The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
A little suffering there was for F. Ignatius (as we must now call him) from
homesickness and the difficulty of adapting himself to the small items of
novice discipline. Chilled feet, a hard bed, and meagre diet were not quite
easy to bear. But his hardest trial was the consideration of his
companions, who tried to spare him humiliations, and take upon themselves
works that seemed degrading for one of his standing. Austerities were soon
forgotten, but dispensations were true afflictions to one whose wish with
regard to life was ceaseless labor, and with regard to death "to die unseen
and unknown in a ditch."
{183}
The story of his fifteen years of religious life is beautifully told by his
biographer. Only under the restrain& of a religious role did his gifts and
virtues receive their right development. It was like a second youth, a
second training for life; undue impetuosity was restrained, zeal,
generosity, charity, tenderness, all found an object and a wise direction.
Surely never was sanctity made more attractive than in the person of the
noble and gentle F. Ignatius. Great was the rejoicing among postulants and
novices when his arrival was announced at any one of the passionist houses.
Anecdote, mirth, kind and sympathizing intercourse were in store for the
recreation wherever he appeared, clad in his coarse attire, with a brace of
rough drogget bags slung over his broad shoulders. The journey had been
made, they might be sure, in the third-class cars, "because there was no
fourth class." The spirit of holy poverty had grown to be a sort of passion
with him, only to be surpassed by his zeal for the salvation of souls. He
treated himself, and wished others to treat him, like a beggar; thankful
for any favor, but cheerfully submissive to refusal. When he had a long
journey before him, if anyone offered him a "lift" in a cart or wagon, he
gladly accepted it; if not, he was quite contented. He seldom refused a
meal when travelling, and would ask for something to eat at any house upon
the road, if necessary. At home he generally washed and mended his own
clothes, and when he was superior would allow no one to perform menial
offices for him. In dress he dreaded overnicety, and would as gladly wear a
cast-off tartan as anything else, if it did not tend to throw discredit
upon his order. For several years he wore an old mantle belonging to a
religious who had died, and only left it off at the desire of the
provincial. This was by no means his natural bent. Those who knew him as a
young man say that he would hunt through the hosiers' shops in a dozen
streets in London to find articles that could satisfy his fastidious taste.
But, to return to the pleasure which his presence in a community always
gave:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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