Councils have Condemn'd of Error the Opinion of those who maintain'd that the particular Churches of Alexandria or of Constantinople were true Churches without being United to the Bishop of Rome the common Head of the Catholick Church out of which have descended in a continual Succession all the Popes from St. Peter to this day who by the relation of St. Marcellus the Martyr fix'd his Chair at Rome by order from Jesus Christ and cemented it with his own Blood These Popes have been held without Controversie to be the Vicars of Jesus Christ by innumerable holy Doctors Greek and Latin and of all Nations they have been acknowledg'd by Anchortes Bishops and other Confessors Illustrious for Sanctity Lastly they have been Authenticated by an infinity of Miracles and by innumerable Martyrs who have dy'd in the Union and for the Faith of the holy Roman Church It was therefore with good reason that in the Council of Calcedon all the Bishops cry'd with one Voice in Saluting the holy Pope St. Leo Most Holy Apostolick Universal and that in the Council of Constance those were Anathematiz'd who deny'd the Primacy and Authority of the Bishop of Rome over all the Churches of the World These Decrees so Express and so Authentick are farther confirm'd by the Council of Florence which was held under Eugenius the Fourth and in which were present the Greeks the Armenians the Jacobites and other Nations We Define say the Fathers of this Council that the holy See Apostolick and the Bishop of Rome hath the Primacy over all the Churches in the World that he is Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Head of the whole Church the Father and Doctor of all the Faithful that our Lord Jesus Christ hath given him in the person of St. Peter a full power to instruct to direct and to govern the Universal Church Wherefore the most Serene King David Father to your Highness with great right did formerly acknowledge by a sollemn Embassy the Church of Rome for the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And amongst the many illustrious Actions by which both he and you have recommended your Names to Posterity two there are which will outshine all the rest and for which your People ought to render immortal thanks to God Your Father is the first King of the Abyssins who put himself under the Obedience of him who holds the place of Jesus Christ upon Earth and you are the first who hath brought into your Dominions a true Patriarch a Legitimate Son of the holy See and deputed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ For if it ought to be reckon'd the highest Blessing as in effect it is to be United to the Mystical Body of the Catholick Church which is enliven'd and directed by the Holy Ghost teaching her all Truths according to the Testimony of the Evangelist If it be a great happiness to be enlightned with sound Doctrine to be settl'd and to rest upon the Foundations of the Church which the Apostle St. Paul writing to Timothy calls the House of God the Pillar and Basis of Truth to which our Lord Jesus Christ hath promis'd an Everlasting Assistance when he said to his Apostles Behold I am always with you to the end of the World as we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew These Nations have certainly great reason to thank their Saviour and Creator whose merciful Providence has made use of your Father and of your self to bestow such benefits upon them and their acknowledgment should the more shew it self in regard also of the Temporal Advantages which are likely to follow these Spiritual Blessings For we may justly hope that by the means of this Reunion with the Church your Enemies will soon be vanquish'd and your Empire enlarg'd The Priests which are sent you are indeed all but principally the Patriarch and the two Bishops of try'd Vertue and selected out of our Society for so important a Function in regard of their eminent Learning and of their perfect Charity They want neither Courage nor Zeal well to acquit themselves of their Ministry hoping that they shall Labour usefully for the Glory of God for the Conversion of Souls and for the Service of your Highness Their only desire is to imitate in some sort the Son of God who willingly suffer'd death to redeem Mankind from Eternal Damnation and who saith by the Mouth of the Evangelist I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd gives his Life for his Sheep The Patriarch and the rest animated by the Example of our Saviour come dispos'd to relieve and gain Souls by their Counsels by their Labours and even by their Death if need shall require The more freely your Highness shall be pleas'd to open your mind and to communicate your thoughts to them the greater I hope your inward Consolation will be And for what regards the Credit to be given to what they shall say either in private or in publick your Highness is not Ignorant that the words of these Missioners sent by the Holy See and chiefly those of the Patriarch have Apostolical Authority and in some sort are no less to be credited then the voice of the Church whose Interpreters they are And in regard that all the Faithful ought to adhere to the Sentiments of the Church obey her Decrees and consult her in doubtful Cases I am perswaded that your Piety will lead you to make an Edict which may oblige all your Subjects to follow without resistance the Orders and Constitutions both of the Patriarch and of those whom he shall substitute in his place The Deuteronomy teaches us that it was the Custom among the Jews in the Controversies and Difficulties which occur'd to have recourse to the Synagogue which was the Figure and Forerunner of the Christian Church For this reason it was that Jesus Christ said in the Gospel the Scribes and Pharisees are seated on the Chair of Moses the wise Man teaches the same thing in the Proverbs Do not neglect the Precepts of your Mother This Mother is the Church And in another place pass not the bounds which your Fathers have set these Fathers are the Prelates of the Church In conclusion Jesus Christ requires of us to have so great deference to his Church that he plainly tells us by the Evangelist St. Luke He who hears you hears me and he who contemns you contemns me And by St. Matthew If he hears not the Church let him be to you as a Heathen and a Publican Hence it follows that we must not hearken to those who hold forth any thing that is not conformable to the Sense and the Interpretation of the Catholick Church of which we are admonish'd by those words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians But altho ' we or any Angel from Heaven should Evangelize to you otherwise then we have Evangeliz'd to you be he Anathema In fine the Testimony of the Holy Doctors the Canons of Councils the Consent and
the Divine Mysteries with a lively and ardent Faith which even shin'd in his Countenance he fell into a sound and expir'd at the foot of the Altar This Senator who lived in the Square of St. Mark whither Ignatius was retir'd heard in his sleep a voice which seem'd to say that whilst he slept at ease in his Bed the Servant of God lay upon the Stones in the Porch He waked and immediately went himself to find out the person signifi'd by the Voice He sound him and with great humanity brought him into his House and there paid him all the Charitable respects due to a Pilgrim sent by God Ignatius who thought himself very unworthy to be so treated left the Palace of the Senator upon pretence of Lodging with a Biscay Merchant of his Acquaintance Both the Senator and the Merchant offered him all manner of supplies for his Voyage of the Holy Land But the only Courtesie he asked of them was to be introduc'd by their means to the Doge Andrea Gristi one of the Sagest Politicians and greatest Men of his time The Ship being gone some days before which carried the Jerusalem Pilgrims Ignatius had no means left of proceeding in his Journey but by getting a Passage in the Admiral which was ready to set Sail for the Island of Cyprus whither the Common-wealth was sending a new Governor This was his business with the Doge which he effected at the Audience procur'd him Notwithstanding all the Instances of the Spanish Merchant he would not be brought to see the Embassador of Charles the Fifth He had renounced all Interests in the Courts of Princes and his Ambition and Desires were now Converted to Holy Places It made no Impression upon him when they told him that since the taking of Rhodes of which Solyman made himself Master the year before the Turkish Rovers infested the Coasts of Syria and that the danger of being made Salves had oblig'd the greatest part of the Pilgrims to return back to Venice All this did not Discourage him and the reliance which he had on God made him tell those who endeavour'd to fright him from the Journey that if he could not get a Ship he would pass the Sea upon a Plank with the succour of Heaven He had a burning Feaver a little before his departure and tho he had been purg'd that very day when they put to Sea he would not be hindred from going against the advice of his Physicians who thought it would cost his Life if he then went But far from dying by doing so he found himself very much amended and the Sea-sickness perfectly cur'd him There was on board the Vessel a profligate crew which almost in open view committed the most enormous Sins There was nothing of Prayer nothing of Religion among the Mariners But all that came from them was Impious or Obscene These Disorders highly afflicted and irritated Ignatius He indeavoured to remedy them by Christian instructions and Charitable advertisments But finding that the ways of Mildness were unprofitable he fell to severe reprehensions and menac'd the guilty with the vengeance of Divine Justice This liberty of the Spanish Pilgrim did not please the Italians To be rid of so incommodious a Reprover they Conspir'd together to touch upon a Desert Island and there to leave him The notice which was given him of it by a Passenger who had something more of humanity then the rest did not at all abate his Zeal But the design of the Italians took no effect For coming near the Coast where they meant to Land him a sudden gust of Wind came from the Land with so much violence that it carri'd them off in spite of their teeth and brought them in a few hours to the Island of Cyprus They found in the Port the Ship which carri'd the Pilgrims quite ready to hoist Sail as if they had only staid for Ignatius He immediately went on Board and after Forty days Sail since his departure from Venice he arriv'd at the Port of Jaffa on the last day of August in the year 1523. He took the way of Jerusalem by Land and came thither the Fourth of September with the rest of the Pilgrims Seeing the Town at a distance he wept for Joy and was seiz'd with a certain Religious horror which has nothing in it but sweet and comfortable He visited the Holy places several times and always with a profound Reverence and most sensible Piety for he did lively represent to himself what had past in each place for the Redemption of Man even to the imagining that he saw Jesus Christ Born in the Grotte of Bethlem Teaching in the Temple of Jerusalem Praying in the Garden of Olives and dying upon Mount Calvary Upon this Mountain it was that his Heart was toucht with the most tender Devotion He kiss'd ten thousand times over the Earth which had been dy'd with the Blood of our Crucify'd Saviour and bath'd it with his tears making most fervent Acts of Love The Sentiments he then had we receive from his own Relation and he set them down in a short Memoire which he writ concerning the Particulars of his Journey But in regard that according to the best manner of meditating upon the Mysteries of our Religion we should frame a lively Image of the place where the Mystery was perform'd by so applying our Interior senses as if we heard and saw what was said and done He therefore fill'd his Imagination as much as he could with the Scheme and Scituation of those Holy Places He came with a design into Palestine to labour in the Conversion of those Eastern People and it seem'd to him that God almighty had call'd him to it In truth it was made known to him in his Contemplations of Manreza that Providence had Ordain'd him for the service of his Neighbour and there was shew'd to him a rough draught of his Institute in the Meditation of the two Standards But he did not precisely know in what Countrey or in what manner that was to be executed so that being guided by the light of his natural Reason where that of the Holy Ghost did not evidently appear he imagin'd that his Vocation did lead to Palestine because upon his first Conversion he had an inward motion which prompted him to the voyage of Jerusalem which motion always continu'd in him To proceed orderly he went to the Guardian of the Franciscans who reside in Jerusalem and look to the Holy Sepulchre having delivered to him his Letters of Recommendation which he brought out of Italy he declar'd to him his thoughts of remaining in the Holy Land but he did not open himself to him concerning his intended Employment there He only said that he did not intend to put them to any Charge and that all the Charity he asked of them was to direct his Conscience The Guardian treated him Civilly but for his Answer he remitted him to the Father Provincial who was then at Bethlem
it but what was Orthodox one passage only excepted which could not be excus'd from Heresie This passage was further examin'd and upon comparing the Printed Books with this Manuscript there was a plain discovery made of Cano's foul dealing Thus Truth carry'd the cause against Forgery and the Inquisitors of Judges to Condemn became Compurgators of the Spiritual Exercises While an Ecclesiastick and a Religious Man vainly endeavor to stain the Reputation of Father Ignatius and to overthrow his Order the King of Portugal Solicited the Pope to chuse for Aethiopia a Patriarch and Bishop out of the Society of Jesus The choice which was made and the occasion of making it cannot well be understood unless we look a little back into the Affairs of that Country The People of Aethiopia which are at this day call'd Abyssins are the most Ancient Christians in the World they receiv'd the Faith in the very beginning from the Apostle St. Matthew and from the Euenuch of Queen Candace who was Baptiz'd by Philip the Deacon as it is related in the Acts of the Apostles But in process of time they left the law of Jesus Christ for that of Moses or rather they confounded these two Laws together using both Circumcision and Baptism so that intending to be at once Christians and Jews they were truly neither the one nor the other They acknowledg'd the Patriarch of Alexandria for their Head in matters of Religion from whose hands they receiv'd their Abuna or High Priest They embrac'd with the Cophtes of Aegypt the Heresies of Dioscorus and of Eutyches On the other side being mixt with Mahometans and Idolaters they every day contracted something of Mahometanism and Paganism In this manner their Religion was a mixture of all Sects But they had no Communication with Rome both in regard of their great distance and that the Greeks infus'd Hatred into them against the Latin Church When the Portuguez in their Navigation to the East-Indies discover'd that part of Aethiopia which is under the Obedience of Prester John or to speak properly the Kingdom of the Abyssins whose King we call Prester John by a popular Error which has prevail'd in Europe of attributing to this African Potentate a Title Anciently us'd by the Monarchs of the Asian Tartars he that then Reign'd among the Abyssins was a young Prince call'd David naturally Wise and Vertuous He was instructed by the Portuguez in the Mysteries of Faith and he so open'd his Eyes to Truth that relinquishing the Patriarch of Alexandria he writ to the Sovereign Bishop of Rome Clement the Seventh and by a solemn Embassy yeilded him Obedience in the Assembly at Bologna and in the Presence of Charles the Fifth who was newly there Crown'd Emperor David being dead his Son and Successor nam'd Claude who had been bread up in the Roman Religion and was a Man of good sence judg'd that the true Faith could not well be Propagated and Establish'd in his Kingdom unless the Pope sent thither a Patriarch and Bishops Whereas he had contracted an Amity with John the Third King of Portugal who had assisted him with Money and Forces against the King of Zeilan Gradamete he requested him likewise to procure these Spiritual Succors for him from Rome John the Third undertook the business with a great deal of Zeal But the troubles of the Church in those times retarded the effecting it nor was it dispatch'd till under the Pontificate of Julius the Third when it was brought to pass in this manner The King of Portugal writ to Father Ignatius to send him the Names of some of his Order whom he might propose to the Pope for Patriarch and Bishops of Aethiopia These Titles of Dignity for any of his Subjects did at first very much startle the Father But upon reflection that a Patriarcate and Bishopricks of this nature were rather Crosses then Dignities and that it was a single Case not likely to be drawn into Example he took courage and consented to all that the Prince requir'd of him He nam'd to him three Fathers of profound Capacity and of eminent Vertue John Nugnez Andrew Oviedo and Melchior Carnero without determining which of them he would have chosen for Patriarch tho ' his desire was that Nugnez should be the person which he only shew'd by recommending him with a little more advantage then the rest He only declar'd himself upon this point that those who were the Bishops might succeed the Patriarch when the case should require it Nugnez who had been imploy'd many years in Africa about the Redemption of Slaves and the Conversion of Renegades was then come to Lisbon to procure Money to redeem those Christians whom the King of Algiers had taken from the King of Fess when he drove him out of his Kingdom Upon the first rumor of his new employment he writ with all earnestness to Rome to break the design He represented to Father Ignatius that he did not refuse the Mission of Aethiopia but that he could not yeild to go thither with a Miter and that he had a great deal rather spend the rest of his days in a Chain among the Slaves of Barbary He conjur'd him by the precious wounds of our Crucifi'd Saviour to have consideration of his weakness and not to charge him with a Load which might possibly be the cause of his Damnation He added that if his good Father would not relent he should at least send him his Will in writing to the end that an Order under his hand might be a comfort and support to him in his difficulties Carnero who was then at Rome and Oviedo who was call'd thither from Naples made no less Resistance They would themselves plead their cause before the Pope As painful as their design'd Dignities seem'd to be they still thought them more illustrious then painful and the Luster gave them a Horror of them Tho' Father Ignatius had other thoughts yet he prais'd their modesty and was well pleas'd that all three upon this occasion had need of an absolute Command from the Vicar of Jesus Christ But he made them understand that all the Honor and all the Revenue of these Prelatures consisted in great Labors in continual Dangers by Land and by Sea in Poverty and possibly in Martyrdom Julius the Third was so well satisfi'd with the Conduct of the Father and of his Sons in this matter that he said publickly before all the Cardinals that now it might be seen what the Jesuits pretended to in this World since they refus'd Miters that were more splendid then burdensome and accepted those that had nothing belonging to them but Labors and Sufferings Tho' Father Ignatius did not fear that any one of the three Fathers was capable of abusing the Patriarchal Authority yet he judg'd that the more securely to oblige him who should be Patriarch to do his Duty it was convenient that an Apostolical Commissioner should reside at Goa to make his Visitation from time
be every day Lessons in the Italian Tongue But nothing shews more how incongruous to the Functions of his Order he esteem'd a Barbarity of Language then that Passage of the Constitutions where he saith That they should be Train'd to Preach and to make Christian Exhortations in such a Way and Stile as may edifie the People which Way is very different from the Stile and Terms of the School And that profitably to perform these Functions they should endeavor to be perfect in the vulgar Tongue Hence it follows that the Jesuit who neglects to speak correctly neglects his Rule and that those who pretend that it agrees not with the Character of their Profession to study the purity of their native Language do not well consider what they say They should remember that since Hereticks in all Ages have endeavor'd to excel in politeness of Language thereby to gain the People and to insinuate their Poyson the Society of Jesus who are call'd and design'd by Heaven to oppose them ought to employ their own Weapons against them in behalf of Truth and not to permit that the Enemies of the Church should have the advantage of Speaking and Writing more elegantly then the Defenders of it Father Ignatius had all these Cares upon him and Govern'd his whole Order with such bad Health that he was often forc'd to keep his Bed And whereas his Strength every day decay'd and with the increase of the Society his Business still increas'd upon him he thought it necessary to associate some Person to ease him of part of the Burden or rather to Execute his Charge under him but he did not judge it expedient to make the Choice himself He assembled all the Fathers who were in Rome except one or two who had not yet ended their Noviceship and declaring to them his weak Condition he enjoyn'd them to nominate and assign him some Person capable to ease him of the weight of the Government After three days of continual Prayers they all with one Voice nam'd Father Jerome Nadal who was lately come out of Spain whither the General had sent him and who had all the Qualities requisite for so important a Charge Some of the Assembly were of Opinion that he should have the Title of Vicar or Commissary-General but it was his own Sentiment to have no Title at all lest it should seem to lessen the Authority of the General and his Advice was follow'd The General approv'd the Choice which was made and left the whole Care of Business to Nadal he reserv'd only to himself that of the Sick out of a charitable tenderness which made him judge that a Superior was oblig'd in Person to provide for the Necessities of those who acknowledg'd him for their Father So that he made this his whole Business nor is it to be imagin'd how sensible he was of the least Indisposition of his Children He said it was by a particular Order of Providence that he himself had so little Health and that the several Diseases to which he was subject gave him a truer feeling of others Sufferings and a due Compassion for all sick Persons Notwithstanding his extraordinary Care in providing for them he never thought he did enough and he has been heard to say That the Charge of the Sick made him tremble when he consider'd what the Obligations are of a good Superior This tenderness extended it self to all that were in Affliction or in any sort of Misery A certain French Father having been taken on the Coasts of Sicily by the Pirates of Algiers upon his return out of Spain we can hardly express the Concern and Solicitude of Father Ignatius in his behalf He employ'd all his Credit with the Viceroy of Sicily he writ in his own Hand to the Fathers of Messina and of Palermo and charg'd them to spare and to omit nothing for the deliverance of the Captive he charg'd them every Week to give him an Account what Course they took and what Progress they had made in it Tho' his Infirmities which together with his Age increas'd daily upon him suffer'd him not to manage the Business of his Order yet he would have an Account given him of all remarkable Actions perform'd in the Service of God either in Italy or elsewhere One day he was inform'd that some young Men of Macerata having prepar'd a Comedy not very modest for the Diversion of the Carnivall the Fathers who were sent in Mission from the Colledge of Loretto had expos'd the Blessed Sacrament in a Chappel magnificently Adorn'd where Prayers of forty Hours were made during the three last Days of Shrovetide and that the People drawn by the newness of the Ceremony had left the Theatre to Adore Jesus Christ upon the Altar This Devotion so pleas'd Father Ignatius that he order'd the practice of it to be every year observ'd in the Houses of the Society And to him we owe the Establishment of that solemn and seasonable Devotion now universally practis'd to withdraw the Faithful from the Follies and Debaucheries of the Carnivall Days Finding himself grown weaker then ordinary and it being much in his thoughts that Obedience was the Soul and Character of his Order he caus'd the Secretary of his Companion to come to him and after having told him that he could not long hold out Write said he I desire that the Society should know my last thoughts concerning the Vertue of Obedience And he Dictated to him what follows I. WHen I enter into Religion my first Business must be to give my self up entirely to the Conduct of my Superior II. It were to be wish'd that I might light into the Hands of a Superior resolute and industrious in subduing my Judgment III. In all things where no Sin lies I must follow the Judgment of my Superior and not my own IV. There are three manners of Obeying The First When we do that which is Commanded us in vertue of Obedience and this manner is good The Second which is better When we obey such Orders as oblige not under mortal Sin The Third and most perfect of all When not waiting for the Superiors Order yet knowing his Will we prevent it by an antecedent Conformity V. I must indifferently obey Superiors of every Degree without making any distinction between the highest and the lowest but I must equally in all of them consider God whose Place they hold and remember that the Authority is deriv'd to the last by gradation from the first VI. If the Superior judgeth that the thing which he Commandeth me is good and I am of a different Opinion without Evidence to the contrary I ought to obey but if I find difficulty upon a scruple of Conscience I am to consult two or three intelligent Persons about it and to rest upon their Judgments but if they concur with my Superior and I should adhere to my own Opinion I am very remote from the Perfection and Excellency required in a