CHAPTER II.

IGNATIUS SETTLES A DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN POPE PAUL III. AND JOHN III., KING OF PORTUGAL. HE CAUSES A RENEWAL OF THE DECREE OF INNOCENT III. FORBIDDING MEDICAL MEN TO VISIT THE SICK WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TO CONFESSION. HE DELIVERS THE SOCIETY FROM THE BURDEN OF ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICES AND DIGNITIES, AND FROM THE ORDINARY DIRECTION OF CONVENTS OF WOMEN.

THE year 1542 was a happy one for Ignatius, since it gave him the opportunity of acting as a mediator between the Pope and the King of Portugal in an affair which had caused much angry feeling between them. The whole cause of the disagreement is not clearly known.* Michael da Silva, after having been the Portugese Ambassador at the Court of three Popes, had been made Bishop of Viseux, and Privy Councillor to King John III. But he left the King's Court secretly to go to Rome, at which the King was so angry that he sequestrated the revenues of the bishopric. Notwithstanding this, he was named a Cardinal, and the Pope then made a complaint to the King about the sequestration of the revenues of the bishopric, while the King on his part reproached the Pope with having raised to the purple a man who had given offence to himself. Hence there arose a quarrel and a bitterness of feeling, the issue of which it was difficult to foresee. As St. Ignatius was under great obligations to both of them, and feared some bad results for the newly-existing Society in consequence of this sad affair, he had it greatly at heart to effect a reconcili

*The Portugese Jesuit, Balthasar Tellez, in his Chronicles (tom. i., ch. xxv.), has some interesting documents on this subject, but I could not procure the work, and I have taken from Menchacha (p. 32) what is here said.

ation between them, and he earnestly recommended the matter to God. He proposed to the Holy Father, for the sake of peace, to give the bishopric of Viseux to Cardinal Alexander Farnese, on the condition of his making over the revenues to the actual holder of the see, Da Silva. Paul III. accepted the means proposed, the success of which depended in a great measure upon the person acting as mediator, and he commissioned Ignatius to make this offer to the King. The Saint wrote accordingly to the Provincial at Lisbon, Father Simon Rodriguez, a letter which the King no doubt read, drawn up in such terms as to make a greater impression on him than any diplomatic negotiations Iwould have done. The issue in fact accorded with the wishes of St. Ignatius, and both the Pope and the King expressed their acknowledgments to the Saint. His letter was couched in the following terms*

Whilst considering, with the help of God's goodness, that ingratitude (saving some better judgment on the matter) is one of the most odious of evils, because it forgets goods and graces and gifts received, and is the cause and source of every other sin and evil, whereas gratitude and thankfulness for goods and gifts received is loved and esteemed alike in Heaven and on earth, I have thought it my duty to call to your recollection that since our arrival in Rome we have been continually favoured in many things by the Pope, and have received from His Holiness very special favours. The whole Society also knows, and you know in particular (as you are on the spot) what deep obligations we are under to the King your master and ours too in the Lord. Firstly, on account of the great number of spiritual favours which God, our Master and Creator, has been pleased to bestow on him, exalting him by His grace for His own greater glory, and regarding him as His creature with infinite love, so as to become, all infinite as He is, Man for his sake and to die for him. Secondly, who and whence are we, that God should have arranged matters in so providential a way that so illustrious a Prince should have thought of us, and following the impulse of his own heart or the counsel of others, should at a moment when we least thought of it, and at a time when the Society was not yet approved by the Apostolic See, have asked for some of us so earnestly from the Pope, for his service in the Lord, and have loaded us with favours at a period when many persons suspected our doctrines? You know all this very well, but I also myself know with what goodness and affection he has cared for you since you have been with him, giving you his coun

*It is taken from the Archives of Rome. Menchacha gives an imperfect translation of it from Tellez; and was unacquainted with the date. The Bollandists (n. 873) and Orlandini (v., 27) give the date of 1545, which is incorrect.

tenance, and what is not ordinary in Princes, offering with all his heart, on account of his great attachment to us, to found a College and build several houses for this our Society, unworthy as it is in the sight of our great Master in Heaven, and of so great a Prince upon earth. Moreover, he goes so far in his kindness to us as to take under his protection all those whom we send hence to Portugal for their studies. I would call these things to your recollection, that all of us, both we here and you there, may keep the same object in view, so that while we serve ever more and more our Master and Creator, we may remain ever faithful and grateful in all things to the persons to whom we are, by the goodness of God, under such obligations, and endeavour with all the power given us from on high, to take upon us the griefs which the enemy of mankind has laboured to stir up both in temporal and spiritual matters between personages of such high importance. Inasmuch as you know as well as we what has happened and is now happening, it remains for us all both here and there (as it is our duty to do) to betake ourselves to our spiritual armour, since we have renounced all other, and pray without ceasing, particularly at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, beseeching our Lord most earnestly to be pleased to take in hand this most difficult affair, which with such good reason should be recommended to His boundless mercy. Although I am quite convinced that by the grace of God our enemy will not triumph in this matter, it would be nevertheless a misfortune and a scandal to many souls that we should remain even a few days longer in the present state of things.

I have just been speaking at length on this matter with the Cardinal of Burgos,* who is our special protector in our Lord, and takes a lively interest in all that concerns us. He said to me in support of my opinion what has greatly consoled me. Some one lately made the remark that the King of Portugal seemed to be intending to withdraw himself from the obedience to the Pope, to which the good Cardinal with much heat replied quickly, "Who says that? He would not do it if the Pope were to trample on him. Do you think the people in Portugal are like the people here? and that the King is like the King of England, who is already half out of the Church before declaring himself against her? You judge very ill of a Prince who is so good a Christian, and has such a tender conscience." I would have written to the King; but I put aside the idea because I consider how insignificant a being I am in comparison with him, and because you are on the spot, and this is sufficient excuse for me. You must therefore in the name of us all, and in your own name, tender to him our profound respect for his person. If there is anything else you judge good, I request and desire in our Lord that you will leave nothing undone by you that is necessary. Rome, March 18, 1542.

If no mention is made in this letter of the plan of making up the difference which had arisen, it is because it

* This was John Alvar, of Toledo, a Dominican. He was called Cardinal of Burgos, because he was Archbishop of that town. He was afterwards Archbishop of St. James of Compostella.

had to be communicated to the King, and gave a particular instruction to Rodriguez on the affair in question. It is true that in conclusion the Saint gives him news of several members of the Society, but this would not prevent the letter being perused, as Ignatius well knew the interest he took in such matters.

The following year, 1543, Ignatius occupied himself about a matter of the highest importance, which, owing to the worldly and interested views of some persons concerned, had become a disputed question. His associates, from the commencement of their ministry, had perceived with sorrow that many persons dangerously sick waited until it was too late to ask for spiritual attendance. The Council of Lateran, under Innocent III., by its Twenty-second Canon, had forbidden physicians to visit the sick in cases of danger until they had been to confession. Ignatius resolved to restore the practice of this decree, of such importance for the salvation of souls. Several medical men saw with regret that the Confessors of the Society put in force this law, and found fault with them in consequence. The Saint then had recourse to Cardinal Carpi, at that time Legate, during the absence of the Pope.* Ignatius addressed to his Eminence a supplication, together with a theological disquisition drawn up by himself, in which he refuted the objections of the physicians. In his letter he says

Many sick persons die without the helps of religion, either without confession altogether, or with confessions badly made. They ought to have timely notice before the sickness becomes dangerous, otherwise they either have not the strength to make a good confession, or even to confess at all; and so their death is hastened by speaking to them of the obligation. These evils would be avoided if they made this confession at the beginning of their sickness, for besides the security to the soul, this practice gives ease to the body, and greatly contributes to its cure, for we know that bodily ailments are often the effects of sin. For these reasons your Eminence would wish to put in force, as you have done in your own diocese, the decree of the Lateran Council, with this modification, that the physicians can make one visit or two, but no more, to the sick who have not made their confession. But notwithstanding this

*Paul III. left Rome on the 26th of February for Buseto, where he had an interview with Charles V. The Pope arrived there on the 21st of June, and the Emperor on the next day. But they parted on the 16th of July, little pleased with one another. Paul returned to Bologna, and Charles went to the Netherlands.

concession, several physicians have done all in their power to prevent so holy a practice, while others are in favour of it. The objectors say that it is a sin against charity to let a sick man die unattended by a doctor if he positively refuses to make his confession, for they add, if he live he may afterwards be converted and be saved. But all reasonable men would reply that laws are made for the general good, and that no fault is to be found with them if they sometimes result in evils to some particular persons. Thus, for example, the law of Moses commanded the keeping of the Sabbath day, and bid the man be stoned who gathered sticks upon it, that being enforced by this severity it might be observed for the general good. If the objection they make had any force, it might be said of Ananias and Sapphira that they also if they had been left alive might have repented. In short, the best theologians and canonists, after a minute examination of the question, have declared for the enforcing of the law, as your Eminence will see by the paper I send. His Holiness, when acquainted with it, will certainly receive the proposal with favour. But as the physicians of this city raise such a clamour about it, and it may be presumed will try with all their power to prevent the execution of this holy enactment (even when the law shall have been promulgated and enforced anew), I enclose to your Eminence a dissertation approved by the learned in canon law, refuting the objections and setting forth the whole matter clearly.

In this document, written throughout in St. Ignatius' own hand, the extraordinary opinion of the physicians of the time at Rome is refuted, pretending that the decretal of Innocent III. is contrary to charity. Ignatius adduces four reasons against them. If a sick person refuses to make his confession, the laws and canons justly prefer the general good to the evil of one who makes himself an exception. Again, if the help of medical aid cannot be refused to an obstinate sinner, the malefactor cannot justly be punished in other cases, and so all justice will be done away with. Thirdly, the law of God is pure and undefiled, and yet it ordained the punishment of death to many, as to Dathan and Abiron, without giving them time for repentance. Lastly, the decree of a General Council under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost makes this provision, first for the all-important care of the salvation of the soul of the sick man, then for the cure of his body.*

The Cardinal Legate referred the matter to the Pope, as appears from a letter of Ignatius to Cardinal Cervini.+ And

*The two documents here cited are to be found in the Bollandists, sec. 36, nn. 374-378.

Menchacha, p. 299, 24th June, 1543.