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
was that the Body it self of the Deceased seem'd to give some assurance of the glorious state of his Soul for Hozez who living was of a swarthy Complexion and very hard-featur'd becaMe so handsom and well-colour'd after his Death that Codurus who never left him could hardly know him for the same Man To increase his comfort Ignatius stay'd not long without finding another Companion to fill his room whom he newly had lost or rather whom it pleas'd God to take into his own Kingdom Nor could he reckon it a loss to himself that this holy Man should be the first to take possession of Heaven out of that Society which was hardly yet well establish'd upon Earth and from whom he hop'd for more protection in that blessed State he had seen him then he could have had service or assistance from him if he had continu'd longer in the World Coming back from Monte-Cassino he met a young Spaniard of his Acquaintance call'd Francis Strada who was come to Rome to make his Fortune Doctor Ortiz had plac'd him with Cardinal John Peter Caraffa But Strada who was full of spirit and fire grew quickly weary of a Court where all things go slowly on He therefore resolv'd to turn Soldier to advance himself that way and he was then going to find Employment at Naples It is the custom for Men uneasie in their Fortunes to be always complaining He told Ignatius his Disgusts against the Court of Rome call'd it Deceitful and Ungrateful but still he comforted himself with the prospect of a freer Life in which at least he should gain Reputation You have no reason to complain said Ignatius to him The World in deceiving you has only done what it useth to do you have rather cause to rejoyce then to complain for it was rather a Kindness then a Deceit to let you know at first what the Court is and how ill-grounded all Hopes are there This ingrateful World which has so ill recompenc'd your Services doth in a manner it self admonish you to leave it but you do like him who suffers Shipwrack upon one Sea and presently Embarques again upon another You leave Rome for Naples as if the Court were not still the Court as well at Naples as at Rome For my part I have pity of you not so much for the Hopes you have already lost as for those you have still before you If you will not be deceiv'd renounce all your vain Pretensions upon Earth and trust only to God who is only faithful and can only make you happy These words made such Impressions upon the young Soldier that he laid down his new Profession to make himself a Disciple of Ignatius He went back with him to Rome and in process of time became one of the most famous Preachers of Europe Other young Men considerable for their natural Parts and for their Piety almost at the same time follow'd the Example of Strada At this time God bestow'd upon Ignatius more distinct Notions of the Institute of which he was to be the Founder together with a strong desire of Establishing it out of hand He conferr'd with Faber and Laynez about it and he sent for the rest of his Companions who were dispersed up and down Italy Upon his first Order they came to Rome about the end of Lent in the Year 1538. They Lodg'd all together with a Roman Gentleman call'd Guirino Garzonio whom Ignatius had brought into the Service of God and whose House he accepted of that he might Treat more commodiously with his Companions about the great Business in hand Having one day call'd them together Can you think Brethren said he that Providence has gather'd us out of so many different Countries and united us with so strait a band of perfect Charity with intention that after so long Studies and such painful Voyages every one should go home again at his pleasure No no he added God would have us engag'd in his Service for ever and even that we leave behind us Successors that shall embrace the same manner of Life Heaven has been pleas'd to stop our Entrance into Palestine and yet I can say it to the glory of God that our zeal for his Service has still increased from day to day Ought we not to judge from thence that we are call'd to enlarge the Kingdom of Jesus Christ not with a single Nation or Country but with all the Nations and Countries of the World The small number which we were at first did not suffice for so vast an Enterprize New Succours are now come in to us and more are daily coming But what benefit shall we receive from those who associate with us if we all live in an Independency and what great thing can we perform if our Company be not Erected into a Religious Order capable of multiplying it self in all Places and subsisting to the end of the World I doubt not but this Design will meet with great opposition The Contradiction of Men is a Character and Mark of the Works of God But neither Earth nor Hell can prevail against the Decrees of the Eternal Wisdom Jesus Christ has promis'd us to be favourable to us and what may we not hope upon his Word and what can we fear with his Assistance After all I am if opinion that you and I should take a little time to prepare our selves by Prayer to make a farther discovery of his Divine Will and faithfully to Execute it when it shall appear to us This Discourse of Ignatius fully convinc'd the whole Company yet in Obedience to him they did not deliver their Opinions upon the Matter till they had taken some time to recommend it to God in the manner by him prescribed which being done they assembled a second time and agree'd by a common consent that their Society should be Erected into a Religious Order that no time ought to be lost in undertaking it and that the first step to be made should be to prepare the Mind of the Pope which seem'd to be averse from these new Establishments While they sought out means to bring this to effect Paul the Third parted from Rome for Nice a Maritime Town in Provence where there was to be an Interview between Francis the First and Charles the Fifth The Design of the Pope was to Compose the Differences of those two Princes by a Treaty of Peace or at least to obtain of them a long Truce for he had reason to fear that their Divisions would hinder the progress of the League made against Soliman It was a great pain to Ignatius to see the Business of God retarded he drew his comfort only from him who permitted this delay and in the mean time he employ'd himself in the Service of his Neighbour Having obtain'd leave of Cardinal Caraffa whom the Pope had made his Legate in Rome to Preach in what Places he would he distributed his Companions into several Churches of the Town He chose for himself
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
hold back his Tears before all the company All his thoughts were fix'd upon that Mystery he could not speak but of the Trinity but he spoke with so much unction and light and in such proper and sublime expressions that the most Learned admir'd him and the most ignorant were instructed by him He wrote down the conceptions he had of that Adorable Mystery and his writing which since by I know not by what misfortune has been lost contain'd no less then fourscore Leaves if notwithstanding we may call that his writing which had something in it of the Language of the Prophets and wherein the Spirit of God had a greater share then the Spirit of Man For Ignatius could only Read and Write and an ignorant Cavalier without being inspir'd could not possibly treat of so high a subject From hence he conceiv'd a most tender devotion to the Trinity and had a custom many times in the day to make his Prayers to the Three Divine Persons sometimes to them altogether sometimes to each in particular according to the different dispositions he felt within himself A little after this by another illumination was represented to him the order which God held in the Creation of the World and the motives which induced the Divine wisdom to that outward communication of himself Once in time of Mass at the Elevation he had an intuitive knowledge that the Body and Blood of the Son of God were truly under the Elements and in what manner they were there One day as he went to visit the Church of St. Paul lying a quarter of a Mile out of the Town setting himself down on the banks of the Cardenero which runs along the plain of Manreze he had a profound knowledge of all the Mysteries together and at another time when he pray'd before a Cross upon the way to Barcelona all that he had formerly learn'd was set before his Eyes in so full a light that the verities of Faith seem'd to him to have nothing obscure in them And he remain'd so enlightned and so convinc'd of them that he has been heard to say that had they never been Recorded in the Scriptures he should still have maintain'd them to the last drop of his Blood and that had the Scriptures been lost no part of his Faith had been diminish'd But of all the favours he at that time receiv'd the most remarkable was an Extasie which lasted Eight days A thing hardly to be believed if many Persons of credit had not been witnesses of it This began upon a Saturday about the Evening in the Hospital of St. Lucy where Ignatius had again taken up his Lodging and it ended upon the Saturday following just at the same hour He had no use of his senses all that time they thought him dead and would have bury'd him if those who came to visit his Body had not perceiv'd something of motion about his Heart He came to himself as out of a sweet sleep and opening his Eyes he said with a tender and devout voice Ah Jesus No body ever knew the secrets which were reveal'd to him in this long Rapture for he would never discover them to any body And all that they could draw out of him was that the graces with which God Almighty favour'd him could not be exprest These divine illustrations did not hinder him from consulting the Religious of St. Dominick and of St. Benet about the state of his Soul nor from punctually following their directions Many times he went to his Confessor of Montserrat to render him an accompt of his interior and to ask advice for his Spiritual advancement Altho this holy old Man did the office of an instructor to Ignatius yet he look'd upon his Disciple with great veneration and said to the Religious of his Monastery That this Penitent of Manreza would one day be the Support and Ornament of the Church that he should be a Reformer of the Christian World a successor of St. Paul an Apostle who should transmit the light of Faith into Idolatrous Nations But Ignatius open'd himself only to his Directors and no farther to them then was necessary for his conduct otherwise he kept a profound silence and shut up all his secret favours from Heaven within himself Yet notwithstanding his care to be conceal'd from the Eyes of Men he miss'd of his aime either because God would recompence the humility of his Servant or in regard that vertue has marks which discover her against her will His Austerities and his Extacies grew famous round the Country And that which added Luster to them was that no body doubted of his being a Person of Quality who had disguis'd himself upon the account of doing Pennance A certain Religious Woman esteemed a Saint in those parts spoke of him with great Admiration and pronounced him a Saint This is the same person who at that time was Celebrated all over Spain and who was often consulted by the Catholick King in matters of Conscience and was call'd the Beata of Manreza They had in fine so great an opinion of Ignatius that falling sick again and being remov'd to the House of a rich Burgess who was a good Man and would not suffer the Servant of God to continue in the Hospital the people hereupon commonly call'd this Burgess by the Name of Symon and his Wife by the Name of Martha as if in receiving Ignatius within their walls they had received Jesus Christ His reputation drew every body to him some only to behold him others to hear him And when he went to Pray before the Crosses which are set up about Manreza or when he went in Pilgrimage to our Lady at Villa-Dordis and to other places of Devotion the people usually crowded after him Hitherto in all his practices of Piety he only propos'd to himself his own perfection But providence which design'd him for the Evangelical Ministery and had already prepar'd him for it without his knowledge by contempt of the World by retirement and mortification gave him now other lights and measures He began to consider that Souls having cost our Saviour so dear nothing could be done more acceptable to him then to hinder their loss He comprehended that the glory of Gods Majesty did most shine in the Salvation of Souls purchas'd with the Blood of his Son These were the notions which kindled in him his Zeal for Souls It is not enough said he that I serve our Lord all Hearts must love him and all Tongues must praise him As soon as he had turn'd his thoughts towards his Neighbour how dear soever solitude was to him he gave it over and least he should fright those from him whom he design'd to bring to God he chang'd his austere penitential Dress into a more decent Attire Moreover knowing that the Ministery to which he was call'd requir'd health and vigour he moderated his Austerites and put on a Garment of course Cloth because the Winter was very sharp
be somthing us'd more Corrosive and Penetrating And because her adhering to the World was that which made her leave and forget God she must be made sensible how Vain and Transitory are all those objects of her Passions and also of the certain and speedy end of the Pleasures Riches and Greatness of this present Life She must also have before her Eyes the severe Account which will be one day taken of the bad use of the Creatures and what those pains are which are reserv'd for Impenitent sinners Hence follow in order those Meditations which expose the frightful Images of Death Judgment and Hell The contemplation of Hell which is very useful to make us comprehend the deplorable effects of sin is best made by an application of our interior senses to draw lively Images of the Torments of the Damned Howlings Blasphemies c. These First Exercises tend as may be seen to purge the Heart of those corrupt Passions which make it incapable of conceiving an efficatious desire of Salvation but in regard that these vicious affections are ordinarily very deeply rooted and are of no less difficulty to be removed then the bad humours which have been long settled and habituated in the Body we must therefore more then once use the same Medicine by repeating the same Meditation In the repetition of them are added some fervent Prayers which the Saint calls Colloquies and are addrest to the Eternal Father to our Saviour and to the Blessed Virgin These Prayers which close the Repeated Meditations redouble their virtue and efficacy Thus ends the First week for St. Ignatius divides the whole Body of his Exercises into Four weeks or rather Parts which he calls weeks and which are not so well distinguish'd by the number of the days as by the diversity of the Matters The Soul when she is thus purg'd and her Corrupt Passions carry'd off will now be in a temper and disposition to receive and follow the motions of Grace which lead her into the ways of Heaven And for this reason the Second week begins with the Contemplation of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ This contemplation represents to us our Saviour as a King most Perfect and Amiable who invites his Subjects to accompany him in a Military Expedition in which he designs to make himself Master of the whole Earth and who invites them upon these most advantagious Conditions that they shall be every way Treated like himself That in his Service they shall do and suffer nothing but what he in person shall First give them an Example of And in conclusion that they shall have a share in the Booty and Glory of his Conquest in proportion to the Fatigues they endure in the War So ingaging an invitation makes her take the Resolution of marching after Jesus Christ in the observation of the Divine Law and in the Exercise of Evangelical Vertues But in regard that it doth not suffice to form in general the design of a Christian Life but that we must come to particulars the following Meditations which are of the Incarnation the Nativity the Circumcision the Presentation in the Temple the Flight into Aegypt the conceal'd Life of the Son of God represent him to us in these several States and Conditions as a Pattern and Model of Humility of Poverty of Mortification of Piety of Retirement according to which we are to regulate our conduct It is not enough to be the Disciples and followers of Jesus Christ unless we make a publick profession of it which may Edifie our Neighbour and induce him to Imitate us according to the word of St. Paul Be you Imitators of me as I am of Jesus Christ And this is the Aym and Design of the Meditation of the two Standards which was compos'd by St. Ignatius according to his Military Ideas but very congruous to the expressions of the Holy Ghost who calls our life a warfare and by consequence makes all Christians to be Soldiers Here is represented the Son of God coming forth from his retreat and concealment to Preach his Doctrine to the World but he is Represented with the Devil standing in front before him and both under the semblance of Generals who raise Troops spread their Ensigns take the Feild and Exhort their Men to follow them At the sight of so many Generous Souls who in all Ages have rang'd themselves under the Standard of Jesus Christ a penitent sinner declares himself for Vertue and far from being asham'd of the Gospel He makes it his Glory to Combat the Maxims and the Practices of the World Being once ingag'd on the right side he is not content with a bare desire of Christian Perfection he seeks and embraces all the means which are capable to bring him to it and renounces all things that may hinder him from it and desires nothing but what may contribute to his perfection From this disposition he goes on to another and so wholly submits himself to the Orders of God that he would rather lose all the Goods of the World then deliberately commit I will not say a Sin that wholly deprives him of Divine Grace but the least fault that should make him less acceptable in the Eyes of God His submission goes farther yet and not only content to avoid the lightest sins he will also in a manner express in himself a perfect Image of our Saviour so that in case it were equal to the Interest of Gods Glory whether he be placed in a state of Honor or of Contempt of Riches or of Poverty he would prefer Contempt before Honor Poverty before Riches without any other motive but of resembling the Son of God These generous Sentiments are to be learnt in two Meditations of which one is Entituled Of the Three Classes or Three sorts of Persons and the other Of the Three Degrees of Humility And for the well Rooting and Establishing these Sentiments are the Meditations upon the Baptism the Tempting in the Desert and upon the other Mysteries of our Saviours Life to his Passion All these Premises are necessary Preparatives for the last Meditation of the Second week which is that of the choice of a State and Form of Life This being a matter equally important and difficult on which our Salvation doth much depend and in which we may be easily deceiv'd St. Ignatius therefore useth all the precautions Imaginable so to direct us in it that we may never repent of the choice we make First he consider the Matter next the Time and lastly the manner of this Election As to the Matter of our Choice it is certain that it must be good or at least there must be nothing ill or sinful in it Moreover it is evident that of those things to be chosen some are fix'd and immutable as Priesthood and Marriage others may be changed as Offices and Imployments Ecclesiastical or Secular If we be already ingaged in the former conditions of Life there is no more room for deliberation and choice
taken a Place in the Brigantine conjur'd him not to go in that Vessel and told him more then once by some secret instinct that his life would be in danger if he went in the Brigantine The same Spirit that mov'd her so to speak mov'd him to believe her He would not engage in the Ship but upon condition that the Master would give him free Passage for Charity sake In the interim the Brigantine put forth to Sea and she was hardly out of the Haven but there rose a furious Tempest in which she was cast away and all the Passengers and Mariners drown'd The Master of the Ship gave Ignatius his Passage free but withal oblig'd him to make his own Provision for the Voyage This Condition appear'd very hard to him for having thrown himself wholly upon Providence he thought it would be a kind of retracting and diffiding to provide for himself and whereas he should only want a little Bread which he might beg in the Ship he was afraid he should deviate from Evangelical Poverty in carrying any thing along with him To ease himself of this scruple he had recourse to his Confessor and being order'd by him to accept of the Condition as it was propos'd by the Master he boldly did that out of Obedience which he durst not do of himself He would not accept of any thing from the Lady that by her counsel had sav'd his life who offer'd him all Necessaries for his Journey but he would beg from Door to Door for what might suffice him whereupon an Adventure befell him very remarkable There was in the Town a Woman of Quality call'd Zepiglia who had a Son extravagantly lewd and a Libertine that lately had thrown himself into a Troop of wandring Beggars with whom he ran up and down the World Ignatius saw this Woman coming out of her House and pray'd her for God's sake to give him a piece of Bread Looking upon him she presently thought of her Son and judging by his Carriage and the Ayre of his Countenance that he who asked the Alms was a Counterfeit and not truly poor she began to rate him and treat him as an idle Vagabond threatning withal to have him punish'd Ignatius very peaceably heard all she said and at last told her That indeed he was a great deal worse then she had made him and so went away She remain'd surpris'd at his Patience and his Answer But understanding afterwards that the Pilgrim she had so ill treated was a holy Man she was extreamly confounded at what she had done she employ'd some persons to ask his pardon and upon the Day of his departure sent him a good provision of Bread He would not carry with him the Money which some devout people had forc'd him to take against his will nor would he give it to the Seamen who would have used him the better for it in his Voyage and being to enter the Ship not finding any Poor to bestow it upon he laid it down upon the Shore for the first Comer to take The Voyage was dangerous but short a violent wind carried the Ship in Five days to Gayeta in the year 1523. Ignatius being Landed took up his Lodging at night in the Stable of an Inn when he began to sleep he heard a great cry as it were of a person who call'd for help in some extremity He presently ran towards the place from whence the noise came and finding a young Woman in the hands of Soldiers who would have forc'd her he spoke to them with so much Courage and Resolution that they left her For upon this occasion his Zeal stir'd in him his Natural fierceness and made him speak in that Imperious tone which Officers of War commonly use to stop the Insolence of the Soldiers He took his way towards Rome alone and a Foot Fasting the whole Day and Begging according to his Custom He arrived there on Palm Sunday and Eight days after Easter he parted for Venice having first received the Benediction of the Pope who was Adrian the Sixth and obtain'd leave of his Holiness to make the Pilgrimage of Jerusalem Some Spaniards gave him Seven or Eight Crowns and told him it would be madness to go without Money or Language into a Country which was infected with the Plague But afterwards he had a trouble upon his Conscience for having taken this Money and he accus'd himself of it to God in his Prayer And often said to himself that it was better to pass for a Fool in the judgment of Men then in the least to distrust the Care and Providence of God To make amends for his fault he gave to the first poor that he met all the Money he had By this means he was brought to extream necessity not finding almost any thing to live upon in the Villages and not being able to enter into the Towns For by reason of the Plague then raging and of his pale and extenuated Countenance the Guards at the Gates deny'd him entrance So that he was often necessitated to lie whole Nights abroad in the open Air. But these great hardships which his Body endur'd were abundantly recompenced by Divine Consolations in his Soul Being one Day quite spent and not able to keep company with those that Travelled with him he was left alone in an open Desert The solitude invited him to Pray in which Jesus Christ appeared to him gave him inward strength and promised him that he should have entrance into Padua and Venice The event confirm'd the Apparition His Company that had left him and were gone before could not with their Tickets of health gain admission into the Town but he coming after went quietly in without the least questioning of the Guards It was late when he came to Venice and not knowing where to lodge he laid himself under a porch in the great square of St. Mark to take a little rest But God would not have his Servant pass the Night in that place There was amongst the Senators of the Republick a Man of extraordinary Merit called Marc Antonio Trevisani Of that wise Senate he was one of the best heads and moreover a perfect Christian disingaged from the World in the midst of the World and such an enemy to Luxury that he always wore a Hair shurt His tenderness for the poor had in a manner chang'd his House into an Hospital and indeed he himself would have been a poor Man if the Marcelli his Nephews had not oblig'd him to regulate his Charities He acquitted himself in his Imployments after such a Christian manner that they call'd him the Saint of Cyprus where he had Exercis'd the charge of Proveditor His Vertue afterwards rais'd him to the Dignity of Doge which he would absolutely have refus'd and renounc'd if Lorenzo Massa and Antonio Milledonne both Secretaries of the Republick had not diverted him from it for reasons which he could not oppose Having liv'd to a great Age one day being present at
of God was afflicted in the highest manner to see him in that condition at all times and in all places she wept for him But Ignatius who esteem'd himself happy in suffering upon such an account blam'd her Tears telling her that she ought to rejoyce and not to grieve for him He had his Hair-Shirt upon him when he was assaulted by the Slaves and he could not be induc'd to leave it off in the height of his Pains but by the Command of his Confessor Diego d' Alcantara of the Order of St. Francis John Pascal lock'd up the Hair-Shirt and would not let him have it any more he charily kept it all his life and left it to his Children as a precious Legacy with a Writing under his Hand to attest the truth of it But in the Year 1606 the Duke of Mont-Leon Vice-Roy of Catalonia with great entreaty got it of the Family who had kept it as a Relique God in the mean time who had destin'd Ignatius to greater Enterprises then this which cost him so dear restor'd his Health after Three and fifty days of Sickness and Pain As soon as he was able to walk he visited the Monastery of the Angels to finish the Work he had begun and when they told him that he should take heed of a second Assassination he answer'd How glad should I be to die for so good a Cause But his Enemies far from enterprising any thing more upon his Person repented of their Crime and the most furious amongst them call'd Ribera came and threw himself at Ignatius's Feet begging his pardon Two Brothers call'd Lisani had a Law-Suit one with the other for a Matter of concern and there was a mortal hatred between them as commonly it happens when nearest Relations go to Law One of these being overthrown was in such affliction and rage that he hang'd himself upon one of the Beams of his House All the Neighborhood came in at the outcries of the Family upon finding their Master hang'd Ignatius who was coming back from the Monastery of the Angels went into the House with the rest and made them cut the Rope they found the unfortunate Man without motion or Pulse and notwithstanding all they could do to him he shew'd no signs of life Ignatius concern'd at the deplorable state of the poor Man fell upon his Knees close to the Body and by a strong inspiration begg'd of God with a loud and distinct voice so much life for this miserable wretch as might serve him to make his Confession He is heard and in presence of all the Company who astonish'd at his Prayer waited with impatience the success Lisano immediately came to life In this manner it is that the three Auditors of the Rota speak of this matter and to the end it may not be doubted that Heaven did restore life to the dead Man at the Prayer of Ignatius the resuscitated Person immediately dy'd after he had Confess'd Ignatius had now continu'd almost two years at Barcelona in which time he had so well profited in the Latine Tongue that his Master judg'd him capable to proceed to the higher Sciences Though he did not believe that Ardebale would flatter him yet for greater security he would be Examin'd by a Person who was a Doctor of Divinity and had little acquaintance with him The Doctor was of the same opinion with Ardebale and counsell'd him to Study his Course of Philosophy in the University of Alcala which had been newly Founded by the Cardinal Ximenes and was at that time very flourishing Many young Men whom Ignatius had brought into the way of Vertue desir'd to accompany him but he would take with him only three of which one was call'd Caliste another Artiaga and the third Cazieres He also chose a fourth Disciple in the Hospital of Alcala where Ignatius took up his Quarter at his arrival in that Town This fourth Disciple was a Frenchman Page to Don Martin de Cordova Vice-Roy of Navarr The young Frenchman who had been wounded in a Quarrel as his Master pass'd through Alcala was carry'd to the Hospital to be cur'd of his Wounds While the Chyrurgeons had care of his Body Ignatius undertook the Cure of his Soul and he labour'd so successfully in it that the Page resolv'd to reform his Life left the Service of the Vice-Roy and his Hopes in the World They were all five Habited alike wearing a long Garment of gray Cloth with a Hat of the same colour and they liv'd only upon Aims but they did not reside together in one House Ferdinando de Para and Andrea d' Arze each of them Lodg'd two out of Charity As for Ignatius he had his Lodging in the Hospital of Dantezana where he had no difficulty to get a Chamber notwithstanding the great multitude of Poor there for that which they let him have had been a long while empty and no body durst lie in it having the reputation of being haunted with Spirits and perhaps not without reason for the first Night that Ignatius lay there he heard a terrible noise and even saw some hideous Spectres which as bold as he was did a little frighten him but having recourse to Prayer he never saw nor heard more of them The impatience which he had to give himself entirely to the Conversion of Souls made him follow his Study with extream earnestness and believing that he should make a quick dispatch by applying himself to several Sciences at once he had scarce learn'd his Terms of Logick but he fell upon Natural Philosophy and also undertook Scholastical Divinity They read in the Schools of that University the Logick of Soto the Physick of Albertus Magnus and the Theology of the Master of the Sentences He took all these three Lessons one after another and Study'd Night and Day without intermission But so many different Notions so confounded his Understanding that all his labour ended in learning nothing as it always happens when one Study's without Method and would grasp all at once Thus it was that Providence designing Ignatius to teach Jesus Christ in the University of Alcala instead of learning Aristotle and S. Thomas gave him not any light to see the disorder in his way of Studying nor even permitted that his own natural Reason should serve to redress it Wherefore being disheartned with the little progress which he had made in the Sciences he with his four Disciples apply'd himself wholly to good Works All the time which he did not spend in Prayer he employ'd in Catechising Children in serving the Sick of the Hospital and in procuring Relief for poor People asham'd to beg But most particularly he apply'd himself to reform the Manners of dissolute Schollars for which he had a special Talent from Heaven This zeal for the reformation of Youth made him undertake the Conversion of a Man much given to liberty who held one of the first Dignities in the Church of Spain and who by his ill
permitting their fall and for having undeceiv'd the World which thought them to be greater Saints then they were and that for the future they should always have their fall before their Eyes to make them more humble and to walk more warily that others also may learn by their example to have a care of falling even when they think themselves least in danger VI. That in the hour of Recreation after Meals they should be mindful of that Modesty which the Apostle requires in our conversation to be chearful without Levity and to be sober without fullenness That in their exterior Functions they should never let pass the occasions of a present and certain good out of imaginary hopes of some great good to come which is uncertain In conclusion that they keep themselves firm in their Vocation and continually upon their Guard against the deceits of the malignant Spirit who labors to draw every one out of his way tempting Monasticks to outward Imployments and Apostolical men to the repose of Solitude Francis Xaverius for whom the King of Portugal had procured without his knowledge a Brief of Legate Apostolical in the Indies parted about this time from Lisbon and left there Simon Rodriguez The same year Paul the Third sent Alphonso Salmeron and Pasquir Brouet into Ireland with the Characters of Nuncius to maintain the Catholick Faith among those People who notwithstanding the Edicts of Henry the Eighth still remain'd in Communion with the Holy See The Common-wealth of Venice demanded James Laynez Doctor Ortiz carry'd Peter Faber along with him to Madrid Nicholas Bobadilla and Claud le Jay went to succeed in the place of Faber at Vienna and at Ratisbone While these Gospel Laborers animated with the Spirit of Ignatius were at work in so many different places for the good of Souls Ignatius upon the same account was in his own person no less active at Rome Assisting the sick in the Hospitals and elsewhere he found that the greatest part of them went not to Confession till almost at the hour of death when for the most part Repentance is ineffectual He represented this disorder to the Pope and at first humbly propos'd to him to renew the Decretal of Innocent the Third which Ordains that the Physician shall not visit the sick till they have first been at Confession But afterwards he judged that to the end such a Decree might be more duly observ'd it ought to be a little moderated so as it might be lawful for the Physitian to make two visits to a Patient before Confession but that the third should be forbidden under grievous Penalties The Pope follow'd the advice of Father Ignatius and this Christian practice is exactly observ'd in Italy even to this day Rome was at that time full of Jews and some of them open'd their eyes to the Truth since the new Society explicated the Mysteries of Faith but the fear of Poverty hinder'd them from declaring themselves Father Ignatius offer'd his house to those who would be made Christians and many there were who abjured Judaism The number of the Converts daily increasing by the Conversion of some prime Men of the Synagogue who disabus'd he rest he undertook to found a House where all such Jews should be instructed who demanded Baptism and he engag'd divers Persons of Piety to concur in so holy an Establishment He obtain'd of the Pope that the Jews who were Converted should lose no part of their Goods which were lawfully gain'd that such Goods as had been gain'd by Usury and of which restitution could not be made for want of knowing to whom they belong'd should be imploy'd towards the relief of the new Converts and that the Children who embraced Christianity against the will of their Parents should inherit as if they had not chang'd their Religion There were also in the City many Maids and Women whom necessity had cast into evil courses some of them who had not quite lost the fear of God had a horror of their infamous life but yet they continu'd it as not knowing whither to go or how to live There was indeed at that time a Monastery establish'd of the Magdalenists but they receiv'd only such as would be Religious and would pass the rest of their days in Solitude and Penance Father Ignatius considering that the Grace which excites sinners to leave Vice doth not always carry them so far as to leave the World and that the state of Marriage is not consistent with that of Religion Form'd the design of another House where secular Maids and Married Women might be indifferently admitted He communicated this Project to the principal Gentlemen of Rome who all approv'd it and promis'd to contribute to so beneficial a Foundation provided that some body would undertake to begin the Work The Father finding that no body would be the first to embark in it boldly began it himself Father Codatius Procurator of the Casa Professa caus'd some great Stones to be drawn out of the ruins of Antient Buildings in a place belonging to the new Society which stood before their Church Father Ignatius order'd him to sell as much as came to a hundred Duckets and having receiv'd the Mony he carry'd it to those Roman Gentlemen who durst not venture to lead the Dance in so Pious an undertaking If no body will be the first he said smiling at least let some body second me and threw down his Mony before them They all of them furnisht great Sums and in less then a Month a House was built for the Married and Unmarried Penitents called the Monastery of St. Martha He carried them thither himself and was not ashamed to appear about the Town in the company of Publick sinners He was sometimes told that he lost his time and that such Women were never heartily converted If I did hinder them but one night from offending God he reply'd I should think my time and my labour well imploy'd He also took great care of young Maids that were expos'd to great hazard either for want of Education or for want of means and for these he caus'd another Monastery to be Founded by the name of St. Catharine The method which he observ'd in this sort of good Works was first to engage as many Rich and devout Persons as he could next to chuse some Cardinal of great Piety to be their Protector and then to settle Trustees for the Temporal and Directors for the Spiritual who might prudently govern such Houses according to those Statutes they should agree upon But when the business was well Cemented and went currantly on it was his custom to withdraw himself that he might not give jealousie to any body and to betake himself to some other work that might be profitable to the Publick The next affair that he chiefly labour'd in was to procure a Fund for the subsistance of Orphans in which he also succeeded and two Houses were Erected in Rome the one for Boys and the
of Strangers a Deputy elected by the Provincial Congregation which is held every three years in all the Provinces and which is compos'd of the Rectors and of the most Ancient Profest carries these Catalogues to Rome with Instructions to inform the General of the State and Condition of the Province which deputes him Moreover there are extraordinary occasions in which Informations are made of the life and capacity of particular Persons the better to inform the General and this is done when any are to be admitted to Degrees or to Superiorships in the Society But to the end that these Informations may be certain and true or such at least as that out of them he may be able to collect the very Truth they are made in great secrecy by three different Persons who are to have no Communication upon the matter nor one to know what the other doth So that the General joyning all these Reports together and confronting the particular Informations with the aforesaid Catalogues may easily enough know what his Inferiors are capable of This first Superior would not be able to fulfil his Office if he had not Talents proportionable to a charge of so great extent Wherefore St. Ignatius in his constitutions draws the Caracter of a General by marking down all the Qualities which he requires in him one may say that he drew himself to the life not knowing what he did But in regard the Idea which he had of himself was so far distant from that which he fram'd of a General we are not to wonder if he judg'd himself so incapable of that Office The General therefore according to the Saints Idea ought to be in a close Union with God in all his Exercises of Piety and in all the Actions of his Life to obtain from his Divine Majesty a plentiful supply of Grace for the whole Body of the Society and that he would be graciously pleas'd to bless the means and endeavours of his Servants in the gaining of Souls It is moreover necessary that by his example he should animate his Subjects to the practice of all sorts of Vertues that Charity to our Neighbour should eminently appear in his Actions with a true humility to render him acceptable to God and to Men that he must have no irregular Passion and that he be so compos'd in his exterior so circumspect in his words that nothing may be observ'd neither in his Person nor in his Conduct but what is winning and edifying He ought so well to temper Severity with Mildness as never to relent or to recede from what he judges most conformable to the will of God and that he shew such tenderness to his subjects that even they whom he reprehends or punisheth may be sensible of his Charity and Equity how greivous soever his reprehension or punishment should be to them He had need of no common strength and courage to bear with the Infirmities of his Inferiors to undertake and execute the most difficult things for the Service of God and to be Proof against the Menaces or the Intreaties of the Powers of the Earth neither to be dejected by cross Accidents nor to be elevated with favourable always Master of himself and of his Business and always ready to suffer death for the good of the Society when the Honor of Jesus Christ shall require it It is moreover necessary that there be joyn'd in him a solid Judgment with a clear-sighted Wit that he may be able to carry himself equally well in Matters of Speculation and of Practice And tho' the Head of so many Learned Men must have no common share of Learning yet the Science of the Saints is that which is most necessary for him to discern the divers interior Spirits and to cure the spiritual Diseases of those whom he Governs Yet there will be requir'd in him great Prudence and Sagacity for the management of so many different Affairs both within and without his Society which Prudence must be accompanied with no less Vigilance to lay hold on all occasions of acting for the good of his Community and for the Glory of God and with equal Vigor to prosecute and to finish what he undertakes For what concerns the Age the Exterior and the Health of a General they must be such as may suit with the Authority the Dignity and with the Burden of his Office that he may worthily perform all the Duties of it to the greater Glory of God Greatness of Birth Titles of Honor and Riches formerly enjoy'd in the World are Qualities not to be neglected in him But above all regard must be had that he who is elected have a clear Reputation and not the least flaw in his past Conduct Lastly he must be of the number of the Profess'd and that if he hath not all the Talents that were to be desir'd in him he be at least furnish'd with an exact Probity a good Judgment a Capacity proportionable to his Employment and a tender Love for the Society But St. Ignatius judging that the most accomplisht Person could not suffice alone to do all that was necessary in a Government of so great extent assigns to the General four or five Persons of a consummated Experience and of indefatigable Application to be his Coadjutors whom he calls Assistants and they bear the Name of the Kingdom or Country from whence they come for Example of Italy of Spain of Germany of France and of Portugal Each of these has the care of preparing the Matters of his Assistancy and of putting them in such an order as may facilitate their Expedition 'T is by them that the Inferiors and the Superiors within their District regularly make their Application to the General I say regularly for if any of these Assistants be upon a just ground suspected they may Apply immediately to the Head Lastly the Founder upon reflection that the General might possibly at some time make ill use of his Sovereign Authority thought fit to qualifie the Generalship with some Counterpoizes or Correctives For which end these Assistants are not chosen by the General but by a general Congregation of the whole Society which also chuses the General And tho' they be particularly establisht to ease and assist him in his Charge yet they are also in some sort to observe his Conduct so that in case he should commit a scandalous Fault or should dissipate the Revenue of Colledges or should swerve from the sound Doctrine of the Faithful they may against his Will call a general Congregation to depose him according to Form or if the Evil be pressing and will not admit of so much delay they have power to depose him themselves after having first by Letters taken the Suffrages of the Provinces So that as absolute as the General of the Society is his Power is no longer in assurance then his Conduct is regular And upon this account it is that St. Ignatius has order'd That the Provincial Congregations which are held
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
matter to God to the end his most holy Will may be done in all things to his greater Glory and to the greater good of Souls and of the whole Society The Reading of this Letter did very much Surprize and Contristate the Assembly some with admiration extol'd the humility of their Father others more astonisht and inwardly toucht kept a profound silence but in conclusion they all oppos'd his laying down his Office Father Ovidoe only excepted who was a man that had the plainness and candor of the first Ages When it came to his turn he said that to him it appear'd that Father Ignatius ought not to be resisted and when the Fathers asked him his reason because he repli'd he who is a Saint has lights which we have not But opening his eyes and finding that Saints are sometimes unjust to themselves he condemn'd his first thoughts and came in to the rest They sent to declare the Resolution of the Assembly to the General which was that as long as God should please to preserve his life they would have no other Head nor Superior So that notwithstanding all his endeavors to the contrary they would not hearken to him and he was forc'd to submit This Submission lay heavy at the bottom of his Heart and was probably the cause of a great Sickness which soon after siez'd upon him He fell ill upon Christmas-day after he had said two of the Masses His Disease growing dangerous he did believe that God was pleas'd by taking his Life to free him from that Load of which Men would not discharge him This thought fill'd him with joy and his hopes of being quickly loosed from the Fetters of his Body fill'd his Soul with the most sensible Delights which Saints can taste in this World He now desir'd nothing but to see his God and the approaches of Eternity did so enflame his Desires that he was in a continual Transport The Physicians order'd him to moderate those ardent Affections least they should hasten his Death Whether it were that he obey'd them or that they were deceiv'd in their Conjectures he by degrees recover'd and entred again upon the Exercise of his Charge Don Francisco de Borgia who was a Member of the Society under the outward appearance of a Grandee of Spain and whom Father Ignatius had invited to Rome was now arriv'd there with the Spanish and the Portuguez Fathers after having Marry'd his eldest Son and his Daughters He was Lodg'd in an Apartment of the Casa Professa separated from the Community and all his delight was to entertain Father Ignatius He gave him an exact Account of his Interior and he often conferr'd with him about his manner of Prayer his Pennances and the whole Conduct of his Life During these Entertainments it came into the thoughts of the Duke of Gandia to do something which might make the Society more flourishing in Rome which was to Establish a Colledge there He gave Six thousand Crowns in Gold towards the Foundation whereupon Father Ignatius offering him the Title of a Founder he refus'd it saying That Honor was to be reserv'd for some other Person who should give a Foundation worthy of the Metropolis of the World As if he had foreseen that Pope Gregory the Thirteenth was one day magnificently to Erect the Roman Colledge The Society was not at Paris in the same Posture as at Rome Many of the University and of the Parliament seem'd to make it their Business to discredit the Order They disputed every thing with them even to their very Name A certain Carmelite Preaching in the Church of St. Severin took an occasion to inveigh against the new Society upon these words of St. Paul Brethren in Jesus Christ Hereupon he was much offended that they should arrogate to themselves the Name of The Society of Jesus not considering that the Sovereign Bishops and the Fathers of the Council of Trent had nam'd them so At the same time a Man of the long Robe and of great Reputation and Credit set upon them by calumniating their Manners and Doctrine This Enemy was so much the more to be fear'd for that under the appearances of a holy Life he conceal'd Heretical Sentiments which afterwards he made manifest when retiring to Francfort he publickly profess'd Heresie These new Persecutions rais'd no small hopes in Ignatius of a happy success in the conclusion according to the word of David that God revives after having mortifi'd As his hopes at length did not fail him so neither did these present difficulties deject him The Bishop of Clermont still continu'd his good Offices to the Jesuits of Paris who yet Lodg'd in the Colledge of the Lombards His desire was to bestow upon them Clermont House for their Habitation with annual Rents for their Subsistence But there was no profess'd Father among them to take possession of the House and to accept of the Foundation in the Name of the General On the other side there wanted the King's Letters for their being receiv'd in the Kingdom as Religious and their Enemies who were powerful at Court hinder'd their obtaining them The first of these Obstacles was easily remov'd by Father Ignatius He order'd John Baptista Viola to make the Vows of Profession according to the Form which he sent him from Rome and he humbly requested the Bishop of Clermont to receive them As to the King's Letters which were look'd upon as impossible to be obtain'd the General found an Expedient which had effect The Cardinal of Guise who after the death of his Uncle was call'd the Cardinal of Lorain being come to Rome to Negotiate a League between the Pope the Venetians and the Duke of Ferara against the Emperor Father Ignatius went to see him and took occasion to inform him particularly concerning the Institute of the Society which had rais'd so much Jealousie in France The Cardinal promis'd his assistance and protection of them at Court and desir'd the Father to look out no farther for any other Intercessor or Patron He kept his Word for as soon as he was return'd to France the first thing he did was to introduce Ignatius and his Society into the knowledge of Henry the Second and to obtain for them Letters of Reception which had been formerly refus'd But since they could not procure these Letters to be Registred in Parliament where the Jesuits found more Enemies then at Court all the Protection of the Cardinal came to no more then to give them Countenance for changing their Abode John Baptista Viola who was chosen Provisor of the Colledge of the Lombards and who had a Command from the General to quit a Title so little suitable to a Person Profess'd of the Society went to Lodge with all his Brethren in Clermont House of which the Bishop gave them the use not being able to give them the Propriety because their Letters were not Register'd This House we may call the Origine and as it were the Cradle of the
easily believ'd false Reports He himself was newly again accus'd in Spain for teaching Heretical Doctrine in his Book of Spiritual Exercises and his Accuser was an Ecclesiastick instigated by Melchior Cano who still had rancor in his Heart against the Society but hid himself behind the Curtain fearing the Displeasure of the Court of Spain where the Jesuits had Credit Tho' the Book of Exercises which was Printed with the Bull of Paul the Third ought to have been protected from Calumny by the Bull it self yet there were those who put it into the hands of the Inquisitors and labour'd to get it Censur'd Good Men thought this Proceeding neither Equitable nor Catholick The Doctors of Salamanca who were consulted upon it unanimously took upon them the Defence of the Holy See and of Father Ignatius and among the rest Bartholomew Torrez so famous for his Learning and Vertue He it was who writ a very Learned Book upon the Mystery of the Trinity and who was made Bishop of Canary after his Return out of England whither Philip Prince of Spain going to Espouse Queen Mary carry'd him with other Divines solidly to Establish among the English the Catholick Faith Torrez writ several Papers upon this Subject of the Exercises the principal of which you have here Translated God is my Witness that nothing could be asked of me more to my satisfaction then to tell my Opinion concerning the Spiritual Exercises of the Society of Jesus For I desire that all the World should know what I think of them in the sincerity of my Heart and in the Presence of God And in the first place lest any body should imagine that Interest makes me speak I declare that I am no Jesuit tho' I ought to have been of this Society or of some other Holy Order if I had a true zeal for the good of my Soul Next I declare that altho' I may be perhaps the least capable of all the Doctors yet I have knowledge enough to answer the Question propos'd to me For besides that I have formerly Entertain'd Ignatius in Salamanca I have since familiarly been acquainted with his Disciples Moreover I have attentively Examin'd the Tendency and the Spirit of this Order continually observing their manner of Life and judging of their Institute by their Actions which cannot long deceive I say therefore that from the time I first knew the Society of Jesus to this day I never have perceiv'd any Error or Crime truly such in any one Person among them I farther say that for the Spiritual Exercises no body can make a true Estimate of them who has not himself made them For whereas their Design is to establish Vertue in the Soul and to purge it of Vices they are not to be sensibly understood but by the Practice and Experience of them I have my self seen Learned Men who could not comprehend them tho' the Matter contain'd in them be clear and Orthodox and Extracted out of the Scriptures and holy Fathers and yet all those who have try'd them understand them without difficulty So that there is great difference between the Sciences learnt in Schools and the Science of the Saints which besides acquir'd Knowledge requires the Exercise of Prayer and of interior Vertues I declare that I have made these Exercises at Alcala and I speak it in the Presence of God that in the space of thirty years all which time I have spent in the Study of Divine Sciences and a good part of it in teaching Divinity I never profited so much in true Knowledge as I did in the few days of that Retirement If this shall seem strange to any Learned person who is not of my Opinion I only desire him to make Experience of it himself Let him but do what I have done and he will think what I think The Reason is clear for what I say of my self I Studyed Divinity that I might be able to teach others but I made the Exercises that I might live well my self Now there is a great deal of difference between knowing how to explicate a Question and how to practice a Vertue Moreover I have known many persons that have made these Exercises and I have ingag'd many of my Scholars both Religious and Secular to make them and I never knew one that did not reap great Spiritual advantages from them and who did not openly declare that they infinitely valu'd that little Book Might it please God that such a Treasure were esteem'd by men as it deserves for in fine whereas Prayer and Meditation are of so high a price we may in a short time advance more in them by the Method which these Exercises prescribe then we can in many years and with great Labour by any other way Now if any one desires to know precisely what these Exercises are they consist in Attentively and Sedately considering the verities of Faith the Benefits and Commandments of God the Life and Death of Jesus Christ and also in making an exact review of our Life past and in well regulating our Conscience for the future It is not to be wonder'd after all this if the Enemy of Mankind doth his utmost endeavour to abolish so holy a practice and we may judge by all these Contradictions that the work it self is Divine I also declare that the Holy See having approv'd the Exercises and his Holiness having by his Bull Exhorted the Faithful to make them no wise Man no good Christian can averr that they contain Errors And I doubt not but that if the Society which suffers contumely with Joy for the love of Jesus Christ should bring their Enemies before the Tribunal of the Inquisition that Court would severely punish them For my own part I declare that it is not lawful for any person to charge a Book with Heresie which is Printed with Approbation and Authority from the Holy See nor to prosecute the Censure or condemnation of it Such as shall find in it any thing that is difficult and obscure to them ought to content themselves with asking to have it explain'd and made clear to them But for the Doctrine contain'd in it I averr it to be Sound and Orthodox and that such Propositions as are contrary to those laid down in the Book are so many Errors The Testimony of Torrez was of great weight and gave a check to the Prosecution but the indirect proceeding of Cano finally concluded it This Enemy once so declar'd and now conceal'd seeing that the Doctors of Salamanca oppos'd his designs endeavor'd to ingage Mancio on his side one of the most famous Persons of his Order who taught Divinity in the University of Alcala That he might securely gain the suffrage of this Divine against the Exercises of the Society he put a Copy of them in Manuscript into his hands where something was thrust in which was not in the Printed Books The Divine perus'd the written Copy very exactly and declar'd that he found nothing in
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
Councils have Condemn'd of Error the Opinion of those who maintain'd that the particular Churches of Alexandria or of Constantinople were true Churches without being United to the Bishop of Rome the common Head of the Catholick Church out of which have descended in a continual Succession all the Popes from St. Peter to this day who by the relation of St. Marcellus the Martyr fix'd his Chair at Rome by order from Jesus Christ and cemented it with his own Blood These Popes have been held without Controversie to be the Vicars of Jesus Christ by innumerable holy Doctors Greek and Latin and of all Nations they have been acknowledg'd by Anchortes Bishops and other Confessors Illustrious for Sanctity Lastly they have been Authenticated by an infinity of Miracles and by innumerable Martyrs who have dy'd in the Union and for the Faith of the holy Roman Church It was therefore with good reason that in the Council of Calcedon all the Bishops cry'd with one Voice in Saluting the holy Pope St. Leo Most Holy Apostolick Universal and that in the Council of Constance those were Anathematiz'd who deny'd the Primacy and Authority of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World These Decrees so Express and so Authentick are farther confirm'd by the Council of Florence which was held under Eugenius the Fourth and in which were present the Greeks the Armenians the Jacobites and other Nations We Define say the Fathers of this Council that the holy See Apostolick and the Bishop of Rome hath the Primacy over all the Churches in the World that he is Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Head of the whole Church the Father and Doctor of all the Faithful that our Lord Jesus Christ hath given him in the person of St. Peter a full power to instruct to direct and to govern the Universal Church Wherefore the most Serene King David Father to your Highness with great right did formerly acknowledge by a sollemn Embassy the Church of Rome for the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And amongst the many illustrious Actions by which both he and you have recommended your Names to Posterity two there are which will outshine all the rest and for which your People ought to render immortal thanks to God Your Father is the first King of the Abyssins who put himself under the Obedience of him who holds the place of Jesus Christ upon Earth and you are the first who hath brought into your Dominions a true Patriarch a Legitimate Son of the holy See and deputed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ For if it ought to be reckon'd the highest Blessing as in effect it is to be United to the Mystical Body of the Catholick Church which is enliven'd and directed by the Holy Ghost teaching her all Truths according to the Testimony of the Evangelist If it be a great happiness to be enlightned with sound Doctrine to be settl'd and to rest upon the Foundations of the Church which the Apostle St. Paul writing to Timothy calls the House of God the Pillar and Basis of Truth to which our Lord Jesus Christ hath promis'd an Everlasting Assistance when he said to his Apostles Behold I am always with you to the end of the World as we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew These Nations have certainly great reason to thank their Saviour and Creator whose merciful Providence has made use of your Father and of your self to bestow such benefits upon them and their acknowledgment should the more shew it self in regard also of the Temporal Advantages which are likely to follow these Spiritual Blessings For we may justly hope that by the means of this Reunion with the Church your Enemies will soon be vanquish'd and your Empire enlarg'd The Priests which are sent you are indeed all but principally the Patriarch and the two Bishops of try'd Vertue and selected out of our Society for so important a Function in regard of their eminent Learning and of their perfect Charity They want neither Courage nor Zeal well to acquit themselves of their Ministry hoping that they shall Labour usefully for the Glory of God for the Conversion of Souls and for the Service of your Highness Their only desire is to imitate in some sort the Son of God who willingly suffer'd death to redeem Mankind from Eternal Damnation and who saith by the Mouth of the Evangelist I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd gives his Life for his Sheep The Patriarch and the rest animated by the Example of our Saviour come dispos'd to relieve and gain Souls by their Counsels by their Labours and even by their Death if need shall require The more freely your Highness shall be pleas'd to open your mind and to communicate your thoughts to them the greater I hope your inward Consolation will be And for what regards the Credit to be given to what they shall say either in private or in publick your Highness is not Ignorant that the words of these Missioners sent by the Holy See and chiefly those of the Patriarch have Apostolical Authority and in some sort are no less to be credited then the voice of the Church whose Interpreters they are And in regard that all the Faithful ought to adhere to the Sentiments of the Church obey her Decrees and consult her in doubtful Cases I am perswaded that your Piety will lead you to make an Edict which may oblige all your Subjects to follow without resistance the Orders and Constitutions both of the Patriarch and of those whom he shall substitute in his place The Deuteronomy teaches us that it was the Custom among the Jews in the Controversies and Difficulties which occur'd to have recourse to the Synagogue which was the Figure and Forerunner of the Christian Church For this reason it was that Jesus Christ said in the Gospel the Scribes and Pharisees are seated on the Chair of Moses the wise Man teaches the same thing in the Proverbs Do not neglect the Precepts of your Mother This Mother is the Church And in another place pass not the bounds which your Fathers have set these Fathers are the Prelates of the Church In conclusion Jesus Christ requires of us to have so great deference to his Church that he plainly tells us by the Evangelist St. Luke He who hears you hears me and he who contemns you contemns me And by St. Matthew If he hears not the Church let him be to you as a Heathen and a Publican Hence it follows that we must not hearken to those who hold forth any thing that is not conformable to the Sense and the Interpretation of the Catholick Church of which we are admonish'd by those words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians But altho ' we or any Angel from Heaven should Evangelize to you otherwise then we have Evangeliz'd to you be he Anathema In fine the Testimony of the Holy Doctors the Canons of Councils the Consent and
to flie them and to have them in suspicion that when God did communicate them they were to be receiv'd with fear and not to be spoken of without being oblig'd to it by Obedience or by Charity To conclude he judg'd of the Perfection of a Soul only by the practice of solid Vertues even to say that it was better to know our own Nothing then to have Revelations or Extasies and that to raise the Dead was not so much as to mortifie our Passions In the Year 1553 a Religious Man of the Order of St. Dominick call'd Father Reginald Venerable for his Age and his Piety came one day to see the General of the Society and told him in the presence of Ribadeneira that there was at Bologna a Religious Woman of their Order endow'd with an extraordinary Gift of Prayer that she had frequent Raptures and that during her Extasies she had no feeling not so much as of Fire when apply'd to her but that she always came to her self when her Superior commanded her any thing He moreover said that this Nun had sometimes the Stigmata in her Feet her Hands and her Side and that the Blood trickled down from her Head as if she had been Crown'd with Thorns He added That not believing the common report of all these things he went himself to be ascertain'd of the truth with his own Eyes and that after what he had seen he could no longer doubt of it Then he ask'd Father Ignatius what he thought of so wonderful a thing Of all that you tell me said the Saint nothing seems to me less suspicious then that ready Obedience and farther he would not Explicate himself When the Religious Man was departed Ribadeneira desir'd Father Ignatius to tell him what he thought of that Saint of Bologna The Father told him That God Almighty did operate in the Soul and infuse into it the Unction of his Spirit sometimes in so great abundance that in a manner it overflow'd and wrought outward Effects upon the Body but that this happen'd very seldom and only to Persons much in the favour of God He added That the Devil who could act nothing within the Soul had a custom to counterfeit outwardly Divine Operations and by such Appearances to impose upon the Credulous Ribadeneira understood by this Discourse that the Nun might be deceiv'd with her Raptures and Stigmata and in conclusion it was found out that all her pretended Holiness was but an Illusion of the bad Spirit In the Year 1541 Martin de Sancta Cruce who was then a Novice of the Society and afterwards Rector of the Colledge of Conimbria and dy'd in great Sanctity in the Year 1557 being in Conversation with Father Ignatius happen'd to speak of the famous Magdalen de la Croce He related the marvellous things he had heard of her in Spain he said that he had seen her at Cordoua and that she seem'd to him to be one of the wisest and most holy Women of the World The Father gave a great Reprehension to the Novice for so highly crying up this Woman and told him That those of the Society should not esteem and measure Sanctity by outside and ostentation Another time he severely checkt a Father who in Discoursing with a Novice propos'd to him the Example of some Men who had the repute of having extraordinary Gifts and Extasies in their Prayer for he judg'd that beginners ought not to hear such things spoken of especially the Novices of the Society least instead of being well grounded in solid Vertues they should run after the specious part of an interior Life Upon the same account he treated with utmost rigour a Priest of the Society who was a great Divine call'd Soldevilla a Catalonian for teaching some of the Students in the Roman Colledge new ways of Prayer very different from the common Method He was a Man of very holy Life but a little Visionarily given and in whom the vivacity of his Imagination had got the better of his Judgment This contemplative Father assembled by Night his Disciples to Explicate to them his Mystical Doctrine and to make them practice it in secret as if Contemplation were an Art and had any other Teacher then the Holy Ghost Assoon as Ignatius understood these Proceedings he fail'd not vigorously to suppress them for after having caus'd Soldevilla publickly to Discipline himself in the Refectories of the Roman Colledge and of the Casa Professa he turn'd him out of the Society and he had no more regard to his profound Learning then he had to the Illustrious Birth of a Kinsman to the Viceroy of Sicily and of a Son of the Duke of Braganza both whom he had Dismiss'd some days before for being proud and unquiet In his Conversation he drew People to God by gently insinuating into them the things of Heaven and he said that this way of gaining Souls was the proper way of his Institute It was not his Custom at first dash to force upon Men of the World Discourses of Piety he commonly began his Entertainment with Matters agreeable to their Profession and Capacity He spoke of Trade with Merchants of War with Soldiers of Policy with Statesmen and after a while turning the Discourse to his main purpose he exhorted them to gain Heaven to overcome their Vices to govern their Passions This is that which he call'd To go in at their Door and to come out at his own But when certain idle People whose Business was only to pass away their time came to Visit him he without Ceremony immediately fell upon the Subjects of Death Judgment and Hell and he was wont to say That if they lik'd his Discourse they would be the better for it if they lik'd it not he should be rid of them for the future It was his Maxim That Familiarity with all Women ought to be avoided even with the most Devout that the most innocent Commerce with them if it wounds not our Conscience it leaves some stain upon our Reputation and the Smoke blackens tho' the Fire do's not burn us He said That few People understood what God would do with them if they left themselves to him That Apostolical Men ought to do for the saving of Souls what the Devil do's to destroy them that is they should study the natural Motions in general of Man's Heart and the particular Inclination of each Person That natural Qualities ought to be set to work by the interior Spirit and that the Means which make the Instrument pliable and handy for God to work with it such as are Humility Contempt of the World Purity of Intention and the like are much better then the Means which render the Instrument capable to work of it self such as are Wit Learning and Eloquence That Evangelical Labourers better attain their End by yielding then by resisting and that a little obscure Good done with Edification do's more glorifie God then a thousand good Works which make a Blaze in