The Autobiography of St. IgnatiusIgnatius, of Loyola, Saint
Religion
The Autobiography of St. Ignatius
Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint
Christian saints -- Spain -- Biography; Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556
Now the Spaniard who had spent the money of Ignatius and had not paid
him, had set out to journey to Spain and fallen sick. As soon as
Ignatius learned of this, he was seized with a longing to visit and
help him, hoping by this to lead him to abandon the world and give
himself wholly to God. And indeed to accomplish this he wished to make
the journey barefooted, without food or drink. While praying for this
purpose, he felt himself seized with great fear until, entering the
Church of St. Dominic, he resolved to make the journey in this manner.
The fear that it might be tempting God then left him; on the morning
of the following day, upon arising, so great a fear seized him that it
seemed to him that he could not even put on his clothes. In this
interior strife he left the house and went out of the city, and the
fear did not leave him till he was nine miles from Paris. At this
distance there is a village which the inhabitants call Argenteuil,
where the Holy Coat of Our Lord is said to be preserved. As he left
this place in great trouble of spirit, a feeling of great consolation
and strength filled his soul with such joy that he began to shout
aloud and to talk with God as he walked through the fields. That
night, having completed forty-five miles, he went to rest with a
beggar in a hospital. On the next day toward nightfall he lodged in a
straw-thatched cabin. On the third day he arrived on foot. According
to his resolve, he took neither food nor drink. Upon his arrival he
consoled the sick man, helped him on board a vessel which was about to
sail for Spain, and gave him letters to his companions, Calisto,
Caceres, and Artiaga, who were in Salamanca. Here we may dwell for a
moment on the fate of these companions. While Ignatius was at Paris he
often sent them letters, telling them of the little hope left of
calling them to Paris for their studies. Still he urged by letter
Donna Leonora de Mascarenas to use her influence with the King of
Portugal for Calisto, that he might receive one of the burses which
the King had established. A certain yearly aid is called a burse.
Donna Leonora gave Calisto a mule and money to take him to the court
of the King of Portugal. He set out, but never reached that place. He
came back afterward to Spain and went to India. He returned rich, to
the great surprise of all at Salamanca, who had known him in former
days. Caceres, after returning to Segovia, his native city, began to
grow unmindful of his former purpose and life. Artiaga was first made
a magistrate. Afterward, when the Society was established at Rome, a
bishopric was given to him. He wrote to Ignatius, "I wish this
bishopric to be given to one of the Society." But as soon as the
answer came that this was not to be done, he went to India, was made
bishop, and died there a strange death. While sick it chanced that two
phials of liquid were placed in water to cool, one containing a
medicine ordered for him by the doctor, the other a diluted poison
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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