the World and raise Murmuring and Envy That we must not suffer our selves to be seduc'd by a certain Zeal which makes us unquiet for the Disorders of the World That we must begin by reforming our selves and afterwards look as to other People what it is that God will ask us an account of at the Day of Judgment Lastly That Reason which distinguisheth us from Beasts must serve not only as a Bridle to our Passions but as a Rule to our Vertues in such sort that in the Good which we do we may act by Measure and Compass and that our Fervor may not carry us beyond the Bounds of our State These were the Vertues and principal Maxims of the Saint gather'd from unquestionable Testimonies an Extract of which was Presented to the Pope At the same time a Collection was made of the miraculous Cures obtain'd by the Intercession of Ignatius and amongst them was inserted the Deliverance of a possess'd Person out of whom the Saint had chased the Devil at the time when he was chosen General of the Society This poor Wretch was a Servant of the House a Basque call'd Matthew The evil Spirit enter'd into him in the absence of Ignatius when he went to consult Father Theodosius the Franciscan about his Election as we have formerly mention'd and remain'd in the Convent three Days together in retirement The Devil who had taken possession of this poor Man tormented him in a dreadful manner Sometimes he threw him against the Ground sometimes he lifted him up into the Air then again he made him so lumpish and heavy that ten Men could scarce move him Some that were present threatned the Devil that Ignatius would quickly return and dislodge him At these words the Malignant Spirit growing more furious horribly cry'd out that he detested the Name of Ignatius that he was his mortal Enemy The Saint being return'd made a short Prayer over the person possest and he was immediately deliver'd from the Devil Since that time the Name of Ignatius grew terrible to the powers of Hell and the Possest have been sometimes heard to cry out in the middle of the Exorcisms before a Picture of the Servant of God Where is thy power O Lucifer since a bit of Paper with the figure of a Priest makes us flie without resistance Ah God why dost thou deprive us of glory to bestow it upon a little lame Priest One of his Letters had the same effect upon some of these Evil Spirits which haunted the Colledge of Loretto and which the ordinary Exorcisms could not drive away for as soon as the Letter was publickly read in the House the noise ceased and the Spectres disappear'd Tho' the Persons who made their report of all these things which I have now related were of known sufficiency and probity yet all was strictly examin'd according to the ordinary forms After these proceedings in the Year 1609 Paul the Fifth at the request of the greatest Princes of Europe Beatifi'd Ignatius and gave leave to have him Celebrated in the Mass and in the Office In the following Years the Process of his Canonization was set on foot and a new enquiry was made into his Vertues and Miracles Six hundred and sixty witnesses Juridically interrogated made their depositions upon the Holiness of his life Above two hunder'd Miracles well attested were produc'd at the same time which were related in the Acts of the Canonization the Principal of which have been Collected by divers Authors Those Towns and People who had most obligation to blessed Ignatius writ to Paul the Fifth to hasten the Canonization of their Holy Benefactor and these their requests were seconded by many Princes and Princesses particularly by Philip the Second and Philip the Third Kings of Spain by Sigismond King of Poland by Henry the Great King of France by Margaret Queen of Spain and by Mary of Austria Emperess and Wife of Maximilian the Second After the Death of Paul the Fifth Maximilian Duke of Bavaria and Ferdinand the Emperor did write to the same purpose with great instance to Gregory the Fifteenth The first askt no other recompence from the Holy See for all the Service he had done in the War of Bohemia against Heretical Rebells but the Canonization of Ignatius And the other said that it was for the Honor and the Interest of the Empire to have Inroll'd in the Catalogue of Saints the Founder of an Order which seem'd to be chosen by God for the defence of Germany But the King of France Lewis the Thirteenth of all Christian Princes was he who most warmly solicited this matter He declar'd to the Pope in his Letter of the 14th of February of the year 1621 that having receiv'd the first rudiments of Faith and of good manners from the Children of Ignatius and being very well satisfi'd with them in what regarded his Conscience which he had put into their hands it was his desire that they might upon this occasion feel the effects of his good will towards them that all the most signal Favors which he could possibly receive from his Holiness could not more affect him then this which he now asked that such a request he reckon'd to be worthy of the Eldest Son of the Church that this Glorious Title which he Inherited from his Predecessors and which inspir'd him with Zeal for the Advancement of Catholick Religion oblig'd him to pursue the Canonization of Ignatius as hoping that the Intercession of that Saint would be a powerful succour to him for the banishing Heresies and Vices out of his Kingdom Lastly that France having had the Honor to have this Servant of God not only to acquire his Learning and chuse his Companions in the University of Paris but also to lay the Foundation of his Society in the Church of Montmartyr he had reason to hope for new Benedictions by contributing to the speedy Canonization of the Saint Gregory the Fifteenth could not resist these intreaties so pressing and so reasonable He Canoniz'd blessed Ignatius with all the usual Ceremonies upon the 12th of March in the Year 1622 which is the day on which the Church honors the Memory of St. Gregory the great Urban the Eighth who succeeded Gregory did afterwards put the Saint into the Roman Matyrology and amongst the divers Forms presented to him he chose the following which he partly compos'd himself The one and thirtieth day of July at Rome Saint Ignatius Confessor Founder of the Society of Jesus Illustrious for his Saintity his Miracles and for his Zeal to extend the Catholick Faith over the whole World Without departing from the Character of an Historian I may add to the words of Urban the Eighth those of Gregory the Fifteenth spoken by him when he Canoniz'd St. Ignatius They are taken out of Ecclesiasticus and the Holy Ghost spoke then of Josue He was great in his Name most great in saving the Elect of God in subduing their Enemies that he might obtain an
Doctrine sound and their Manners irreprehensible But there fell out an Accident which gave him ill impressions of their Conduct and even did exasperate him against them Amongst the Persons that follow'd Ignatius there were two Women of Quality the Mother and the Daughter and both Widows The Mother was call'd Maria de Vado and the Daughter Lovisa Velasquez They had both been great Worldlings especially the Daughter whose Beauty and Youth had drawn more Courtship From the beginning of their Conversion they resolv'd to undertake something extraordinary for the love of God As Women commonly run to Extreams and the Spanish having more fire then the rest they imagin'd that nothing could be finer nor more edifying then to Clothe themselves like Beggars and to travel about begging their Bread visiting Hospitals and serving the Sick However they would not set forth till they had consulted Ignatius whom they took for their spiritual Director He told them the folly of their Design and that without an evident Inspiration of the Holy Ghost they must not take such extraordinary Courses to advance in Perfection That Sanctity did not consist in running about That Women who were not too secure even within their own Walls had a great deal to fear in a wandring Life That in Alcà la there were Hospitals where they might exercise their Charity That being rich they should employ themselves in helping the Necessitous and not counterfeit them by an affected Beggery In conclusion That they should either renounce the World for good-and-all or else live in it like reasonable Persons regulating their Vertue according to their Condition and not attempting to be Saints in any other way then God would have them These Devotes by Profession do not always believe Counsel nor have deference to the Judgment of their Directors unless it jump with their own sense These its true did lay down the thoughts of rambling every where about but they could not be hinder'd from making a Pilgrimage in their own fashion to our Ladies of Guadeloupe and to the Holy Syndon of Jaen These are two Celebrated Devotions in Spain the one in new Castille the other in Andalousia They set forwards with great Secresie without saying any thing to Ignatius Habited like penetent Pilgrims and went all the way on Foot begging Alms. As soon as the thing was known all the World fell foul upon Ignatius and among others Doctor Cirol who was a particular friend of these Ladies He complained against the suffering an illiterate Lay-man to tamper in the Direction of Consciences He said openly that a Director who advis'd mad things ought himself to be shut up Whereas this Doctor was in great Credit with Cardinal Ximenes who had bestow'd on him the first Chair of Divinity in the new University of Alcala he had no great difficulty to make the Grand Vicar enter into his sentiments Ignatius is Arrested and publickly carried to Prison Don Francisco de Borgia Son to the Duke of Gandia who at that time was but Seventeen years old happen'd then to pass in the Street with a Magnificent Train The Modesty and Mildness of Ignatius in the midst of the shouts and clamor of the People mightily struck the young Lord and made those impressions in him of which he did not comprehend the meaning till afterwards It is probable that Heaven designing Borgia to be one day a Son of Ignatius purposely expos'd him to his view in this suffering condition and that this sight of him was the first seed of his Vocation The news of Ignatius's Imprisonment was no sooner spread about the Town but people of all sorts flock'd to him According to his Custom he spoke to them of Heaven and the things of God and he spoke with greater liberty then ever George Naver who was the first Professor of Holy Scripture in the Vniversity of Alcala and who pass'd for a Man of great Sense was one day so charm'd with the Discourse of Ignatius that he forgot the hour of his Lesson Going afterwards to the School and meeting his Scholars who had waited for him I have seen St. Paul in Prison said he quite transported Some Ladies of Quality who knew the Innocency of the Prisoner sent to him to offer their Mediation for getting him out of Prison The most considerable were Theresa Henriquez Mother of the Duke of Maqueda and Elinor Mascaregnas at that time Lady of Honor to the Empress and afterwards Governant to the Prince of Spain Philip the Second Both the one and the other were of that sort of Vertuous Women whom the World doth not corrupt and who have the secret to be Saints at Court They had never convers'd with Ignatius but once and that only Conference had given them a great opinion of his Sanctity He did not accept of their offers and would not so much as retain an Advocate whether it were that he confided in the goodness of his Cause or that he believ'd he ought to leave himself to Providence not to lose through his own fault so fair an occasion of partaking in the Ignominies of the Cross And besides he desir'd nothing more then to be set right by Eccelesiastical Superiors in case he had err'd in any thing and declar'd that he was dispos'd and resolv'd blindly to obey them Ignatius had been seventeen days in Prison when the Grand Vicar came thither to examine him The stress of the Examination was concerning the two Pilgrim Ladies He confest that he knew them but at the same time declar'd that far from counselling them to so unbecoming an expedition he had endeavor'd what in him lay to suppress in them such rambling thoughts And yet for that only matter are you put into Prison said the Grand Vicar While strict enquiries were made upon this Subject as also upon the Life and Conversation of Ignatius the wandring Ladies came back after a two and forty days ramble who being Juridically interrogated confirm'd what Ignatius had said and their Testimony was believ'd in this matter where they accus'd themselves so that he was fully acquitted on that side and nothing more being found to charge him withall he was absolutely discharg'd and enlarg'd by a publick Sentence the first day of June in the year 1527. This Sentence had two Clauses in it not very favorable That he and his Companions should wear the ordinary Habit of Scholars That not being Divines they should abstain from explicating to the People the Mysteries of Religion till such time as they had studied Four years in Divinity Moreover the Grand Vicar forbad them all manner of teaching or instructing in Religious matters under pain of Excommunication and Banishment For what regarded their Clothing Ignatius answered it was not in their power to obey unless they had the means of doing it upon the other point of instructing the People he did not declare himself because he doubted whether it were a lawful Command The ground of his doubt was that their work in Catechizing did
Jerome Veralli Nuncius of Paul the Third with the Republick humbly to request him that if according to these Reports he were culpable his Process might be made The Nuncius having well examin'd the matter with Gaspar de Doctis his Assessor and finding no sufficient ground for these Calumnies he past a Juridical sentence in favor of Ignatius The esteem which John Peter Caraffa shewed for Ignatius did not a little serve to dissipate these Slanders This is that Caraffa who was exalted to the Soveraign Pontificate under the name of Paul the Fourth and who before that leaving the Archbishoprick of Theate to make himself a Colleague of Caietan Thyene had Founded the Order of Regular Clericks call'd Theatins from the name of the Arch-bishoprick which by a Spirit of Humility and Penance he had quitted He was at that time in Venice and lived the life of an exact Religious man The great correspondence with Ignatius held with Caraffa made the World believe that he was become a Disciple of Caraffa and thence certainly it came that the People in those times called Ignatius and his Companions Theatins In this while the War was kindled more fircely then ever between Francis the First and Charles the Fifth by the Death of Francis Sforza Duke of Millain both these Princes had pretentions on that Dutchy The Emperor perswaded that in these occasions dilligence and strength doth best decide matter of right immediately took up Arms and made an irruption into Provence with the choice of his Troops Upon the First rumor of the War the Companions of Ignatius who were not to have departed from Paris till the 25th of January of the year ensuing according to the first agreement resolv'd to Anticipate the time of their Journey and to go out of the Kingdom before the Passages upon the Frontiers were stopt They set forth the 15th of November of the year 1536 with no other Equipage but a staff in their Hands and a little Valice on their Backs in which they carried their Writings To avoid Provence they went by the way of Lorrain The whole Troop marched with great Recollection and modesty sometimes Praying sometimes Discoursing of Heavenly things other while singing Psalms or Church Hymns Faber Le Gay and Brouet who were Priests every day said Mass the others also Communicated as often to fortifie themselves with the Bread of Life against all the hazards and difficulties of their Journey in so bad a season They past through Germany with their Beads about their Necks as it were to make a publick profession of their Faith in those places where Heresie began to be Triumphant Coming one Night to a Burrough near Constance where they were all Hereticks the Lutheran Minister an Apostate Priest and who before had been Curat of the Place followed them into the Inn where they went to lodge They having a plain and a simple outside he thought he might deal very well with them by way of disputation and gain a signal Victory over nine Papists at once He began with them by laughing at their Beads and then fell to Argumentation about Religion As weary as they were they would not decline the engagement and Laynez was the person who first undertook him He disputed so vigorously and so solidly and the Minister was so non-plus'd that he cryed Gentlemen let us go to Supper and let us Sup altogether and afterwards we shall be better able to Dispute They consented to renew the Dispute but they would not eat with the Heretick They made a sober Meal by themselves according to their custom while the Dutchman in another Room eat and drank at his own rate After Supper they resumed the debate and now a great many People were got together to hear the Disputation But the Minister who had drunk a little too plentifully at Supper not being able to Answer any one Argument of his Adversaries fell a swearing in his own Tongue and in great fury went out of the Inn. The next Morning they followed on their Journey to Constance where the Heresie of Luther had been receiv'd both by the Magistrates and the People Coming near the Town hard by the Hospital for the infected of the Plague they saw an old Woman who seemed ravisht with Joy at the sight of them and their Beads and lifting up her hands to Heaven she made the sign of the Cross The Lutherans of Constance could not prevail upon her neither by fair means nor by foul to change her Religion whereupon they banisht her out of the Town The good old Creature often kiss'd their Beads and knowing no Language but her own she made signs to them to stay a little while for her in the place where they were She presently went into the Hospital where her aboad was and returning again she brought with her a great many pieces of broken Crucifixes intimating to them that those were the greatest Treasure she had To make a kind of Reparation to the Honor of Jesus Christ so ill treated in Effigies by the Lutherans they prostrated themselves upon the Snow which all covered the Ground and devoutly kissing those broken Crucifixes they ador'd the Crucified After which the Woman returning back to the Hospital and followed by our Catholick Troop told those whom she met Look ye you miscreants what you say is not true that all the World believes in Luther and that the Roman Religion is quite extinct Pray whence came these Men with their Beads Are not they of this World The nine Travellers pass'd out of Germany notwithstanding the great rigor of the Winter and after much hardship endured with their earnest desire of seeing Ignatius made less painful to them at last they arrived at Venice the 8th of January in the year 1537. Ignatius embrac'd them all and wept for joy he had with him James Hozez who made the Eleventh of the Company and was not less fervent or less learned then the rest Having some leasure time before their going to Rome to receive the Blessing of His Holiness for their Voyage to Jerusalem they advized to dispose and fit themselves for that enterprise by works of Charity and Humility for which purpose they divided their Company into two Hospitals some went into that of the Incurables and the rest into that of St. John and St. Paul They instructed the Ignorant serv'd the Sick assisted the Agonizing and buried the Dead Thus they were employ'd till Mid-Lent when they all parted for Rome except Ignatius who did not think it convenient to appear in a place where his presence might possibly be of some prejudice to his Companions for John Peter Caraffa the Theatine who was at Rome and whom Paul the Third had newly made a Cardinal seem'd at that time very opposite to the designs of Ignatius whether it were that he had some resentment that he and Hozez would not incorporate themselves with the Regular Clericks Founded by him or that he did a little believe
Dame Isabella Rosella my Mother and my Sister in Jesus Christ TRuly I should be very glad for the greater Glory of God to satisfie your good Desires and to procure your Spiritual Advancement in keeping you still under my Direction as you have been for the time past but the continual Indispositions to which I am subject and all my other Employments in the Service of God and of his Vicar upon Earth will no longer permit me so to do On the other side being perswaded according to the light of my Conscience that our little Society ought not to take upon them the particular Conduct of any Women who are not engag'd in a Religious State by the Vows of Obedience as I have fully declar'd to our Holy Father the Pope it appears to the that for the greater Glory of God I ought not any longer to look upon as my Spiritual Child but only as my very good Mother as you have been for many years to the greater Glory of God So that for the greater Service and the greater Honor of the Eternal Goodness I Resign you as much as in me lies into the Hands of the Sovereign Bishop to the end that taking his Judgment and his good Pleasure for your Rule you may find Repose and Consolation to the greater Glory of his Divine Majesty At Rome the First of October 1549. This Letter which is so full of the Spirit of the Saint and where those Words which he had always in his Mouth are so often repeated dispos'd the Lady to receive with submission what the Pope determin'd upon the Matter For Paul the Third having well consider'd that Missioners design'd over the whole World should not be ty'd by particular Engagements caus'd his Apostolical Letters to be expedited by which he exempted the Jesuits from the Government of Women who either in Community or living singly would put themselves under the Obedience of the Society The General rested not satisfi'd with these Letters The more to Confirm so Essential a Regulation he obtain'd the Year following from the Pope that the Society should not be oblig'd to charge it self with the Direction of Religious Women even tho' they should obtain Bulls to put themselves under whose Conduct they pleas'd unless such Bulls made express mention of the Society It is in virtue of these Exemptions granted by the Pope that Ignatius in his Constitutions forbids his Order to Govern Religious or other Persons with that Authority which Confessors in Ordinary and Ecclesiastical Superiors have But he moderated this Prohibition by giving leave to assist them in their spiritual Advancement and sometimes to hear their Confessions upon special Occasions But nothing more shews how his Judgment stood in reference to this Government and Direction of which we last spoke as did his Proceeding two or three Years after with Hercules d' Este Duke of Ferara a declar'd Protector and faithful Friend of the Society This Prince having built the Colledge of Ferara desir'd that the Jesuits should Govern a Monastery of Women of which the Princess his Mother had been the Foundress But Father Ignatius could not consent to it and notwithstanding all the Intreaties of the Duke he continu'd firm in his Resolution According to the same Principle he sent his Commands to the Fathers of Valladolid to give over the Conduct of a Monastery which they had taken upon them at the solicitation of several considerable Persons of the Town This Proceeding of the General of the Jesuits did not hinder Hercules d' Este who had taken up the Resolution of a Christian Life from having a Jesuit near his Person Guidoni the holy Archdeacon of Modena to whom he had imparted his thoughts very much approv'd the Design and counsell'd him to take Father Le Jay The refusal of the Bishoprick of Trieste had render'd him famous and he was besides known to the Prince who had seen him some Years before at Ferara and had then Confidence in him On the other side being a Frenchman he was less odious to the Dutchess of Ferara who was Daughter to Lewis the Twelfth and was unhappily Engag'd in the new Heresie as we have already said The Duke made his Demand to the General and to the Pope for Father Le Jay He was granted to him without difficulty because the Troubles of Italy rais'd by the Murder of Peter Lewis Farnesius caus'd a Cessation of the Council which a contagious Sickness had made to be transferr'd from Trent to Bologna Le Jay before he parted for Ferara consulted Father Ignatius about the manner of his Deportment with the Duke The Father told him That being appointed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ to the Service of one of the most eminent Benefactors of the Society he ought to Dedicate himself wholly to it and not to employ himself in any Charitable Actions abroad without the participation and good-liking of the Prince who was to be in a manner to him both Superior and General The Duke of Ferara in the first place made the Spiritual Exercises under the Conduct of Father Le Jay as the Duke of Gandia had done before under that of Father Faber It was the ordinary Method every where us'd by the Jesuits for the reformation of Manners And the Practice of these Retirements grew very common among Persons of the best Quality after that many of the Fathers of the Tridentine Council had themselves made the Exercises of the Society under Laynez Le Jay and Salmeron True it is that Don John Martinez Siliceo Archbishop of Toledo would have abolish'd the Practice of them in Spain upon pretence that the Book of Exercises contain'd dangerous Doctrine But besides that the Doctors by him appointed to Examine it found nothing in it but what was Catholick and Edifying the Holy See approv'd it the Year following by an express Bull at the Request of Don Francis de Borgia Duke of Gandia The Bull deserves to be recited and the Reader will not perhaps be troubled to see it Paulus Papa Tertius ad perpetuam rei Memoriam VVHereas the Duty of an Universal Pastor of the Flock of Jesus Christ and the Zeal of the Glory of God obligeth us to embrace all that concerns the good of Souls and their Spiritual Advancement we cannot chuse but give ear to their Intreaties who ask any thing of us which tends to maintain the Piety and Fervor of the Faithful Our dearest Son Francis de Borgia Duke of Gandia has lately represented to us that Ignatius of Loyola General of the Society of Jesus by us Establish'd in our City of Rome and Confirm'd by our Apostolical Authority has Written certain Instructions or Spiritual Exercises Extracted out of the holy Scriptures and from the Experiences of a Spiritual Life in such a Method and Form as is very proper to touch the Heart He hath moreover declar'd that he knows not only by common Fame that these Exercises are very useful for the Profit and Comfort of
Society made who Studied at Paris because he look'd upon that University as the principal Seminary of his Order But if he understood that any of the Professors of Spain Italy and Sicily did follow singular Opinions in opposition to those commonly receiv'd in Schools he presently remov'd them how great Wits soever they were and he said that if he liv'd a thousand years he would never give over crying down all Novelties in Divinity in Philosophy and even in Grammar After the same fashion he treated those whom their Learning had made self-conceited or less devout And he was wont to say that Science is lost upon him who makes ill use of it By devotion he did not mean Spiritual Gusts and Interior Consolations but a steady and faithful performance of Devout Exercises and of Religious Vertues For he well knew that the time of Studies was not the proper season of those Celestial Favors which require a Spirit of Recollection and we read in one of his Letters that we are not to be startled at it if speculative Sciences and human Learning should diminish in us that kind of sensible Devotion That provided in Studying we only seek God our Studies are good Devotions and that if we allot to Prayer the whole time which the Rule prescribes we ought not to concern our selves whether we find in it sweetness or driness So that there was nothing which he recommended more both to the Professors and to the Scholars of his Order then to Dedicate all their Labours to the greater Glory of God and to perswade themselves that Study with so noble an intention was more agreeable to Heaven then continual Prayer The Zeal of William Duke of Bavaria furnisht Father Ignatius with a fair occasion of shewing the Abilities of three Learned Persons This most Catholick Prince who was the support of the Ancient Religion in Germany demanded of the General some able Divines that might raise up the Honor of Theology in the University of Ingolstadt where the Hereticks had render'd Divine Sciences very contemptible The Father chose Salmeron and Canisius to whom he joyn'd le Jay whom the Duke by name requir'd and who was spar'd for a time by the Duke of Ferara at the instance of Cardinal Farnesius But to the end that these three Divines might have a Character to Authorize their Doctrine he would have them as they past through Bologna to receive the Degree of Doctor after the usual Examens And this was solemnly done by the order of Cardinal John Maria de Monte who was then Nuncius Apostolicus and was afterwards chosen Pope by the Name of Julius the Third With this Title of Doctors of which the Germans are very fond and which by the Protestants was so much magnifi'd in the Person of Luther Le Jay Canisius and Salmeron were well receiv'd at Ingolstadt Salmeron undertook to explicate the Epistles of St. Paul le Jay the Psalms of David and Canisius the Master of the Sentences Each of them perform'd their Readings with so much Credit and Fruit that Duke William resolv'd to Build for them a magnificent Colledge His death disappointed the design but he recommended to his Son Albert the care of these Children of Ignatius Tho' the Saint extreamly desir'd that the Society which was born in France should also grow and have Credit there as it had in Germany and in many other places yet in that Kingdom it still remain'd obscure without making any progress The Jesuits of Paris were shut up in the Colledge of the Lombards where they lodg'd applying themselves only to Study and to good works True it is that William de Prat Bishop of Clermont who had known the new Society at the Council of Trent very much favor'd them But the Bishop of Paris who had receiv'd doubtful impressions of them was not their Friend and a certain Doctor who had the Bishops friendship declar'd War openly against them every where saying that this newly born Society had something of the Monster in it and that it could not be long liv'd that he who had set it on foot was a little Spanish Visionary that it was better to relieve Beggers and Vagabonds then these Jesuits and that it would not be ill done to have them driven out of the Kingdom While this Doctor was so violent at Paris against Ignatius and his Order the Father Master John Avila that famous and fervent Preacher and that enlightned Director publisht in Spain that the Society of Jesus was the work of God and that if his Age would have permitted it he should have embrac'd the Institute of Ignatius He added that he knew no man more interior and fill'd with more supernatural wisdom That he had conceiv'd formerly within himself the same design which this new Founder had executed but that he was in respect of Ignatius but as a Child compar'd to a Giant or to a Man of great Strength who carries a burden without feeling it which the Child cannot lift up This Doctor very much approv'd what Father Ignatius had writ to him concerning the invectives of Melchior Cano That according to the Authorities of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church we ought not to suffer the Reputation of Evangelical Ministers to be run down And that when ill meaning prepossest Persons would bring suspicion and infamy upon them it was necessary to implore the Assistance of the Holy See to stop the career of Calumny or at least to shew the injustice of it On the other side Lewis de Granada so famous for his Piety and for his Writings one of the Chiefest Ornaments of the holy Order of St. Dominick highly exalted the Society in Portugal and Preaching one day in the Town of Ebora before Cardinal Henry he said that the new Society was an Assembly of Apostolical men chosen by God to renew in these latter times the sanctity of the first Ages He said upon another occasion that he had receiv'd so much light from the Spiritual Exercises of Father Ignatius that his whole life would not suffice to write down what God had communicated to him in the Practice of those Exercises The affection which the Carthusians testifi'd in all places to the Society did it no small Honor. This holy Order which has always preserv'd its primitive Spirit and which respresents on Earth the life which the Angels lead in Heaven not content to Favor the Jesuits upon all occasions would farther contract with them a strait Alliance in making them participate of their Prayers their Sacrifices and Abstinences requiring the like from them to be made partakers of their Works of Charity To this effect the whole Order writ to Father Ignatius in the time of their General Chapter and the Letter which was sign'd by Don Peter de Sardis Prior of the Grande Chartreuse mentions that he and his Religious being edifi'd with the innocent Life the holy Doctrine and the Apostolical labours of the Society of Jesus had