makes a Reconcilation and doth other good Works He hinders the Incorporating the Barnabites the Somasques and the Theatines with the Society He condemns the Conduct of Miron and Gonzales He reprehends Laynez and how Laynez receives the Reprimand He keeps up Regular Discipline in the Colledge of Naples Troubles in the Province of Portugal and the General 's Conduct in quieting them The General overcomes great Oppositions He sends a Visitor into Portugal He gives Advice to the Provincial He moderates the Fervor of the Portuguez The Epistle of Obedience Two Missioners accus'd and justifi'd A new Persecution in Spain A Testimony in favor of the Exercises of Father Ignatius The King of Portugal demands of Father Ignatius a Patriarch and Bishop for Aethiopia The Fathers propos'd by the General oppose their Promotion The General engageth the three Fathers to submit The Geneal's Letter to the King of the Abyssins How the General treats Rodriguez He makes a Regulation for the Visits of Women He caus'd Rules of Behaviour to be publish'd The Pope incens'd against the Society The General appeases the Pope The Affection of Popes for the Society He hinders Laynez's being made a Cardinal The Confidence of Father Ignatius in the Providence of God The Society Persecuted in France The Decree of the Faculty of Divinity at Paris against the Jesuits The General will have no Answer made to the Decree He Confers with some Doctors of the Sorbon His Care for the Advancement of Learning in the Roman Colledge His Infirmities oblige him to give over Business He reserves to himself the Care of the Sick He Institutes the Prayers of Forty hours during the three last days of Carnivall He disposes himself to die The Contents of the Sixth Book Page 347. THe Effect which his Death produced The Judgment of the first Fathers of the Society concerning St. Ignatius He is honor'd as a Saint in Rome A Miracle wrought upon the Day of his Interment The Place where his Body lies and his Epitaph Testimonies of several Persons in Praise of St. Ignatius He is Reverenc'd by the People as a Saint The Prediction and the Apparition of St. Ignatius A miraculous Cure The Saint Religiously Reverenc'd by Cardinal Baronius The Pope orders Informations to be taken of Ignatius's Life His Gift of Prayer His Love towards God His Charity towards his Neighbor His Humility His Disengagement from the World His Command over his Passions His Reserv'dness in Speaking and how weighty hir Words His Constancy in what he undertook for God and his Greatness of Soul His Confidence in God His Prudence in Spiritual Matters His Beatification His Cononization THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The First BOOK THE providence of God never appear'd more visibly in the preservation of his Church then in the last Century so fatal to Germany to England and to France by the Apostacy of Luther by the Schism of Henry the Eighth and by the pretended Reformation of Calvin As the manners of Men generally grow corrupt by the same degrees that they loose their Faith so were these new Heresies followed by a general licentiousness The People after they had revolted from the common Pastor of the Faithful Rebelled also against their Lawful Princes and having shaken off the Yoke of Ecclesiastical Obedience and of Allegiance to their Soveraigns they abandoned themselves to all those disorders which Men are capable of when they are govern'd by the Spirit of Lying Thus did Impiety ravage the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and in those places where Religion had been most flourishing Altars were prophan'd the use of Sacraments abolish'd the Evangelical Councils contemn'd and all Laws both Humane and Divine trampl'd under foot Then it was that Heaven rais'd up Ignatius of Loyola to serve and relieve the pressing necessities of the Christian World and it looks as if the Divine wisdom had intended specially to declare that very purpose by a concourse of Accidents then happening which could not be the product of meer chance For in the same year that Luther publickly maintain'd his Apostacy in the Dyet of Worms and retiring himself into his solitude of Alstat wrote a Book against Monastical Vows which made an infinity of Apostates Did Ignatius consecrate himself to God in the Church of Montserrat and in his retreat of Manreze write his spiritual Exercises which serv'd to form and model his own and to re-people all other Religious Orders At the very time that Calvin began to Dogmatize and gather Disciples in Paris Ignatius who was come thither to Study did in like manner assemble his company to declare War against the Enemies of the Catholick Faith And Lastly When Henry the Eighth first assum'd the Title of Head of the Church and Commanded all his Subjects under pain of Death to raze out the Name of the Pope from all their Papers and Books Did our new Patriark whose life I now write lay the Foundation of a Society devoted to the service of the Holy See Ignatius was born in the year 1491. in the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella and in that part of the Spanish Biscay which reacheth towards the Pyreneans and is at this day called Guipuscoa Don Bertram his Father Lord of Ognez and Loyola was of the Ancient Nobility in that Country and Head of a Family which had always enjoy'd the first charges and had produc'd many eminent Persons His Mother Marina Saez de Balde was of no less Illustrious an Extraction He was the last born of three Daughters and Eight Sons well shap'd of a temper inclining to choller his Aire and his Genius lofty and above all he had an ardent passion for Glory Tho he seemed outwardly something violent and haughty he was nevertheless in his conversation affable and obliging He was naturally Wise and in his first years a certain discretion was observ'd in him which had nothing of Childishness His Father who judged him proper for the Court sent him thither betimes and made him Page to the Catholick King Ferdinand took pleasure to see a Child so lively and rational and upon occasions gave him Marks of his good liking But young Ignatius was not of a humor to lead so unactive a life the Love of Glory and the Example of his Brothers who had signaliz'd themselves in the Army of Naples soon gave him a disgust of the Court and put thoughts of War in his head at an Age in which others only mind the plays of Children He declar'd his intentions to the Duke of Naiare Don Antonio Manrique Grandee of Spain his Kinsman and a particular friend to his Family The Duke who had a Martial Soul and was esteem'd one of the most accomplish'd Gentlemen of his time did not oppose the design of Ignatius He took care to have him well taught his Exercises and delighted himself in forming and instructing him in them Ignatius under so good a Master became in a short time capable of serving his Prince He pas'd through all the
and the pains of his Stomack still continued He spoke in publick of the things of Heaven and to be better heard by the people which came about him he got up upon a Stone which is at this day expos'd to view before the Antient Hospital of St. Lucy His mortified Countenance his modest Aire his words animated with the Spirit of Truth inspired into his Auditors the love of Vertue and a horror of Vice But his private entertainments produc'd wonderful effects He converted the most obstinate sinners by laying before them the Maxims and Duties of Christianity and by causing them to meditate upon them in retirement Some were so toucht that they renounced the World and changed at the same time both manners and state The many reflections which Ignatius made upon the force and power of these Evangelical Maxims and the many tryals of their Operation both in himself and others mov'd him to write a Book of Spiritual Exercises for the good of their Souls that live in the World This Book has so great a part in the life which I now write and is so little known in the World that it will not be unprofitable in this place to give an accompt of it The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are something more then a bare collection of Meditations and of Christian considerations if they were that and no more there would be nothing in them particular and new St. Ignatius is not the first who has taught us the way of raising our minds to God and of looking down into our own infirmities by the means of mental Prayer Before him were known the several heads of Meditation concerning the end for which we were Created the Enormity of Sin the Pains of Hell the Life and Death of our Saviour but this we may say that before him there was not a certain and prefix'd method for the reformation of manners To him we owe this method and he it was who enlightned by God after a manner altogether new in a methodical way reduc'd as it were into a holy Art the conversion of a sinner Knowing of one side the perverse inclinations of the Heart of Man and on the other the power and vertue which such particular truths of Christianity duly appli'd have to rectifie them he has set down a way by which Man with the succour of grace may recover out of his sin and climb to the highest degree of perfection In effect if we look near into the matter there is as much difference between the common Meditations and these Exercises as between the knowledge only of simples and the entire Art of Physick which has its principles and aphorisms for the cure of Diseases according to the constitution of Bodies the nature of the Distempers and the quality of the Remedies But to the end the reality of what I say may appear I will here set down the whole Order and Scheme of St. Ignatius his Spiritual Exercises They begin by a very important Meditation which is the ground work on which the whole Frame is built and therefore is called the Beginning or Foundation of the Exercises The scope of this Fundamental Meditation is to weigh and duly consider the end for which we are born and plac'd here upon Earth Whether it be to enjoy the pleasure of our Senses to grow Rich to acquire Glory learn unprofitable Sciences or whether it be to Serve and Obey our Lord and God whose Creatures we are And when our understanding is fully possest of this Truth that our Eternal Salvation wholly and solely depends upon loving and serving him we must then draw this consequence That the things of this World are no otherwise to be sought or enjoy'd then as they conduce to the honoring and serving God Moreover whereas such things as are only means to some end are to be considered and valued not by their own intrinsick worth but for their fitness and tendency to such End It necessarily follows that we ought to judge of Riches and Poverty of a High and a Low Condition of Health and Sickness not according to the Good or Evil which they bring us in this present Life but according to the Advantages or Hindrances we receive from them in order to Eternity Hence again it will follow That we ought to be perfectly indifferent in reference to these things so that we are not to desire Health more then Sickness to prefer Riches above Poverty Honour above Contempt nor a long Life above a short one And in the Last place we are to conclude That if we must determine our Choice on the one side more then on the other we must choose that which most directly leads to our End It is hardly credible how much this grand verity well weigh'd and comprehended doth enlighten and stir up the Soul of a sinner be he never so blind and obstinate For provided he be a little remov'd out of the noise and hurry of company and business it makes him look upon the World with other Eyes then he did and shews him the fatal mistake of Worldlings who place their happiness in Creatures and thereby throughly awakes him out of his former Lethargy Being possest and convinc'd of this Essential Principle we are next to consider what it is that puts us out of the way to our End In order to this St. Ignatius proposeth to us Meditations upon sin And first of the fall of the Angels who were cast down from Heaven into the bottom of Hell for one sin of Pride next of the Transgression of the first Man who was banish'd out of Paradice He and his Posterity condemn'd to so many Evils for his Disobedience and Lastly of so many Millions that are Eternally lost and doom'd to the Torments of Hell for sins less Enormous then our own But in regard our main business is to remedy our own disorders it is necessary for us to have a sufficient knowledge of them Wherefore the Saint leads us from the general consideration of sin to a particular Discussion and Examination of our own Conscience To the End that looking throughly into the state of our whole Life we may find out all our enormities and deviations which have set us at distance and at enmity with God but further because the knowledge of our Trangressions would have no great effect upon us if we did not rightly apprehend how shameful and criminal they are St. Ignatius directs that in the Second Meditation of Sins we should consider how ugly and infamous in their own Nature they are and would be altho they were not forbid And to the end this consideration may have its full force to shew us how infinitly Heinous they are He bids us set before our Eyes the Immense distance between the Greatness and Glory of God and our Wretchedness and Lowness These past Considerations tho Powerful and Weighty are not yet sufficient to inspire into a worldly Soul all the Compunction that is necessary There must
altho our first Ingagement were made upon Humane and Worldly Motives What we have then to do is to use our endeavour to acquire all that Perfection which such a state requires Nor are we to relinquish the second when we are once ingaged in such state I say we are not to relinquish it unless it contains in its self or obligeth us to any thing against the duties of Christianity or unless we leave it to put our selves in a more perfect state As to the Times and Seasons that are proper for the making such Election the most apposite are these First When God touches the Heart in such a manner that there is no possibility of a doubt that the Call comes not from Heaven as in the case of St. Matthew St. Paul and some others Secondly When the Impression of Grace is at least so strong in us as to give us a kind of assurance that our Vocation comes from the Holy Ghost And Thirdly when the Soul Illuminated by Faith and undistracted by outward objects which may mislead her into false judgements is in a fit disposition to elect what is most conducible to her Salvation As for the Manner of the Choice thus it ought to proceed First the Condition the Office the Imployment the form of life whatever it be is laid before us Secondly we are to recall into our Consideration the End for which we were Created and according to the Rules of the Fundamental Meditation we must Endeavour to put our selves into an absolute Indifferency towards all the things of the World and to make no reckoning of them any otherwise then as they Serve to our End Thirdly we are humbly to beg of God that he will enlighten our understanding and not suffer us to deviate from that way by which he would conduct us After this we are to find out all the Reasons for or against such a Course and to weigh them one against the other and those must preponderate which in our Aym to Eternity and our last End seem to tend most directly thither When it appears evidently to us upon Examination so made that one calling has the Advantage over the other there we must fix and firmly resolve to embrace it with out delay If afterwards we should find any wavering and irresoluteness in our selves and should desire to be confirm'd and settled in our choice we are then to use the same Reasons to our selves as we should do to our best Friend upon the like occasion Moreover we ought to do that which we shall wish were done at the hour of Death and at the day of Judgement when we are to render an Account of all our Actions Lastly we ought to choose that way which shall seem best to us according to these Solide and evident Principles This in short is the whole Oeconomy of this matter of Choice and the Conclusion of this Important affair makes an End of the Second week It will be hard for a Soul to tread all those steps we have now markt out without much labour and pain and it is natural that a new state and form of life should find great contradictions either because the world doth usually rise in opposition against those who embrace a true Christian life or for that God doth commonly try the fidelity of his new Servants The Soul therefore hath great need of strength and of Love to be supported and where can she find more powerful Succour then in the wounds of Jesus Christ Crucify'd who has Consummated by his sufferings the work of our Redemption and so lov'd us as to dye for us upon the Cross 'T is in the Contemplating the Passion and Death of our Saviour that the Soul enflam'd with his Love takes Resolution to Suffer all things to please him and constantly to persist in the Practice of Christian vertues in defyance of the world and the Devil The Soul being now in such a Scituation what she has more to do is to elevate her Thoughts and her desires towards Heaven And this she doth in the Fourth week which represents to her the Glorious Mysteries of the Resurrection of the Apparitions and of the Ascention of the Son of God as being most proper to enliven her Faith to strengthen her Hope and to purify her Love In conclusion the contemplation of Spiritual Love or of the Benefits and perfections of the God consummates the whole work by closely uniting her to God and making her taste the sweetness of Divine Union Thus ends our Saint his spiritual Exercises with a Prayer full of Unction and fervour in which after having intirely given himself up to Jesus Christ he asks nothing of him but his Grace and his Love protesting that there is nothing in the world besides that he desires and that he is rich enough if he can but Love and be Loved It is easie to perceive the Connection of the four parts and how all the Meditations have such a dependance one on the other that the First is still the foundation of the Second the former still supporting and giving strength to the latter and all of them together work the intended effect which is to raise a Soul into a State of perfect charity after having disingaged her from the Love of the world Here you have the Character and the Spirit of the Exercises which Ignatius compos'd at Manreza and which in process of time he digested into that order and form in which now we see them then adding to them divers Rules concerning Catholick Faith Prayer Alms deeds Temperance Scruples and Discernment of spirits Besides those which he sets down under the Title of Annotations and Additions to make the exercises both easily and profitably and which are so Essential according to the Judgement of one of the most Eminent Sons of our Saint that we can expect no fruit from our Retirement if we neglect them For amongst other things they Import that he who desires profitably to make the Exercises must enter into them with great Courage and with a Resolution to give himself up wholly to the Dictates and Conduct of the Holy Ghost and be ready to go what way soever the voice of Heaven shall call him That being so dispos'd at his entrance into them he must not only forget for a time all the affairs of the World but also must apply himself singly and Solely to the Meditation of each Present day not permitting his thoughts to make any excursion into the Meditations that are to follow That it is not Sufficient to read Holy and Good Books but the matter of them must be agreeable to the Subject of his Meditations least the understanding being dissipated and scatter'd upon divers Objects should have less force to Penetrate those Truths of which it is to be convinc'd That the way of Living the Solitude the Silence the Austerities ought to be apply'd and directed to the matter and Subject of the Meditations of each week as much as prudence may
new to reform the inward man when their Studies were ended To which purpose he appointed a third year of Noviceship in which they should wholly apply themselves to the Exercises of a Spiritual life without the least attention to human Learning Whereas this second Noviceship is the last tryal of those that are admitted into the Society the Saint would have them exercised more then ever in all those things that may improve them in the contempt of the World and of themselves That only minding Prayer and the reading of such Books as may render them more Devout and not more Learned they should be employ'd to teach the Christian Doctrine and perform their Missions in Towns and Villages These are the ways by which the General of the new Society intended to form Apostolical Men that should be eminent in Science and Vertue So that his first intention was to raise such accomplish'd Workmen But Nature which tends to perfection in all its works doth not always arrive to it He discern'd that of many Persons who were admitted some there would be who for want of natural Talents or of Qualities acquir'd would not come up to that perfection which the Institute requires He also at the same time comprehended that the productions of Nature which are not the most perfect ceas'd not however to be profitable and that an indifferent Talent well manag'd might serve to great things and that Workmen who are not excelling may aid and assist the great Masters To this end he constituted two different degrees in his Order one of the Profest and the other of Spiritual Coadjutors The Profest make publickly the three solemn Vows of Religion and add thereunto one of special Obedience to the Head of the Church in regard of Missions among the Faithful and Infidels The Coadjutors also make in publick the Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience But they make not the fourth concerning Missions It follows from this constitution of several Degrees that there are three states in the Society not to speak of Lay Brothers who are called Temporal Coadjutors The first is of Scholars approv'd so they are called who are in the Way during their Studies The second is of Spiritual Coadjutors And the third of Fathers Profest both which last are come to their Station Whereas the State of Tryal doth not imply a certain and fix'd Scituation St. Ignatius judged that the Society proposing to themselves to try their Scholars ought not to be oblig'd or bound to them but under conditions but whereas it was incongruous that young Men should so long remain at liberty and Masters of themselves he judged that for their particular good and for that of the whole Body they ought on their part to be absolutely ingag'd to the Society by promising to live and die there in the observance of the Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience and also by tying themselves in a Vow express to accept of any such degree as should afterwards be found to be suitable for them By the Vows of Chastity of Poverty and of Obedience the Founder unites them to the Society and makes them truly Religious men since the Essence of a Religious State consists in the Promise which is made to God of perpetually observing the Evangelical Councils as much as lies in us But in ordaining that the Vows of the Scholars should be simple Vows he leaves to the Society under the good pleasure of the Pope the Power of Dispensing with them By this means he leaves to the Scholars themselves the right and property of their Goods tho' he takes from them the power of using and disposing of them independently of their Superiors and this is an usage receiv'd in Spain in Italy in Flanders and in all other Countries except in France where the Parliaments have not thought fit to permit what the Holy See and the Council of Trent have granted in approving the Institute As for the Fathers profest who make the Essential part of the Society the Saint obliges them to an exact observance of Evangelical Poverty and orders that the Profest Houses shall have no Revenue tho' Noviciates and Colledges ought to have them in regard that it is not just for Novices and Scholars to live at the charge of the publick before they are in a condition of serving it not to say any thing of the hindrance which the care of a livelihood might bring to their Devotions and Studies On the other side considering that Poverty is as it were the Bulwark of a Religious State and that the most flourishing Orders are almost fallen to Ruin for not having well observ'd it he ordains that the Profest shall make a particular Vow never to consent to change any thing in the Society in relation to Poverty unless it be to make it stricter then before After having made so many Ordinances concerning the Disposition and Form of the whole Body he made others relating to the Head and the Members He decreed in the first place that the General should be Perpetual and Absolute according to what he and his Companions had agreed upon before the Society was approv'd by the Holy See and many reasons determin'd him to it As to the perpetuity he thought that the first Charge being once fill'd and not to be vacant before the Death of the Incumbent there would be no ground for a Temptation in any to aspire to it That it would be less difficult to find one Man that was capable of the place then to find many That a General who is only temporary can undertake no great thing in the Service of God because great enterprizes require a considerable time to have them well executed Lastly That perpetuity draws Reverence and Submission from Inferiors by giving the Superior a Character indelible As to the Authority of the General he will have it to be Absolute and he leaves him the Power of making Provincials Superiors of Profest Houses and Rectors of Colledges and Noviciates The aim of the Saint was to keep all the Members in a continual dependance of the Head and to free the Body of the Society as much as might be from those Commotions which almost always precede and accompany Capitular Elections and so to contrive it that this first Superior being at a distance from the greatest part of his Subjects might Govern without Passion and without any other Interest but that of the Order And to the end that the General may have knowledge of so many Persons whom he never sees besides that the Subordinate Superiors give him an Account in general every year of those that are under their charge they also send him from three years to three years Catalogues of every Province in which are set down the Age of every one their Ability their natural Tallents their advancement in Learning and in Vertue in a word all their good or bad Qualities And least such faithful Memories should be lost or should fall into the hands
Souls but more especially by what he himself has seen of the good done by them at Barcelona and at Gandia Whereupon he has made his Supplication to us to have them Examin'd and to Approve them if we shall find them worthy of Approbation and Commendation to the end that the good Effects of them may be made more universal and that the Faithful with greater Encouragement might make use of them We have accordingly caus'd them to be Examin'd and upon the Testimony which has been given us by our dear Son John of the Title of St. Clement Priest Cardinal Bishop of Burgos and Inquisitor of the Faith by our Venerable Brother Philip Bishop of Saluzzo our Vicar General in Spirituals within Rome and by our dear Son Giles Foscarini Master of the Sacred Palace We have found these Exercises to be fill'd with the Spirit of God and to be very useful for the Edification and the spiritual Profit of the Faithful Having also regard as we ought to have to the great good which Ignatius and the Society by him Founded cease not to do in the Church among all sorts of Nations and considering on the other side how instrumental this Book of Exercises is thereunto we of our own certain knowledge Approve by these Presents Commend and Ratifie with our Apostolical Authority all that is contain'd in that Book We moreover exhort all the Faithful of both Sexes in what Place of the World soever they be devoutly to practise such Christian Exercises and we give leave that the Book be Printed by any such Bookseller as shall best like the Author Provided nevertheless that after the first Edition neither the Bookseller whom he shall first chuse nor any other shall presume to Print the same the second time without the Consent of Ignatius or of his Successors c. Given at Rome in the Palace of St. Mark under the Seal of the Fisher the last Day of July in the Year of our Lord 1548 and the Fourteenth of our Pontificate The Approbation and the Printing of the Book of the Exercises which was Translated out of Spanish into Latin very much added to the Reputation of the Founder of the Society Since the Establishment of his Order he always made his Abode in Rome following therein his own Institution that the General ought to have a fix'd Habitation nevertheless he went forth for a short time upon a Charitable Account and his Journey had a happy Success The Inhabitants of St. Angelo and those of Tivoli their Neighbors having a mortal Feud one with the other even to a kind of open War Father Ignatius at the Pope's Desire went over to the Places themselves Having first Treated with Margaret of Austria Wife to Octavius Duke of Parma who was Lord of St. Angelo and next with the Magistrates of Tivoli he brought those two Towns to this Agreement That the Cardinal De la Cueva should be the Arbitrator of their Differences and that in the mean time they should lay down their Arms. It was upon this Occasion that Signior Lewis Mendoza who Lodg'd the Father at Tivoli made the Offer to him of a commodious House with very good Gardens and a Chappel of our Lady's which had been built out of the Walls near the stately Ruines of Moecenas's Villa This new Establishment Father Ignatius compleated upon the Nativity of our Lady which nevertheless came far short of those which about this time were made in Sicily Don John de Vega Viceroy of Sicily who had great Communication with the General of the Society when he was Ambassador from Charles the Fifth at Rome and who did nothing of Importance without consulting him according to the Order which he had receiv'd was no sooner at Messina but he took the Resolution of Erecting there a Colledge for the Society Palermo immediately follow'd the Example of Messina And these two Colledges whither the General sent Persons of great Vertue and Ability were the first after that of Gandia where Schools were open'd At the departure of these excellent Workmen of which the principal were Peter Canisius a German Andrew Frusis a Frenchman and Jerome Nadal a Spaniard he told them what he usually said when he sent forth Missions Go Brethren inflame spread about that Fire which Jesus Christ came to kindle on the Earth Before they went away he would have those who were design'd to Teach Schools make an Essay before him of their Method and their Ability He also would have them all take leave of the Pope to whom he himself conducted them The Pope receiv'd them with kindness and exhorted them in the first place to be very watchful against new Heresies But Father Ignatius before he cull'd out the twelve which he sent into Sicily gave himself the satisfaction of sounding the bottom of their Souls and of trying the Temper and the Obedience of his Subjects in Rome by ordering every one of them to tell him in Writing after three days of Prayer First Whether they were indifferent to go into Sicily and whether that which the General should determine who to them is in the place of God would be most welcom to them Secondly Whether in case they were sent into Sicily they should be ready either to Teach and perform such other Functions as require Learning and Ability or to be employ'd in Domestical Offices Thirdly If it should so happen that they were appointed for Study and Regency whether they would be dispos'd to Study what Science and to Teach what School it should please the Superior Lastly Whether they did believe that what ever Obedience should prescribe to them was most proper for them and most conducible to their eternal good They every one brought in their Writing upon the Day assign'd and there was not one of them in their whole number of Thirty six who did not sincerely declare That he was ready to go not only into Sicily but into the Indies and that he would willingly employ his whole Life in the meanest Offices whenever their good Father and their honor'd Master in Jesus Christ should give them the least intimation of his Will It was not enough for a Man who design'd to do good to the whole Earth to labor in Europe and in Asia for the gaining of Souls John Nugnes and Lewis Gonzales were sent almost at the same time into the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco at the Instance of the King of Portugal who concern'd at the Captivity of a great number of Christians demanded some Fathers of the Society to Negotiate the delivery of the Slaves and to confirm them in their Faith A little time after the Viceroy of Sicily having Orders from Charles the Fifth to pass over into Africa with a good Army to make War upon Dragut a famous Pirate who was possess'd of a strong Place on the Coast of Barbary from whence he made his Excursions as far as Naples Father Ignatius was desirous that Laynez should leave Sicily where
the Pope to bestow upon him a Cardinal's Cap for which his Holiness needed no great Solicitation for he had seen Father Francis the Year before and was so edified with his Vertue that even then he had it in his thoughts to make him a Cardinal So that now he resolv'd to comply with the Emperor and the Matter was resolv'd with the general Approbation of the sacred Colledge Father Ignatius being inform'd of the Pope's Resolution thought himself oblig'd to oppose it for the Interest of the Society and for the Honor of Father Francis whom the World would not fail to reproach with having resign'd his Dukedom of Gandia to his Son in prospect of a Cardinal's Cap. But the better to find out the Will of Heaven in a Matter so nice and so important he shut himself up three days together and communicated only with God in Prayer The first day he found himself altogether indifferent without inclining more on one side then on the other The second day he felt a propension in himself rather to break the Design then to let it go on But the third day he was so convinc'd that it was not the Will of God to have Father Francis made a Cardinal that he said to an intimate Friend If all the World should throw themselves at my Feet to beg of me not to oppose the Promotion of Father Francis I would not desist In effect notwithstanding all the Intreaties of the Emperor's Ministers and of those who pretended Zeal for the Honor of the House of Borgia he would not relent He began his Solicitation by interessing those Cardinals in the Matter who were best instructed in the Nature of his Institute but finding that they more consider'd the Honor of the Sacred Colledge then the Advantage of the Society and the Reputation of Father Francis he apply'd himself immediately to the Pope and ply'd him with so many strong Arguments that his Holiness was forc'd to yield The truth is that he found an Expedient to content the Court of Rome and the Court of Spain and also to do Honor to Father Francis without doing wrong to the Society which was That the Pope should offer him the Cap but that if the Father did refuse it his Holiness should not compel him to take it The thing was Executed as Ignatius had laid it And the Cap of which the Offer was sent to Father Francis in his Solitude at Ogniate no otherwise pleas'd him then in giving him an occasion of Sacrificing to God the Dignities of the Church after his having made a Sacrifice to him of the Grandeurs of the World The Conduct of Father Ignatius and the Example of Father Francis caus'd a Resolution in Don Antonio de Cordoua to enter into the Society He was the Son of Laurence Suarez de Figueroa Conde de Feria and of Catherine Fernandez de Cordoua Being young and very well accomplish'd he made himself a Churchman only upon the Motives of Piety Philip Prince of Spain who particularly lov'd him desir'd the Emperor to procure for him a Cardinal's Cap. Charles the Fifth did what the Prince desir'd but Don Antonio resolving wholly to leave the World by the Example of his Cousin Borgia thought the surest way to avoid the Honor which was prepar'd for him would be to shelter himself in the Society of Jesus as in a Sanctuary He writ a long Letter to Father Ignatius upon this Subject in which after having laid open the Motives of his Vocation Father he said to him since God has placed you in his Church to be the Refuge of those who are out of their way I desire you to receive me into the number of your Children The young Lord was receiv'd and in time became one of the greatest Men of the Society THE LIFE OF St. IGNATIVS The Fifth BOOK WHereas Father Ignatius secluded his Order from Ecclesiastical Dignities upon the only Motive of better Serving the Church accordingly his thoughts were always watchful to observe and relieve the Necessities of Christianity and his Care extended it self even to the remotest Parts of the World But his principal Consideration was of the Northern Countries desolated by Heresie The greatest part of Germany had in a manner quite lost their ancient Piety the Books of Hereticks were every where scatter'd and every where read with Impunity And the younger sort out of those poyson'd Fountains drew their first Principles of Religion The greatest part of the Catholicks could not endure the Name of Papist given them by the Protestants and grew almost asham'd of their Profession The Priests and the Religious were in great disorder and notwithstanding the Zeal of many Bishops for the Reformation of their Diocesses they could hardly find sufficient Curates to whom they might confide the Care and Government of Souls Father Ignatius Discoursing one day upon this Subject with Cardinal Moron they were both of Opinion that the only way to remedy so many Evils was to place in all Churches Pastors found in their Doctrine and unstain'd in their Life which should be of the German Nation but that it was necessary in the first place to have them well Form'd and Train'd which could not be done without Founding a Colledge where the young Men of the Country might be Educated in Learning and Piety That Germany being generally perverted there could be no Security there for the Establishing such a Colledge and that a properer Place could not be chosen then Rome where not to speak of the holiness of the Place which would inspire Catholick Sentiments the Presence and the Liberality of Popes would much conduce to the rise and support of so good a Work The Pope to whom Cardinal Moron and Cardinal Santa Croce first open'd this Matter very much approv'd this Design which he himself had formerly conceiv'd in his thoughts and gave a beginning to it by assigning a Fund for the Maintenance of the Colledge After which he order'd Father Ignatius not only to seek out and chuse young Students out of Germany but also to Govern and to Instruct them The Father immediately gather'd together Four and twenty out of several Provinces of Germany all of good Capacity and Education He afterwards by the Pope's Order drew up Rules and Statutes for their Government He appointed Fathers out of the Casa Professa and the Roman Colledge to be their Directors and Masters but with the management of their Revenue he would have nothing to do He said that such Administrations besides the fatigue and trouble of them often give occasion of suspicions and murmurings The principal Revenue of the German Colledge failing upon the death of Julius the Third Father Ignatius was in some apprehension lest the Colledge should break by reason of the Dearth then at Rome and of the Disturbances in Italy under the Pontificate of Paul the Fourth He therefore distributed a part of these young Strangers into several Colledges of the Society abroad and the rest he
certain marks of our Friendship and respects to return us love for love and to remember us in your Prayers May our Lord Jesus Christ be for ever with you Amen From our Monastery in Milan the first of September 1556. They were not only some particular Persons or some Societies who beheld Father Ignatius after his Death as a Saint In many Nations the People had so great an opinion of his Sanctity that they implor'd his succour for obtaining Favours from Heaven This was principally done in Spain and the Honor given to his memory was spred into the places Inhabited by him in his Life The Castle of Loyola grew venerable to the whole Country and the Chamber where in his Sickness he was Converted was reverenc'd by all Spain as a kind of Sanctuary Those who Lodg'd in it felt in themselves a horror of Sin and their Hearts turn'd to Vertue Nevertheless it once happen'd that a certain Gentleman was came to visit the Lord of Loyola and was Lodg'd in the Chamber of Ignatius entertain'd unchast thoughts in his mind But at the same instant the whole House was shaken with a terrible Earthquake as if Heaven could not endure Impurity in a place where Ignatius had receiv'd Visits from the Holy Virgin and had for ever renounc'd the pleasures of the senses The Hospital of Manreza where he began his penitent Life and the Cave where he us'd his Body with so much rigor became also places of publick Veneration The People were led thither by their Devotion and usually kiss'd the Ground which had been water'd with the Tears and sprinkl'd with the Blood of so Holy a Man Before the Hospital was erected a Pyramid in his Honor with an Inscription which contain'd a Summary of his Life The little Chamber where he had the Extasie of eight Days was turn'd into a Chappel The Cave was adorn'd as much as the horror of the place would permit and the chiefest Ornament of the place was a great Picture in which was represented the Saints manner of living in that Grotte He was drawn in his Sackcloth girt with an Iron Chain his Countenance pale and lean his Feet bare and upon his Knees before the blessed Virgin holding in her Arms her Child Jesus He had his Eyes fixt upon her and his Arm was set in a posture of writing as if Jesus and Mary were dictating to him the Spiritual Exercises In the bottom of the Piece were these words In the Year 1522 Ignatius in this place writ the Spiritual Exercises the first Book put forth by the Society of Jesus which was approv'd by a Bull of Paul the Third The many Cures wrought in Barcelona by the Hair shirt of Ignatius which John Pascal preserv'd as a Relick did not a little increase the Peoples Devotion towards the Servant of God But the accomplishment of Ignatius his Prediction to Pascal himself was very wonderful When Ignatius left Barcelona to Study in the University of Alcala Pascal who was very young would have follow'd him and been his Disciple together with Cazeres Artiaga and Calisto But the Saint told him that God would have him remain in the World and at the same time predicted to him what should befal him You shall Marry said he a very vertuous Woman and shall have many Children you likewise shall have many afflictions and shall die very poor but comfort your self for your afflictions shall be the means of saving your Soul The event verifi'd the Prediction For Pascal did Marry a Person of great Vertue and had three Sons and four Daughters But his eldest Son was born deaf and dumb his second Son became distracted and the third who was a great Libertine dy'd suddenly Of his four Daughthers he was able to Marry but one and at last he was reduc'd to beg Alms. These great misfortunes however did not dishearten him This is said he what the holy Man Ignatius foretold me And when his Friends would have made him hope for better Fortune the Prophecy of the Saint he answer'd must be fulfill'd and all that I ask of God is Patience Ignatius who before his Death often comforted Pascal with his Letters did not forget him afterwards He once appear'd to him at four a Clock in the Morning after this manner Pascal had a custom for many Years of hearing Matines every Day in the great Church near the Tomb of St. Eulalia which joyns to the Altar Being come one Morning too soon he Pray'd by himself in expectation of Matines and his extream necessity put him upon imploring the succour of Heaven by his mediation who had foretold it to him and of whose Death he had been lately inform'd Father he cry'd sighing and weeping your Predictions are but too true and now you behold from Heaven what was beforehand reveal'd to you upon Earth Have pity on me and if you deliver me not from my Miseries at least obtain for me the Grace to endure them with Constancy and to merit by them according to your promise a future happiness He had scarce ended these words when he heard a Melodious noise and saw a beautiful train of young Clergy men who rang'd themselves on each side of the Altar to make place for a Venerable Person who follow'd them in his Priestly Attire all shining in Glory This Priest of Figure more then Human stopt at the Tomb of St. Eulalia and bowing to the ground before the blessed Sacrament took a Censor from the hand of one of the Assistants and several times Incens'd the Altar Pascal astonish'd at the sight and doubtful whether his Eyes might not deceive him remain'd sometime without motion But looking attentively upon the Priest he found him to be Ignatius Ah Father he cry'd Ah my Father Ignatius The Saint comforted Pascal by giving him fresh hopes of his Salvation and then disappear'd with the blessed Spirits that attended him The Canons when they came into the Church to Sing Matines found Pascal out of himself seiz'd with admiration fear and joy all at once He then told them what he had seen and he ever after retain'd so lively an Idea of it that in all his distresses it never fail'd to give him present comfort This Apparition grew famous over all Spain but the cure of Bobadilla was no less notorious in Italy This Father being come from Tivoli to Rome was taken with a violent Fever Whereas they Lodg'd him in the Chamber where the Saint dy'd in the hight of his Disease he made his Application to him and immediately the Fever left him He every where made Publick the favour from Heaven which he had receiv'd by the intercession of his Father Ignatius and this Testimony was the more considerable because he was a Man not at all inclin'd easily to believe Miracles Many other Persons were cur'd in divers parts of Europe and of the new World by imploring the assistance of the Founder of the Society of Jesus Tho' in the following Years