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
At the head of the list come the two friends, Ignatius and Xavier, dying
within four years of each other: the latter in 1552, the former in 1556.
The third is Borgia, who died in 1572. He had set aside all the honors
of the world, except that of actual royalty, in order to take the lowest
place in the Society, but he became its chief. In charming contrast with
these three great men, are the three boy saints: Stanislaus, Aloysius,
and Berchmans, dying respectively in 1568, 1591 and 1621. Stanislaus,
the little Polish noble, travelled all the way from Vienna to Rome on
foot, a distance of 1500 miles, to enter the novitiate. He had no money,
or guide, or friends, but he arrived safely, for the angels gave him
Communion on his journey, and he has ever since been the darling of the
beginners in religious life. Aloysius was of princely blood, but died
nursing the sick in the hospital. He is the patron of youthful purity,
and was never a priest, though an unwise writer makes a missionary of
him. The third, John Berchmans, was neither prince nor noble. On the
contrary, it used to be the delight of foreigners, when rambling through
the little Flemish town of Diest, to see the name of "Berchmans" on the
humble shops of hucksters and grocers, and to fancy that some of the
little lads who clattered about in their sabots, on their way to school,
were relatives of his. His sanctity has made his family name famous in
the world. His beatification was especially welcome, because, as
Berchmans was the very incarnation of the Jesuit rule, the Order cannot
have been the iniquitous organization it is frequently said to be.
Then there are three Japanese Jesuits who were crucified at Nagasaki in
1597; and in 1616 came Alfonso Rodríguez, who had prepared Peter Claver
to be the Apostle of the negro slaves in America, and who went quietly
from his post at the gates of the College of Minorca to the gates of
heaven. Peter Claver had to wait for thirty-eight years before going to
join his venerable friend. Besides the two St. Francises of the early
days, there are two more of that name in the Society: the Frenchman,
John Francis Regis, who died in 1640, and the Italian, Francis
Hieronymo, whose work ended in 1716. They were both preachers to the
most abandoned classes. Hieronymo could gather as many as 15,000 men to
a regular monthly Communion, and when he entered the royal convict
ships, he converted those sinks of iniquity into abodes of peace and
resignation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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