A \ B \ C \ D \ E \ F \ G \ H \ I \ J \ K \ L \ M \ N \ O \ P \ R \ S \ T \ U \ V \ W \Z

The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18) by John Dryden

J >> John Dryden >> The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18)




God granted to her what himself had inspired her to demand; and was
pleased to assure her, by a new revelation, that he had heard her
prayers. She made known to her ghostly father what had passed betwixt God
and her, and time verified it: for the sister above mentioned died
without sickness, and appeared in dying to have had a foretaste of the
joys to come. On the other side, the abbess was struck with a terrible
disease, which took all her body, as it were, in pieces, and made her
suffer intolerable pains; yet even those pains were less cruel to her,
than those inward torments which God at the same time inflicted on her.
She endured all this with wonderful patience and resignation; being well
assured, that in the whole series of these dispensations there was
somewhat of divine.

For what remains concerning her, from the first years of her entry into a
religious life, the gift of prophecy shone so visibly in her, that none
doubted but that she was full of the spirit of God; and 'tis also
probable, that she left a legacy of her prophetic gifts to her spiritual
daughters. For, after her decease, the nuns of Gandia foretold many
things, which afterward the event confirmed; as, amongst others, the
unhappy success of the expedition to Algier; of which the Duke of Borgia,
viceroy of Catalonia, gave the advertisement from them to Charles V. when
he was making his preparations for that enterprize.

It was six years before the death of Magdalen, that Don Jasso, her
father, writ to her concerning Xavier. After she had received the letter,
she was illuminated from above; and, according to the dictates of that
divine light, she answered Don Jasso, that he should beware of recalling
her brother Francis, whatsoever it might cost him for his entertainment
in the university of Paris. That he was a chosen vessel, pre-ordained to
be the apostle of the Indies, and that one day he should become a great
pillar of the church.

These letters have been preserved for a long time afterwards, and have
been viewed by many persons, who have deposed the truth judicially in the
process of the canonization of the saint.

Don Jasso received this answer from his daughter as an oracle from
heaven; and no longer thought of recalling his son from his studies.

Xavier, thereupon, continued his philosophy; and succeeded so well in it,
that having maintained his thesis, at the end of his course, with a
general applause, and afterwards taking his degree of master of arts, he
was judged worthy to teach philosophy himself. His parts appeared more
than ever in this new employment; and he acquired an high reputation in
his public lectures on Aristotle. The praises, which universally were
given him, were extremely pleasing to his vanity. He was not a little
proud to have augmented the glory of his family by the way of learning,
while his brothers were continually adorning it by that of arms; and he
flattered himself, that the way which he had taken, would lead him onward
to somewhat of greater consequence.

But God Almighty had far other thoughts than those of Xavier; and it was
not for these fading honours that the Divine Providence had conducted him
to Paris.

At the same time, when this young master of philosophy began his course,
Ignatius Loyola, who had renounced the world, and cast the model of a
learned society, wholly devoted to the salvation of souls, came into
France to finish his studies, which the obstacles he found in Spain,
after his conversion, had constrained him to interrupt.

He had not continued long in the university of Paris, before he heard
talk of Xavier, and grew acquainted with him. Our new professor, who
taught at the college of Beauvois, though he dwelt in the college of St
Barbe, with Peter le Fevre, a Savoyard, was judged by Ignatius to be very
proper for the preaching of the gospel, as well as his companion. To gain
the better opportunity of insinuating himself into their acquaintance, he
took lodgings with them, and was not wanting to exhort them to live up to
the rules of Christianity.

Le Fevre, who was of a tractable nature, and was not enamoured of the
world, resigned himself without opposition. But Xavier, who was of a
haughty spirit, and whose head was filled with ambitious thoughts, made a
fierce resistance at the first. The discipline and maxims of Ignatius,
who lived in a mean equipage, and valued nothing but that poverty, made
him pass for a low-minded fellow in the opinion of our young gentleman.
And accordingly Xavier treated him with much contempt; rallying him on
all occasions, and making it his business to ridicule him.

This notwithstanding, Ignatius omitted no opportunities of representing
to him the great consequence of his eternal welfare, and urging the words
of our blessed Saviour, "What profit is it to a man to gain the whole
world, and to lose his own, soul?" but perceiving that he could make no
impression on a heart where self-conceit was so very prevalent, and which
was dazzled with vain-glory, he bethought, himself of assaulting him on
the weaker side.

When he had often congratulated with him for those rare talents of
nature with which he was endowed, and particularly applauded his great
wit, he made it his business to procure him scholars, and to augment his
reputation by the crowd of his auditors. He conducted them even to his
chair; and in presenting them to their master, never failed to make his
panegyric.

Xavier was too vain, not to receive, with a greedy satisfaction, whatever
incense was given him of that kind: applause was welcome from whatever
hands it came; and withal he was too grateful, not to acknowledge those
good offices which were done him, by a person whom he had used so very
ill: he was the more sensible of such a kindness, by being conscious to
himself how little he had deserved it. He began to look with other eyes
on him who had the appearance of so mean a creature; and at the same time
was informed, that this man, of so despicable a presence, was born of one
of the noblest families in Guypuscoa; that his courage was correspondent
to his birth; and that only the fear of God had inspired him with the
choice of such a life, so distant from his inclination, and his quality.

These considerations, in favour of Ignatius, led him to hearken, without
repugnance, to those discourses which were so little suitable to his
natural bent; as if the quality and virtue of him who made them, had
given a new charm and weight to what he said.

While things were passing in this manner, Xavier's money began to fail
him, as it frequently happens to foreigners, who are at a great distance
from their own country; and Ignatius, who was newly returned from the
voyages which he had made into Flanders and England, from whence he had
brought back a large contribution of alms, assisted him in so pressing
an occasion, and thereby made an absolute conquest of his affections.

The heresy of Luther began to spread itself in Europe: and it was an
artifice of those sectaries, to procure proselytes in the Catholic
universities, who, by little and little, might insinuate their new
opinions into the scholars, and their masters. Many knowing men of
Germany were come on that design to Paris, though under the pretence of
seconding the intentions of Francis the First, who was desirous to
restore learning in his kingdom. They scattered their errors in so
dexterous a manner, that they made them plausible; and principally
endeavoured to fasten on young scholars, who had the greatest reputation
of wit. Xavier, who was naturally curious, took pleasure in these
novelties, and had run into them of his own accord, if Ignatius had not
withdrawn him. He gave an account of this very thing not long afterwards
in a letter to his elder brother, Don Azpilcueta, of which Ignatius
himself was the bearer; who made a voyage into Spain, for those reasons
which I have set down in another place. And these are his words, which
well deserve to be related.

"He has not only relieved me, by himself, and by his friends, in those
necessities to which I was reduced; but, which is of more importance, he
has withdrawn me from those occasions which I had to contract a
friendship with young men of my own standing, persons of great wit, and
well accomplished, who had sucked in the poison of heresy, and who hid
the corruptions of their heart under a fair and pleasing outside. He
alone has broken off that dangerous commerce in which my own imprudence
had engaged me; and has hindered me from following the bent of my easy
nature, by discovering to me the snares which were laid for me. If Don
Ignatius had given me no other proof of his kindness, I know not how I
could be able to return it, by any acknowledgments I could make: for, in
short, without his assistance, I could not have defended myself from
those young men, so fair in their outward carriage, and so corrupt in the
bottom of their hearts."

We may conclude, from this authentic testimony, that Xavier, far from
carrying the faith to the remotest nations of idolaters, was in danger to
make shipwreck of his own; had he not fallen into the hands of such a
friend as was Ignatius, who detested even the least appearance of heresy,
and whose sight was sharp enough to discover heretics, how speciously
soever they were disguised.

It was not sufficient to have only preserved Xavier from error, but it
was farther necessary to wean him altogether from the world: these
favourable dispositions which appeared in him, encouraged Ignatius to
pursue his design, and gave him hope of a fortunate success. Having one
day found Xavier more than ordinarily attentive, he repeated to him these
words more forcibly than ever: "What will it profit a man to gain the
whole world, and to lose his own soul?" After which he told him, that a
mind so noble and so great as his, ought not to confine itself to the
vain honours of this world; that celestial glory was the only lawful
object of his ambition; and that right reason would require him to prefer
that which was eternally to last, before what would vanish like a dream.

Then it was that Xavier began to see into the emptiness of earthly
greatness, and found himself touched with the love of heavenly things.
But these first impressions of grace had not all their effect
immediately: he made frequent reflections within himself, of what the man
of God had said to him; and it was not without many serious thoughts, and
after many a hard struggling, that, being overcome at length by the power
of those eternal truths, he took up a solid resolution, of living
according to the maxims of the gospel, and of treading in his footsteps,
who had made him sensible of his being gone astray.

He resigned himself therefore to the conduct of Ignatius, after the
example of Le Fevre, who had already reformed his life, and was inflamed
with the zeal of edifying others. The directions of a guide so well
enlightened, made easy to Xavier the paths of that perfection which were
hitherto unknown to him. He learnt from his new master, that the first
step which a sincere convert is to make, is to labour in the subduing of
his darling passion. As vainglory had the greatest dominion over him, his
main endeavours, from the very beginning, were to humble himself, and to
confound his own pride in the sense of his emptiness, and of his sins.
But well knowing that he could not tame the haughtiness of the soul
without mortifying the flesh, he undertook the conquest of his body, by
haircloth, by fasting, and other austerities of penance.

When his time of vacancies was come, he performed his spiritual
exercises, which his lectures of philosophy had till then hindered. Those
very exercises I mean, which Ignatius, inspired of God, had composed at
Manreze; and of which I have drawn the model, in the life of that holy
founder of the society of Jesus.

He began his retirement with an extraordinary fervour, even to the
passing of four days entire without taking any nourishment. His
contemplations were wholly busied, day and night, on divine matters. And
an ancient memorial assures us, that he went to his devotions with his
hands and feet tied; either to signify, that he was desirous to do
nothing, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or to give himself
the same usage which was given to the man in the parable of the gospel;
"who dared to appear in the wedding-room, without cloathing himself in
wedding-garments."

By meditating at his leisure on the great truths of Christianity, and
especially on the mysteries of our Saviour, according to the method of
Ignatius, he was wholly changed into another man; and the humility of the
cross appeared to him more amiable than all the glories of the world.
These new insights caused him, without the least repugnance, to refuse a
canonry of Pampeluna, which was offered him at that time, and was very
considerable, both in regard of the profits and of the dignity. He formed
also, during his solitude, the design of glorifying God by all possible
means, and of employing his whole life for the salvation of souls.

On these foundations, having finished the course of philosophy which he
read, and which had lasted three years and a half, according to the
custom of those times, he studied in divinity, by the counsel of
Ignatius, whose scholar he openly declared himself to be.

In the mean time, Ignatius, who found in himself an inward call to the
Holy-Land, for the conversion of Jews and Infidels, discovered his
intentions to Xavier, which he had already communicated to Le Fevre, and
four other learned young men, who had embraced his form of life.

All the seven engaged themselves, by promise to each other, and by solemn
vows to God Almighty, to forsake their worldly goods, and undertake a
voyage to Jerusalem; or in case that, in the compass of a year, they
could not find an accommodation of passing the seas, that they would cast
themselves at the feet of our holy Father, for the service of the church,
into whatever part of the world he would please to send them.

They made these vows at Montmartre, on the day of our Lady's assumption,
in the year 1534. That holy place, which has been watered with the blood
of martyrs, and where their bodies are still deposited, inspired a
particular devotion into Xavier, and possessed him with a fervent desire
of martyrdom.

Towards the end of the year following, he went from Paris, in the company
of Le Fevre, Laynez, Salmeron, Rodriguez, Bobadilla, and three other
divines, whom Le Fevre had gained in the absence of Ignatius, who, for
important reasons, was obliged to go before, and who was waiting for them
at Venice.

Somewhat before their departure, Xavier, who was sometimes too far
transported by the fervency of his soul, had tied his arms and thighs
with little cords, to mortify himself, for some kind of vain satisfaction
which he took in out-running and over-leaping his young companions; for
he was very active; and, amongst all the recreations used by scholars,
he liked none but the exercises of the body.

Though the cords were very straight about him, yet he imagined they would
not hinder him from travelling on foot. But he had scarcely begun his
journey, when he was taken with extreme pains. He bore them as well as he
was able; and dissembled them, till his strength failed him. His motion
had swelled his thighs, and indented the cords so deep into his flesh,
that they were hardly visible; insomuch that the chirurgeons, to whom his
fellows discovered them, plainly said, that any incisions which could be
made, would serve only to increase his pains, and that the ill was
incurable.

In this dangerous conjuncture, Le Fevre, Laynez, and the rest, had
recourse to Almighty God, and not in vain. Xavier waking the next
morning, found the cords fallen down, the swelling wholly taken away from
his thighs, and the marks of the cords only remaining on his flesh. They
joined in actions of thanksgiving to the Almighty, for his providential
care already shewn in their behalf; and though the ways were very rugged,
in the inclemency of that season, yet they cheerfully pursued their
journey.

Xavier was serviceable to his companions on all occasions, and was always
beforehand with them in the duties of charity; whether it were, that,
being naturally officious, and of a warm temper, he was more eager to
employ himself for them; or that his health, miraculously restored,
rendered him more obliging and charitable towards those by whose prayers
it was recovered.

When they were arrived at Venice, their breathings were only after the
holy places. Ignatius, whom they were ravished to see again, and whom
they acknowledged for their common father, was of opinion, that while
they were waiting the opportunity of going to receive the Pope's blessing
for their voyage to Jerusalem, each of them should employ himself on
works of charity, in the hospitals of the town.

Xavier, whose lot fell in the hospital of the incurable, was not
satisfied only with busying himself all day, in dressing sick men's
sores, in making their beds, and doing them more inferior service, but
also passed whole nights in watching by them. But his care and pains were
not confined to the succour of their bodies. Though he was wholly
ignorant of the Italian tongue, he frequently spoke of God to them; and,
above all things, exhorted the greatest libertines to repentance, by
causing them to comprehend, in the best manner he was able, that though
their corporal maladies were incurable, yet the diseases of their souls
were not so; that how enormous soever our offences were, we ought always
to rely on God's mercy; and that a desire of being sincerely converted,
was only requisite in sinners for obtaining the grace of their
conversion.

One of these sick alms-men had an ulcer, which was horrible to the sight,
but the noisomeness of the stench was yet more insupportable; every one
shunned the miserable creature, not enduring so much as to approach him;
and Xavier once found a great repugnance in himself to attend him: but at
the same time, he called to his remembrance a maxim of Ignatius, that we
make no progress in virtue, but by vanquishing ourselves; and that the
occasion of making a great sacrifice, was too precious to be lost. Being
fortified with these thoughts, and encouraged by the example of St
Catharine de Sienna, which came into his mind, he embraced the sick
person, applied his mouth to the ulcer, surmounted his natural loathing,
and sucked out the corruption. At the same moment his repugnance
vanished; and after that, he had no farther trouble in the like cases: of
so great importance it is to us, once to have thoroughly overcome
ourselves.

Two months were passed away in these exercises of charity. After which he
set forward on his journey to Rome with the other disciples of Ignatius,
who himself stayed behind alone at Venice. They underwent great hardships
in their way. It rained continually, and bread was often wanting to them,
even when their strength was wasted. Xavier encouraged his companions,
and sustained himself by that apostolic spirit with which God replenished
him from that time forwards, and which already made him in love with pain
and sufferings.

Being arrived at Rome, his first care was to visit the churches, and to
consecrate himself to the ministry of the gospel, upon the sepulchre of
the holy apostles. He had the opportunity of speaking more than once
before the Pope: for the whole company of them being introduced into the
Vatican, by Pedro Ortiz, that Spanish doctor whom they had formerly
known at Paris, and whom the emperor had sent to Rome for the affair
concerning the marriage of Catharine of Arragon, queen of England, Paul
the Third, who was a lover of learning, and who was pleased to be
entertained at his table with the conversation of learned men, commanded
that these strangers, whose capacity he had heard so extremely praised,
should be admitted to see him for many days successively; and that in his
presence they should discourse concerning divers points of
school-divinity.

Having received the benediction of our holy father for their voyage to
the Holy Land, and obtained the permission for those amongst them who
were not in sacred orders, to receive them, they returned to Venice.
Xavier there made his vows of poverty and perpetual chastity, together
with the rest, in the hands of Jeronimo Veralli, the Pope's nuncio; and
having again taken up his post in the hospital of the incurable, he
resumed his offices of charity, which his journey to Rome had constrained
him to interrupt, and continued in those exercises till the time of his
embarkment.

In the mean time, the war which was already kindled betwixt the Venetians
and the Turk, had broken the commerce of the Levant, and stopt the
passage to the Holy Land; insomuch, that the ship of the pilgrims of
Jerusalem went not out that year, according to the former custom.

This disappointment wonderfully afflicted Xavier; and the more, because
he not only lost the hope of seeing those places which had been
consecrated by the presence and the blood of Jesus Christ, but was
also bereft of an occasion of dying for his divine Master. Yet he
comforted himself in reflecting on the method of God's providence; and at
the same time, not to be wanting in his duty to his neighbour, he
disposed himself to receive the orders of priesthood, and did receive
them with those considerations of awful dread, and holy confusion, which
are not easy to be expressed.

The town appeared to him an improper place for his preparation, in order
to his first mass. He sought out a solitary place, where, being separated
from the communication of man, he might enjoy the privacies of God. He
found this convenience of a retirement near Monteselice, not far from
Padua: it was a miserable thatched cottage, forsaken of inhabitants, and
out of all manner of repair. Thus accommodated, he passed forty days,
exposed to the injuries of the air, lying on the cold hard ground,
rigidly disciplining his body, fasting all the day, and sustaining nature
only with a little pittance of bread, which he begged about the
neighbourhood; but tasting all the while the sweets of paradise, in
contemplating the eternal truths of faith. As his cabin did not unfitly
represent to him the stable of Bethlehem, so he proposed to himself
frequently the extreme poverty of the infant Jesus, as the pattern of his
own; and said within himself, that, since the Saviour of mankind had
chosen to be in want of all things, they who laboured after him for the
salvation of souls, were obliged, by his example, to possess nothing in
this world.

How pleasing soever this loneliness were to him, yet, his forty days
being now expired, he left it, to instruct the villages and
neighbour-towns, and principally Monteselice, where the people were
grossly ignorant, and knew little of the duties of Christianity.

The servant of God made daily exhortations to them, and his penitent
aspect gave authority to all his words; insomuch, that only looking on
his face, none could doubt but he was come from the wilderness to
instruct them in the way to heaven. He employed himself during the space
of two or three months in that manner: for, though there was no
appearance that any vessel should set sail for the Holy Land, yet
Ignatius and his disciples, who had obliged themselves to wait one year
in expectation of any such opportunity, would not depart from the
territories of the republic till it was totally expired, that they might
have nothing to upbraid themselves, in relation to the vow which they had
made.

Xavier being thus disposed, both by his retirement, and his exterior
employments, at length said his first mass at Vicenza; to which place
Ignatius had caused all his company to resort; and he said it with tears
flowing in such abundance, that his audience could not refrain from
mixing their own with his.

His austere, laborious life, joined with so sensible a devotion, which
often makes too great an impression on the body, so much impaired the
strength of his constitution, that he fell sick, not long after his first
mass. He was carried into one of the own hospitals, which was so crowded,
and so poor, that Xavier had in it but the one half of a wretched bed,
and that too in a chamber which was open on every side. His victuals were
no better than his lodging, and never was sick man more destitute of
human succours. But, in requital, heaven was not wanting to him.

He was wonderfully devoted to St Jerome; and had often had recourse to
that blessed doctor of the church for the understanding of difficult
places in the scripture. The saint appeared to him one night, refulgent
in his beams of glory, and gave him consolation in his sickness; yet, at
the same time, declaring to him, that a far greater affliction than the
present was waiting for him at Bolognia, where himself and one of his
companions were to pass the winter; that some of them should go to Padua,
some to Rome, others to Ferrara, and the remainder of them to Sienna.

Copyright (c) 2007. bestextbooks.com. All rights reserved.

Michael Faraday - "Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1"

Zane Grey - "The Rustlers of Pecos County"

Howard R. Garis - "Uncle Wiggily's Adventures"

Desiderius Erasmus - "Two Dyaloges (c. 1549)"