souls, and that consequently he should take such measures for his conduct in future as he should deem convenient. Frias clearly perceived that he meant to indicate by this his intention of quitting the city, and, as he desired to gain his affection, he endeavoured to soften the impression which the sentence had made upon him, and showed his esteem and the interest he took in him, but without being able to change his purpose. And not only Frias, but many others, and among them men who enjoyed the highest repute, as the Saint himself says,* were desirous of his remaining at Salamanca, but their wishes did not prevail over the strong reasons he had for leaving it. He had formed the resolution of going to Paris, to give himself more fully to study in that foreign city, and with the hope also of finding in a central place, where men of talent from all nations flocked together, companions suitable to his design. He communicated his purpose to the disciples who had hitherto followed him, but, either from fear of the risks, or from uncertainty as to how they should live at Paris, they had not the courage to undertake this distant journey, or it may be that for these motives Ignatius would have them wait until he had provided for their subsistence at Paris, and so it was resolved that he should depart alone, and they should meanwhile continue their studies at Salamanca. In any case they were to remain united in spirit, until such time as they could afterwards rejoin him. He therefore took leave of them about fifteen or twenty days after they came out of prison and went on foot to Barcelona, where he was received with joy by his old friends. They endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, and in fact the journey to France was at that time very dangerous, for, besides that the winter was setting in, the war between the two countries was raging more fiercely than ever. The frontiers were infested by brigands, and he was going to travel on foot and alone, without knowing either the roads or the language. Seeing that none of these reasons made any impression on him, they wished at least to facilitate his journey as much as they could, and, through Elizabeth Roser, they made him accept of a sum of money, partly in specie and partly in bills of exchange. He quitted Spain about the end of this year or in the first days of the ensuing year, 1528. * Gonzalez, ch. vi. THE STAY OF ST. CHAPTER VIII. IGNATIUS AT PARIS. HOW HE FOUND SPAIN was not destined, any more than the Holy Land, to receive the newly-planted Society which Ignatius was to form. For some time past this country had been spreading its dominions at a distance from Europe. Occupied with the conquest of the New World it had no space for other thoughts, and took no interest in the solution of the great religious and social questions which agitated and divided the Old World at this time. All that it did was to avoid them as much as possible. But Ignatius was called to exercise a considerable influence on the events of the age, and to form a Society keeping in relations with the development of mental progress, and capable at the same time of defending the inviolable sanctuary of religious truths. His country could not supply him even in his individual capacity with the elements necessary for so vast a work, nor a sphere wide enough for the plan he had conceived. Divine Providence conducted him then to Paris, where the two epochs-that which was concluding and that which was commencing-were both alike represented, and where he himself could complete his own individual preparations for the accomplishment of the designs of God in his regard. In order to introduce the reader more intimately to the thoughts which occupied his mind, we will here give the faithful translation of some letters which he wrote from Paris, and which have been preserved to us. The first is addressed to Agnes Pasquale May the true peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with our souls and keep them. Considering the goodwill and charity in the Lord which you have always had for me, I have thought it my duty to write to you at present, and give you an account of my journey since I left you. By the grace and goodness of God our Lord I arrived here in Paris the 2nd of February, having favourable weather and being in perfect health, and I shall study here until it please the Lord to dispose of me otherwise. I should be very glad to have heard from you whether Fonseca has answered your letter, or you have spoken with him. A thousand (kind) things to John, and say to him to be always obedient to his parents, and to keep the Feast-days with devotion. If so, he shall live long here on earth and hereafter in Heaven. Remember me [here there is an omission]. I have received your letters, and see that your goodwill and charity for the love of our Lord do not fail towards me. May the Lord of all things repay you, and may He of His infinite goodness dwell in our souls, so that His will and desires may be always done in us. YNIGO, little in good. Paris, March 3, 1528. The second letter is addressed to his brother, Don Martin de Loyola You say that you are rejoiced beyond measure that I have broken the silence I have hitherto kept with you. You must not, however, be surprised at the line of conduct I have pursued. To heal a deep wound a different ointment must be used at the first from that which is applied when it is nearly cured. At the beginning of my course a certain remedy was necessary for me. Later I may try another without harm, at least, if I find it prejudicial I shall take care not to employ it a second or a third time. It is not surprising that it has happened so to me when St. Paul himself, shortly after his conversion, says "A sting of the flesh has been given me;" and again-"I find another law in my members." And he found in his soul such an opposition that he said "The good that I would I do not, and the evil that I would not that I do; what to do I know not." Later and at another time he says"I am certain that neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of our Lord Jesus Christ." At the commencement I have been not unlike him. May the goodness of God later and at the end refuse not to grant me the fulness of His holy grace, that I may imitate and be the servant of all His true servants; and if I should have the misfortune to offend Him in anything whatsoever, or fall into any remissness in His holy praise and service, may He rather take me out of this world. To explain somewhat more, I will say that I would have written to you more frequently some five or six years since if two things had not hindered me. First, my study, and the numerous relations in which I have been engaged, not however of this world; the second is that I had no probable and sufficient reason to suppose that my letters would serve to the glory of God our Lord, and the good of my kindred and relatives according to the flesh, so that we should be kindred also in spirit, and aid one another in those things which endure for all eternity. For, in truth, I cannot love any one in this life who does not his whole duty in the service and praise of the Lord our God, seeing that God does not 66 love entirely him who loves anything in the world for its own sake and not for the sake of God. So that when two persons serve God in the same degree, of whom one is related to us and the other not, He would have us feel warmer affection and attachment towards our natural father than towards any one else, and to a kinsman or benefactor rather than to one who is neither of these. Thus, too, we love and honour the Apostles more than Saints less holy than they, because they always loved and served the Lord our God in a greater and higher degree. For charity, without which we cannot attain to everlasting life, is called dilection, and it is by it that we love the Lord our God for His own sake, and all other things for the sake of Him. As the Psalmist says, we must praise Him in His Saints." I desire very much, and more than very much, if I may be allowed the expression, that this true charity may be perfected in you, my relations and friends, and that you may consecrate all your powers to the service and praise of the Lord our God; that so I may love you and ever serve you the more, since it is my triumph and my glory to serve the servants of my Master. And it is the sincere feeling of this pure charity which makes me say and write and admonish you, as I desire and from my whole heart would gladly be admonished and corrected-always, that is, with just judgment, and not for the motive of worldly or profane glory. Whoever in this life is occupied with the cares of much building, and of extending the limit of his domains and increasing his income and estate, and of leaving after him a name upon earth and a great memory, such a one I do not venture to condemn; but I cannot commend him, because, according to St. Paul, we ought to use these things as if we used them not, and possess them as though we possessed them not, and that even those who have wives should be as though they had them not, for the " figure of this life passes quickly away.' If so be, as I would desire, you have already known, or in part do now know, these things, I conjure you, by the fear and love of God, to employ all your efforts in acquiring glory in Heaven and a name and a good remembrance before the Lord, Who will one day be our Judge; for He has given you temporal goods in abundance, that by means of these you may acquire eternal goods, and that you may give to your children and to your servants, and all over whom you have charge, good example and salutary lessons, to the former exercising just strictness, though without anger or offence, and to the latter giving recompense according to their labour, and attaching them to your family, doing good also in much alms to the poor, and providing for orphans and those in necessity. It becomes us not to be sparing when the Lord our God has been so liberal towards us. We shall find one day peace and happiness in proportion as we shall have bestowed alms and done good in this life. And now, since you can do much in the country in which you live, I again conjure you, by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to urge yourself not only to meditate on these things but to will and do them. Paris, 1532.* * The date of the month is not given in this letter, but it must have been written at the end of June, since he concludes by saying that he has received his brother's letter on the 20th of this month of June. H Letter to Elizabeth Roser Το my dear Sister in Jesus Christ, E. R. I have received through Dr. Benet three letters from you and twenty ducats. May the Lord our God reckon them to your account and repay you for me at the Day of Judgment, as I hope in His divine goodness He will, and that in money of the best and highest worth. I trust in Him, that He will not have to punish me hereafter as an ungrateful servant, and that He will make me in some degree worthy to praise and serve His Divine Majesty. In your first letter you tell me that God's holy will has been done in regard of your separation for this life from the lady Las Canillas. It is not on her account that I feel sorrow, but for ourselves, who remain in this place of banishment, pain, and misery, because, having known her in this life as a soul dear and precious in the eyes of her Master and Creator, I readily believe that He has given her a blessed mansion of rest, and that she has no longer need of the palaces, the riches, or the vanities and magnificence of this world. You express also the apologies made to me by our Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. They owe me nothing, and it is I who am their eternal debtor. In short, if I am not at present able to repay my obligations as I ought, I have no recourse but to pray God to share among those to whom I owe so much all the merits I may acquire, always with His grace, in the sight of His Divine Majesty, giving to each according to the services they have rendered me, and to you above all, to whom I owe more than to any other person in the world. In your third letter you speak of the false, treacherous, and wrongful dealing that you are surrounded with on all sides. I am not astonished at it, and if you had much more to suffer I should not be surprised, for since the time that you resolved to seek with your whole endeavours the glory, honour, and service of the Lord our God, you took for your portion war against the world; you lifted up the standard against it, you prepared yourself to combat all that is lofty by embracing what is lowly, and by forcing yourself to be indifferent both to greatness and to littleness, to honour and dishonour, to riches and to poverty, to pleasure and to displeasure-in a word, to all esteem and all contempt of this world. We ought not to think much of the wounds which may be inflicted on us in this life as long as they only come to words, for these cannot hurt so much as one hair of our head. Injurious and offensive words and innuendos cause neither pain nor pleasure when once they are made welcome; but as long as we seek for the honour and glory of men we are not firmly established in God, and so, when men affront us, we cannot escape being wounded. If, then, I have rejoiced to learn that the world afflicts you, I cannot endure to think that you seek to find help and remedies against the sufferings and ill-treatment that you receive from it. May the Mother of God obtain for you perfect patience and perseverance, and enable you to reflect how much greater were the affronts and the sorrows which our Lord Jesus Christ has suffered for our sakes. May she obtain for you still greater humiliations, provided always it be without sin of others, that so you may daily gain greater merits. If we do not find in ourselves this patience, we have the more reason to lament our sensitiveness and our carnal dispositions when we |