obliged by his office to take cognizance of Ignatius and his companions. The Saint, on hearing this, would not take his departure until the affair was settled. He went to find the judge, and begged him to proceed to an examination, representing to him that, when alone, so far from fearing the accusations of his adversaries he had, on the contrary, derived benefit from them; but that now, having companions, he was obliged, for the sake of God's glory, to take care of his own reputation and theirs. The Inquisitor told him to fear nothing, assuring him that the complaint had no foundation. He only asked to see the book of the Exercises, and was so pleased with it that he asked to be allowed to take a copy for his own private use, which the Saint willingly granted him. Ignatius, however, insisted on having an authentic attestation of his innocence, even though the judge assured him that it was needless.. He therefore presented himself one day before the Inquisitor, accompanied by a notary and several of the Doctors of the University as witnesses, and obliged him to grant the testimonial he requested. A copy of it still exists, dated in the year 1536, which St. Ignatius, at that time at Venice, probably ordered to be sent to him for his own security. This was the first judgment passed on the Exercises by a spiritual authority. It speaks with praise of the faith and morals of Ignatius and of his companions, and is drawn up in the following terms-

We, Brother Thomas Laurent, Professor of Theology, Priest of the Order of Friars Preachers, Inquisitor-General in France, Delegate of the Holy See, certify by these present that, after an inquiry made by our predecessor, Valentine Lievin, and by our councillors, on the life, morals, and doctrine of Ignatius of Loyola, we have found nothing therein but what is Catholic and Christian. We know, moreover, the said Loyola and Master Peter Faber and some of his friends, and we have always seen them live in a Catholic and virtuous manner, without ever having seen in them anything that is not suitable to Christian and virtuous men. The Exercises which the said Loyola distributes, appear to us also, according to the knowledge we have of them, to be perfectly Catholic. Done and given at Paris, in the Convent of the Dominicans, under our ordinary seal, the 23rd of January, 1536, in presence of

Here follow the names of the witnesses; the signature of the Inquisitor is illegible.*

* This document is to be found in Latin in the Bollandists.

Ignatius, reassured and tranquillized on all points, could set out on his way for Spain. Before leaving Paris he recommended all his companions to be constant in their vocation, and charged Faber, who was the only one a Priest, to watch over them. The precise day of his departure is not known. It appears, however, from a letter of the 25th of March, 1535, which Francis Xavier wrote to his parents, and in which he recommends to them Ignatius, who was the bearer of it, that he must have quitted Paris shortly after that date.*

* We owe to Menchacha (n. iv., p. 5) this more exact piece of information. Bartoli has given correctly the year of the departure of Ignatius (ii., 23, 26). Orlandini says "Vergente ad exitum hujus sæculi anno quinto et trigesimo," which must be understood in the sense we have explained above.

CHAPTER XII.

ST. IGNATIUS ARRIVES IN SPAIN. WHAT HE DID THERE.

HIS JOURNEY TO VENICE.

THE Saint's friends had bought him a horse, on which, on account of his feeble state of health, he made the whole journey from Paris to Spain. The exertion of travelling and the change of air did him good. He wished to arrive at Azpeytia without any one knowing of it, but he was recognized at Bayonne by some people of his country, who probably acquainted his brother with his arrival. When once in Spain he left the high-road, and took an unfrequented and rather unsafe way across the mountains. He soon met two armed men, who passed near him, looked at one another, and followed him. Supposing that they were brigands he addressed them, and found that they were in his brother's service, as he had sent them to meet him and to act as his escort. He refused their offer, and told them to go on before him. But when he was near Azpeytia several of the Clergy came to meet him, and asked his permission to accompany him to Loyola. He politely thanked them, and continued his route alone to the little town. There he took up his lodging in the hospital, and lived on alms. He received a great number of visitors, but he would converse with no one except on spiritual matters and things relating to salvation. He proposed to teach the Catechism in public daily, and his brother having represented to him that he would have no one to hear him, he replied that he would be content if but one came. On the contrary, however, a large number came, and amongst them his brother. He gave discourses besides on Sundays and holidays, and the people flocked from far and near to hear him. He induced the authorities of the town to forbid gambling at cards, and to abolish other

abuses in vogue, especially among ecclesiastics. He gave himself in a particular manner to the service of the poor, and established a regular system of rendering assistance to them.

Such is the simple recital of the facts that took place, according to the Saint's narrative, so far as he could recollect and thought fit to communicate them. But the authentic documents, of which Bartoli has made use, reveal many things to us which his humility has passed over in silence. His family and the townspeople also had done everything to prepare an extraordinary reception for him. They had sent out scouts along all the roads to give notice of his arrival, one of whom discovered him at an inn, and looking through a crevice of the door. of his room, saw him absorbed in prayer. On receiving this news the Clergy of the town and the members of his family came in procession to meet him. They had at first designed to give him a pompous reception, but they afterwards changed their mind, thinking that this worldly grandeur would displease him. The honour which they showed him in coming to meet him in procession gave him more pain than it would have given. of pleasure to most men. He most positively refused the invitation to the paternal mansion made him by his relatives, and went direct to the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, where they sent him a comfortable bed and refection, but he made no use of the one and distributed the other to the sick. To prevent his sleeping any longer on the floor they were obliged to change the good bed they had sent him for a poor and ordinary one, and then he consented to make use of it. He began, as we have said, to teach the people the Catechism, and this practice was from this time forward considered and employed by him and his companions as an essential part of their mission. In this they divined the true want of the people, for it is certain that the great falling away which at this period caused such havoc in the Church came in a great measure from the ignorance of Catholics. In one of these instructions it happened that a very illfavoured boy, who lisped a little, made some women laugh by his ungainly way and his replies. The Saint, turning to them, said "You laugh at this child because you judge by the exterior, but know that his soul is as beautiful as his

body is ill-favoured. He will be one day a great servant of God, and will do much in his country for the good of his neighbour." This prophecy, which was soon made public, was fully accomplished, and the child became afterwards a saintly Priest.

Ignatius was indefatigable in preaching the Word of God. He gave instructions not only on the Sundays and holidays, but also three times a week in the afternoon, and ceased not to do so until he was attacked by a slow fever. As no church could contain the crowd of his hearers, he was obliged to preach in the open air, and what was marvellous is the fact that, though he could not, on account of his weakness, speak with a loud voice, he was heard, notwithstanding, at the distance of some hundreds of yards. It is difficult to understand how a man in such a poor state of health could have endured so great fatigues of body and mind, for his discourses were not learned by heart and delivered, but when he spoke his whole soul was in what he said; and this explains the wonderful effect of his preaching, notwithstanding its simplicity, for he preached both by word and example. Nothing costs a man more than to make a humiliating avowal of his own faults, for our nature is so corrupt that we commit easily the most shameful sins in secret, and yet have hardly the courage to confess the smallest when they humble us. Ignatius, triumphing over his self-love, was not afraid, in the midst of the extraordinary honours which were heaped upon him, to avow publicly a fault which he had committed in his younger days. In his very first discourse he declared that he had returned to his native place in particular to repair the scandal which he had given in his early years by his bad example, and, among other things, the wrong which he had done to a person then present, whom he named. man," he said, "though innocent, was condemned to imprisonment and fine, for fruit stolen from a garden by me and by other thoughtless boys; and to repair the wrong which he has suffered I here declare his innocence, and make over, as due to him and as a gift, the two acres of land which remain to me of my inheritance, and to this act I take all here present to witness."

"This

His words also were accompanied by extraordinary