He at once reformed his vicious life, erected a great cloistered
hospital, with one of the most beautiful churches in Seville, and
endowed it, so that a large company of priests, sisters of charity,
physicians, and domestics could be provided for. Don Miguel caused this
inscription to be cut on the façade of the hospital: "This house shall
stand as long as God shall be feared in it, and Jesus Christ be served
in the persons of His poor. Whoever enters here must leave at the door
both avarice and pride."
The noble was buried at the church door, so that all who passed in might
trample upon his grave. The monumental slab bears the perhaps not
inappropriate words, dictated by himself: "To the memory of the greatest
sinner that ever lived, Don Miguel de Mañara."
Murillo painted for the new Church of St. George eight pictures for the
side walls, and three for the altars, for which he received over
seventy-eight thousand reals. The "Annunciation," the "Infant Saviour,"
and the "Infant St. John" were destined for the side altars; the
remaining eight, "Moses striking the Rock," the "Prodigal's Return,"
"Abraham receiving the Three Angels," the "Charity of San Juan de
Dios," the "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes," "Our Lord healing the
Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda," "St. Peter released from Prison by
the Angel," and "St. Elizabeth of Hungary tending the Sick," were
intended for the walls. Only three of these eight are left at La
Caridad,--"Moses," the "Loaves and Fishes," and "San Juan,"--the rest
having been carried to France by Marshal Soult.
Of these three, "San Juan" is considered the "most spirited and
powerful." This saint was the founder of the Hospitallers or Brothers of
Charity. Born of very poor parents, at nine years of age he ran away
from home with a priest, who deserted him on the road to Madrid, at a
little village near Oropesa, in Castile. He hired himself to a shepherd;
later he entered the wars between Charles V. and Francis I., and became
a brave but profligate soldier. He was about to be hanged for allowing
some booty to be carried off, over which he had been placed as sentinel.
The rope was already around his neck, when an officer, touched with
pity, interfered to save his life, on condition that he should quit the
camp.
After various wanderings, he returned to his native town, only to find
that both his father and mother had died of grief in consequence of his
flight. He nearly lost his reason through remorse, became converted, and
began to devote his life to the poor and the sick. To the deserted shed
which served for his home, he brought the starving and wretched whom he
found in the streets, and worked for them and begged for them. He
finally obtained a large building, where, in the winter, he kept a great
fire to warm homeless travellers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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