The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present TimeCampbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
History
The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present Time
Campbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
Jesuits -- History
Most conspicuous among them was Francis Xavier, who will ever be the
wonder of history. With him were Laínez and Salmerón, soon to be the
luminaries of the Council of Trent, the former of whom barely escaped
being elevated to the chair of St. Peter, and then only by fleeing Rome.
There was also Bobadilla, the future favorite of kings and princes and
prelates, the idol of the armies of Austria, the tireless apostle who
evangelised seventy-seven dioceses of Europe, but who unfortunately
alienated Charles V from the Society by imprudently telling him what
should have come from another source or in another way. There was
Rodriguez who was to hold Portugal, Brazil and India in his hands,
ecclesiastically; and Faber who was to precede Canisius in the salvation
of Germany.
Each one of these remarkable men differed in character from the rest.
Bobadilla, Salmerón, Laínez and Xavier were Spaniards; but the
blue-blooded and somewhat "haughty" Xavier must have been tempted to
look with disdain on a man with a Jewish strain like Laínez. Salmerón
was only a boy of about nineteen, but already marvelously learned; and
Bobadilla was an impecunious professor whom Ignatius had helped to gain
a livelihood in Paris, but whose ebulliency of temper was a continued
source of anxiety; Rodriguez was a man of velleities rather than of
action, and his ideas of asceticism were in conflict with those of
Ignatius. The most docile of all was the Savoyard Peter Faber, who began
life as a shepherd boy and was already far advanced in sanctity when he
met St. Ignatius. In spite, however, of all this divergency of traits
and antecedent environment, the wonderful personality of their leader
exerted its undisputed sway over them all, not by a rigid uniformity of
direction, but by an adaptation to the idiosyncrasies of each. His
profound knowledge of their character, coupled as it was with an intense
personal affection for them, was so effective that the proud aloofness
of Xavier, the explosiveness of Bobadilla, the latent persistency of
Laínez, the imaginativeness and hesitancy of Rodriguez, the enthusiasm
of the boyish Salmerón, and the sweetness of Faber, all paid him the
tribute of the sincerest attachment and an eagerness to follow his least
suggestion. Rodriguez was the sole exception in the latter respect, but
he failed only twice. Two other groups of young men had previously
gathered around Ignatius, but, one by one, they deserted him. All of the
last mentioned persevered, and became the foundation-stones of the
Society of Jesus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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