Ghost had at that moment determin'd his Choice embracing Ignatius with great affection he told him I will follow you and I will follow you even to death Yet before he did absolutely engage himself he resolv'd to go into his own Country He was born in a Village call'd Villaret which belongs to the Diocess of Geneva When he was young he was put to keep Sheep but his strong inclination to learn the Latin Tongue made him leave those Country Employments After he had Studied a while in a small neighbouring Town under a Master who was a very holy Man he was sent to Paris by the counsel of Don George Faber his near Kinsman and Prior of a Monastery of Carthusians in Savoy During the absence of Faber Ignatius undertook to gain Xaverius who then taught Philosophy Xaverius had a spritely Wit an agreeable Humour a generous Soul and a great purity of Manners but he was naturally vain and lov'd ostentation Whareas the Quality of his Birth his natutural Parts and his progress in Learning had rais'd his Expectations in the World notwithstanding the ill Condition of his impoverish'd Family he pretended to advance himself by Ecclesiastical Preferments and according to the custom of ambitious Men who feed themselves with Chimera's he fram'd to himself the obtaining great Advantages upon the least appearances Ignatius believ'd that a Genius of this Character and Mould being turn'd the right way might do great things in the Service of God but that it would be a very hard matter to bring him into a right temper to be wrought upon In effect that innate Tumor of Vanity and Pride made useless all the first Essays and Discourses of a Man who only spoke of the Contempt of worldly Greatness He would hardly give ear to him and instead of believing him civilly raillied him This did not dishearten Ignatius To insinuate himself by degrees into the good liking of our young Professor he commended his natural Talents congratulated his Reputation applauded in publick the ingenuity of his Answers and made it his business to procure him Scholars But the zeal of Ignatius was not confin'd within the Walls of St. Barbara He began to speak French and was not now afraid that his Works of Piety would injure his Studies It is not to be told of how many Expedients he serv'd himself for the Conversion of Sinners A Man of his Acquaintance was desperately in Love with a Woman who liv'd in a Village near Paris with whom he held a sinful Commerce Ignatius employ'd all Reasons both Humane and Divine to cure him of this shameful Passion But his Remonstrances were lost upon a Man absorpt in carnal Pleasures and without the strange Remedy which he invented the Disease had been incurable Having learn'd out the way which this Person us'd to pass in going to this Woman he waits for him near a Pond side which the Cold of the Season had almost quite turn'd to Ice As soon as he perceiv'd him coming at a distance he stript himself and stood up to the Neck in the Water Whither do you go unhappy Wretch cry'd he when he saw him draw near whither d' ye go don 't you hear the Thunder breaking over your Head don 't ye see the fiery Darts of Divine Justice ready to strike you Well then he continu'd with a terrible Voice go satisfie your brutal Passion here will I suffer for you till the wrath of Heaven be appeas'd The lascivious Man frighted with these Words and at the same time confounded with the Charity of Ignatius whose Voice he knew began to open his Eyes grew asham'd of his sin and return'd back with the design of wholly changing his Life Ignatius shew'd his Industry in another way to reduce a Religious Man who was a Priest but who dishonor'd his Character and Profession by a scandalous Life He went to him upon a Sunday Morning desiring him to hear his Confession and under pretence of quieting the Scruples of his Conscience he made a general Confession to him While the Penitent accus'd himself of his ancient Disorders with an extraordinary feeling and remorse the Confessor began to feel an inward confusion upon the account of his own dissolute Life which now appear'd to him the more criminal for that the Sins of a Religious Man are of greater guilt then those of Men in the World He also reproch'd to himself the hardness of his Heart when he saw Ignatius lament with so many Tears his past Disorders In conclusion his Heart was mollifi'd and before the Confession was ended he found himself touch'd with a true Repentance He communicated to Ignatius the state and condition of his Soul and ask'd his advice and help to raise him out of that dismal Gulf into which his Sins had cast him Ignatius prescrib'd to this Religious Man his Spiritual Exercises so successfully that in a little time he put him into the way of Perfection Going one day to see a certain Person upon a business of Charity he found him playing at Billiards This was a Doctor of Divinity eminent for his Birth and for his Learning regular enough in his Manners but not very devout and more taken up with secular Business then with his spiritual Advancement The Doctor invited Ignatius to play He excus'd himself because he knew not the Game but the other still pressing him and even his own Vertue inclining him to a complacence What shall we play for said he pleasantly to the Doctor a poor Man as I am cannot play for Money and there is no pleasure in playing for nothing I will tell you then he added what we must do If I lose I will Serve you for a whole Month and do exactly all that you shall command me and if you lose you shall only do one thing that I will ask of you The Doctor being in a merry humour readily accepted the Condition They play'd and Ignatius wan he who never before had play'd at Billiards The Doctor thinking there might be something extraordinary and mysterious in this matter resolv'd to obey Ignatius According to and under his Direction he made the Spiritual Exercises a whole Month and so profited by them that he became an Interior Man Among those which Ignatius had brought into the way of Devotion one there was who fell back and was even upon the point of totally forgetting God The Saint spar'd no Advertisements to resettle him in Vertue but not being able to obtain any thing upon him he Fasted three whole days without eating or drinking weeping at the foot of the Altars and praying without intermission His Fasting his Tears and his Prayers obtain'd mercy from Heaven and restor'd the spirit of compunction and fervour upon
consolation and caus'd within him a profound peace and tranquility of mind But the others though at first they brought with them a more sensible delight yet after some continuance he found they left behind them a certain bitterness and heaviness at Heart He reflected upon it and as Carnal and Worldly as he then was he began to reason and discourse with himself upon the nature of spiritual things for God Almighty who had resolv'd to settle in him a great fund of Sanctity and to shew in his person how far Christian Wisdom can advance when accompani'd with great Natural parts would not have his conversion too easily or suddenly made He observ'd that there were two kinds of Spirits diametrically opposite the one of God the other of the World He took notice by what he found within himself that a solid joy which penetrates the Soul does infinitely surpass that light and flashy pleasure which only gratifies the senses Whereupon it was easie for him to conclude what advantage the things of Heaven have over those of the Earth in order to the contenting and satiating the Heart of Man These first Rudiments which Ignatius had of interior motions were the Ground and Foundation of those Rules which he gives us in the Book of his Exercises for the discernment of those Spirits which are in us the principles of Good and Evil. These great Truths having taken full possession of his Soul and being fortified with Divine Grace against all the suggestion of Hell He made now a final Resolution to change his Life and quite to break off with the World His first purpose was to use his Body with all the rigor it was able to bear and this he did either through a lively apprehension of the torments of Hell with intent to appease the Divine justice or else as being yet but of small experience in a Spiritual life he imagin'd that all Christian perfection consisted in the maceration of the Body He resolv'd therefore to go bare-foot to the Holy Land to cloth himself with Sackcloth to fast with Bread and Water not to sleep but on the bare Ground and to choose a wild Desert for his aboad But whereas his Leg was not yet perfectly cur'd he could not immediately execute what his love of Pennance inspir'd him to do So that for the present to satisfie in some measure his fervour he constantly rose up at midnight and being throughly toucht with a Remorse of his sins he spent that time which was free from the disturbance of company in weeping for them One night among the rest being up according to his custom and prostrating himself before an Image of the Blessed Virgin with extraordinary sentiments of Piety he offered up himself to Jesus Christ by her means and intercession and Consecrated himself to the Service of the Son and the Mother vowing to them both an inviolable fidelity When he had ended his Prayer he heard a mighty noise the House trembled all the windows of his Chamber were broken and there was made a great rent in the Wall which remains at this day to be seen It is probable that God did thereby make it appear that the Sacrifice of his new Servant was agreeable to him for Heaven sometimes declares it self by such surprizing signs in favour of the Saints witness what we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the place where the Faithful were Congregated to make their Prayers and of the Prison where St. Paul and Silas sung Hymns together It may also be that this Earthquake was caus'd by the Devils who inrag'd to see their prey ravish'd from them and foreseeing what Ignatius would one day become did their endeavour by the fall of the Castle of Loyola to put a Period to his life and to his future progress Thus whilst his Leg was still in cure he continued reading the lives of our Saviour and the Saints not as formerly for amuzement sake and to pass away the time but to the end of forming his own life according to those great Models and of corroborating his Holy Resolutions Nor did he only read them but he made them the subject of his Meditation and wrote down what he found most sensibly to affect him It is farther said of him that having Learn'd in his Youth to design he took delight with Crayons of several Colours to draw the most signal Actions of the Saints and to write down their remarkable sayings to the intent of Printing them deeper in his memory Whilst he was thus imploy'd the great Truths of Christianity took such deep root in him that he himself was astonish'd at his own transformation into another Man so that the conversion of Ignatius was finished and brought to perfection by the same means which first gave the rise and entrance to it And the reading of good Books work'd that in him which neither a mortal Disease nor the terrors of Death nor an apparition from Heaven with a miraculous cure could effect So much it imports Worldly persons and even the most obdurate sinners some times to read Books of Piety The Favours he receiv'd from Heaven did not a little serve him to forget the Vanities of the World The blessed Virgin all inviron'd with light appear'd to him one Night holding little Jesus in her Arms. At this Vision Ignatius felt his Soul replenish'd with such a spiritual Unction as ever after rendred all pleasures of the Senses insipid to him During this Apparition which lasted a considerable time it seem'd to him that his Heart was purifi'd within him and that all images of sensual Delights were quite raz'd out of his Mind These happy effects did not end with the Apparition for from that time forward he was never subject to the rebellion of carnal concupiscence nor even to those thoughts with which sometimes the most chast Persons use to be tormented But the disappearing of Jesus and Mary left him in great trouble Wherefore to comfort himself he often with flaming Aspirations look'd up to Heaven and when he did so all that was charming and tempting in the World he beheld with horror His Leg being throughly cur'd he prepar'd himself in good earnest to follow the Voice of Heaven but did it with all possible secresie being even then perswaded that the Affairs of God are to be carry'd on without noise and that no ostentation should be us'd in leaving the World And yet to see him so different from himself plunged in profound Meditations speaking little and speaking only of the vanity of worldly things always Reading and Writing it was easie to imagine that he was disgusted with the World and that he projected something very extraordinary Don Martino Garsias his eldest Brother who since the death of Don Bertram was become Lord of the Castle of Loyola one who did not live over-much according to the Maxims of the Gospel did all that he could to discover and break his Design Taking him one Day aside he began to
these words I will be propitious to you at Rome The sight of the Cross astonish'd him but the Promise of our Saviour fill'd him with assurance and strength Being come to himself he went out of the Chappel with a transported Countenance and joyning his two Companions I know not Brethren he said what is prepar'd for us at Rome and whether we may not be ill treated there but this I know that whatever our treatment shall be Jesus Christ will be propitious to us After which to fortifie them against all that might happen he told them what he had seen This heavenly Visit is one of the most remarkable which St. Ignatius ever had and is so well attested that there is no ground for a doubt of it Laynez when he was General of the Society made a Relation of it to all the Fathers of Rome in a Domestical Conference and Ribadeneira who first writ the Story of Ignatius says he was present at it When any body asked St. Ignatius concerning the Particulars of it he referr'd them to Father Laynez to whom he said he had formerly given a true account of it Nevertheless at the time when he made the Rules and Constitutions of his Society and set down the Sentiments which God inspir'd him with at the Altar he once writ that he found himself in the same inward disposition and state as he was when the Eternal Father appear'd to him and recommended or Put him with his Son to use the Saint's own Term. Ignatius Faber and Laynez came to Rome about the end of the Year 1537. At their first arrival they had Audience of his Holiness Paul the Third by the means of Ortiz His Holiness receiv'd with joy the Offers which Ignatius made him and seem'd very well satisfi'd to see him To try and employ his new Workmen he desir'd that Laynez and Faber might teach Divinity in the College of Sapienza the first Scholastick and the other the holy Scripture Ignatius undertook under his Apostolical Authority the reformation of Manners by the means of his Spiritual Exercises and of Christian Instructions He first restor'd all the Money that he and his Companions had received for their Journey of Jerusalem and he even sent back four Crowns of Gold as far as Valentia which Martin Perez had given him Cardinal Jaspar Contarini one of the most Learned Men and most Ingenious of his Time was so charm'd with the Disinteressedness and Wisdom of Ignatius that he said he now had met with such a Director as he had long wish'd and sought for He gave himself up wholly to him and in his own Hand wrote out the Book of the Exercises According to the Example of Contarini Ortiz put himself under the Direction of Ignatius But that he might make the Exercises with more liberty he went out of Rome and took Ignatius with him to Monte-Cassino This Place equally solitary and Religious seem'd to him very proper for his design of forgetting for a whole Month all the Business of the World and of minding no other but that of his Soul As far advanc'd in years as he was he made himself Ignatius's Scholar and he said after his retirement that the Divinity which he had learn'd at Monte-Cassino in the space of Fourty days was incomparably better then that which he had taught in so many years He said also there was a great deal of difference between studying to instruct others and studying to perfect ones self that in the first we only design to make our selves able Men in the second to become Saints In conclusion he more valu'd one single Notion gain'd in his Solitude then all the curious Speculations of humane Sciences In this while Xaverius and Bobadilla were employ'd in Bologna about saving of Souls Le Jay and Rodriguez were at the same Work in Ferara Pasquier and Salmeron in Sienna Codurus and Hozez in Padua From Venice their Reputation was every where spread about and the Marchioness of Pescara being at Ferara desir'd to be acquainted with the two who Labour'd there Meeting one of them by accident she asked if he were not one of those Priests come into Italy to go into the Holy Land and where he Lodg'd She was inform'd by him that their Journey to Jerusalem was disappointed and that they Lodg'd in the Hospital She went thither the very same day but before she call'd for them she enquir'd in what manner they liv'd She was told that they were great Saints that they spent part of the Night in Prayer and in saying their Office together that every day they begg'd their Bread about the Town and would not eat in the Hospital what belong'd to the Poor that as thin clad as they were they never came to the Fire in the coldest Weather that they never spoke but of Heavenly things and that they were continually employ'd in the Service of their Neighbour The Marchioness who had true Sentiments of Piety was overjoy'd to find Directors of this Character She gave them an account of her Interior and oblig'd them to come and Lodge for a time near her Palace It was she who first made them known in the Court of Ferara and who induced the Duke Hercules d'Este to chuse Claude le Jay for his Confessor But of three other of Ignatius's Companions God was pleas'd to try the Vertue and to exercise their Patience Xaverius had a great Sickness at Bologna of which he was brought to Deaths-door Codurus and Hozez were put in Prison at Padua by order of the Bishops Suffragan who suspected them of ill Designs and some Contrivances against the State of Venice But the whole Town was concern'd in their behalf so that they lay but one Night in Prison As soon as they fell to their Employment again Hozez was seiz'd with a most violent Feaver which carry'd him off in few days The Disease took him after he had newly Preach'd to the People upon these words of the Gospel Watch and pray because you know not the day nor the hour Ignatius who had the News brought him to Monte-Cassino of Hozez Sickness knew it would be mortal At the very instant of his Expiring the Saint saw his Soul shining and glorious enter into Heaven in the same manner as St. Bennet in that Place had formerly seen the Soul of St. Germanus Bishop of Padua carry'd by Angels into Paradice as it is related by St. Gregory Ignatius had the same Vision more then once for being one day hearing Mass at those words of the Confiteor Et omnibus Sanctis he saw Heaven open'd and among the numerous Troop of the Blessed his Companion more resplendent then the rest not that he was more holy or more elevated in Glory but because God as Ignatius himself observ'd would have him so distinguish'd that he might take notice of him This Vision so wrought upon him that he wept for many days together And that which made it appear that it was no Illusion
Daughter who was with her near enough to touch the Body of Father Ignatius the cure would be effected But the crowd was so great that it was not possible for them to get near the Body before it was laid into the Grave However they did not lose courage and the Mother intreated the Fathers to apply something that had belong'd to the Saint to the part affected of her Daughter Father Cornelius Vischaven did what she desir'd and in the same moment the Evil left her with all the marks and effects of it His Body remain'd in the place where it was first laid till the Year 1568 at which time it was remov'd to another part of the Church by reason of the Foundations that were there to be laid for the new Church of the Giesu built by Cardinal Alexander Farnesius But in the Year 1587 when that Church was finish'd Father Claudius Aquaviva then General translated thither the Body of the Holy Founder upon the 19th of November and plac'd it on the right side of the High Altar with this plain Epitaph upon a Marble stone Ignatio Societatis Jesû Fundatori The Blessed Institutor of the Congregation of the Oratory Philip Nerius who was at Rome when Father Ignatius dy'd spoke of him after his death as he did when he was alive He said that he was a Man fill'd with the Spirit of God that he had often seen a Resplendency in his countenance that he had learnt from him the way of mental Prayer and that all Christendom was infinitly beholding to him As soon as the news of the Fathers death was spread over Europe many eminent Persons writ to the Society and their Letters were so many Elogiums of the Saint Cardinal de la Cueva in his Extol'd his Christian prudence and said that the Church had lost in him one of her ablest Subjects The Cardinal of Ausbourg writ in these terms My very Reverend and Religious Brethren in Jesus Christ I cannot say whether the Death of our most Holy Father Ignatius has caus'd in me more joy or sadness For on one side if I consider that God hath releast him out of this miserable World to recompence his Labours it would be a kind of Impiety for our own interest to grieve at his happiness On the other side we have great cause to be afflicted seeing our selves become Orphans by the loss of such a Father who was a Refuge to us and a safe Harbuor in all our Distresses But in regard that transitory things must not enter into Competition with Eternal we comfort our selves by your Example upon our assurance that this happy Soul is at this time our Advocate with God Don John de Vega Viceroy of Sicily expres'd his Sentiments in the Language of a Soldier The Servant of God said he has left behind him Trophies of his Vertue which time will never destroy as it has destroy'd the proudest Monuments of Human Vanity Me thinks I have before my Eyes the Solemnity with which a great and holy Captain is receiv'd into Heaven loaded with the spoils of Hell who has gain'd so many signal Victories upon the Enemy of Mankind in reducing to the Christian Faith by his Conduct and the Valor of his Soldiers so many Barbarous Nations who before knew not the Name of Jesus Christ It also appears to me that upon a just account his Standard may be rais'd in Heaven with those of St. Dominick of St. Francis and of the other Saints to whom God has given the strength to overcome the World and to save a great number of Souls I must not omit the Letter which the Regular Clericks of St. Paul commonly call'd Barnabites writ from Milan to Father Laynez Vicar of the Society And I think it worth the while to set it down as it lies faithfully Translated out of the Latin The news of the Decease of Venerable Father Ignatius of happy memory has caus'd great sorrow in us both upon your account and of all the holy Society of Jesus who have lost such a Master and such a Father and upon our own who also have always look'd upon him as our Father There is certainly great reason for us to be afflicted to have him taken from us in a time when good Men are so scarce but his happiness ought to out ballance with us our own loss For Jesus Christ is the life of the just and their Death is their gain because it brings them to their happiness of being with Jesus Christ when they are loosn'd from the Fetters of the Body Thus did this holy Soul going out of Prison together with St. Peter upon the first day of August take its place in Heaven We only ought to fear least our Sins may have been the cause of our losing him and least his death in our regard may have been a punishment from God like that of King Josias who was taken out of the World before the wrath of Heaven broke out upon the Jewish people However it were such was the Will of God and may his holy Name be prais'd At least he is not wholly lost to us This blessed Man who has done so great service to Christendom will always live in the memory of the Faithful and his Name will be glorious in all the parts of the Earth where the Name of Jesus Christ is known It was under the Conduct of this Governor that the Christian Faith was carry'd even to the Antipodes and that in those unknown Climates are at this time to be seen thousands of Souls Converted and a new Church every way resembling the Antient Erected of new Apostles and of new Martyrs He has sent his Children before him and after having himself taken great pains in the Service of Jesus Christ he follows them worn out and consum'd like them with Labour and Fatigue opprest with the care of so many Churches and to conclude a Martyr in Peace He has been for several Years the support of your Family and of many others or rather a common Father of all good People What sad Hearts has he not reliev'd by his Discourses full of Sweetness and Charity To whom has he not given profitable Counsel in difficult matters and Relief in greatest necessities He has been the Foot of the Lame the Eye of the Blind the Refuge of the Poor and the Comfort of the sorrowful May Heaven reward him for all his good Works On our parts we cease not to offer to God the holy Sacrifice of the Altar for so holy a Soul which as we verily believe at this present enjoys the Beatifick sight of God Let others strew Flowers upon his Tomb the proper Offerings of Priests are the holy Mysteries At least in paying him these last duties now that he is deliver'd from the miseries of corrupt Mortality we shall testifie to the end the affection we bore him whilst he liv'd amongst us To conclude we desire you to receive these Tears of Brotherly love as most
certain marks of our Friendship and respects to return us love for love and to remember us in your Prayers May our Lord Jesus Christ be for ever with you Amen From our Monastery in Milan the first of September 1556. They were not only some particular Persons or some Societies who beheld Father Ignatius after his Death as a Saint In many Nations the People had so great an opinion of his Sanctity that they implor'd his succour for obtaining Favours from Heaven This was principally done in Spain and the Honor given to his memory was spred into the places Inhabited by him in his Life The Castle of Loyola grew venerable to the whole Country and the Chamber where in his Sickness he was Converted was reverenc'd by all Spain as a kind of Sanctuary Those who Lodg'd in it felt in themselves a horror of Sin and their Hearts turn'd to Vertue Nevertheless it once happen'd that a certain Gentleman was came to visit the Lord of Loyola and was Lodg'd in the Chamber of Ignatius entertain'd unchast thoughts in his mind But at the same instant the whole House was shaken with a terrible Earthquake as if Heaven could not endure Impurity in a place where Ignatius had receiv'd Visits from the Holy Virgin and had for ever renounc'd the pleasures of the senses The Hospital of Manreza where he began his penitent Life and the Cave where he us'd his Body with so much rigor became also places of publick Veneration The People were led thither by their Devotion and usually kiss'd the Ground which had been water'd with the Tears and sprinkl'd with the Blood of so Holy a Man Before the Hospital was erected a Pyramid in his Honor with an Inscription which contain'd a Summary of his Life The little Chamber where he had the Extasie of eight Days was turn'd into a Chappel The Cave was adorn'd as much as the horror of the place would permit and the chiefest Ornament of the place was a great Picture in which was represented the Saints manner of living in that Grotte He was drawn in his Sackcloth girt with an Iron Chain his Countenance pale and lean his Feet bare and upon his Knees before the blessed Virgin holding in her Arms her Child Jesus He had his Eyes fixt upon her and his Arm was set in a posture of writing as if Jesus and Mary were dictating to him the Spiritual Exercises In the bottom of the Piece were these words In the Year 1522 Ignatius in this place writ the Spiritual Exercises the first Book put forth by the Society of Jesus which was approv'd by a Bull of Paul the Third The many Cures wrought in Barcelona by the Hair shirt of Ignatius which John Pascal preserv'd as a Relick did not a little increase the Peoples Devotion towards the Servant of God But the accomplishment of Ignatius his Prediction to Pascal himself was very wonderful When Ignatius left Barcelona to Study in the University of Alcala Pascal who was very young would have follow'd him and been his Disciple together with Cazeres Artiaga and Calisto But the Saint told him that God would have him remain in the World and at the same time predicted to him what should befal him You shall Marry said he a very vertuous Woman and shall have many Children you likewise shall have many afflictions and shall die very poor but comfort your self for your afflictions shall be the means of saving your Soul The event verifi'd the Prediction For Pascal did Marry a Person of great Vertue and had three Sons and four Daughters But his eldest Son was born deaf and dumb his second Son became distracted and the third who was a great Libertine dy'd suddenly Of his four Daughthers he was able to Marry but one and at last he was reduc'd to beg Alms. These great misfortunes however did not dishearten him This is said he what the holy Man Ignatius foretold me And when his Friends would have made him hope for better Fortune the Prophecy of the Saint he answer'd must be fulfill'd and all that I ask of God is Patience Ignatius who before his Death often comforted Pascal with his Letters did not forget him afterwards He once appear'd to him at four a Clock in the Morning after this manner Pascal had a custom for many Years of hearing Matines every Day in the great Church near the Tomb of St. Eulalia which joyns to the Altar Being come one Morning too soon he Pray'd by himself in expectation of Matines and his extream necessity put him upon imploring the succour of Heaven by his mediation who had foretold it to him and of whose Death he had been lately inform'd Father he cry'd sighing and weeping your Predictions are but too true and now you behold from Heaven what was beforehand reveal'd to you upon Earth Have pity on me and if you deliver me not from my Miseries at least obtain for me the Grace to endure them with Constancy and to merit by them according to your promise a future happiness He had scarce ended these words when he heard a Melodious noise and saw a beautiful train of young Clergy men who rang'd themselves on each side of the Altar to make place for a Venerable Person who follow'd them in his Priestly Attire all shining in Glory This Priest of Figure more then Human stopt at the Tomb of St. Eulalia and bowing to the ground before the blessed Sacrament took a Censor from the hand of one of the Assistants and several times Incens'd the Altar Pascal astonish'd at the sight and doubtful whether his Eyes might not deceive him remain'd sometime without motion But looking attentively upon the Priest he found him to be Ignatius Ah Father he cry'd Ah my Father Ignatius The Saint comforted Pascal by giving him fresh hopes of his Salvation and then disappear'd with the blessed Spirits that attended him The Canons when they came into the Church to Sing Matines found Pascal out of himself seiz'd with admiration fear and joy all at once He then told them what he had seen and he ever after retain'd so lively an Idea of it that in all his distresses it never fail'd to give him present comfort This Apparition grew famous over all Spain but the cure of Bobadilla was no less notorious in Italy This Father being come from Tivoli to Rome was taken with a violent Fever Whereas they Lodg'd him in the Chamber where the Saint dy'd in the hight of his Disease he made his Application to him and immediately the Fever left him He every where made Publick the favour from Heaven which he had receiv'd by the intercession of his Father Ignatius and this Testimony was the more considerable because he was a Man not at all inclin'd easily to believe Miracles Many other Persons were cur'd in divers parts of Europe and of the new World by imploring the assistance of the Founder of the Society of Jesus Tho' in the following Years
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