Saint Ignatius of Loyola

by
John Pollen

Original Copyright 1922

All rights reserved. This book and all parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission of the publisher.

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Table of Contents

Front Matter
Family and Youth
Pampeluna and Conversion
The Spiritual Novitiate
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Studies and Companions
The Spiritual Excercises
Foundation of the Society
The Generalate
Ignatius and the British
The Council of Trent
India, Africa, and America
The Work of Education
The Constitutions
Age and Death
Epilogue

Family and Youth

St. Paul warns us against "vain genealogies." No little snobbery and worldliness may blossom on genealogical trees. The gospel, indeed, is careful to outline one in Christ's case, but for reasons peculiar to His birth—to show a prophecy fulfilled. Suffice it for us to refer those who wish for fuller accounts of Ignatius's descent, to Perez, Astrain and others, and to say that he was the youngest son of Don Beltran Yanez de Onaz y Loyola, and Marina Saenz de Licona y Balda, and that he was born in I491 in the still standing castle of Loyola, above Aspeitia in the Biscayan town of Guipuscoa. The family belonged to the local nobility, of the rank called "parientes maiores." Their heraldic arms were—or, seven bends gules, for Onaz; argent, pot and chain sable between two grey wolves rampant, for Loyola. By convention Onaz here appears before Loyola, though the right to carry their arms was only acquired by marriage. De Loyola is the true family name, but by a strange copyist's error (unfortunately accepted by the learned Bollandist Pien in the eighteenth century, and from him also by the British Museum Catalogue) it sometimes appears as Lopez de Recalde. The origin of this mistake is explained in a note at the end of this chapter.

Our Saint was named Inigo in baptism, after Saint Enecus (Innicas), a Benedictine abbot of not far distant Ona. His earlier letters are signed "Inigo," without any surname; but in later years, when residing in Rome, he fell in with the fashion of the day, and latinized his name, taking the form Ignatius, at first occasionally for Latin and Italian correspondence, and soon exclusively for all purposes.

At an early age he was ordained a cleric, but was afterwards released from his obligations, though when or why is no longer known. He was brought up in the household of Velasquez de Cuellar, contado mayor to Ferdinand and Isabella. In the suite of this noble and wealthy lord, he presumably visited the Spanish court from time to time, though it is not accurate to say that he was ever in the royal service.

This time of service in the retinue of a great noble, which lasted till about 1517, when he was twenty-five years of age, covers the period of his education. True, the amount of learning considered necessary in that age for the profession of arms, to which Inigo aspired, was very small indeed; still it claims our notice, because of what will follow. At the close of the fifteenth century, before schools were common, boys at home and pages at court were placed under some gentleman tutor, who would see to it that they learned to read and write, and knew such hymns and Latin prayers as would enable them to attend becomingly the longish services then in fashion. So much at least of letters the boy Inigo acquired in youth, and learned it well. He loved to read the Romanceros  of his day, which, in a way, correspond with the novels of ours. Especially was he fond of Amadis de Gaula, The Chronicle of the Cid, and the books of Caballeria. From these he learned To love the code of chivalry with enthusiasm, "to dread a stain more than a wound." To win glory as a knight became to him the only object worth living for.

In 1517 his feudal patron Velasquez died, and he became a soldier under the Duke of Najera. The French, who then held Navarre, were warring on the northern marches of Castile, and in this campaign Inigo saw some service, though with few chances of distinguishing himself in arms. But he did well as a leader of men, and once restored discipline in a mutinous battalion under difficult circumstances. The episode of the defense of Pampeluna is rally the chief event of Inigo's short military career, and we must consider it under its still more important aspect, as the occasion of his conversion.

That word indicates that Ignatius, living in castle and camp, had lapsed from the Christlikeness of childhood. In fact, though details are wanting, the evidence now seems sufficient for us to say that this virtue had, during this period suffered some eclipse. In later life he would accuse himself in general terms of having been a very great sinner, but in the absence of particulars, and knowing how humbly God's Saints are wont to speak of their failings, we can draw on certain conclusion from these confessions. In the past, hostile writers have imagined that he was sunk in vice; panegyrists took his humble words as texts to prove his great victories over pride. But modern Spanish inquirers have come upon evidence with brings us some steps nearer the truth, though we are still too far off to see the issues plainly.

First of all, three writs have been found belonging to a hitherto unknown process held in 1515 against Ignatius and his brother Pedro y Lopez, charging them, in general terms, with "enormous delicts." But again, our documents, being but preliminaries on the trial, do not go into details, and no other reference has been found to the proceedings. Still, as Father Astrain, the latest Spanish biographer, says, such strong charges would not in those days have been brought against members of the local nobility and in their own neighbourhood, without cogent reason. While it is true that legal charges are usually couched in vigorous and sounding terms, the probability is now clear that Inigo was involved in some open offense which could not be passed over. From the fact that his brother appears in the charge, one may suspect some family feud leading to a breach of the law.

Under these circumstances it would be clearly illogical to treat his humble confessions of past sin as the mere flowers of humility, the imitations of other self-accusers. While there is no sound basis for believing him to have been sunk in vice or shameless excesses, it would seem that in the heat of youth and amid the fires of temptation, he was sometimes carried into sins of lust, pride and passion.

The earliest biographers make statements which obtain a new significance when compared with these early documents. Polanco, a contemporary, puts it thus: "The life he then led was far from being spiritual. Like other young men living at court or intent on a soldier's career, he was distinctly free in making love to women, and was devoted to sports and sword-play over points of honour." Such failings are common enough in gilded youth in every age, but especially at the beginning of the sixteenth century. That was not a generation hardened in vice; yet it cannot, alas! be called pure. And the chief centers of decadence were the circles amid which Inigo lived.

Often something may be gathered concerning a young man's character, if one knows the young lady of his choice. But while Ignatius was not unwilling to say some strong things about his past peccadilloes, he would never say anything directly about his lady. Her name remains a secret; but he owned that he would often dream of her by the hour, and make elaborate plans for her service and entertainment. "By what means he would journey to the land where she lived, what mottoes, what words he would speak, what deeds of arms he would accomplish in her service!" And he was so obsessed with this idea that he did not heed the quasi-impossibility of executing it. For this lady was not one of the lesser nobility: "no countess she, nor duchess, but of an estate higher than any of these." Visionary and impracticable this lover may be, but his dreams reflect no discredit on his youthful heart.

Such was Ignatius the sinner. No imitator of 'Christ in this, however like to numberless other human souls. Christ alone was not only free from all stain, but set apart to take away the sins of the whole world. In doing this it is His wont to work with human agents; to use sinful men, in order to accomplish salvation from sin. He threw down Saul, in order to raise up Paul. Nothing predisposes us sinners more to accept an apostle than to know that he is full of personal sympathy for sinners, that he knows our case intimately, and by experience. We cannot question that Ignatius knew the world, its pleasures, its fascinations, its glamour—everyone sees that he knew, even by bitter experience, the dark mysteries of sin.

Let us see how Providence will deal with this strong and daring man, whom the world had already claimed as its own.

* * * * *

Note on the Erroneous Name "Lopez de Recalde."

The name Inigo Lopez de Recalde arose as a misreading of an old manuscript made in the year 1613. The manner of it was set forth critically in 1898 by Father Fidel Fita, S.J., in the Boletin de la Academia de la Historia, Madrid, vol. xxxiii. See also Astrain, 3, and Monumenta Historica  S.J.: Scripta de S. Ignatio, i, 623, where the ms. is reproduced in facsimile.

The ms. is the original record of the proceedings held against Ignatius and his companions at Alcala in 1527 (see below, chap. v). It has a long conclusion or endorsement in which the names of the four companions are enumerated. They were Juan Lopez de Arteaga, Jean de Reinauld (a Frenchman), Calixto de Sa, Lope de Carceres. The Spanish notary, however, cites the names much more briefly, and he has to prefix to each his ampersand and the preposition "a". No capitals or stops are used, and he writes in his often abbreviated, very difficult script: a juan lopez & a recalde & a calisto & a cacres. How difficult the deciphering of the passage is, may be seen in the Scripta de S. Ignatius, where seven skilled transcriptions are printed, all varying not inconsiderably one from another.

The earliest copyist was the notary Quintanarnaya in 1613. We may presume that he was looking out for the name Inigo, which had occurred in the body of the document, and he thought he recognized it as an abbreviation in the first name "juan". Hence he got "Inigo Lopez". Then again slightly misinterpreting the abbreviated form, "& a recalde", he got "de Recalde". The last two names he got right The result of this was that our notary seemed to have detected a new form of the Saint's name, Inigo Lopez de Recalde, in a record of a very early date: perhaps the earliest record of his name then accessible.

Not very long afterwards a learned Jesuit antiquarian, Father Henao, came upon this transcript. Rightly appreciating the great value of the document in itself, he published it too quickly, as it stood, without further collation, perhaps without having discovered the obscurity of the original, Backed by his authority it was then accepted by the Bollandist. Father Pien, S.J., and so the erroneous name found its way into the Acta Sanctorum. Hence it has been, again too quickly, assumed by great authorities like the British Museum Catalogue, though the correct form of the name has as always been accepted among less eminent writers.

However, now that the genesis of the error is so very clear, the fictitious form should not be repeated without a note as to its falsity.

Pampeluna and Conversion

In 1521 Andre de Foix, the French general in Navarre, made a thrust towards Pampeluna, where the Spaniards lay under the, Duke of Najera. Being distinctly the weaker, the Duke at once retreated, leaving only a small garrison, which included our Inigo. The French drew on and the townsfolk were for submission; but our young soldier had sufficient influence with his companions in the garrison to keep them at their posts of defence while the French proceeded to bombard the old walls of the citadel. Inigo was everywhere, encouraging his men in the most exposed positions, when a cannon ball, passing between his legs, tore open the left calf and broke the right shin, and he fell helpless to the ground. It was Whit Monday, May 20, 1521.

With Inigo's fall the garrison lost heart and surrendered, but the French treated the brave captain with chivalrous consideration, and, sent him home in a litter. On his arrival, however, the hastily bandaged leg was found to be crooked. So the soldier had it broken. and set a second time. When the wound healed it was found that the bone protruded, and he had the exposed portion sawn off. Later on, when the limb appeared somewhat short and bent, he had it stretched out by heavy weights. All these pains he underwent of his own initiative, without uttering a cry or allowing himself to be bound. But the exhaustion which followed was so great that the patient began to fail. On the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, however, (June 29) a turn for the better took place, and he was soon out of danger, though the great weakness continued for many months.

Ignatius had so far shown only the natural virtues of the Spanish officer, courage, ambition and initiative, the power of organization, stoical endurance of pain, but as yet no thought of remodeling his life. An apparent accident now led his thoughts in a different direction. Being able to sit up, he asked for his favourite Romanceros;  but as it chanced no books could be found in the old castle except the Life of Christ, by Ludolph of Saxony, and an edition of the Flos Sanctorum, that is, the Lives of the Saints, both in Spanish. They were quite simple, pious books, of the widest circulation. Caxton has made the Flos Sanctorum  (also called Historia Lombardica, written by Jacopo de Voragine in the thirteenth century) familiar in England by his well-known translation entitled The Golden Legend.

With nothing else to do, Ignatius first began to nibble at these Lives and then to read. He went off in day dreams about his worldly prospects and his lady love, and then he returned to the Flos Sanctorum, and got quite interested in applying to the Saints the speculations he was accustomed to apply to the heroes of romance. Instead of imagining how be would have fought at the side of the Cid, he now fancied himself competing with the heroes of Christianity. "How would it be if I were to do this thing, which Saint Francis did, or that deed of Saint Dominic?" And so by degrees, and as it were out of competition, he became accustomed to a new standard of life, though of course it was all imagination, and merely boyish as a scheme of virtues.

CONVERSION ON THE SICK-BED
BY A. CHEVALIER TAYLOR, FROM THE VOTIVE CHAPEL AT WIMBLETON.

The next step was to notice that, while worldly day dreams began so pleasantly, they ended less pleasantly, often with sadness and chagrin. On the other hand the company of the Saints ended in peace, hope and strength. It was this contrast which first opened Inigo's eyes to the reality of the heavenly kingdom, to the continued workings of the good and evil spirits.

The next step was to think more seriously of his past, and to atone for his sins by penance. For penance is the most fundamental of virtues for one who has sinned, and Ignatius did not yet know any other. At all events he measured all good works by their difficulty, that is, by their penitential value. He began to yearn for fastings, disciplines and abstinence, and he definitely resolved upon the most signal exercise of penance then in vogue, namely, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Having got so far as to wean himself from the evil that was past, and to look forward to a new and spiritual life, he received from heaven a signal reward. "One night as he lay awake," such are the words of his autobiography, "he saw clearly a likeness of Our Lady with the holy Child Jesus. With the sight of them for a notable time he received very intense consolation, and he remained with such a loathing for his past life, especially for the sins of the flesh, that it seemed as if all the phantasms heretofore impressed in his soul had passed away. Never again was there the least consent to a carnal thought."

His conversion was complete. All noticed the change, and that he could now converse upon spiritual subjects only. When he was about to leave home, his eldest brother, head of the family, begged him not to do anything that might reflect on their good name, so clear was it that some complete change of life would follow, even though Ignatius had not yet made any definite plans. Meantime, convalescence was very slow and Ignatius had found a characteristic way of passing his time. He had grown so fond of his spiritual books that he set about making some brief extracts of the principal matters in the lives of Christ and of the Saints. "He was a very good scribe," he says of himself in the autobiography, "and he copied out the words of Christ in red ink, and those of Our Lady in blue. The pages were burnished, the writing of the best. The book, [which is now unfortunately lost], was of about 300 folios in quarto, and written full."

Manresa and the Spiritual Novitiate

When Ignatius left home, his plans for the distant future were very vague indeed. The pilgrimage to the Holy Land was resolved upon, but he did not talk of it, for fear of being moved to vanity. The first thing, however, was to do ample penance for his sins, prefacing it by a full and sincere confession. For this purpose he went in pilgrimage to the famous sanctuary of Our Lady at Montserrat and here, after three days of careful self-examination, and having noted down in writing what he meant to say, he confessed all the sins that were past and prepared to enter the life of a penitent. This he would do with a rite reminiscent of the solemnity with which in those days a young soldier passed into the estate of knighthood. He would stand sentinel at the shrine all through the hours of darkness. So he gave away his old uniform, the rich suit in which he had come, and exchanged it for a beggar's clothes. He put on the uniform of penitence, a garment of sackcloth. His sword and dagger he hung up at Our Lady's altar, and passed the night in vigil before them. Next morning, the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1522, he received Holy Communion; and then he left the sanctuary, not knowing whither he went.

But Providence arranged for him to fall in before long with a kindly woman, Ines Pascual, who soon appreciated the sort of man with whom she was dealing. She admired his spirit, and became his friend for life. She showed him a cavern in the hill-side, above her native town of Manresa, whither he might retire to pray and practise austerities, while he might come to church in town for services, and for the necessities of life he might visit the hospice for the poor, or her own table, of which she made him free. In these circumstances he passed nearly a year. He lived upon alms and was still intent primarily on penance; but he learned also by personal experience, as he went on, what were the guiding principles and duties that should rule his new mode of life.

Whilst for the first few months he was full of consolation, he was then beset by the most trying scruples. Had he remembered to confess this or that sin? Was he certain about his duty in such and such circumstances? And how could he ensure perseverance? Again, even if there was no doubt about the greater sins, how could he count up the smaller ones? Unfortunately the good country clergy of the place were unable to remove the difficulties, which arose from a delicacy of conscience more refined than any with which they were familiar. Still Ignatius always sought their advice, and benefited by it to some extent, though not much, nor for long. At one time he was attacked by an impulse to suicide; and not knowing how to deal with it, he resolved (while continuing all his practices of severe penance) neither to eat nor to drink until the trial should come to an end, and he persevered a full week in this most drastic discipline. At the week end he informed his father confessor about it, as about all else, and then the fast was promptly stopped. It left no permanent evil effects, though the suffering from thirst had been extremely severe. At last, partly through guidance, partly through heroism, partly through prudence, he triumphed over all such obstacles and began to abound in graces, in clear spiritual lights and absorbing consolations. At one time he lay for eight days and nights in a trance, without movement and in appearance dead, save for a tremor in the pulse.

He was also visited by severe sickness, during which he was tended in the hospice by various good persons, with whom he used to converse on spiritual subjects. For, though to some extent a recluse, he also from an early date felt the apostolic call to help others and to communicate to them the spiritual lessons which he had learned at the cost of so much pain And suffering.

Besides his book of extracts from the words and deeds of Christ and of His Saints, which he kept with him, reading the Passion every day at Mass, he now began to make notes for a new book called The Spiritual Exercises, to which we shall return later. Meantime we may note the steps along which the Saint's remarkable training had proceeded, and sum up its lessons.

1. He begins like a good knight by the courageous acceptance of prolonged pains, and this imperceptibly weans him, to a large extent, from the lust of corporal pleasure and indulgence. Then by a seeming accident, he starts reading the lives of Christ and His Saints. At first he treats these new acquaintances with a sort of school-boy emulation. He would do as they do, and compete with them in courage and endurance.

2. Then he discovers that to live with the Saints, even in the most boyish way, is salutary, spiritual, helpful towards the life eternal. At this he redoubles his fervid realization of the God-man. His soul goes out with all its loyalty, strength and longing towards Christ. He gazes at Him and is strangely changed. The old lustings die down, he is bitterly chagrined to find how grossly he has transgressed against Him Whom he now loves more than all beside. Hence a passion for penance, emphasized by knowing nothing, or very little, about other virtues.

3. Leaving home and the world, and hanging up his sword before the altar, he breaks forever with his past life and by humble and contrite confession dedicates himself to a new career with night-long prayer and communion. Going forth among strangers, barefoot, clothed in canvas, and leaving all guidance to the heavenly Leader, he is casually befriended by a kindly woman, who shows him where he may practise, in solitude, the sternest austerities, live upon alms and yet have at hand the consolations of religion.

4. In his cave he passes a sort of novitiate, learning by daily meditation on the deeds of God made man how to study the New Testament as a practical guide of life. Amid the painful worries of scruples, doubts and hesitations, he learns to distinguish the subtle, almost imperceptible rise of temptations out of ideas that are blameless, perhaps immediately after suggestions that are good. He becomes a master in the spiritual life, and he begins to be a teacher of its secrets.

5. The apostolic spirit is slowly growing. From the first his conversation was predominantly about the things of the spirit. He found and kept friends and even followers among those inclined to piety. He showed them how to cultivate the habit of prayer, how to live for the world-to-come. For the present, however, his main business is still penance for the past, and the acquiring of complete familiarity with the daily occurrences in a life of prayer. Health, too, was not yet fully reinstated, and with the immense strains, which he (perhaps unawares) put upon his vitality (as very strong men often do before they discover their weaknesses), there is no wonder that it took him longer than he foresaw to prepare for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

6. Thus he had entered the cave a spiritual tyro, having hitherto known only one virtue, penance. He left it a master of the spiritual life, having written in its essential lines his master-work, The Spiritual Exercises. Of the external life before him he as yet knew nothing in detail.

IGNATIUS LEAVES HOME.

For each of these grades—penitent, learner, proficient—it would be easy to find some parallel in the Imitation of Christ, with which in some degree it corresponded; though, of course, there was nothing in the God-man crude or boyish in the sense of a deficiency. The parallel will never be absolute. Christ took his place with the sinners who were baptized by John in the Jordan; Christ retired to the desert and there fasted for forty days and forty nights, and there He also wrestled repeatedly against all the subtleties of the diabolic foe. But Ignatius, passing from the camp of the world to that of Christ, must, humanly speaking, have time to pass through the awkward squad, before he is familiar with the new drill. With this deficiency, this sequela of previous sin, there cannot be anything strictly parallel in the life of Christ. Father Polanco, one of the Saint's contemporaries, says, "In this affair as well as in others Ignatius would say that by making mistakes he learned how to avoid them."

The chief testimony to Ignatius's study of Christ, to his self-moulding according to the Christian model, is his little book of Spiritual Exercises, which may be called a hand-book, for living like Christ. It was during this period that the outline, the skeleton, the essentials, were put upon paper, but it will be more convenient to put off our discussion of them for a later period, when they were discussed and debated in public.

The Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

In February of 1523, Ignatius started on his long purposed journey to the Holy Land, but it was to him something far more than a journey. He regarded it as the best school he could imagine for the perfect copying of the life of Christ. In the very scene of the labours of Jesus, there he too would labour, preach and pray. The foxes might have their holes and the birds their nests; but he would not know where to lay his head. He had no definite plans for what he would do in the Holy Land, or afterwards; but if he began his literal transcript of the life of his Master, that Master would surely show him how to go on. Yet he did not reject such human aid as might make for the better attainment of his spiritual purpose. Hearing that Juan Pujol, Vicar of Prats, a priest of the neighbourhood, was about to make the pilgrimage to Rome, he gladly took the occasion. of travelling part of the way in his company. Many were the sighs and even tears of the simple villagers as he left Manresa. Juan Pascual, son of the Ines mentioned above, survived to attest this seventy years later. "We are losing," said they, "our Angel and our Saint."

A good many details are known about the journey. He sailed from Barcelona to Gaeta; then he went to Rome for Passion Week, and on to Venice, where he shipped for Salamis; and then from Salamis to Joppa. They rode on donkeys up to Jerusalem. There were numerous adventures; scares about the plague, dangers from criminals, misunderstandings with too obliging friends, sometimes he nearly starved, or perished from cold; ships on which he had been refused passage were wrecked. There were also blows, seizures, and hardships of every sort. At Jerusalem "his firm intention was to stay there, in order to visit the Holy Places continually, and to help souls." But he did not speak of the second motive, probably from humility.

He spent the first few days with the utmost spiritual delight in visiting and revisiting the scenes of the Passion, where he seemed to see Christ Himself walking before him. Then the Franciscan Fathers, who had charge of the Holy Places, ordered him to return home. At first the pilgrim refused. He did not fear any evil consequences, and was for using his liberty. But the friars stated that they had power from the Pope to give such orders; and that they had good reason for so doing. There existed the very real danger that pilgrims who went to pray at the Holy Places might be kidnapped, and such affairs involved the convent in troublesome questions about ransom. They offered to show their papers; but Ignatius, ever ready to obey the voice of authority, refused to look at them, and left at once, though this meant the upset of all his plans. "He went away thinking, 'Quid agendum?'"  These are the words of the autobiography, "and finally he inclined more towards studying for some time, in order to be able to help souls. "Taus this momentous decision came quite slowly, without at first any enthusiasm, or over-powering conviction. Ignatius got back to Barcelona about March, 1524.

Studies and Companions

(1524 To 1535)

At the age of thirty-three, this uneducated soldier turned to study, and spent eleven years, more than one-third o the span of life remaining to him, in the laborious acquisition of book-learning. He had no natural zest or gift for literature; it was work against the grain; he never finally completed his course. Nevertheless the good, effect of his studies on his life-work is almost incalculable. He began with Latin grammar; among school boys of Barcelona, and in two years he knew enough to undertake his university course at Alcala, early in 1526. But here he found so many and such severe critics among the ecclesiastical dons, that he removed, at the end of 1527, to the University of Salamanca. Here, too, the interference continued, and he resolved to go to Paris and to complete his course there.

This was an important step for the development both of his studies and of his mental outlook. In one way it was less of a change then, than it would be now, for Paris was at that time the capital of universities, and there were various Spanish colleges in it. The Saint, too, came from near the French border; the idea of passing it must have been familiar to him. At Paris (February, 1528) with great method he began by recapitulating his course of Arts, and took his M. A. degree, on March 14, 1535. The course of theology had been begun before this, the date of his Licentiate being 1534. Health trouble compelled him to leave Paris after his M. A.; and though he meant to have proceeded to his Doctorate later, continued ailments and other obstacles prevented his realising this plan.

Thus, in spite of all his sacrifices, Ignatius never acquired great erudition. He had always to rely much on others for secretarial work; his style was obscure, he was not a facile speaker or writer either in Italian or in Latin. Nevertheless the advantages gained by reading deeply among the classical masters of his profession, by living for so long a time in the chief universities of Europe, can hardly be exaggerated. To say nothing of gaining a sufficient acquaintance with the sources of knowledge to enable him to find information when wanted, of being able to maintain his position in the company of the learned, and to govern men of learning, he became thoroughly versed in the ever-changing educational problem; he learned by experience how"' to combine a life of prayer and penance with one of teaching or of study—an invaluable acquisition for the future founder of the Society; of Jesus. He found his ablest followers among university men.

We must now go back a little to trace our Saint's relations with the ecclesiastical authorities and those who volunteered to work with him, and also to note his gradual relinquishment of the extreme practices of poverty and penance. When he first went to school at Barcelona, Isabel Roser, another kind woman who had taken him in for the love of God, prevailed upon him to give up wearing the pauper's sackcloth 'and going bare foot, and to wear shoes and the black gown of a clerigo. Ignatius, however, pulled such big holes in the soles of his boots that they were little better than mere "uppers"; the mortification was but little less than before. Even so, this was a step toward life in common with those whom he so much wished to benefit. He also gave up begging his daily bread from door to door; considering his occupations, he would be sufficiently dependent on Providence for his support if he now lived on the charity of certain friends. In Paris he even funded the alms received during vacations, when he went begging. On two or three of these journeys he came to London, and he records that he here received better alms than he did anywhere else. The probability, however, is that he begged chiefly of the Spanish and Portuguese merchants, to whom introduction would have been easy. He had met many of them in his visits to the Spanish Netherlands and his friends eventually gave him yearly contributions, which enabled him to study more regularly.

Of more importance were the inquiries held over his conduct by public authorities. Such proceedings took place at Alcala in 1526–1527; at Salamanca in 1528, at Paris in the period immediately following, at Venice in 1537, and at Rome in 1538. In four cases the actual record of the proceedings is extant, and has been printed (M.H.S.J., Scripta de S. Ignacio, pp. 580-620). At Alcala there was no small stir when this new student arrived, whose fervent piety and touching words moved many pious souls to fresh devotion. The university inquisitors (who corresponded more or less to our proctors) held a meeting and examined certain witnesses, whose evidence was strongly in Ignatius's favour. So they discontinued their proceedings, November 19, 1526, but appointed the Vicar Figueroa to watch the conduct of the new comer. Figueroa, a good but troublesome man, called certain women in March, 1527, who had been present at the homely talks which Ignatius used to hold on frequenting the sacraments. Their examinations told in Ignatius's favour; so proceedings again stopped, and again without Ignatius having been summoned. But a couple of months later he was summarily thrown into prison, where he lay forty-two days before he was called up. It seems that a certain lady and her daughter had suddenly disappeared, having started off one night without notice, barefoot, on a pilgrimage. They had sometimes been auditors at Ignatius's conferences, and Figueroa thought that if he kept the spiritual guide in durance, the ladies would surely return. They did so, and then it was found that they had gone despite the Saint's remonstrances. Figueroa, however, took full time to think the matter over and then, calling up the prisoner, on June 1, 1527, he found no fault whatever with him. Nevertheless he ordered him, first, to wear the gown of the university students, and secondly, to abstain from any sort of religious or catechetical instruction for three years, till he had made more progress in his divinity studies.

Taken in the abstract, this was very good sense and Ignatius accepted it without protest. But in the concrete it was an absurd instance of paternal government, to give a man six weeks of close prison, as a mere preliminary to a little good advice. If Figueroa's second command was to be enforced by officiousness such as this, life at the University of Alcala would be unbearable. So, three weeks later Ignatius had set out for Valladolid to interview Alfonso de Fonseca, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, who wisely advised him to begin his university studies again at Salamanca, and gave him "good alms to facilitate the transition." In one sense, Ignatius's first experience of university life had been rather a failure, for he had endeavoured to follow too many courses and had consequently made little progress with his studies; But it was at Alcala that he first began to attract followers; and though they did not persevere, several youths who saw his work there developed an attraction for him later. Indeed, a good proportion of his first companions originally made their acquaintance with him at Alcala.

Although Ignatius had come to Salamanca in order to study in peace, just the same sort of troubles as before began again (late in 1527). Our Saint and his companion Calixto were invited to supper at the Dominican convent of San Esteban, where the Father Superior was the distinguished Fra Pedro de Soto, afterwards theologian to the Council of Trent. After the meal Ignatius was questioned about his studies and made no secret of his want of knowledge. Hereupon the great theologian declared that if he claimed to teach, without having acquired knowledge, he must clearly pretend to a private revelation of his own. Ignatius demurred. The elementary subjects on which he talked, were no monopoly of the learned. But the theologians had the gates of the convent locked, till they had warned the bishop, who in terror committed Ignatius to prison until he was tried. On this occasion the book of Spiritual Exercises  was produced and discussed, and this is the first time that it is mentioned as in book form. After three weeks he was pronounced both innocent and orthodox, but he was forbidden to formulate a definition on such points as the difference between a mortal and a venial sin.

This episode again illustrates the excess of paternal government, which was rampant everywhere in Europe, joined in this case with that extravagant esteem for a priori  arguments, especially characteristic of Spain. Ignatius felt that he could not here lead the sort of life to which God was calling him, and he turned towards Paris. His companion Calixto was to have followed him when Ignatius had settled down and found out some stable way of living upon alms. But in the end he never went.

In Paris (February 2, 1528, to March, 1535) Ignatius was less disturbed. For one thing, he did less for his neighbours. While he cherished those souls whom he already knew to be desirous of the higher life, he restrained himself from influencing others. He also applied himself more and more to study.

During this period Ignatius was once condemned to be flogged in public but just before the time set for the punishment he went in to Dr. Govea, President of the College, who had ordered it, and spoke to him to such good effect that the Doctor, taking him by the hand, led him into the great hall of the College Ste. Barbe, where the flogging should have taken place, and there publicly asked Ignatius's pardon! Amongst the Masters between whose rods Ignatius was to have run the gauntlet, but did not, was John Calvin.

The book of The Exercises  was again denounced as unsound in doctrine but the Dominican Dr. Ori, to whom it was handed for investigation, found nothing but praise to say of it, and kept a copy for his own use.

Two later troubles of similar character may be mentioned here. At Venice Ignatius was denounced as a fugitive and vagabond of evil name and heretical tendencies, and these charges were made by men who were themselves under suspicion, and especially by one Miguel who had at first admired Ignatius and his followers. When the matter was brought to a test in the ecclesiastical law-courts Ignatius was fully acquitted (October 13, 1537).

Still the rumours were not entirely eliminated. Next year they were whispered even in Rome, and the unpleasant reports included the names of Ignatius's companions as well as his own. Again Ignatius insisted on an inquiry; and it so happened that various persons (as Ori and Figueroa) connected with his previous trials in Spain, France and Venice, were then in Rome, so that the court was exceptionally well-informed. The sentence, when it came, was strongly in the Saint's favour, and includes in its recommendations the names of his nine companions (November 18, 1538).

We notice a certain progress in Ignatius's bearing under these trials before public authorities. At first he merely rejoiced at having something notable to suffer for Christ. "There are not so many handcuffs and chains in Salamanca, but that I desire even more for the love of God." But in the later trials his object is always to obtain a public sentence. He does not even await trial, but demands an immediate decision. This was especially the case when the charge reflected in any way on his orthodoxy. Of this he was as generously sensitive, as a woman of her honour. And it was on that head that censorious words were chiefly to be expected; for the great calamities of the day, the civil and religious wars, the ever-growing divisions, arose chiefly from the great revolution which was beginning in matters of faith. Never was suspicion on this subject more common and inevitable, even though reformers and men who call upon others to make sacrifices, must always be ready for occasional remonstrances, for black looks and censure, from quarters where it is least to be looked for.

Ignatius's care for his good name was accentuated by his concern for the companions of his choice. It was one thing to endure voluntary hardships when he stood alone; another thing to submit to them when he had around him companions, some of whom were but beginners. For their sakes much greater caution became necessary. To appreciate this we must consider Ignatius more closely as a leader.

We have seen that work for others was always an intimate part of the Saint's spirituality. Even from the first he would strive in conversation to promote regularity, to encourage a generous responsiveness towards God and the desire of progress in prayer and meditation, which he promoted by his Spiritual Exercises. He always had a circle of well-wishers and benefactors, many of them women. At least from his days at Barcelona, he always found men ready to stand at his side and join in his work. The first was Calixto de Sa, then Juan Lopez de Arteaga, Lope de Caceres and Jean de Reinauld, a Frenchman.

In his early days, Ignatius measured the aptitude of a follower simply by the fervour of his faith, and by his zeal in good works. One that was strong enough, he sent off on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Himself and all his friends lived, begged, dressed like paupers and worked together at their humanities with the greatest unanimity.

But when the time came for going to France, and all that that stool for, separation gradually took place. Life among strangers would mean diminished alms and greater hardships; the struggle for scholastic success would be intensified and prolonged. So, instead of following their leader to Paris, these first disciples remained at home and slowly fell away from their old ambitions. If none went to the bad, at least they drifted into posts of little importance.

At Paris, too, Ignatius attracted companions, but they did not at first bring him great consolation. After about six months, however in May or June of 1529, another group of followers began to assemble around him. He gave the "spiritual exercises" to three young Spanish students, De Castro, Peralta, and Amador. Deeply impressed by the heavenly truths they had meditated, they resolved to follow the Christ-like virtues which shone in Ignatius's conduct. Being university men of promise, their adhesion was of much greater importance than the companionship of Calixto, and his friends, whose education was but slight. But since they were still young, their parents held over them a strong and not very gentle hand and according to the fashion of the day, force was used. They were seized, compelled to return to ordinary student life, and forbidden to change during the time of their course. And so Ignatius again saw himself cut off from the hope of finding others to help him in carrying out his apostolic ideas, ideas which could only be realized by the co-operation of many. Seven years had passed since he had received the call at Manresa, amid graces and consolations so powerful that he could never question their heavenly origin. But the realization of his plans still seemed so distant. He himself had as yet, no degree. As yet there was no one to stand at his side, no one to voice his thoughts, as Aaron did for Moses.

About a year later, however, he began again to attract followers, and of this third group, not one failed; indeed not one fell short of excellence. The first was Peter Faber, a Savoyard, a singularly modest, retiring youth, of poor parents and good talents. The two became intimate at lectures, which they used to repeat together.

The second disciple was the most notable of all Ignatius's followers, Francis Xavier, of noble, though not wealthy family, his father being President of the Royal Council of Navarre. Being the youngest son, he was expected to make his way chiefly by his wits, either through the Church or at the Bar, and he was, in fact, very successful in his university career. All of the same college, these three young men were friends but not, at first intimates, for Francis would not at once enter into intercourse on spiritual matters. Ignatius, always unfailing in friendly words and works, at last won his attention in the midst of his academical triumphs, by quoting the text, "What doth it profit a man, if he gain then whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?" Xavier was struck, and in time converted; but he was too occupied to make the "exercises" until later. The conversion probably came in 1532 or 1533.

The next two to join the band were Lainez: and Salmeron: both excellent scholars and admirable characters. Lainez was to succeed Ignatius as General of the Society. Both were papal theologians at the Council of Trent. Salmeron also became a writer of reputation. Simon Rodriguez de Azevedo was a Portuguese and well endowed with gifts of head and heart which made him eventually extremely successful with his countrymen. But as we shall see, these unusual favours reacted adversely on Simon's mind and in later years he took steps which caused very serious anxiety to Ignatius. Though a way out of the trouble was found, Simon came nearer than any other of the early companions to causing a fiasco. Nicholas Bobadilla, the last of this group, was of lesser gifts, or shall we say, of lesser talents.

When the meetings of the friends began (1532 to 1534) they thought little for the future. They still had their studies to complete and that sufficed for the moment. They helped each other with funds and they looked forward to becoming ecclesiastics and to imitating exactly the life of Christ in the Holy Land. They met on the fifteenth of August, 1534, on Montmartre, probably in the chapel of St. Denys, and confirmed their project by taking a vow covering three points: poverty, chastity, and the journey to Jerusalem. Faber, the only priest, said the Mass and received the vows, which were pronounced magna animorum laetitia et exultatione. They now lived and worked together with constantly increasing devotion, meeting every year on the same day and at the same place to renew their pledge to become steadfast and whole-hearted imitators of Christ.

The Spiritual Exercises

We have now followed Ignatius, in his conversion, in his spiritual formation at Manresa, and in the great experiment of going to Jerusalem. We have watched him in his prolonged course of study at four great universities. We have also seen him collect followers and animate them to adventure. all for the cause he had espoused. These are the exterior features of his development. We have now to inquire into the inner life, and to ask ourselves, "What was the interior force and life, what the method and system, by which this spiritual knight was armed, animated, guided? What was the plan of campaign which he fought out with such success?"

So far as these questions admit of an answer, it will be found in the study of The Spiritual Exercises. But while easy to make, these spiritual exercises are rather difficult to describe; for the terms of their science are often taken by different people in different senses, and all abstract subjects have a certain vagueness in our generally materialistic language and imagery.

Ignatius's idea of spiritual exercises is a very simple one. He says, "As to walk, to run, to journey, are bodily exercises, so every method of removing one's inordinate appetites  and, after one has removed them, of seeking out and finding the divine will  in our regard, is called "spiritual exercises." (Annotation i.) The Exercises then are not merely intellectual; they are also moral and religious. They are not casual prayers and meditations, not an anthology of pretty or striking sayings, but exercises which lead towards sanctification of life.

The simplest idea of Ignatius's "spiritual exercises" as a whole is that they consist of a series of meditations on Christ considered as the model of our life: and they lead to a formal "election" of that state of life which is found in meditation to be most consonant with God's will in our regard, so far as we can see after mature and prayerful reflection.

According to the standards of our easy-going age, the prescribed reflection might be reckoned mature and prayerful almost to excess. Ignatius prescribed for it a whole month of retreat. This he divided into four "Weeks"; his meditations sometimes begin at midnight, while spiritual exercises may occupy eight to ten hours a day. But a note shows that this was an ideal, only to be set before an ideal exercitant. Where health or other considerations interfered, Ignatius was willing to give a retreat even though the exercitant could spare but an hour a day, in the evening. A similar large-mindedness should be exercised by the director with regard to all regulations, if the essentials are faithfully observed. But in what follows, we shall, like the Saint, speak of an ideal retreat; health, education, good will and a desire to direct one's life according to God's will being presupposed.

One begins with introductory matter (The Foundation), with philosophy to remedy the common deficiency—insufficient attention to Divine Providence. The philosophy is very brief but very thorough. The Foundation contains no dogma. Any theist could make it without scruple; any philosopher who accepts the principle of causation, will acquiesce in it at once. It is merely a common-sense presentation of the first consequences of creation; but it is admirably adapted to steady the mind as the soul looks out over the vast ensemble of things, human and divine, and girds itself to show to its Creator a service that shall be intelligent, free and loving, as well as entire and generous. On the other hand if, through carelessness and want of fidelity, any intellectual problems are avoided, left unfaced or unsounded at this stage, it would be in vain to proceed with the superstructure.

Once full of the thought that God has a right to our service, the inevitable sequel will be, to examine closely whether our conduct in God's regard, has been service or disservice; and so we are led on, even in the preliminary stage, to self-examination and to penance for wrong done. "Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Here, then, is the place for humble and complete confession of all past sin, for seeking sacramental absolution, for insisting on penitential thoughts about death, judgment, the danger of sin and its punishment, with other considerations of kindred nature, until the director sees that the exercitant has not only thoroughly purged his soul of the stains of sin but also acquired a genuine love and practice of penance. Ignatius would think it useless to proceed until these intellectual and moral foundations are thoroughly and safely laid, but he prescribes no definite time for this process. It generally occupies about a week, but the director has to decide each case on its merits.

Thus prepared by energetic purification of the soul, the exercitant commences the Second Week of "the exercises," which is the most it strikingly Ignatian part of the whole retreat. Its topic of meditation is the Life of Christ, and its special character is given by an introductory contemplation entitled, Of the Kingdom of Christ. The election of a state of life comes during its course.

Ignatius is almost entirely wanting in rhetoric, and yet his words have a strange power. Rugged and unkempt as his sentences are, this is found to be due to his persistent endeavours to use only the most precise terms, and those least liable to misapprehension. He has a special note before the "exercises" begin, on the need of keeping quite clear of misunderstandings. On the other hand, he is intent on dramatic positions. If he tells you to meditate on hell as if you were actually there, he is careful not to conclude the exercise without transporting you to the foot of the Cross on Calvary. This contrast, and others like it, are found to be intensely moving.

As an introduction to the Second Week of the "exercises" he brings out the dramatic situation by a parable which, in these days of almost universal conscription, as in Ignatius's days of almost universal military service, will be better appreciated than in days when the military uniform became a stumbling block to some. Ignatius's parable sets before us an ideal king, with divine appointment (such as David's), and acknowledged authority over ally Christendom, such as the Holy Roman Empire once claimed. This ideal sovereign, the acme of all that is affable, friendly and fellow-soldier-like, makes proclamation to all Christendom, that he is about to make war on the infidel and to free all the lands they have over-run. What a furor that would have raised in a fighting age! The king, moreover, promises to go in the front line, to bear every trial with his men, and to reward richly every example of bravery. There is no power on earth able to evoke so much enthusiasm as a great leader calling on his men in a just quarrel. Ignatius notes the scorn that would be poured on any knight who slunk away from the call, and he also notes how there would surely be many a generous soul who would burn to show his zeal and diligently train himself to play a heroic part under such a sovereign leader.

Then comes the dramatic change of scene. If an earthly king's summons would enkindle such a fire of zeal, how much more worthy the call of the Eternal King, in whom every attractive feature, every advantage every incentive is verified in an infinitely higher degree? He comes to all  to men and to women, to weak as to strong, and proposes to each His golden terms, gently, companionably, doing first ten thousand times more than He asks us to imitate. "Who would not die for Thee, Jesu, my Leader! Cannot I train myself to show service of special value?"

The last query might in passing seem like a rhetorical question, but it really foreshadows the election, which will appear after three or four days during which the great mysteries of the Incarnation, of the Birth, and the Flight into Egypt, and all the beautiful lessons of our Savior's childhood have been lovingly pondered. After thinking of the Holy Child leaving His mother in order "to be about my Father's business," we turn to consider: "Am I perhaps also called to leave house, and home, and to serve Christ in poverty?" And here naturally presents itself the subject of election of a state of life.

Ignatius, as might be expected, gives a good deal of space to this subject. Not only does he describe two methods of making the election of a state of life (which will serve for any other momentous choice) and a scheme For, the Emendation of Life; but he also gives this topic the honour of a special introductory meditation: Of Two Standards (De dos Banderas). He strengthens the will for its choice by the highly Ignatian parable Of Three Couples of Men (De tres binarios de hombres), and he lays down Three Canons on Humility (Tres maneras de Humildad), which give us a scale, on the base of humility, by which we can measure securely even the greatest heights in the loyal following of Christ. Nothing seems to Ignatius more important during the election than the inculcation of humility, with the kindred virtues of poverty—spiritual if not also actual—and love of contempt. These three might be called the election programme of Jesus, just as their opposites, love of money, love of honour and pride, form the election programme of our diabolic enemy. This is the spiritual doctrine of The Two Standards, and if our election is made under its influence, there can be no doubt that it will have been made in conformity with that Divine Will, which, as we saw from the first, is the criterion by which alone we ought to make our choice.

After the election the exercitant returns to the sequence of meditations on the Life of Christ and while he follows the stages in Christ's ministry and in His Passion, it will be impossible for him not to go over his resolutions often, and to amend or mature them in the light of our Lord's example.

The Passion of Christ is the proper subject of the Third Week, and the Risen Life of the Fourth Week. Ignatius warns us not to shorten this week, as we may be tempted to do, out of fatigue. There is very great efficacy in the motives of hope and confidence, which these meditations are so well calculated to strengthen.

The result of making the spiritual exercises under the guidance of Ignatius, or of one trained in his system, is to brace the soul in no ordinary way for living on a higher spiritual plane. In this respect the book has been praised alike by believer and unbeliever. "A masterpiece of pedagogy," says the modern German, Karl Holl. The great soul of Cardinal Newman, writing about his first acquaintance with the book in his Anglican days, was struck by the lofty and direct intercourse with God, which it taught, so different from the cult of splendid images which he had been brought up to consider characteristic of Catholic devotion.

"Here, in a matter consisting in the purest and most direct acts of religion—in the intercourse between God and the soul, during a season of recollection, of repentance, of good resolution, of inquiry into vocation—the soul was, Sola cum solo;  there was no cloud interposed between the creature and the Object of his faith and love. The command practically enforced was, 'My son, give Me thy heart.' The devotion then to Angels and Saints as little interfered with the incommunicable glory of the Eternal, as the love we bear our friends and relations, our tender human sympathies, are inconsistent with that supreme homage of the heart to the Unseen, which really does but sanctify and exalt, not jealously destroy, what is of earth." (Apologia, 1864 P. 31.)

Janssen, the German historian, speaking of the great revival of the Counter-reformation, says, "This little book, considered even by Protestants as a psychological masterpiece of the first class, has been for the German nation, and towards the history of its faith and civilization, one of the most important writings of modern times. . . . It has worked such extraordinary influence over souls that no other ascetic work may be compared to it."

Of course there have been objections. They arose at first from the short-sightedness of certain ecclesiastics who took offence at Ignatius's teaching religious matters when only a layman. Then there came the criticisms of rival theologians and rival orders, and finally the attacks of sectarianism. But the most common criticisms are those that sprang from mere error and prejudice. Of this general character are the censures passed by modern fault-finders. They are mostly derived directly or indirectly from the attacks of Michelet and Quinet, and from novels like Sue's Wandering Jew. Among the utterances of reputable authors we may reckon phrases like William James's idea of the result of The Exercises:  "a half-hallucinated monoideism"; while Huysmans speaks of the same thing as "a counterfeit Japanese culture of dwarf trees." Any acquaintance with the lofty spiritual ideals put forward in The Exercises, or with the wonderful revival which has followed their propaganda, will be sufficient to discount these wordy fulminations.

The propositions most often challenged are found in Ignatius's "Rules for Thinking with the Church." It is no wonder that those who love to attack the Church, should quarrel with them; but the alleged quotations often entirely misrepresent the author's words. They accuse him, for instance, of having said that, "We must be ready to believe black is white, if the Church should so define." What he really says is, "I should be ready, if the Church so defines, to believe what I see white to be black." Ignatius wishes us to be ready to submit all our personal, human judgments to the Church; for they are all fallible, even quite simple ones, like seeing; though the danger of error in them is remote. But the misquoted sentence is unreasonable: it affirms two contraries, black and white, about the same thing. Ignatius would have scorned that. Faith rises above human reason, but never goes against it.

The words in praise of The Exercises, from Christians of every class and especially from the Saints of modern times, far outweigh the cavils of objectors. They were well summed up in recent times by Pope Leo XIII:

"The importance of St. Ignatius's book with regard to the eternal welfare of souls, has been proved by an experience of three centuries, and by the evidence of those remarkable men, who during all that time have distinguished themselves in the paths of asceticism, or in the practice of sanctity."

Studying Ignatius, as we are doing, with an eye for Christ-like features, we may well conclude our survey of The Spiritual Exercises  with a parallel in some respects between them and the discourses of the Incarnate Word. Of course there can be nothing like parity here. Christ in His sermons gives a new law, sub lime but most simple; addressed to all, though rising to divine grandeur. Ignatius has a very different aim. His is merely a new drill-book. It contains no new revelations, no new doctrine. It is addressed not to all, but only to the director of the retreat, and though most sagacious, cannot be called either simple or eloquent, or even beautiful. The likeness lies (if one may so say) in their fundamental character. Christ's first great discourse upon the Mount, has been aptly described as "The Charter of Christianity." As in a summary, a preface or an epilogue, all Christianity is here in germ, in blossom, in first fruit. It contains topics for preachers, legislators, religious reformers; it proclaims a new law, which supersedes and transfigures the old.

Ignatius's Exercises  imitate this in so far as they introduce a new energy, a new era, a new legislation, into the life of the exercitant and so in time, into the lives of families, congregations, towns, countries, and eventually into the Church at large. In this sense it is no exaggeration to trace back the great counter-reform movement to the book of The Exercises, as one of its primary sources.

The Foundation of the Society

(1534 to 1539)

With the vows of Montmartre, the friends were knit together by undertaking the same obligations. But they did not yet form a body; they had no name, no special bond of cohesion. About April, 1535, Ignatius, the exterior bond of union amongst them, was constrained to leave Paris. His health had much declined and he was under doctor's orders to return to his native air. It was therefore agreed that, after convalescence at Loyola, he should visit, in Spain, the families of some of his companions, who had commissions to be discharged; then go straight to Italy and complete his sacerdotal education in one of the Italian universities. The others, after having taken the doctorate in Paris, should join him at Venice. Then they would in a body await an opportunity' to start the journey to Jerusalem.

This common-sense plan worked out in substance as it had been arranged, and it showed that Ignatius's presence was not essential to keep the brotherhood together. His native air had at once the good effect that was expected. The Saint, however, refused to live with his brother in the castle for more than one night, and then put up at the hospice for the poor in the village below. He busied himself with good works and the encouragement of piety and made a deep effect on the simple, pious peasantry.

After his stay at Azpeitia, he continued his journey, as had been arranged, and eventually arrived at Bologna, where he recommenced his studies. Unfortunately his ailments at once returned again, and he found himself constrained to abandon the theological degree of doctor, then so much respected, and for which he had worked so long. He now devoted himself anew to the active ministry, giving The Exercises  and encouraging good works in every way, until the end of 1536. Meantime his companions in Paris were hastening their departure, because of the danger of war breaking out between Charles V and France, in which Venice might be involved. So, having successfully taken their degrees, they set off together on a circuitous route by way of the Rhine and Switzerland and reached Venice on the sixth of January 1537.

But again fresh delays arose. The perennial war with the Turks, often dormant, was becoming active, and no ships could sail fro Venice to the East. Thus, after the warmest of welcomes from their leader, the companions set to work, after his example, nursing and instructing the poor, giving The Exercises  and living on alms. It was some time before they appreciated that the long delay was a serious matter. In Lent they resolved that they would wait to see the year out—ample time for ordinary wars of this class. If it did not close, they would offer themselves to the Head of the Church, as to the representative of Christ, and act in obedience to his orders. Meantime Ignatius's companions, who had never yet been to Rome, went off there on pilgrimage and were well received by Pope Paul III, who gave authority for them to be ordained priests, and this was done during the summer.

The year waned, and still no change of prospect was visible. Then it was resolved that Ignatius, Faber and Lainez should go as representatives to Rome, to offer their services to the Pope, and at the same time they resolved to take a name for their group and they agreed to that which Ignatius suggested, La Compagnia di Gesu. The word "Company" was to be taken in the military sense. The armies of that day were commonly composed of such units, each bearing its Captain's name. The appellation is also highly characteristic of Ignatius's passion for the close following of Christ. Nevertheless the fashion of the day for classicism, of which we have already heard mention more than once, made itself felt here. When the bull of foundation was issued, it was found that the term "Societas" had been used instead of Company; and so this name, Society of Jesus, also came authoritatively into vogue. Though not so decidedly Ignatian as Company (which is still retained in France, Spain and Italy) it expresses almost exactly the same idea, and has been accepted both in English and in German.

The name "Jesuit", now so common, was never employed by Ignatius. It is first heard of in 1544, applied to the Company as a term of reproach. It had been in existence for at least a century, to describe with scorn one who cantingly interlarded his speech with the Holy Name. In 1552, we find it still regarded as an expression of contempt. But soon afterwards the friends of the Society saw that they could take it in a good sense, and before long it was generally adopted. But it has not been found in Ignatius's own correspondence.

While the others, divided into pairs, went to work in various Italian university towns, Ignatius and his two companions on their way towards Rome reached the village of La Storta, where the distant view of Rome's towers is first obtained. Here Ignatius had a notable vision. Having retired for prayer to a wayside chapel, he fell into a trance, and seemed to see Christ carrying His cross, while from the cloud of majesty the Heavenly Father seemed to associate the pilgrims with the Divine Son. On rejoining his companions Ignatius told them of what he had seen, and that he had heard the words, Ego vobis Rome propitius ero, "I will be propitious to you at Rome." In later days the words were quoted, as a sort of promise of good fortune in the Eternal City. But such was not Ignatius's mind at that time. His comment was, "I know not whether we shall die on the cross or the rack at Rome, but Jesus will be propitious." It was the association with the Saviour bearing His cross, which had most impressed the Saint.

In Rome everything did go well, and Ignatius was destined to stay there for the remainder of his days. The Pope wished him to call his companions, and before long they were all employed in Rome and its neighbourhood. Then came a return of those attacks of misrepresentation, so characteristic of the life of Ignatius. Of their happy issue (November 18, 1538) we have already spoken.

The success of the Company at Rome brought the question of their mode of life urgently to the front. Unless something were settled at once, the Pope might send them to different parts and the fraternity would be scattered and must die out with the lives of the present members. They met, therefore, in the evenings, and proceeded to codify their plans. Hitherto, without any superior or any rule, they had prospered most remarkably. Why not continue as they had begun? Against this was the prospect of ultimately dying out; and again, without houses to train new members, no increase of achievement could be expected. They soon agreed, therefore, that they would form an institute and live by rule; but to go further and found a religious order seemed a work full of danger and difficulty. The reform of existing orders was now being everywhere discussed, and the prevalent feeling was not only against setting up fresh ones, but even in favour of uniting the smaller ones under a few approved rules. To the new men, however, with their new methods and new aspirations, to be taken up into a pre-existing order would have meant ruin.

This was the great difficulty, and even after the Company had resolved to face it, as they eventually did, they had prolonged objections from those outside, especially from some of the Cardinals on the commission of enquiry into their cause. The report of the debate among the Fathers is still extant and attests the many prayers offered and the spiritual exercises performed in order to obtain light from God on this point. But in the end they agreed unanimously that they would add the vow of obedience to those already taken, and so constitute a religious order. After this, progress became faster and finally on St. John the Baptist's day, June 24, 1539, they closed their sessions, which had lasted for three months. They had settled that there should be one general, and that his office should last for life. They agreed on the obligation of teaching catechism to children. They agreed to accept colleges for their own young men, and they sanctioned certain definite trials for novices, as making the "spiritual exercises" for a month, serving the sick, making pilgrimages, etc., but they did not attempt a complete scheme of legislation. Having settled certain leading features, and debated others, they left it to Ignatius to elaborate a more complete "formula Instituti."  This Institute was eventually approved viva voce by Paul III, on September 3, 1539, and next year, on September 27, 1540, it was confirmed by the bull—Regimini militantis ecclesiae.

Ignatius's self-effacement throughout the discussion is very remarkable. Though by meditation, prayer and thought he had, at least instinctively, much foreknowledge about the body that would be founded, yet he nowhere appears as claiming or exercising any more influence or initiative than the others. All points were discussed and debated openly, and were carried by simple voting, and this becomes the more remarkable in that several of these very Fathers have declared their belief that Ignatius foresaw many of the decisions by a light which they thought more than natural.

After the solemn confirmation of the Institute, a General had to be elected, and so all who were available were again summoned to Rome. Those who had already departed for far distant missions had left behind them their votes in writing. When they had assembled in April, 1541, they first spent three days in prayer; each one then wrote the name of him whom he judged most suitable, and then passed another three days in prayer, begging earnestly the assistance of God. Then they met and opened all the papers, those given beforehand as those given in now. All the votes, except his own, were for Ignatius. Upon this he made a detailed speech on the opposite side, explaining his many infirmities and the prospects of his getting worse; his many past offences and the scant hope of changes now. So he begged them to wait yet three days, and then vote again. They did so, and as before, all the suffrages, except his own, were unanimously in his favour. Again Ignatius spoke. Would they let him go to a confessor and tell him all the sins, bad habits, and delinquencies of the past, and then would they hear the confessor's verdict? This also was agreed to, and Ignatius went for three days to San Pietro in Montorio, and made a general confession to Padre Theodosio, a friar of the convent. In the next session, the friar's letter was opened, and it was found that he ordered Ignatius, in virtue of obedience, to accept the office; and so the election was completed.

It is worth while giving all these details, to show how diligent and prayerful was the procedure in affairs of this nature. The official minute of them, which I have here summarised, is written in Ignatius's own hand.

In the great basilica of San Paolo fuori le mure  Ignatius said Mass on the following Friday morning, and at it were pronounced his own vows of profession and those of his companions. With this public act the establishment of the Society was completed on April 22, 1541.

The Generalate

(1541–1556)

When Ignatius became general over a Society which was rapidly increasing, and spreading throughout the Catholic world, a great change came over the exterior of his life. No more journeys, nor missions, nor large-scale work for souls: he was now tied to Rome, to audiences with envoys and officials of every class, to routine work of every sort, and to an immense correspondence. Of this correspondence a great deal is extant and much, that is over 15,000 pieces, is already printed. The smaller half of this great number consists of his letters, instructions and proposals, and all but a few score are connected with his new office. Of the published correspondence, letters, reports and papers sent in to him are even more numerous than the missives; and there are probably many not yet discovered. It is not possible to make in this place any but the most wide, general appreciation of this great body of evidence.

Of course the change is in some ways a disadvantage for the biographer. It is far simpler and easier to imagine our Santo keeping the night-watch before Our Lady's Shrine, or starting penniless on foot for the Holy Land, than to realize his work for the Council of Trent, or in the cause of education. The life of the Master whom Ignatius imitated, also showed great changes. The simple, picturesque life at Nazareth, with its exquisite domestic virtues and its blessed toil in the carpenter's shop, passed into noisy scenes in Jerusalem, with long mission journeys surrounded by good, but still only partially responsive disciples. Finally, when they were sufficiently trained, the tide of pharisaical persecution rose and seemed to carry all before it. Therewith came yet another complete change, a period of long-drawn agony before the end, the consummation and the new life of victory. The changes were immense, but all consistent, and complementary one to the other.

The last phase of Ignatius's busy life was also the logical outcome of what had preceded. His own training was now complete his ideas matured, his immediate followers so formed that they could take his place in dealing with the outer world. What remained for the founder was to reduce his institution to rule, to elaborate its machinery and its customs, to look not only to essentials but also to accessories, to regulate its great efforts for education, to stabilize works of zeal, to establish precedents. Above all it was necessary to encourage and direct those whom he had sent out on important missions; and so to discipline the fervour of the rising generation that, remaining obedient to directions, it might constantly advance in vigour and energy.

The aspect of the Catholic world on which Ignatius now looked forth, was in some ways consoling, but in many others it was dark, ambiguous, unsatisfactory. The subject of reform was already in the air, though it took a generation or two to gain complete ascendancy. The cry for a General Council, everywhere heard and everywhere welcomed, would soon begin to be realized. One great obstacle was a spirit of quarrelsomeness, the readiness for fighting, the damnosa hereditas  of the rough past. In early times everyone Had to fight for safety; men always wore arms, every gentleman was, one might say, a soldier; and princes, feudal lords, and cities went to war with each other as readily as they jousted and tilted in sport. Hence perennial feuds between houses, countries, universities and trades, and even between religious clerks and orders. At the moment the chief contention was that between Valois and Hapsburg, France and Spain, while such countries as had been overrun by the new heresies were desolated by wars of religion. King Henry VIII had separated England from the old Church and under his terrible tyranny the liberties won by centuries of quiet progress fell, for the time, into abeyance.

The next great obstacle was the relaxation of morality. How easily war and the cult of force corrupt good morals is, in these days, but too well known. Besides this the luxury and the non-christian standards encouraged by the Renaissance had caused grave harm, all the more serious because its worst effect were worked in the higher and more intellectual circles. Not only was no progress being made in dealing with the backwoods, purlieus and off-the-line districts, which were still very large and numerous, and sheltered many century-old superstitions and bad customs, but even among churchmen (where good morale were maintained in words and generally also in deed) abuses were growing stronger, and simony was becoming more subtle and prevalent.

The third outstanding obstacle was wide-spread ignorance. Of course learning had made great progress with and since the introduction of printing but the cry for teachers was now out of all proportion to the supply; and the old simple lore, which had satisfied their sires, was almost an irritant to the rising generation, which positively lusted after new learning. On the opposite side there were also many obstinate conservatives, who regarded with suspicion every advance beyond the a b c's.

Spain was then the most powerful of the Catholic nations, and to Ignatius the Spanish powers were naturally favourable, and this tended to procure for him a rapid entry into those parts of Italy where Spain held sway. On the other hand Spain had both in Italy and, above all, in France, many enemies who were naturally prone to thwart the Spanish priest. With the ambassadors of King John of Portugal, at Rome, Ignatius got on very well, and that sovereign too was most favourable and helpful. By the partly Spanish Emperor, Charles V, Ignatius and his followers were also well received, and found thereby an easy entrance into Western Germany and Austria.

Progress in France was proportionately slow. Ignatius was intent on sending some of his most promising new postulants to make their studies at Paris, and so from the year 1540 a small colony of the younger men were settled first in the College des Tresoriers, then in the College des Lombards. Not long after July, 1542, Francis I declared war on Charles V and ordered all the emperor's subjects to leave France within eight days. Though this decree was soon after tempered by a permit for university students to stay on, half the Jesuits had already fled to Louvain, and the rest, though they tarried for a time, were constrained by a new alarm to betake themselves to Lyons, though they afterwards returned. Still the colony prospered and drew new members, though they were little known except in their immediate surroundings. It was not until the Council of Trent, which began at the end of 15451 that the good qualities of the Jesuits came clearly before the French bishops who attended it. After this Monseigneur du Prat, Bishop of Clermont, offered them his Paris house, The Hotel Clermont, which thus became the first Jesuit settlement in France (1550–1554.). Then difficulties sprang up with the clergy of Paris and with their Bishop, which were destined to lead to a prolonged feud.

IGNATIUS RETURNS FROM PARIS.

The before-mentioned Bishop du Prat having offered the Fathers a college at Billom in the Auvergne, where he wished to found a university, a colony from Paris and another from Rome here opened the first teaching college of the Society in France, in 1555. The previous foundations were what we should call "halls for religious students." So far as, buildings went, this progress was quite satisfactory; but in another respect Ignatius could not feel so well satisfied. The University of Paris and also the Parlement  (Law court) contained many stalwart Gallicans, that is, those who maintained it to be a right of the French Crown to claim exemption from the legislative authority of the Pope on many points. This led to jealousy, and to fault-finding with the new congregation just come from Rome. Before the sons of Ignatius could exercise the full right of teaching in France they must be recognized there as a religious order. The King, who was favourable, issued to them his patents, and Father Brouet, their Provincial, sent them to the Parlement  of Paris to be registered, for when that was done their legal existence would be ratified. But with excess of zeal, good Father Brouet thought he would improve matters by adding copies of the papal bulls already received by the Society, as the strongest testimony in their favour. This was tactically a mistake. Instead of registering the royal document, the Gallican stalwarts fell foul of the papal grants, which, they declared, were contrary to the Gallican Liberties. The Pope, for instance, had made them free from tithes and, in domestic arrangements, free also from the bishop's authority. Appealing to nationalist, Gallican, secular-versus-regular, and other prejudices, the Parlement  now refused to act and raised no little odium against the new-comers.

A smaller man than Ignatius would probably have answered by making a great fuss about the slight to the papal bull; but the Saint acted with perfect calm. He prepared the way for reconciliation by procuring the intercession of friendly rulers and magnates, with persons of influence in France. Again when, not long after, the Parlement  sent four doctors to Rome on other business (amongst them one of the ringleaders against the Society), Ignatius approached them in friendly intercourse and went into the whole question, and they confessed that they had been ill-informed.

The result was that eventually in 1564, when the Fathers obtained leave to open colleges in Paris, the Parlement  was found to be on their side. These troubles in Paris were symptomatic of the difficulties liable to arise while treating with rival conservative corporations in an excitable age, much given to litigation and dispute.

Nowhere did the work of the new order expand more rapidly than in Spain and Portugal, but Ignatius, situated in Rome, a month's post-time from the scene of these evolutions, found serious embarrassment in keeping such rapid changes under proper control. Portugal, under her pious and prudent king, John III, afforded the new order its greatest opportunities and its noblest triumphs. Her colonies in Asia, Africa and America were calling aloud for spiritual assistance; her universities most readily accepted Jesuit colleges. King John had at the first possible moment called for missionaries, and Ignatius had sent of his best, Francis Xavier and Simon Rodriguez. The latter eventually stayed in Lisbon, while Francis, sailing for the Indies, became, as we shall see later, perhaps the most widely successful missionary whom the world has yet known. At all events the Catholics, lately discouraged by the success of the Reformation and the falling away of so many peoples, were astonished and gratified by the extension of the Church over new realms even more extensive than those which had been lost.

Nor was this all. Brazil, and through it, America; Abyssinia, and through it, Africa—rose as visions of promise on the horizon of the new generation, and to all these inspiring prospects Portugal was opening the way.

Ignatius was inspired by a noble enthusiasm for these far-reaching projects, as numerous references in his correspondence show; but even more numerous were his letters about the internal growth of his order in Portugal, though here affairs had to pass through some painful crises.

These arose chiefly from the amiable, but none too firm, character of Father Rodriguez. Full of fervour and goodness, he made an excellent beginning (1540–1546) and soon founded two colleges, at Coimbra and Evora; Vocations multiplied; by 1552 the province already numbered 318. But the training given by Rodriguez did not exactly correspond with that of Ignatius, and especially was this so in the virtue of obedience, of which the Founder made so much account. Rodriguez did not mind debates and intercessions, and he himself often changed his mind. It was inevitable that his system should clash with that of head-quarters. Owing, however, to the great distance of Lisbon from Rome, in the circumstances of that day, it took time before the trouble was located, and more time still before it could be remedied. Being so great a favourite with all classes from the King downwards and having all his province brought up in his own traditions, it was necessary to bring in new superiors from Spain; and as the first of these did not play his cards with sufficient prudence, the affair, by 1551, had gradually become quite unpleasant, and Ignatius saw that Rodriguez must be recalled.

But again owing to distance, the measures ordered by Ignatius missed their mark; the special visitor, Father de Torres, misinterpreted his orders and kept in the background. By now, however, the confusion was growing so great that de Torres had to come forward and act effectively, though rather behind time. Father Rodriguez had to be sent to Rome, and a very large number of the members whom he had moulded, in fact more than half of the whole province, had to be retired from the order. From 318 members the number sank to 105! Never since has the Society suffered so severe a decimation. Rodriguez himself, on reaching Rome, clamoured for an impartial investigation, which Ignatius, knowing the facts and the temper of the Roman Province, dissuaded. But as the other insisted, a commission was appointed, and this, in the end, strongly blamed Rodriguez and declared him worthy of severe punishment. The whole incident was for Ignatius, one of the most painful of his life.

A similar grief was occasioned by Eliza beth Rosel, or Roser, one of the good women who had befriended him at Manresa in early days. Later on she migrated to Rome and made a vow to accept Ignatius's direction in spiritual matters. This gave her a right to call and to write to her director, which in time she carried to excess. Ignatius used to say that she gave him as much to do as the whole province of Fathers. But besides this, having made special friends with certain Fathers, she not only pleaded their cause with the general, but actively took the side of Father Zapata, who had got into trouble with his immediate superior. This was more than Ignatius would endure. He refused to continue her direction and she brought an action in the spiritual court, which, of course, she lost. Nevertheless the separation was a very painful one for Ignatius, and occasioned a special clause in the Constitutions, in which he forbids Jesuits to undertake the direction of women pledged by vow to accept it. To this we shall return in Chapter XIII.

In Spain, the beginnings were poor but prosperous in vocations. Father Araoz, the first member of the newly constituted order to work in that country, made an excellent impression, both at court and in the pulpits, and eventually became (1547) the first provincial. The most remarkable man to join their ranks was Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia, a great, holy and generous soul, now canonized. But there was also a remarkable movement among the undergraduates at the University of Alcala and elsewhere, who joined in considerable numbers. The province, therefore, was from the first well supplied with good and talented men, and broadly speaking, there were few countries, if any, which would have given Ignatius so much consolation as Spain. There were some severe trials, however, much like those of which we heard in Ignatius's early days. Good and learned men, distrustful of novelty and over-eager to scent out latent heresies, attacked The Spiritual Exercises, and the principles of the new order. Fra Melchior Cano, a noted theologian, and Siliceo, the Archbishop of Toledo, both appeared as aggressors; but the general favour was not sensibly diminished, and when the Jesuit apologias appeared, they easily carried the day.

In Germany, too, beginnings were prosperous. Jesuits attended the legates who were going about to arrange for the Council of Trent, and two of the order, Lainez and Salmeron, were also among the theologians of` the Council. The status and capacity of the order were thus favourably introduced and, the remarkable recruit, Peter Canisius, (Kanys, or perhaps de Hondt, a Dutchman by'' birth, now a beato) extended the order notably. in Cologne and Strassburg and at the Diets of Augsburg and the Convention of Worms.

Trusted alike by princes, bishops and people, Canisius was an unwearied worker in and out of the pulpit, and his pen was never idle. One of Ignatius's last acts was to appoint him (in 1556) provincial for the Rhine countries.

There was also by this time a province in Austria.

Ignatius and the British Isles

One might have thought that with the eighth Henry on the English throne, and at the height of his religious tyranny, Ignatius would have despaired of doing anything for so distant a country, where there was no law except the despot's will and no protection for those who wished to serve their God as well as they served their king. It is also true that during Ignatius's life none of his sons were able to dwell in England or to work there. Still this was not from want of good will, nor from ignorance of how to begin, nor yet from fear of taking the initiative. It was want of means which made the beginning so difficult; and Ignatius had passed away before his order was sufficiently developed to address itself with adequate forces to the difficult and dangerous work.

The first steps, however, were taken quite early, even before the first approval of the Institute in 1540. Somewhere in the year 1539 there was living in Rome a strenuous old Scotchman by the name of Robert Wauchope, who was soon after made Archbishop of Armagh by the Pope and was probably even then the agent in Rome for the Primatial See of Ireland. As his name seemed to the Italians impossible to pronounce, they called him "the blind bishop," for he was exceedingly short-sighted. But while this disabled him for work in his own diocese during the time of persecution, he was active in urging the Pope to send thither missionaries better fitted for that dangerous vineyard, and even after the first mission had proved abortive, as we shall see, he continued to urge the dispatch of new men. Pope Paul III, on his side, had at once approved of the idea and, in truth, the power of Henry in Ireland was then still to some extent circumscribed by the English Pale and there was still what seemed like a good chance of a Catholic revival among the Irish, who lived beyond it. So the Pope and Cardinal Pole, without whose advice and assistance no work for this country was then attempted in Rome, asked Ignatius to find men for the mission; and he appointed Jean Codure, and Alonzo Salmeron, for whom draft briefs were expedited in March, 1540. Their instructions comprised good works of many sorts, from starting grammar schools and savings banks, to looking for good men to be bishops and reporting on the state of religion in general.

Then delays ensued. There was important Jesuit business to be attended to, of which we have heard; and Wauchope was sent with a pontifical mission to Germany. In April, 1541, the bulls were redrafted and amplified. Then Codure's health began to fail, and he died in August. His place was filled by Father Paschase Brouet, accompanied by Francisco Zapata of Toledo, a candidate for the Society, and the labour of the pilgrimage was to count for him as part of his novitiate. In September they began their long journey on foot. Ignatius wrote to Faber that they had started omnibus dimissis, a pregnant scripture phrase for apostolic poverty. Ignatius also drew up for them special instructions on the manner of life they were to follow.

Their prospects did not grow brighter as they proceeded. At Lyons they met Cardinal David Beaton, the Primate of Scotland, to whom they carried letters of recommendation; for they had expected help from him in Scotland, on their way round to the North of Ireland. These letters they now delivered, and he gave them the best advice that he could. It was not encouraging. Henry, he said, had of late much increased his power in Ireland, and, now held "all the towns, fortresses and castles, as well as nearly all the ports." So he frankly, advised them to give up their journey. Being foreigners, he thought that their efforts would be certainly unsuccessful. But the two Jesuits were not easily to be daunted and in spite of the bad omen continued bravely on their way. They saw the need, however, of great caution, and to avoid the keen eyes of English intelligencers in the Channel ports, they walked on to Flanders, whence they finally embarked for Scotland. The sea journey in December was boisterous and they had to run into English ports twice over. They were well aware of their danger, yet could not conceal the fact that they were foreigners. Finally, however, they arrived safely at Leith on the last day of the year 1541.

In Scotland almost everyone, even the Irish, confirmed the opinion of Cardinal Beaton. Among Henry's latest crimes had been the beheading of the old and venerable Marchioness of Salisbury, and in Ireland his activities had been equally lawless and violent. He had lately managed. to impose his yoke on the chieftains outside the Pale more effectively than any of his predecessors had done; and he had now taken the proud title of King of Ireland, whereas previous kings had been satisfied with the title Lord of Ireland, which Adrian IV had granted to Henry II. The Tudor power was therefore at its height, far greater than it had been when the mission was decided upon. We can very well understand why everyone advised the Fathers to go no further.

Still the missionaries were determined to go on, and Brouet went to Glasgow to arrange for a passage, while Salmeron remained at the court of James V. The Scottish King, to whom Paul IV had commended his envoys, issued to them letters of commendation, one to the O'Neill, the other to the lords and nobles of Ireland (February 13, 1542). He probably also sent with them as guide, Farquhar Farquharson, who eventually accompanied the travellers back to Rome. With his aid the two Jesuits landed in Ireland a week later.

The reality which they now experienced they found to be, "as bad as they had been told, if not worse." Henry was not only victor; he had forced the chieftains to acknowledge his spiritual supremacy, and they had almost all done so. There was no escape from his tyranny except by flight or concealment. It was quite in vain to undertake that work of ecclesiastical reformation which they had come to attempt, a work which can only be carried on where peace and justice are to some extent established.

The subsequent report of the nuncios names O'Neill, O'Donnell and O'Connell [Onell sic] as the greater Irish chiefs; but says that their power was much reduced. Only some wilder parts of Hibernia Silvestris  were still unsubdued and even they had small chance of permanently maintaining their liberty. The O'Neill was willing to see them in secret, but the nuncios did not think this becoming. They were sheltered by some "Nobles," who are called "Maculin, Ochen and others"; but nowhere were they safe. The picture they draw of the tribal and blood feuds, by which the power of the Irish was divided and wasted, is extremely dark. The excesses of violence and immorality to which these perpetual quarrels led, "could hardly be believed by any one who had not seen them." The evil was so great that the national character itself seemed to be injured.

There was indeed a brighter side to the picture. There were some courageous bishops (Christopher Bodkin, Archbishop of Tuam, and the Bishop of Kildare are specially mentioned) who kept true and would not desert their flocks. Also there were "honest, sincere, God-fearing men, devoted to the Apostolic See, who 'had not bent the knee before Baal,' and who received us hospitably 'as the manner of the country is,' who devoutly came to confession and communion to gain the indulgences we gave them.' But such souls were unfortunately few, "very poor, and scarce able to defend themselves, much less to protect us."

Under these circumstances, the only course for the Fathers was to withdraw from "the probable danger of a death which was not attended with the hope of gaining spiritual fruit." So after a sojourn of thirty-four days, and having given away all the money they had received as offerings, they made their escape back to Scotland, where their return had almost been despaired of. From Edinburgh on Easter day they wrote the report to Ignatius, and another copy to Cardinal Cervini, from which we have quoted.

After waiting for an answer and not receiving one, they began their return journey. If they had waited longer, orders would have come telling them to work in Scotland, but these they did not receive till they had reached Paris.

They then reconsidered the situation and resolved that it would be better to complete their journey and report to the Pope before undertaking this new commission. They left Zapata at Paris with the young men who were completing their divinity studies, and bent their footsteps Rome-ward. At Lyons they fell under suspicion. War with Spain had given birth to many rumours about Spanish spies, and the wayfarers were immediately haled to prison. Fortunately there were two Cardinals (de Tournon and Gaddi) then passing through the town, and when appealed to, they immediately explained the situation. The prisoners were soon freed and, as it had now been settled to give them fresh work of some importance in Rome, they were provided with horses and completed their journey with greater ease and expedition than they had commenced it.

So ended an episode, the failure of which came from the extraordinary vigour of Henry's tyranny. It is not that he was the only sixteenth century tyrant. On the contrary, people submitted to Henry because practically all people then lived under tyranny. It was in degree that Henry exceeded. Others as well as he usurped and exercised the power of forcing consciences. A. new article was foisted into the creed, Cuius regio, ejus religio. (Let the Lord of the land be arbiter of duties to God.) In England and Ireland the disguise was a little better. The sovereign compelled men to give him the headship which the Church at large acknowledged in the Pope; and he did this with such violence that none could resist. Practically no one dared to consort with the envoys from Rome, and no immediate remedy for this evil could be devised.

On Ignatius's side, however, we recognize all the conditions requisite for success under more usual circumstances. What constancy, what goodwill, do not these men show; what superiority to danger and difficulty, what labour, what high principle! Under our present circumstances we can never be insured against all failure: but we feel where so many conditions for success are to hand, the results will not be often disappointing.

Ignatius had drawn up three papers of instructions for his envoys. One has been alluded to, the second contained points in preparation for the journey, the third was on "conversation and negotiation in domino." Unfortunately more space than we can afford would be needed to make them clear to the average reader; for they presuppose a training in the language and ideas of Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises, and also in the terms of the old Canon Law, which are not familiar now. Still, a few headings may be considered.

One point much insisted upon is the practice of Apostolic poverty by the envoys. Though they might travel at the Pope's expense, the money was to be carried and dealt out by Zapata; and when they arrived at the scene of their future labours, they were for a while actually to beg their bread, and they should begin by so doing. One thinks of Tetzel, and his disastrously easy receipt of alms but a few years before. One remembers also the fees which legates and nuncios required on occasion of the exercise of their faculties, and the complaints which this had occasioned for many generations back. One sees that a remedy, and a somewhat heroic one, was to be applied, though in fact nothing of the sort proposed could then be practised.

Begging in this way was familiar in the Middle Ages, though it sounds strange enough to us now. Another feature which may be thought remarkable by those who know how strongly Ignatius insisted upon obedience, is that here he appointed no definite superior, and he ordered that doubts as to the line to be followed were to be solved semper ad plures voces, "always by the greater vote." Perhaps he thought the authority of one over two others, too restricted to secure good discipline for the group. In the event, the experiment in "government by consent" worked well, and in his willingness to try it, Ignatius gave evidence of his adaptibility.

Ignatius's points "for conversation and negotiation in domino," while full of characteristic touches, are not easy to render into modern English, because he so often sums up in a word or two, some special line of thought which can not be readily grasped except by those familiar with The Exercises. Thus their translator must often expand and paraphrase in order to make his work intelligible.

If you want to negotiate for Christ, says Ignatius, learn a lesson from the devil, who, by his cunning, manages to negotiate even with good people, about actions to which they; are really quite averse. How does he do that? "He begins with  the person tempted, and ends with  himself." If his proposed victim is soft and sluggish, he begins with thoughts of ease, slides off to those of fleshly comfort, and so in turn proposes and negotiates about sinful pleasure. If the person tempted has self-respect, he may begin with some punctilio of honour, branch off on to what is irritating, and work around till he is negotiating on the subject of pride.

Fas est et ab hoste doceri. For Christ's sake employ the same method to attain a good end. Study first the nature of those you deal , with. Be gay and fresh with the young and vivacious; be grave and steady with the older and more sedate, always praise what is laud able; and this semper ad bonum, always aiming at eventual good. If you gain their love, you will be able to lead them to the good you have in view. You will come in their way and go out your own.

"With those who are sad, and under trial, be gracious, speak freely and fully, and show cheerfulness of heart and countenance. This will counteract their dominant sentiment ad majorem edificationem et consolationem."

"In all conversations, but especially in composing quarrels, and in spiritual conferences, be on your guard; accounting that everything said may be, or will, become public."

"In expediting business, be liberal of time. That is to say, if you promise for to-morrow; to-day, if possible, let it be done."

The last point forms an amusing comment on the weakness of Ignatius's countrymen, whose besetting sin is said to be summed up in the word manana, "to-morrow, to-morrow, and to-morrow."

Ignatius's first efforts for England ended unsuccessfully, but he did not give up the idea of assistance. He kept closely in touch with Cardinal Pole; and this not only for his own sake, but also because it was more or less certain that, when the Holy See should resume negotiations with England, Pole, would be y the intermediary. When at last at Queen Mary's accession, the Cardinal actually started as legate, Ignatius again endeavoured to impress upon him the value of the service which the college in Rome could offer to England. This college, popularly known as the Germanico, had lately been founded for training priests to labour in Northern Europe. Ignatius urged that English scholars should be sent over to Rome, to be trained for the priesthood. The future was to show that the means proposed were of even greater importance than either as yet foresaw. It was, no doubt, only the unexpected brevity of Pole's mission which prevented his making use of Ignatius's offer.

Nor was it Pole alone whom Ignatius addressed in his desire to send his religious subjects to work in Britain. He approached Philip II through the Jesuit Fathers then in Flanders; and besides, he ordered prayers for England throughout the Society. "We have ordered prayers everywhere, and by many posts," he wrote to Pole, "and we are sure that it was not the evil will of the people, but the malignity of the rulers, which has been the cause of the late troubles."

Ignatius was earnest in his desire to send preachers to England at once, but Pole and the Spaniards moved slowly, and it was only when Mary was dying, and Philip was sending the Count of Feria as a special ambassador, that Father de Ribadeneira went to England as his chaplain. But this Father had little or no scope for action. The only extant letter from him gives us no details of the great changes then taking place, though in his later printed books this talented writer does give the story in brief. On the other hand the Conde, afterwards Duke of Feria, played an important though, under the circumstances, not a very effective part in the great change; his dispatches are full of detail and deeply interesting. The prayers which Ignatius ordered for the conversion of England are continued to the present day, but they are now said not for England alone, but for "The conversion of Northern Nations."

The Council of Trent

(1546–1547)

The greatest event in the Catholic world during Ignatius's life was the celebration of the Council of Trent. Here the ecclesiastical and civil powers of Europe met to take measures for the ills of Christendom. Even Protestant envoys were present for a time. The need for wise counsel was never greater, and the sacrifices made during nearly thirty years (1536–1564) to keep the assembly together were most remarkable. On the whole, too, it was wonderfully successful. Never before had any council defined so large a body of doctrine, or insisted on so many points of reform. The obstacles, however, had been enormous. The Latin races, on whom the burden of the legislation fell, are not by nature "parliamentary" (to use a modern phrase); while the autocrats who ruled throughout Europe, though they called aloud for a council, were in practice inevitably unfavourable to its liberty.

The Jesuits were providentially called upon to play a considerable part during the second and third sessions; a somewhat strange fortune, when one considers how very recent had been their foundation, and how very small the number of their trained men.

Their position at the Council of Trent was really due to Pope Paul III, who took his theologians exclusively from the new order. The office of papal theologian was naturally one of no little distinction in such an assembly, even though it granted no "definitive," but only a "consultative" vote. In the preparatory discussions, the Fathers chosen had much to do with the arrangement and the codifying of proposals, and much to say in reporting the various commissions. The Pope gave no reasons for his selection. He simply summoned Ignatius and left the choice of men to him. It may be that he had special trust in the order, which he had himself tested and approved, but we are not able to analyse his mind further. It seems like another step in that providential disposition by which the first Jesuits, after dedicating themselves especially to the service of the Pope, soon became through him preachers and confessors at the courts of Catholic sovereigns, and from thence found rapid entry into Catholic cities and universities.

Lainez and Salmeron, whom Ignatius had chosen, arrived at Trent, May 18, 1545. Faber, who was to have accompanied them died on the way, and his place was not filled up; but two other Jesuits had been sent from Germany: Le Jay, one of the first companions had been appointed by the Archbishop of Augsburg as his procurator, cum voto definitivo, while Pere Corillon, a Belgian, had been', sent as a theologian by the Duke of Bavaria.

Lainez and Salmeron, belonging to the Pope's mission, were maintained by his alms; but still they had various spells of hard fare, especially during the migration to Bologna. Ignatius had given them special instructions on the manner of life they were to lead. They were especially enjoined constantly to visit the hospices for the sick and the poor, and this they did with good effect, saying Mass regularly and preaching in those squalid surroundings.

Their chief work, however, lay in the congregations and consultations. Lainez's wide reading and great memory made him most serviceable. The method of the Council was to begin the legislative procedure by a study of the false doctrines current in that day. Here the Jesuit's encyclopaedic knowledge proved invaluable, and he eventually received a sort of commission to draw up a treatise of the errors current at the time. In formulating for the congregation at large the results of the studies of this or that consulting commission Lainez also performed valuable services. Several of his discourses are preserved, one upon the doctrine of justification which took three hours to deliver, is especially noteworthy. Still, some writers on this subject have slightly exaggerated his merits. He has been said, for instance, to have declared that he would not quote any author, without having read him integrally; and then to have cited several score. However, the texts of his speeches which are now edited, show that this, and one or two other stories have given, by some inaccurate touches, a tinge of romance to performances which in sober fact were very commendable, without bordering on the impossible.

Our new materials also give us the story of a certain great lady, which is sufficiently characteristic to deserve a place here. Donna Leonora de Toledo, Duchess of Florence, was a great admirer of Lainez's sermons, and after he had been for some time lost to her among the Tridentine Alps, she set to work to obtain his recall. By those delicate arts in which ladies of her high position are so often proficient, she made steady progress in her suit and one day Lainez, amidst his most successful labours, received from Ignatius a letter of recall. Like an obedient man he was packing his bag, when the Cardinal Legates heard of the proposed change and immediately interfered. They could not possibly spare him; Donna Leonora's desires must remain awhile unsatisfied.

Perhaps we may smile at the way in which humano modo  the great lady so nearly got her way, in spite of all interests against her. But there may be circumstances, now in the background, which will explain the proceedings better. Lainez was really very fatigued and had later on to leave Trent, though only for a short holiday. Moreover, the Council itself was in some appearance of danger through the ravages of "the plague." Finally, the Protestants in Germany were beginning to take up arms and the continuance of the Council, at Trent, was threatened. Before long it had been resolved to move to Bologna and in March, 1547, the three Jesuit theologians, Lainez, Salmeron and Canisius, who had now joined them, left Trent. But Le Jay, who represented the Archbishop of Augsburg, remained behind. The Emperor had ordered all the bishops of his realms to stay; and the German and Spanish bishops obeying, the Council was thus divided. Though the papal party remained for some time at Bologna, nothing more could be done, and in September they began to disperse, although the Pope would not officially close the assembly. His death, however, in 1549, finally terminated this, the second session.

The next Pope was Julius III, who, as Cardinal del Monte, had been the first of the presiding Legates. It was natural, therefore, that he should have at once devoted himself to the continuation of the Council, and in July, 1551, Lainez and Salmeron were back again at Trent as papal theologians. Again they took a notable position in arranging the preliminaries of the session, in discussing and reporting on the matters under dispute with the Protestants.

The subject now to be defined was the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and on this Lainez spoke at length on the eighth of September; while Salmeron soon after reported on Communion under both kinds. In October they were speaking on the Sacrament of Confession, in December, on the Sacrifice of the Mass. In January envoys at last arrived from the Protestants at Wittenberg, but it will easily be believed, that they took a view of the Council's duties entirely different from that of the Catholics. They began by proposing that everything hitherto decreed contrary to their Confession of Augsburg, should be rescinded. Though this could not be made the subject of debate, the Council was not at all unwilling to hear, and study more closely, their new tenets. In spite of the general anxiety to get forward, all the decrees and canons then ready to be proposed and voted upon, were patiently adjourned; and time was freely given to discussions with the Wittenbergers.

No decisions were reached, but this does not at all prove that no good was done. On the contrary we may regard this interlude with much satisfaction, not only as a proof of the Council's good faith, but as an indication of its anxiety to get to the root of the current dissensions. I have found no indications of the parts taken by the Jesuits in these debates. They were closed by the Protestant princes of Germany rising once more against Charles V. The Council again recognized that the state of war must prevent free discussion and decision, and resolved to disperse (April 28, 1552).

Before this Ignatius had asked the Jesuit Fathers at Trent to inquire whether it would be possible to obtain from the Council an approbation of the Society. There was no doubt that the conciliar Fathers had had a good opportunity of seeing how the Jesuits worked; there was no doubt that in many places (Paris for example), where there was perennial jealousy at Papal approbations and privileges, a conciliar approbation would be received without demur. Ignatius's reasons were excellent, but the Jesuit Fathers at Trent were not fully satisfied. The Council being rather a legislative than an administrative body, they pointed out that the approbation of an order might appear to some to be beside its functions, so that the application might cause comment and, perhaps, no good. They had so far only consulted one of their friends, who had not been in favour of the project. If, however, Ignatius wished them to go further they would do whatever he should require. Needless to add, Ignatius did not urge his plan. It is interesting to see how free in staging difficulties these sticklers for obedience were, and how sensibly and straightforwardly they explained their case.

While the bishops at Trent neither gave, nor were asked to give a vote in approbation of Ignatius's Society, they did in fact come to know and appreciate it, as they had had no opportunity of doing before. This was a matter of no small importance for the order. After his return from Trent, Bishop du Prat formally introduced the Jesuits into France, founding three colleges for them. They also secured the powerful patronage of the Archbishop of Granada, don Pedro Guerrero, of great assistance in stormy days yet to come. The Fathers also secured the friendship of D. Guttiere de Carvajal, who was in time to found for them the college of Plasencia.

Ignatius did not live to see the conclusion. of the Council, 1560 to 1.563; but his sons continued there the labours they had undertaken in the earlier sessions. Lainez and Salmeron. were still papal theologians; Canisius was also there.

It will not be necessary to descend to details for this post-Ignatian period, though it may be mentioned that both Lainez and Salmeron were on the commission which declared attendance at Elizabeth's new services to be illicit.

India, Africa and America

Regarded merely as a mission, the Irish expedition was certainly a failure: but the magnificent vigour and courage there displayed were to bring forth abundant fruit in more distant, but less inhospitable regions.

In this matter of missions it was with Ignatius, as with his Master. Neither went out in person to preach to the heathen, but both knew that such missions would become essential to the development of their work. In the Acts and Epistles we find missions regarded with enthusiasm; and in the scheme of Ignatius the reports and letters of the foreign missionaries are put forward as evidence, obvious even to the dullest, that the work of the order was according to the Will of God. In following their adventures we are also studying the manifestations of Ignatius's spirit and watching the results of his training.

Francis Xavier was, as we have heard, one of the earliest of Ignatius's companions, and most intimately and affectionately united with him. When the first companions were being sent on various distant missions, Ignatius at first kept Francis near him to act as secretary and, perhaps, to succeed him as General in case his own frail health should break down. Francis took part in the discussions which preceded the foundation of the Society. But before the papal approbation was granted, he had been appointed with Simon Rodriguez, at the request of King John III of Portugal, to evangelize the far-flung colonies of that country. Portugal was then the mistress of the seas. Her merchants had established trade routes southwards, first to the Canaries, then to the Cape, finally round to India; and now they were negotiating with China and Japan. The support of such a power promised access to mission fields of the greatest importance. So Mascarenhas, the Portuguese ambassador in Rome and an admirer of Ignatius, managed without great difficulty to obtain the promise of two Jesuits, who were to have been Rodriguez (already in Spain) and Bobadilla. But when Bobadilla was taken very ill just as Mascarenhas wanted to start, Xavier took his place. Two days later, March 16, 1540, he started for Lisbon, leaving behind him in a sealed envelope, his vote for Ignatius as General.

Francis reached Lisbon about June and, as had been the case with Rodriguez, made the happiest impression at court. His bright manly and good-natured talk made him a universal favourite, and the King wanted to keep both the Fathers at Lisbon and obtain new missionaries from Ignatius. But there were none to be had; so it was settled that Rodriguez should stay behind, and that Francis should sail with the next fleet that took out reinforcements and supplies to the Indian and East Indian garrisons and colonies. Starting on April 7, 1541, the fleet made a journey of what would seem to us unendurable fatigue and labour, not reaching Goa till May 6, 1542. But Francis rose manfully to the occasion, living and conversing with the men, and taking every means to fight against monotony, to keep them amused and occupied. He became everyone's friend; and according to Ignatius's idea, having "entered with them, he brought them out with himself," and kept numbers true to their religious duties, in spite of the multitudinous adverse influences.

Arrived in Goa he employed the first five months in establishing himself in that city, going about the streets with a bell to call the children to church, where he catechized, taught and formed them with excellent success. He also became well acquainted with the clergy, the governing class and the motley inhabitants of the town, which was henceforth to be the base of his operations. In October he started on the first of his four great missionary journeys, working southward down the Pearl Coast and eventually reaching Ceylon. His imagination was fired by the thought that Saint Thomas the Apostle had once preached here, and in imitation of apostolic simplicity, he led the most poor and strenuous missionary life, penetrating into the Indian towns and villages, leading their life and preaching in their language. Amidst many successes, he found also many a cross and obstacle, the bad example and vicious habits of some of the Portuguese being especially injurious.

From September, 1545, to December, 1547, he spent his time in evangelizing first Malacca and its neighbourhood, then the Moluccas. He was here more and more among the natives, sometimes shipwrecked, sometimes in danger of death from Mohammedan pirates, sometimes in hiding from native chieftains. But the more he was cut off from intercourse with civilization and its satisfactions, the more he abounded in the graces that came from intercourse with God. His yearning affection for Ignatius and his companions comes out in little flashes such as this: in circumstances where he was unable to take even a letter with him he would cut off the signatures of letters in his correspondence, and carry them on his breast. It was during this journey that he began to learn about the islands of Japan, and the knowledge gradually enkindled in his mind the desire of introducing Christianity among them. He found a Japanese, named Anger, on his return to Malacca in 1547, and set to work to learn the language from him. Finding, however, that his presence was needed at Goa, he promptly returned there, taking Anger with him.

Ignatius, impressed by the success of Xavier, had, from time to time, sent him considerable reinforcements. The Jesuit mission in India had been raised to the status of a province, with Francis Xavier as its first provincial; hence the necessity of his return to Goa, his base, to organize. During the years 1548–1549 Francis established a series of mission centres to carry on the work he had commenced, and he braced and encouraged the distant labourers by his long and detailed letters, many of which are still preserved. In June, 1549, having acquired some acquaintance with Japanese, Francis started for the Far East in company with one Jesuit priest, one lay brother and the Japanese catechist Anger. They landed at Kagoshima in Japan, on the fifteenth of August and were soon at work translating the principal articles of the Faith and other short treatises into Japanese. Then Francis began to preach and he made some converts. But this success so irritated the local bonzes, that they drove him out of the town. He wandered toward Meaco, and the centre of Japan, often persecuted by the bonzes and disturbed by the then frequent tribal wars and feudal contentions. Conversions were fairly frequent and were destined to increase rapidly in the not distant future.

After two and a half years in Japan, Francis was again recalled to Goa, where friction had arisen between those preaching on the missions and those working in the college. When these troubles had been allayed, Francis's heart was again on fire for a new field of labour. This time his mind was centred o China. During his work in Japan he had heard much about the Celestial Empire, and though much was still unknown to him, he well understood how wide a field it would afford for the propagation of the Gospel. Knowing something of the extreme exclusiveness of the Celestials, he applied himself energetically to find some method of introduction. At last it was agreed that he should sail as an ambassador from the Portuguese Viceroy of India, and that high official furnished him with all necessary credentials and commissions. Leaving Goa in April, 1552, he at last reached Sancian, a small island not far from Canton, beyond which, according to Chinese orders, the Portuguese trading vessels were not allowed to proceed. There had been various hindrances raised by the Portuguese traders at Malacca and elsewhere to this missionary journey, which they seemed to fear would make trade more difficult. At Sancian the difficulties arose again and a considerable delay ensued, though according to Francis's letters, his hopes of final success never wavered. At last, however, the symptoms of serious illness made themselves evident, and he was put ashore, as the rocking of the ship aggravated his malady. There, lying on the ground under a thatch of palm leaves, unattended save by one lay brother and an old Chinaman, with his eyes fixed on the distant mainland he had come so far to evangelize, the heroic missionary breathed his last, and the ten years work of Ignatius's greatest disciple were closed.

It was marvellous that one man should in so short a space have visited so many new countries, have traversed so many seas, and converted so many thousands of unbelievers. His body resisted natural corruption, which in those countries proceeds so quickly. It was carried back to Goa and received with triumphant veneration. Nor was this the only wonder associated with his name. Even during life there were reports of his miracles; it was attested that he had even raised the dead.

So long as exaggeration is avoided, it is not unfair to regard Francis as the model of what Ignatius would have become had it been his lot to preach the gospel. Francis was Ignatius's most apt pupil, and so nearly his second self that Ignatius recalled him to take his own place as General. The letter gave a mere intimation of the command, and was signed by Ignatius's initial only, and the Saint did not doubt that Francis's obedience would have been immediate, in spite of his enthusiasm for the missionary life engendered by successful preaching. But the missionary was dead before the letter arrived.

The virtue which Francis developed to such an extraordinary degree was faith. He realized most intensely what the value of each soul was in the estimate of the Redeemer Who had loved each, and delivered Himself to death for each. To bring souls to God thus became to Francis a passion. People were astonished at this university scholar, who, remaining full of admiration for all that was highest in his old Alma Mater, also devoted himself without stint to any passing wayfarer. He would strike up intimacies with all sorts of roughs and wastrels, and that merely to get them once more into the right way; then he was off again after like uninviting quarry, without even a thought of living on amid those who would be grateful to him. His achievement was vast, though he was also sometimes unsuccessful for a time, sometimes also mistaken in his calculations. Yet perseverance never failed, and wonderful successes were not infrequent. Ignatius was kept by Providence in Rome, at the head of disciplinary arrangements, training, encouraging, correcting, directing. While scrutinizing others, he was in turn ever scrutinized by his young disciples, and tested by the standards which youth respects, especially by correctness of discipline. Our memoirs of the older Saint are thus largely from those who once looked up to him as to a schoolmaster in matters spiritual, rather than from those who lived with and loved him with the simplicity of children, or the freedom of brothers.

In Francis Xavier we see the same training and the same rules develop in quite different situations and circumstances, amidst all sorts and conditions of men, and by preference amid strangers, heathens and the uncivilized. The fire of zeal was sure to burn more fiercely and openly in the second case, with far less preoccupation about appearances.

In this way the two men act each as the other's complement, and illustrate an ideal from very different points of view. Both Christ-like, we may recognize some trait of the likeness sooner or better in the one than in the other. But different though they are, the family likeness between them in certain features is also strongly marked.

We may now return once more to Ignatius as a director of missions. In 1547 he began a mission up the Congo, again at the request of the Portuguese. Its commencement was rather successful, but with the failure of the Portuguese to establish their colony firmly the mission weakened and was soon in difficulties. The expedition of Father Nobrega to Brazil in the same year was more felicitous. Father Anchieta, who followed three years later, turned out to be a missionary of the first rank and his life work of forty years still bears extensive fruit in Southern America.

In 1555 was begun the difficult mission of Abyssinia. Christendom had for long delighted in the legend of Prester John, the priestly King who had fought battles without number with the Moslem and other unbelievers, and whose realm remained a sort of out post of Christendom. The legend was as old as the crusades, and even older, and varied greatly in detail according to travellers of different generations. Gradually, however, it became identified with the history of the Negus of Abyssinia and lent enough glamour to his fortunes to draw out sundry fervent friars in the fourteenth century, to help to evangelize that country, so difficult of access while the Mohammedans held the Nile; so difficult to live in because of the endless tribal wars. Ignatius would no doubt have heard the legend in the days when he read the romanceros;  and now that the Portuguese traders were approaching the country by the Red Sea route, an appeal to him for missionaries awakened an old enthusiasm. He applied himself with energy to the preparation of a band of missionaries, and all Rome took up the cause with interest. The Pope created Father Nunez, the mission leader, a patriarch, and he had as many as ten companions, a large mission staff for those days. Ignatius died before any result had been obtained, and this was perhaps a mercy. For though the mission reached its objective and was eventually carried on, despite the endless wars, for two centuries, the first fruits were disappointing, missionary labour so often is.

Still the mission field must have brought much consolation to Ignatius's later days. Two of his sons died martyrs, Father Antonio Criminale and Father Mendez, in 1549 and 1552, and in both cases, martyrum sanguis semen ecclesiae  (martyr's blood, seed of the Church), the faith took firm root among the witnesses of their constancy. The letters from the missions, giving accounts of the apostolic labours and the apostolic harvest, were eagerly read in Europe, and brought the achievements of the infant "Company of Jesus" vividly before the minds of the rising generation. It was, broadly stated that the new Society had won as many souls for the Church, as Luther had wrested from her. Ignatius had certainly much to thank God for, before he died.

The Work of Education

Quite out of the common as was the mass of work thrown upon the first Jesuits, when they went out to labour in different countries, the class of work, so far as we have at present seen, was what we might have expected. From the first, Ignatius and his colleagues had devoted themselves to familiar conferences on religious matters, to catechizing, to preaching and giving The Spiritual Exercises. But as soon as they had grown into a body, they at once found themselves called upon to strike out in a new direction, to devote a very large part of their time and talents to the work of education pure and simple. Teaching the elements of the Faith to children and the uneducated was one thing; giving instruction in Latin and Greek classics was another.

Ignatius, though not absolutely from the first, had quite early recognized that in his own century at least, one had to be well educated if one was to preach Christ effectively and to all the world. He had devoted himself laboriously to educating himself and he had chosen his followers from among the university class; but he had not so far looked to the carrying on of the work of higher education by his Society. There is small wonder that the Saint should have thus insisted upon a high degree of education, while he was living in a Catholic university atmosphere, where excellent recruits could be found with little difficulty. But with the very rapid increase of work, he soon saw that the need for labourers was unexpectedly great; then that it was not so essential that absolutely everyone should reach the educational level of a doctor in divinity; and thirdly, that a large portion of his recruits were too young to allow of their being quickly ordained and sent out to work.

This led to two developments. Ignatius decided to admit into the Order priests of less striking parts, who were fully capable of ordinary work in churches, in houses of the professed and in colleges. Such priests he called spiritual coadjutors or helpers, because they were to help the Professed Fathers and leave them more free for missions at the Pope's order, for preaching and the like. Secondly, for the young men's sake the Founder undertook the work of educating them, not only in matters spiritual, but also in litteris humanioribus.

The idea of education came gradually. In the first meetings of which we have record (March to June, 1539) there is no mention at all of the subject; it does not seem to have been contemplated.

In the bull which cited and sanctioned the first formula of the Institute, September 27, 1540, we read that the Society "may have a college or colleges in Universities" for the education of students. Among the students some, it seems, would be postulants, some novices, some scholastics and priests, already admitted to their first vows.

In one of the preliminary meetings, held on March 4, 1541, for the elaboration of the first formula into "constitutions," we see that the colleges so far contemplated were, as we should say, "halls of residence," with Jesuit presidents and staffs. The students, as those from other colleges of that day, would attend the university lectures. "No estudios ni lec ciones en la Compania"  are the clear words of the report.

But experience soon showed that the needs of the day called for further developments. When Brouet and Salmeron were sent to Ireland, their instructions (of 1540) ordered; them to open "grammar schools." Houses, halls or colleges of the class described above; were founded quite early at Lisbon, Padua, Coimbra, Louvain, Cologne, Alcala. But the Catholic public almost at once demanded that the Fathers should not only open schools, but also teach the students, as well as catechize the children and the illiterates, and founders of colleges insisted upon this. Teaching colleges, therefore, were developed in considerable numbers, and by the year 1550,—when the original formula  approved in 1540, was again approved with the modifications introduced by the experiences of the first decade—a considerable expansion of the early idea was sanctioned. Now collegia  were not only to be in universities, but ubicunque, "wheresoever" devout men would build and endow them. The Society, too, now inserted the word lectiones, "lectures or lessons," as among the primary duties—the very word which had been excluded in 1540.

This same year, 1550–1551, there was begun in Rome itself a considerable establishment, soon called The Roman College, which as such still exists, though of course much modified. This very successful foundation, erected and disciplined under Ignatius's own eye, became a sort of model for Jesuit colleges everywhere. Ignatius himself says as much in the seventh chapter of the fourth part of his constitutions, which treats of this subject. This chapter on "Schools" is also noteworthy, as perhaps the last added to the constitutions. It is not in the draft prepared before the congregation of 1550. It is found in the final revision issued after that congregation.

A few words must be added here on the subsequent development of the Roman College, for Ignatius's small commencements received afterwards great and numerous additions. At the present day the Italian Government, after ejecting its original owners, still preserve it as the chief school of Rome, and have turned its great library into the State Library for the Italian Kingdom. There were other great revolutions before this. Ignatius, after zealously begging for the sustenance of this infant college during its first years, at last prevailed on Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia, himself later a Jesuit and a saint, to become its founder in the full sense. A generation later the generous Pope Gregory XIII, thinking its scale was still too narrow, very greatly increased the foundation and endowment, so that, honoris causa, he is often styled Founder. Later on Cardinal Ludovisi added a large and stately church. Other benefactors gave museums, books, and gifts of every sort. These, however, were largely dissipated during the French Revolution, but the College was restored to the Jesuits after the Napoleonic wars, and continued under their charge till 187o. Its great lecture halls were crowded with students, among whom special mention should be made here of the scholars from the English, Scottish and Irish colleges, which, after Ignatius's time, were under Jesuit management. The Roman College theological lectures are still continued at the University Gregoriana, at no great distance from the ancient college.

The so-called German College is the next most important of Ignatius's educational foundations. His original idea was to establish it for all the nations affected by the Reformation, and several letters of his are extant commending it to Cardinal Pole, and offering to receive English students among the others. In effect a few did come later on; but the foundation of a separate English College, 15718, naturally put a final end to this project, which had never made much progress. The college still continues and has seen many changes of fortune, according as the Catholic or Protestant party at home has held the upper hand. The World War wrought its own havoc there. During Ignatius's time it was very poor and there was difficulty in finding support for it in distant, troubled Germany. Perhaps Ignatius had no harder work during his latter years than in organizing support first for the Roman, then for the German College.

To sum up: in adapting his Institute to teaching, Ignatius made a development of his original plans, greater than he attempted in any other direction. From the first he had thought of a religious order to imitate the life of Christ, and this object always remained without variation. But the idea of undertaking education came by degrees. It was only after a year that he recognized that he must educate himself; then came life in the universities, and gradually an appreciation of the necessity for having his companions all highly educated; they must be able to explain and illustrate scripture and revealed religion before the most critical audiences; while they must also teach catechism to the ignorant and to children.

With the admitting of young recruits, came, first the obligation of providing hostels; and thence in rapid succession was recognized the need of teaching colleges, even for the higher courses. Finally, if Ignatius would thus teach both the rudest and the most advanced it was clearly impossible for him to turn away from the prime need of the rising generation of that day; the organization of boys' schools on a large scale, which had not been needed, nor thought of, nor provided for in the Middle Ages. Of course there had been schools, and very praiseworthy institutions they were, but their homely staffs and very restricted numbers made them quite unfit to meet the cry for improved and extended schooling, which the Renaissance had evoked.

With this development of programme there had to be a simultaneous development in the Society's Institute itself, especially in the matter of poverty. Ignatius had here two New Testament principles before him. First, "Blessed are the poor"; whatever happens his company must have personal poverty. Then "Gratis you have received, gratis give." If the Company has acquired any educative power, it must give it away again gratis. For teaching, as such, there must be no recompense. This bar, however, need not be extended to remuneration for rent, or house-hire, food, books, paper and other adjuncts, which must be provided in abundance for modern education. Keeping these two principles with their corresponding limitations, in view, Ignatius decided that, while living on charity and even on alms was to be the normal state of the Jesuit, there was no reason why the students should not, as a class, be supported on charitable donations which had been funded. He himself had found by experience that this was the better course. With papal approbation, therefore, he prescribed this for his order; taking care however that, while such colleges had revenues, the professed Society should not be billeted upon them, but that their houses should continue to live upon alms as before.

With regard to what Ignatius called a "college" and we should more generally call "public school," it was usually a day-school in a town, but occasionally, a "boarding school" or as he would say, collegium et convictus. There was at first so much competition among Catholic towns and states to obtain a Jesuit college, that the Father General was generally able to name his own terms; and he normally insisted on a foundation sufficient for a full staff, as well as for all teaching purposes, so that the college should be free from any temporal care or worry. In reality, however, money matters, however well managed, are always changing; and colleges once well established might grow poor, and in fact often did so. In this case it was decided that it would not be illicit to receive pensions from the scholars, to make up for the deficiency of the foundation, so long as the teaching itself was not charged for. It was by combining fixity in principle with adaptability in detail, that Ignatius's colleges so soon reached a level which everyone in his day looked up to and admired. The scholars' exhibition days were before long elaborate literary displays, and brought the college stage to a prominence at which we should now wonder. Where philosophy or theology were taught, public disputations were held by the scholars on the theses they had studied in classes; and the echoes of these discussions often resounded afar. Moreover, the Society now became engaged in numerous pedagogic pursuits, in editing classical authors, grammars, and school books of every sort. School hygiene attracted attention; pious sodalities multiplied apace; the Jesuit College became one of the centres of life and activity, both mental and spiritual, in the township.

It is part of the praiseworthy vitality of the order which Ignatius founded, that its schools never stood still. There was always some life and change, sometimes a good deal. In the Founder's time all was still on a relatively small scale. But the principles which he laid down, were sound and well drafted, and have successfully sustained all later superstructures.

The Constitutions

Pictures and images of Saint Ignatius most frequently represent him with a book in his hand. This does not mean, that he was a prolific author; indeed, his writing was very laboured and lacking in facility of style. The book represented is always The Constitutions of the Society, and without a doubt nothing can be more characteristic of the Saint than that small but remarkable volume.

The ideal which that volume endeavours to realize, is that of a priestly order animated by a martial spirit. If we look back in Ignatius's history for the first manifestation of that ideal, we find a rudimentary form of it in that meditation of The Spiritual Exercises, which is called, The Kingdom of Christ. Here Ignatius reflects that among Christians there will be sure to be a certain number who will endeavour to signalize themselves in His service, and will labour to make themselves more and more perfect in virtue, in order to form round Him a group or squadron of more sincere and effective followers. Thus already by the year 1522, we have some idea of a body of men dedicating themselves to the work for which the Jesuits were eventually to live. So far, however, there was no proposal of forming a corporation marked by special discipline.

In 1524 at Barcelona we find Ignatius still in doubt whether it would not after all be preferable to enter into some older, or perhaps relaxed, order, of which he might renew the ancient fervour. But he decided that it would be better to gather new disciples around him, and he began to do so, though at first without permanent success.

It is in Paris, during and after 1530, that he wins followers who hold firmly and zealously to his example. But he makes no rules, introduces no promises, there is no preparation at all yet for a corporate union.

In 1534, the original followers take their first religious vows at Montmartre; they insensibly begin to live as Jesuits, without however having any binding link one with another.

In 1539 comes the prospect of separation in order to carry out the missionary projects of the Pope. Unless some corporate obligation is undertaken now, the brotherhood must eventually fall to pieces. Under this quasi-constraint, the idea of joining into an order suggests itself and is accepted. The Pope approves of the idea, in 1540 his solemn approbation is given, and the Society is founded.

1541 to 1546. Ignatius being elected General is commissioned to write constitutions, but he proceeds gently and with measured steps. At first he confines his attention entirely to the introduction of appropriate customs, which, as experience shall approve, he will change into laws. Meantime he insists much on uniformity, and draws up many small papers of directions for special cases, some of which have been referred to above. But they are so specialized for the requirements of individual cases that they can have little direct influence on the legislation that is to regulate the whole Society in all times and places.

In 1547 Ignatius seriously undertook the drafting of the constitutions, and with the help of secretaries he accomplished the task in about two years. In the year 1550, he assembled all the old Fathers that could be spared, (with whom were one or two younger men, not yet priests,) to revise them. While accepting everything in substance, they offered him a certain number of written comments, which he worked into his draft, and at the same time he prepared a brief resume of the principal points of the Institute, which were then embodied in a new bull of Pope Julius III, beginning Exposcit debitum. With this the constitutional lines of the religious order were, broadly speaking, completed and the next step was to promulgate the Constitutions and to put them into execution.

In 1552 the promulgation was entrusted by Ignatius to Father Jerome Nadal, who travelled first in Sicily, then in Spain and Portugal, and finally in Germany. During all this time smaller touches and corrections were being added by Ignatius, to his work, which had not yet been printed.

It was only after the Founder's death that the Constitutions were printed by the General Congregation of the Order, which was summoned to elect his successor. They accepted his text as final, and so it has been regarded ever since, having never been changed, except in a detail or two here and there, as is inevitable in the laws of every vital human society.

Reflecting on this series of dates, one cannot not but be struck by the contrast they offer to the work of hurried legislators, to the productions of lightning journalism. Ignatius's ideas took over thirty years to work out, and he never saw them in print. While we must recognize in this man an unusual power of codification, which showed itself quite early in the various "Rules" appended to The Spiritual Exercises, and in great abundance in those "instructions," of which he was at first so prolific, we cannot but notice at the same time the greatest possible restraint in imposing obligations. In fact, he died before the probationary period of his laws was declared over, and one of the features which distinguishes his ordinances from those of other founders, is the lightness of their binding force. Per se  they never oblige under pain of any sin.

Perhaps some may imagine that this life-long period of gestation cannot have been continuous in any real sense, and was perhaps only a series of spasms, one far distant from the other.

Of course, as this Life  has already shown, Ignatius was intensely interested in many other objects besides his own order; but the time and thought he gave to it exclusively was still astonishing, and an interesting proof of this is given by the few pages of a journal of prayers, which he kept while considering a point of the Constitutions which one might have thought to be of minor interest. Ignatius recommended the keeping of such journals and also their destruction, rather than letting them fall into the hands of others. This practice he carried out with great regularity, but by a happy oversight these few pages escaped the fire, and chronicle quite simply, and no doubt quite faithfully, his lights in prayer during the forty days he was weighing the question whether the churches of professed houses should have revenues. As these churches were to all intents and purposes for the people, it might well have been imagined that they might have been left free from the self-imposed abstinence from revenues, which the professed were called upon to practise. But Ignatius doubted this, and applied himself to prayer for forty days for light to make sure that his decision did not spring from any worldly or low motive, but solely from the love of God. Day after day therefore, Mass, meditation, office and other devotions were offered up for this intention, and day after day he noted down the abnormal graces in prayer, with which he was favoured. I do not say that any single grace was on a plane quite different from the experiences of ordinary devout Christian souls. But the forty days' sequence of lights is most unusual and remarkable. The entire and continued absorption in the things of heaven, which they reveal, the tender devotion, the high and lasting elevation of thought, produce in the reader a profound feeling that the orante  was surely, animated by no other wish than the sincerest desire to judge according to the divine standard, that he acted from no merely human or unworthy motive.

If, as is most probable, every problem was debated with the same thoroughness and if some more important points were considered with even greater care, we may cease to wonder at the years which passed while Ignatius kept these matters in mind.

It would be impossible to summarize or explain the contents of the little book of Constitutions  here, for that would involve the reader in disquisitions on the canon law relating to monastic orders, and on the history and spirit of the times amidst which those Constitutions  were developed. In general it may be said that they are inspired with an exalted spirit of charity, and with great zeal for religious perfection. Generally, those who find fault with them have never read them, or never taken the trouble to understand them.

Their technical terms are sometimes misunderstood. One well known instance of this is the phrase obligatio ad peccatum, which many writers, who ought to have known better, have translated by "an obligation to commit sin," as if the phrase had been obligatio ad peccandum. The real meaning is "an obligation under (or, up to) sin" such being the highest pressure which a religious superior can bring to bear on one who has vowed to obey him. It shows the gravity of the offence, if the subject does not obey. Monod in his introduction to Bohmer's essay on The Jesuits  (Paris, 1910, pp. 13, 14) comments severely on the above mistranslation, so frequent in anti-Jesuit writers.

It is a popular misapprehension to say that the Society was founded in order to combat Protestantism. In reality neither the Constitutions, nor the papal letters of approbation bear this out. While insisting on religious and zealous motives, they never mention the conflict with heresy. The first object of Ignatius's' zeal was to preach and work in the lands over-run by Moslems. To Protestant countries he sent his missionaries only by special command of the Pope, and to Germany at the solicitation of the Imperial Ambassador. It is true, however, that, as the scope of the Society enlarged, she found herself ever more and more engaged with the propagandists of the new doctrines, who were then the most active enemies of the Church. Some good judges have declared that this contest has been the Society's greatest work; but comparisons like this are always somewhat hazardous.

The chief authority in the order is vested in a General Congregation, the members of which are elected by the professed. It is convened regularly after the death of each General in order to choose his successor. If summoned during a General's life, it has power to depose him, and even to expel him. It could also add new constitutions or abrogate old ones, though it has never done either. Thus authority in the Society eventually rests on a democratic basis. However, as the Congregation in fact meets but rarely, the chief authority is as a rule in the hands of the General, who can do anything within the scope of the Constitutions, though he cannot change them. He has a council of specially elected Fathers, called Assistants, with whom he has to take counsel in the transaction of business. Before a General's death he names a Vicar to act until the Congregation elects a successor.

We may next notice some of the special features of Ignatius's Institute. (1) The title, Company, or Society of Jesus, was not only new; it met with some strong opposition. Pope Sixtus Quintus was resolved to change it and had made every preparation to do so, when he fell ill and died. His successor, Gregory XIV, was of a different opinion and confirmed the title with a special brief. The objection in the mind of Sixtus seems to have been that the Jesuits' title brought the Holy Name into too frequent use. But popular feeling among Catholics was not shocked by it. The objectors were generally literati  or members of rival religious orders, not infallible judges of public taste on the widest scale. The peoples' taste was better indicated when it imposed on the order the name of "Jesuits" (see above, chap. VII), turning the previous word of reproach into a title of honour.

(2) Another special feature in the new order was that it did not sing office. The older monastic orders had as a rule made this chant the first and principal of their occupations: and Ignatius's innovation was not accepted without difficulty. No less than three Popes, Paul IV, Pius V, Sixtus V, imposed upon the professed the obligation of reciting it solemnly, without, however, making any statutory provision for its permanence. Pope Gregory XIII confirmed the exemption from choir, which has never been reimposed since.

A man who spends eight hours every day chanting in choir has not, as a rule, time for further work. Of course some strong and active minds will be found in every community, who will be capable of further exertions, even after their eight-hour day. But an order which does its full duty in choir has, as a body, neither leisure nor strength for much more corporate work. Ignatius saw that the Church then did need much more corporate work beyond the solemn recital of office. That was no doubt a most honourable and blessed occupation. Ignatius would not dream of excusing his sons from the recital of office in private and the devotions which he imposed, amounted altogether to four hours a day, quite a respectable first tax on anyone's energies. The remaining hours would be absorbed in the work of the colleges, or in that of the pulpit, etc. Such activities could not be assumed unless the greater part of the day were entirely devoted to them.

(3) Absence of religious habit and fixed rule of life. The older orders were very, very uniform in habit, in horarium, in meals and mode of life, and this in all climes and countries. But Ignatius knew that men living in different countries and climates and in daily conversations with different peoples, in all parts of the globe, could not possibly observe a stereotyped uniformity in such matters. So he took as his official standard, the ordinary external form of life followed in different countries by "honesti sacerdotes," that is secular priests who were neither smart nor sordid, but simple, yet presentable. The Roman habit, used by the General in Rome, has, in practice, acquired the status of a quasi-habit. In origin, however, I believe that this habit represented the Spanish secular clergy of Ignatius's time. Owing to the circumstances of modern Europe, the habit of the secular clergy alone is now seen both there and elsewhere. In a similar spirit Ignatius would add no regular penances to the austerity of his rule. Other orders were wont to have some special "use" of their own in the way of extra lents and fast-days, abstinences or disciplines, but Ignatius, while encouraging rather than depreciating such pious practices, left them to the initiative of individuals.

(4) In mediaeval Europe religious processions were much beloved of good Christians, and the various orders and monasteries had to walk in them in regular rotation. But Ignatius again, without any reflection on the custom itself, procured the liberation of his community from the duty of partaking in such functions, which often absorbed an immensity of time.

(5) While Ignatius, as his correspondence shows, was no misogynist, he was aware from experience of the trouble that might follow, if his sons were obliged to attend to the spiritual direction of ladies. Where all was done freely, as need occurred, he raised no objections. But to attend to this or that lady or convent out of obligation, was wont indirectly to lead the female mind into making excessive demands on the time or the correspondence of the father director. One of the painful incidents of his later life was the quarrel with Elizabeth Roser, of which we have written in Chapter VIII. She had befriended him notably in early days, and had afterwards taken a vow to follow his direction in spiritual matters; but eventually this had led to unfortunate results. He wished to save his sons from similar imbroglios. If the entente between director and directed should begin to work badly, a change is clearly the best remedy; and this change is much easier if there is no vow to impede it.

(6) Widely different in motive from the above refusal, is the next negative peculiarity of the order, which is the vow "not to aspire to dignities, within or without the Society," either directly or indirectly, nor to accept them "unless constrained by the authority of him (i.e., the Pope) who can command under pain of sin." It has always been accounted a laudable and praiseworthy humility in the Saints to avoid and fly from posts of honour and dignity. Ignatius goes a step further, and obliges his religious by vow to follow a similar course of conduct. In Ignatius's day, when ecclesiastical dignities were often very well beneficed, and carried great influence, the temptation to covet them was very strong. He would often have seen the evil at work in the purlieus of the papal capital, and he knew how insidious and injurious a foe to a religious order such ambition was. As Ignatius's correspondence shows, nothing could exceed his respect for and deference to ecclesiastical authority. But this very respect also made him earnest in restricting unauthorized or unworthy grasping at its honour.

(7) In Ignatius's novitiate considerable changes were introduced. It was prolonged from one year to two, and it included some penitential probations which Ignatius otherwise excluded—for instance, a month of pilgrimage while living on alms. After it, the novice took only simple vows (such as could be dispensed if necessary), the solemn profession (which could not be dispensed at all under ordinary circumstances) was postponed till the end of the prolonged studies and spiritual training which ordinarily ran on from 10 to 12 years. By that time the chance of sacerdotal failure had been, to a large extent, eliminated.

(8) Perhaps the most important of all Ignatius's new ideas was his removal of the capitular system. Almost universally in the older orders, and most commonly even now, the officials of every convent and monastery were, and are, elected by the professed every three years for a triennial period. Government by chapter is commended to us not only by its antiquity, but also by its importance in English history, for its influence on the institution of representative government among us is acknowledged. But however great these merits, the system is not one well adapted to military organization. The election of officers by their men for short periods of command, must seem entirely unsuitable to those who hold military discipline dear. Ignatius did not wish for a purely military discipline, but his leading idea of a special squadron of soldiers of Christ suggested a quasi-military character for many of his provisions. So while the General and his staff were subject to election, when elected the command of this leader was permanent and he had the appointment to all posts of importance even in the distant provinces. In ancient times, before letters and posts were frequent, this scheme would have been neither practicable nor possible, and it is only maintained in the Society through a system of ample and regular correspondence, even the lowest grades being quite free to write directly to the General himself. Moreover, there is a good deal of personal visitation and inspection. The Provincial must see and hear every member of his province once a year, and the General himself may send out special visitors, from time to time. In this way mutual understanding and confidence is maintained, and friction with intermediate superiors kept down. Discipline is intelligent and effective, and savours of true charity and sincere spirituality. The possible senility of a General appointed for life is provided against by the power of the Assistants to call for a Congregation, which, moreover, meets of itself every third year.

According to Saint Francis Xavier, and there can be no higher authority, "The Com- pany of Jesus ought to be called the company of love and of conformity of souls." These words are the true epitome of Ignatius's Constitutions.

Age and Death

(1551–1556)

Notwithstanding Ignatius's strong constitution, his wound and the very hard life he led after his conversion, permitted the weaknesses of age to declare themselves before he had reached a really advanced life. After his sixtieth year, 1551, infirmity gained much upon him. His eyes grew weak and watered so easily that he had to make many changes in his customs. He could no longer recite office but had to pray on his beads instead. Moreover, his doctor would not let him say Mass except rarely, for the tender feelings which the rite excited caused uncontrollable tears. He asked leave of the Fathers who had assembled in that year for the revision of the Constitutions, to lay down his office and retire. But the Fathers thought it better that he should find a vicar to assist him In point of fact, however, owing to the dearth of men who had passed through the lower grades of the Society, this plan was harder to execute than had been foreseen. Father Jerome Nadal was selected, but he had to be sent as visitor to Spain and was not back till the autumn of 1554. Ignatius now formally appointed him Vicar, but soon had to send him to Germany, still as Vicar. Before he finished this mission and returned, it was the latter half of 1555, and then his services were needed once more in Spain, where he was at the time of Ignatius's death. Thus in fact, the Saint died in office without any relaxation of his work.

SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA.

Of these latter days many memories are preserved. He was surrounded by younger men who watched him lovingly, and who afterwards left memoirs, or were questioned at the time of the beatification. Some of these memoirs may strike us as representing rather the standpoint of the writer than of the person described. Thus Father Lancisius (who came a little later but gathered up diligently all the stories he could hear about the founder), appears to give rather too much prominence to illustrations of the principle of "Spare the rod, spoil the child." That was in the spirit of the age, especially in Lancisius's fatherland, the Calvinistic district of Lithuania. If this idea asserts itself even in such a contemporary as Sir Thomas More, we must not be surprised at it in Ignatius, for whom discipline was so important. But he was not intent on bodily correction. Considering the age in which he lived, his influence was moderating. He had himself been sentenced unjustly to a public flogging in Paris when he was forty and, though the episode ended to his honour, it taught him its lesson. Though he still retained corporal correction in his colleges, it was never to be administered by one of the teaching staff but by a special "corrector"; the maximum number of stripes was to be eight, and it could be inflicted only on "humanists" (the younger boys). This ordinance, though formulated after Ignatius's death, faithfully represents the firm but moderate customs which he introduced, customs which for kindliness were in advance of, rather than behind, the age.

Where Ignatius appeared to be severe was in his dealing with some good souls who, he knew, would profit by correction. Thus his secretary Father Polanco, though his post was one of great trust and honour, was still young, still capable of higher training; and Ignatius was decided and assiduous in carrying on the process of education, with excellent results. He treated Lainez, Nadal, and Gaspar Loartes in the same way. But it is not safe to generalize freely from cases like these, for everything depends on the accuracy with which the character to be educated was judged.

All agree that Ignatius (as became an old soldier) sympathized with boys of courage and enterprise; and he would never allow transgressions due to high spirits to be classed as moral offences. He never looked askance at a big appetite; on the contrary, he laughingly commended fat little Benedict Palmio (afterwards a padre of note) for his healthy eating powers. He would make such lads come and sit at his, the top, table in the refectory, and smiled to see their boyish capacity for food. It was remembered by several that he would send the fruit from his table to the novices at the bottom of the refectory, and he would sometimes peel the pear or apple before it went.

But the characteristic which struck all most was his now unvarying sense of God's presence. "He found God in all things," says Father Nadal, "as in business, so also in conversation with others." God's name and that of Jesus Christ was ever on his lips and on his pen when writing. It was natural for him to speak much about One of whom he was always thinking.

Here are a few traits from the memoir to which Benedict Maroni, a sculptor, deposed in the process of beatification. When a lad he had heard of the twelve Fathers, like the twelve Apostles, who were founding a new order; and soon after, when they were setting up their first house, he was taken on as a handy man. He did carpentering, making benches, beds and the like. Everything was very poor and unpretentious. He worked a great deal in Ignatius's own room.

"I loved to see him and to hear him speak. Many came in to ask his blessing, going or coming from distant countries. He always remained so perfectly peaceful; never a vain word. Amongst other admonitions, he would say to me—'You, Benedetto, nothing is wanting to you excepting the blessing of heaven.' Once a neighbour wanted to run up a wall which would have cut off the light from the refectory. Ignatius would not allow of any intercessors nor any controversy; still finally the man gave up his project. I never saw him angry except once. He was standing with his stick, for one leg was weak, when some one of the house came into the room and fell at his feet, begging pardon and mercy for some fault or other. The Padre bade him get up several times over, but he would not. Then I saw that he took it ill, that that person did not rise. Being put out, he turned and left the room, going into his camera. I was also there when two reverend religious brought in two skulls from the relics of Saint Ursula and 12,000 Virgins at Cologne. At another time came a present of confetti and wax. The wax was sent to the Sacristy, but the confetti, being well ornamented, he presented to the Cardinals."

Maroni's brother was an organist, who was also devoted to Ignatius, and became a Jesuit lay-brother and continued in attendance on the old man. After putting on the Jesuit habit he had startled Benedetto, by falling on his knees before him and asking pardon for any offence he might have given in the past. On the other hand he charmed him by stories about the Santo, e.g., that he had made up the great family quarrel between the Altieri and the Caposachi; also that he would spend hours during the night pondering over the problems which presented themselves in the government of the Society.

It is a simple, unconventional story, which these two brothers tell. No "miracolo," no severe discipline; but deep affection, respect and love from friends and subordinates, and the contrasts and conflicts between patience and impulse, which are ever present where the sun burns hot.

The reminiscences of Father Nadal, though they do not so easily coalesce into a picture, are more profound and extensive. Here are a few: "He never showed anxiety about war, nor gave any sign of pain. Once Brother John Paul, while sewing a button to the collar of his cassock, put the needle through the Father's ear, but he never winced or made a sign. When in danger of death by sickness, he showed nothing but joy. . . . He was a man of the most instant and effective execution. . . . He never undertook any business which he did not accomplish. He never petitioned the Pope without obtaining his prayer. He would find God in all things, in business, in conversations. Those who were in his room, were always full of joy and ready to smile."

Here are some of Father Lancisius's gleanings: "The dismissed remained his friends, and he continued to use their services when he could. . . . When teaching his subjects how to converse with externs, he would say, 'Do not talk lofty spirituality, but converse easily and with familiarity.' He would correct those that corrected others by citing authorities; he would style such people 'decretalists.' . . . He was particular about a good Latin style."

His love for his sons was intense. He used once to laugh aloud when they visited him, but he overcame the little outcry, though the smile at sight of them was never restrained. "Each one thought him his most special friend. He would inquire closely from his official visitors about the food, the sleep, the clothes of the missionaries in distant lands and provinces." . . . On someone remarking that this was descending to great detail, Ignatius answered (with a homeliness not so acceptable in our over-refined days), "I should be glad to know how many fleas bite them." He would praise his own men before externs.

Father Oliver Manare has also some striking sentences. "While inculcating obedience, his effort always was to find out first what his subject wanted, before he gave an order. He had a wonderful grace of speech, and was so careful about externals that he would sometimes copy a letter three times in order to avoid corrections. The only books one saw on his table were The New Testament  and The Following of Christ."

At last on the thirty-first of July, 1556, the end came, so peacefully, amid circumstances so usual and untheatrical that they seemed almost uncanny to those fervent souls who fancied that a saint like Ignatius ought to have gone to heaven in some solemn, religious ceremony. There was nothing of the sort. For four or five days he had had a low fever, but no special attention had been paid to this. Indeed, several others, including Father Lainez, were also in the infirmary and worse than Ignatius, who was thought to be over the worst and to be improving. On Tuesday, the 28th, he received Holy Communion with the other sick, and next evening he asked to see the Spanish doctor Torres. On Thursday he sent for his secretary, Padre Polanco, and begged him to ask the Pope for a last blessing for himself, as he hardly expected to live, and at the same time for Father Lainez, whose case was causing anxiety. "But Padre," answered Polanco, "the doctors don't take so serious a view." "I think the end is not far off," was the answer. Being still full of hope, Polanco asked if Friday would not do as well, as he had some very important letters to send off in the evening. "Rather to-day than to-morrow," was the characteristic answer, "but I leave myself in your hands. Do as you think best."

Polanco asked the doctor that evening as to the degree of danger. "I will tell you about that when I see him to-morrow," was the doctor's reply. Polanco felt relieved, and safer still when he heard that Ignatius had taken a fair supper.

But at sunrise next morning, that is about 4:30 Brother Tomaso the infirmarian came running to say that the Father was in his agony. He had watched with him and had noticed that after midnight his sighs of "Ay Dios" (Ah God) became quieter and quieter. Polanco hurried straight to the Vatican for the Papal indulgence, while two doctors and other Fathers were at the bed-side in a trice. He was lying so quiet that they at first offered him restoratives, not recognizing in their anxiety how near the end was. Only when it was too late did they perceive that he was actually passing away. The last absolution and blessing was given, and the Proficiscere  was said, but there was not enough time left to fetch the holy oils, or the sacred Viaticum. He had received, as we remember, three days before. And so between five and six, surrounded by his praying sons, and with the utmost peace and tranquillity, he went forth on the heavenward passage, of which he had so often thought with tears of joy.

Thus happily ended the Imitator of Christ. For us, perhaps, it may be less easy to recognize that imitation in some of the closing stages than in the opening scenes. When we see the young cavalier on his early pilgrimages "taking nothing for the way, no scrip, no bread, nor money in his purse," the copying of Christ, complete, external, triumphant over obstacles, cannot escape our notice. Whereas the night vigil of the old man worn out by fever, and murmuring Ay Dios, Ay Dios, as he lay dying alone, does not make the same quick impression. But if we look back over his life, we shall see that imitation was ever becoming more and more interior, in the head and heart; less obvious, less striking to the outward observer. Certainly it was none the less real and true For it is not the mechanical repetition of the acts of Christ, that makes the follower, but the copying of His virtues, the obedience to His precepts in our daily life. We must learn from Him, as St. Austin puts it, "not how to create worlds, or to rule things visible and invisible, but how to be meek and humble of heart." Had Ignatius insisted, his death-bed would have been graced by religious consolations, the lack of which he doubtless regretted greatly. But he had rightly left himself in the hands of the doctors and the staff, and in that path of obedience he would rather die than swerve from it. "Obedient unto death," that was to die as should the imitator of Christ.

Epilogue

It had been Ignatius's prayer to see his Society effectively founded before he died; and he must have thankfully acknowledged in the last sixteen years that the progress made far exceeded expectations. If five out of the ten original fathers had already gone to their reward, thirty-seven had now passed through all the lower grades and had become professed, while the total number of younger men who had entered now reached almost a thousand in about 100 houses. And if we look below the surface, the prospect was more favourable still. The Society had been approved by the Pope, and not by one Pope only, but by three successive Popes, and that gave the rising Institute a stability which left little to be desired. These Popes had not only granted the Society the right of legislating for itself; they had confirmed by their sanction the legislation enacted. The Constitutions had been formulated, and all the received customs were now written down and stabilized. Moreover, the men who had joined Ignatius's ranks, were full of great promise, not in matters of spirit only, but also in letters, and already their conversions of sinners and their guidance of the faithful to higher and yet higher levels of sanctity were acknowledged and praised on every side. Already some had died as martyrs, and their places had been taken with alacrity by fresh men. The work of education had gone forward with surprising rapidity: his sons already directed several universities. The labour of the Society for education, besides working wonders for the rising generation, would also provide an abundant supply of recruits for the future.

The Saint was buried in the old Church of Madonna de la Strada, but by himself, not in the common grave. In the year 1569 structural alterations in the building necessitated the removal of the grave to another part of the church, and in 1587, when the new Church of the Gesu took the place of the little old structure, the relics were moved again, and placed in a leaden coffin. Parts of the head, however, were removed, and kept like relics, and later on were exposed for veneration in a silver head, the portrait of the Saint. For the time, as the beatification had not yet taken place, all had to be done with doors closed.

During these translations, as they are called, it was found that miraculous graces and cures had taken place in some abundance, and they continued to be granted to those who had begged the intercession of the Servant of God. After due investigation it was considered that these heavenly favours were an indication that Divine Providence desired his external honour. So the process of beatification was begun before 1585, and comprised numerous minor processes at different places in Spain and Italy, where witnesses of his life could be heard. It was solemnly completed on July 27, 1609, and as the granting of heavenly favours continued, the process of canonization was soon commenced, and was brought to a happy conclusion on May 22, 1622.

Since this life was written, a new page has been added to the history of the posthumous glory of Ignatius. The twentieth of May, 1921, was the fourth centenary of the wound of Inigo at the siege of Pampeluna, and the jubilee has been celebrated there, at Loyola and throughout the Basque provinces. A special opportunity for the demonstrations was afforded by the transfer to Loyola of an "insignis reliquia"  of the Saint, in order to lend special honour to the solemn triduum. For Ignatius having died in Rome, it has come about that all the greater relics are preserved at his shrine there. The relic of the skull-top was selected for transference, and to the Provincial of the Roman Jesuits, Padre Carlo Mincinelli, was given the honour of bearing the sacred burden.

It came by rail through France and by the time it reached Hendaya, on the Spanish frontier, it had already reversed history. Four centuries before the French were invading Spain. Now a French escort accompanied the relic of the sainted Spanish soldier, not as invaders, but as devoted followers, and pious clients. Already on the French side of the border the advanced vedettes of Spain (French courtesy having lifted every barrier) were ready to receive the sacred charge.

Entering Spain, the procession grew almost hourly in dignity and dimensions. It was now transferred to motor cars, and passed with constantly repeated demonstrations of religious veneration through Iran and San Sebastian, up to Azpeitia. Welcomed in every town by the municipality, the clergy, the parishes and their congregations, there were the constant salutes of hymns, of triumphal arches, of children at way-side altars. At Azpeitia the procession was joined by the Duque de Luna, as representative of the King of Spain, and so it moved on to Loyola. Another deeply venerated relic of the Saint was carried in procession from this point—his short sword, which he had dung up before the statue of our Lady at Montserrat, now preserved by the Jesuits of Barcelona.

The unusual feature in the religious triduum at the Santa Casa of Loyola would probably be, to our thinking, the great processions from the surrounding country. There was indeed nothing wanting in the other solemnities, pontifical Masses (celebrated by the Cardinal Archbishop of Bourgos), fine panegyrics, noble processions. But the serried ranks of Basque peasants, who poured in from the neighbouring hills and mountains, full of faith and of enthusiasm for their compatriot and patron, were indeed memorable. The Saint's missionary efforts in their midst during the years 1535, 1536, are not forgotten.

The fourth centenary of Pampeluna by its splendid spirit and enormous extension, forms a most remarkable contrast to the carelessness and neglect now so much in vogue; and affords a striking testimony to the zeal inspired by the Saint in whole populations of devoted followers.

It is not wonderful that a considerable literature has sprung up about the life of Ignatius. He left behind him numerous sons interested in history, letters and biography, and they have not been slow to make known their founder's achievements. Moreover, the rivalry of opponents, some of an opposite faith, has led to useful criticism and discussion. Hence numerous biographies, several warm controversies on more obscure questions, and studies which have illustrated either the whole life, or important parts of it.

The first and chief biographer was Father Pedro de Ribadeneira, who had been entrusted with the task of gathering the evidence necessary for the beatification, and who therefore spared neither time nor labour in ascertaining the truth at a time when witnesses were numerous and enquiry as to the facts strenuous. In our own days great progress has been made with the publication of correspondence and other contemporary memoirs. The Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu  (Madrid, 1893, etc.) for Ignatius's period, have already reached 56 stalwart, well-edited volumes which enable us to watch the events of those days with the eyes of contemporaries. The most accomplished historical writer who has made use of the material thus accumulated, is Father Antonio Astrain, Historia de la Compania de Jesus en la Asistencia de Espana  (Madrid, 19o2, etc.). Of English writers the most notable is John Dryden, who in 1686 published a translation of Father Bouhour's Life of the Saint. A modern poet, Francis Thompson, has also written a Life, which has been deservedly appreciated. In Carayon's Bibliographie de la Compagnie de Jesu  (1864), 120 different Life's are enumerated, some in very numerous editions. It is a pity that there is no modern life carefully written from a Protestant point of view, but Isaac Taylor's Loyola and Jesuitism  (1849) is well worth reading. Perez, La Santa Casa de Loyola, 1891, gives many details about the family.

Ignatius was never painted during life, but after his death a cast was taken of the countenance, which, however, did not come out very successfully. Finally, after much consultation and advice, a fine picture, which is now at Madrid, was painted by the Spanish court painter, Alonzo Sanchez Coello. It has, however, been poorly restored. There are some very fine portraits by Rubens, but they lack the spirituality of the Spanish painter. Engravings, especially by Wierix and other Flemish masters, are numerous.