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 very raging with violent Contortions over all her Body Ignatius when he had beheld her said she was not Possess'd and that those extraordinary Motions proceeded from a natural Cause and that if the Devil had any part in it 't was only in troubling the Imagination of the sick Person He made the Sign of the Cross upon her and her fury presently ceased There was in the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen a poor Man call'd Bastida who for many years had the Falling-sickness He had once a long and violent Fit in the presence of Ignatius the Saint touch'd with Compassion lifted his Eyes to Heaven made an ardent Prayer for the poor Man and laid his Hand upon his Head Bastida instantly recover'd of his Fit and was so perfectly cur'd of his Disease that it never came more But God who gives his Servants the power of curing Diseases for the Glory of his Name permits them at the same time to be diseased themselves so to humble them and to try their patience Ignatius accordingly had then a great Sickness He would not be carry'd to Loyola but he could not hinder his Kindreds taking care of him Two Women of Quality his Cousin-germans one call'd Maria Doriola and the other Simona d' Alzaga tended him and continually watch'd with him One Night when they were retir'd into the next Chamber to take a little rest they heard him sigh in an extraordinary manner Going in to him they found him with his Hands joyn'd his Eyes lifted to Heaven his Countenance otherwise enflam'd then with his Feaver for it shin'd with such a light that it dazled their Eyes Ignatius was in Confusion to be so found by them and he earnestly pray'd his two Kinswomen to keep it secret As soon as he was cur'd he parted from Azpetia with the great regret of his Family and of all the Inhabitants He accepted of a Horse of Money and of Servants to content his Brother and to part fairly with him but he had no sooner got to the Confines of Biscay and Navarr when he rid himself of his Attendance He went by the Way of Pampelona to the Castle of Xavier to dispatch the Business of his Disciple Francis Xavier and afteward to Almazon and to Toledo for the Concerns of Salmeron and Laynez Having dispatch'd all these Affairs he took the Way of Valentia where he hop'd to find the opportunity of a Ship for Venice While he was waiting for it he went to Visit Don John de Castro at Segorbe who had lately made himself a Carthusian in the Charter-House of Val-Christ and had not yet ended his Noviceship This was one of the three Spanish Gentlemen who at Paris being mov'd with the Discourses and Example of Ignatius retir'd themselves into the Hospital of St. James This Novice having a very mature Judgment and being moreover a great Servant of God Ignatius told him in confidence his most secret thoughts That he intended to go into Italy in order to make a Voyage to the Holy Land and that there or elsewhere he intended to Institute a Society whose only Aim and Business should be to perfect their own and to save their Neighbours Souls He set down to him the Scheme and Drift of that Society in the manner he had then fram'd it within himself according to the present light he received from God He farther told him what Companions he had chosen for executing this Design a Xaverius a Laynez and others not unknown to Castro and then he asked his counsel in that important Business Casto did not immediately tell him his judgment upon it but having spent the Night following wholly in Prayer he came out of his Cell at Break-of-day with a transport of Joy which he could not moderate and went in great haste to tell Ignatius that his Undertaking was the Work of God and that it should succeed in spite of all the Contradictions of Men and that all Christendom should receive great Advantages by it And said he to let you see that I do not speak at random I offer my self to be your Companion and Disciple for being only a Novice I am not yet under any Engagement Ignatius receiv'd this Testimony of Castro as an Oracle of the Holy Ghost but far from consenting that this Recluse should leave the Solitude to which God had call'd him he exhorted him to persist in so holy a Vocation as his was and made him understand that a contemplative Life was his Lot The thought which this Novice had of changing his State lets us see that Persons inspir'd from Heaven in the behalf of others are not always so for themselves and that God made use of Ignatius to resettle Castro as he did of Castro to fortifie Ignatius The Records of the Charter-House of Val-Christ mention this whole Passage between these two of which there are besides Juridical Attestations of Don Antonio Martin d' Atarriba and of Don Andrea Soler both Carthusians who deposed that they heard this Transaction from Castro's own Mouth Ignatius more settled then ever in his Design went immediately to Valentia and there went on Board a Merchants Ship which parted for Genoua The famous Pirate Barbarossa who had driven Mulyassen out of the Kingdom of Tunis was abroad upon the Mediterranean Sea with a Fleet of an hundred Gallies pillaging the Coasts seizing all Ships and every where making Slaves But so it happens sometimes that one Evil is the cure of another The most furious Tempest that perhaps ever was known upon the Coasts of Spain brought this poor Merchants Ship to the last extremity The Rudder was carried away with the stress of the Weather the Masts were broken the Pilot and Mariners in despair Among the Cries of so many People who look'd for nothing but present death Ignatius was the only Person not discompos'd and so acquiescing in the Orders of Heaven that he had not the least trouble upon him to see all his holy Projects overthrown His only sensible grief was for not having corresponded with the Graces of Heaven with that fidelity he ought But when nothing but Shipwrack was look'd for the Wind by a miraculous Providence carry'd on the Ship to the Port of Genoua This was not the only Danger which Ignatius pass'd through in this Journey Going from Genoua to Bologna he lost his Way upon the Apennine After having a great while wander'd through difficult Passages he came at last to a Way wide and even at the entring but growing by degrees narrow and craggy which brought him in the end to a steep and upright Mountain which had at the bottom a great Torrent of Water gushing out of the Rocks Being insensibly engag'd into so dangerous a Passage he stopt with some terror at the sight of Precipices which were on all sides of him but after he had implor'd the succor of Heaven he took heart again and not knowing how to go back he resolv'd to adventure forwards Wherefore he crawl'd up
every three years should in the first place deliberate Whether there be a necessity of assembling a general Congregation That the Deputies of each Province when arriv'd at Rome should confer together upon this nice Point without the participation of the General and that in the Assembly which is held upon this Subject every one should give his Vote in Writing to the end that being secret the Suffrages might be free Besides this the General has always near him as also the other Superiors have a Person discreet and vertuous from whom upon occasions he is to receive Admonitions This Person who is chosen by the general Congregation is to represent to the General what he or the Assistants shall observe to be Irregular in his Government or in his Person but he must do it with all possible Respect and Moderation After all these Precautions and Preservatives against the ill Consequences that possibly may attend the Absoluteness of a single Person in a Religious Society the Saint in the next place provides Means to preserve the necessary Union which the Members ought to have with their Head and among themselves without which no Body whether Natural or Politick can subsist And these are many 1. That the General should have a fix'd Habitation and that his ordinary Residence should be at Rome that so an easie Communication may be held with him from all the Parts of the World 2. That the Provincials and Rectors should write very often to him that is to say every Week if conveniently it might be done or at the least every Month. 3. That every particular Person may Address to him when he pleases as a Child to his Parent to open to him his Wants or tell him his Grievances and that he should treat him in a tender and Fatherly way 4. That Obedience being the Bond which most of all unites the Members with the Head it should be preserv'd in its full vigor that a perfect dependance should be exacted from the subordinate Superiors upon those who are immediately above them and that according to the Rules of Subordination the Rectors should not be less subject to the Provincials and the Provincials to the General then each particular Person is to the one or to the other 5. That notwithstanding the diversity of Climates and the antipathy of Nations they should observe every where the same form of Life That every one should prevent his Brother in good Offices and kindly treat him upon all occasions That they should express a particular affection to Strangers and in conclusion That all Breakers of Fraternal Charity should be rigorously punished But to hinder the Body from altering and decaying with Time he found out two Expedients very efficacious The first consists in Expelling all scandalous or incorrigible Persons and such who make Dissention or machinate or contrive any thing against the Order And the Saint Ordains That no regard should be had either to their Birth or to their Learning nor that the General himself should be spared if found guilty of such Misdemeanors He also Wills That such Persons who through their Laziness are wholly useless and such who have essential Impediments which at first they did not discover should be Discarded But he will have Rules observ'd in the Dismission of all sorts of People That no body should be put out without a manifest Cause and mature Deliberation That the Scholars approv'd and the Spiritual Coadjutors should in such Case have Dispensations from their Vows which being only simple are dispensible And if at their Entrance or afterwards they have given any thing to the Society it should be punctually restor'd to them That care be had to save the Reputation as much as may be of such as are Dismissed and that if the Fault for which they are Excluded be not of it self notorious it should be kept secret He will not have them Expell'd only for Corporal Infirmities especially if they be contracted since their Admission In conclusion he Orders That when any one is to be Dismiss'd the Superiors should use the same Precautions which skilful Chyrurgeons are wont to have when a Leg or an Arm is to be cut off The Second extraordinary Means which St. Ignatius has contriv'd to make his Order continue and flourish is to Exclude all Ambition and to keep their best Subjects within the Body by obliging the Profess'd to make a Vow never to seek after any Superiority in the Society nor any Preferment of Prelature out of it but to inform the General of all such whom they shall know to be any ways engag'd in such Contrivances The Saint not content only to charge the Conscience of such as shall sollicit for any Office also renders them incapable of ever possessing any from the moment that they are found guilty of such Sollicitation As for Ecclesiastical Dignities they are not only forbid to seek them directly or indirectly but they are moreover bound not to accept of them upon any account unless the Supream Pastor by express Command and under pain of Mortal sin should oblige them to it Thus the Founder of the Jesuits provides that his Religious spending their days in the Service of their Neighbour shall propose to themselves no other Emolument but the Glory of Jesus Christ And to render their Disinteressedness more perfect according to the Example of the holy Apostle St. Paul who testifies of himself that he had rather die then Preach for Gain St. Ignatius Ordains That none of his Body shall receive any thing by way of Salary or Recompence for any of their Functions This is the true Platform of an Institute of which so many false Copies have been made which have almost equally impos'd upon the Wise and upon the Simple After he had traced out his Constitutions in the manner whith I have related he afterwards gave them a new Form and divided them into Ten Parts which have an essential Connection The First Part contains what Qualities are necessary for Admission and what hinder it or make it void But in regard that all those who are received do not always answer Expectation and that it will be necessary to Dismiss some of them the Second Part sets down the Reasons for which they are to be Dismiss'd and the Manner of doing it Whereas those who continue and are upon trial till such time as they are Incorporated into the Society have need of help and assistance to become good Workmen The Third and Fourth Parts treat of Devotion of Health and of Studies These four Parts contain that which disposeth to the Profession of the four Vows Wherefore the Fifth Explicates the Conditions of this eminent Degree and also those of the inferior Degree The Sixth and the Seventh prescribe Rules to the Profess'd and to the Spiritual Coadjutors for their Conduct in their Employments according to the Institute These Seven Parts regard the whole Body of the Order the Two following more nearly relate to