BOOK I.

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THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN,

_NOW FIRST COLLECTED IN EIGHTEEN VOLUMES_.

ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES,

HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY,

AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

BY WALTER SCOTT, ESQ.

* * * * *

VOL. XVI.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,

BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.

1808.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME SIXTEENTH.

PAGE.

The Life of St Francis Xavier, of the Society of

Jesus, Apostle of the Indies, and of Japan, ... 1

Dedication to the Queen, ................... 3

The Author's Advertisement to the Reader, .. 8

Book I ..................................... 14

Book II .................................... 59

Book III ................................... 116

Book IV .................................... 191

Book V ..................................... 288

Book VI .................................... 408

THE LIFE OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER,

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS,

APOSTLE OF THE INDIES, AND OF JAPAN.

TO THE QUEEN.[1]

MADAM,

The reverend author of this life, in his dedication to his Most Christian

Majesty, affirms, that France was owing for him to the intercession of St

Francis Xavier. That Anne of Austria, his mother, after twenty years of

barrenness, had recourse to heaven, by her fervent prayers, to draw down

that blessing, and addressed her devotions, in a particular manner, to

this holy apostle of the Indies. I know not, madam, whether I may presume

to tell the world, that your majesty has chosen this great saint for one

of your celestial patrons, though I am sure you will never be ashamed of

owning so glorious an intercessor; not even in a country where the

doctrine of the holy church is questioned, and those religious addresses

ridiculed. Your majesty, I doubt not, has the inward satisfaction of

knowing, that such pious prayers have not been unprofitable to you; and

the nation may one day come to understand, how happy it will be for them

to have a son of prayers ruling over them.[2] Not that we are wholly to

depend on this particular blessing, as a thing of certainty, though we

hope and pray for its continuance. The ways of Divine Providence are

incomprehensible; and we know not in what times, or by what methods, God

will restore his church in England, or what farther trials and

afflictions we are yet to undergo. Only this we know, that if a religion

be of God, it can never fail; but the acceptable time we must patiently

expect, and endeavour by our lives not to undeserve. I am sure if we take

the example of our sovereigns, we shall place our confidence in God

alone; we shall be assiduous in our devotions, moderate in our

expectations, humble in our carriage, and forgiving of our enemies. All

other panegyrics I purposely omit; but those of Christianity are such,

that neither your majesty, nor my royal master, need be ashamed of them,

because their commemoration is instructive to your subjects. We may be

allowed, madam, to praise Almighty God for making us happy by your means,

without suspicion of flattery; and the meanest subject has the privilege

of joining his thanksgiving with his sovereigns, where his happiness is

equally concerned. May it not be permitted me to add, that to be

remembered, and celebrated in after ages, as the chosen vessel, by which

it has pleased the Almighty Goodness to transmit so great a blessing to

these nations, is a secret satisfaction, which is not forbidden you to

take; the blessings of your people are a prelibation of the joys in

heaven, and a lawful ambition here on earth.

Your majesty is authorized, by the greatest example of a mother, to

rejoice in a promised son. The blessed Virgin was not without as great a

proportion of joy, as humanity could bear, when she answered the

salutation of the angel in expressions, which seemed to unite the

contradicting terms of calmness, and of transport: "Be it to thy

hand-maid, according to thy word."

It is difficult for me to leave this subject, but more difficult to

pursue it as I ought; neither must I presume to detain your majesty by a

long address. The life of Saint Francis Xavier, after it had been written

by several authors in the Spanish and Portuguese, and by the famous Padre

Bartoli in the Italian tongue, came out at length in French, by the

celebrated pen of Father Bohours, from whom I have translated it, and

humbly crave leave to dedicate it to your patronage. I question not but

it will undergo the censure of those men, who teach the people, that

miracles are ceased. Yet there are, I presume, a sober party of the

Protestants, and even of the most learned among them, who being

convinced, by the concurring testimonies of the last age, by the

suffrages of whole nations in the Indies and Japan, and by the severe

scrutinies that were made before the act of canonization, will not

dispute the truth of most matters of fact as they are here related; nay,

some may be ingenuous enough to own freely, that to propagate the faith

amongst infidels and heathens, such miraculous operations are as

necessary now in those benighted regions, as when the Christian doctrine

was first planted by our blessed Saviour and his apostles.

The honourable testimonies which are cited by my author, just before the

conclusion of his work, and one of them in particular from a learned

divine of the church of England,[3] though they slur over the mention of

his miracles, in obscure and general terms, yet are full of veneration

for his person. Farther than this I think it needless to prepossess a

reader; let him judge sincerely, according to the merits of the cause,

and the sanctity of his life, of whom such wonders are related, and

attested with such clouds of witnesses; for an impartial man cannot but

of himself consider the honour of God in the publication of his gospel,

the salvation of souls, and the conversion of kingdoms, which followed

from those miracles; the effects of which remain in many of them to this

day.

But that it is not lawful for me to trespass so far on the patience of

your majesty, I should rather enlarge on a particular reflection, which I

made in my translation of this book, namely, that the instructions of the

saint, which are copied from his own writings, are so admirably useful,

so holy, and so wonderfully efficacious, that they seem to be little less

than the product of an immediate inspiration. So much excellent matter is

crowded into so small a compass, that almost every paragraph contains the

value of a sermon. The nourishment is so strong, that it requires but

little to be taken at a time. Where he exhorts, there is not an

expression, but what is glowing with the love of God; where he directs a

missioner, or gives instructions to a substitute, we can scarcely have a

less idea than of a St Paul advising a Timothy, or a Titus. Where he

writes into Europe, he inspires his ardour into sovereign princes, and

seems, with the spirit of his devotion, even to burn his colleagues at

the distance of the Indies.

But, madam, I consider that nothing I can say is worthy to detain you

longer from the perusal of this book, in which all things are excellent,

excepting only the meanness of my performance in the translation. Such as

it is, be pleased, with your inborn goodness, to accept it, with the

offer of my unworthy prayers for the lasting happiness of my gracious

sovereign, for your own life and prosperity, together with the

preservation of the son of prayers, and the farther encrease of the

royal family; all which blessings are continually implored from heaven,

by,

MADAM,

Your Majesty's most humble,

And most obedient subject and servant,

JOHN DRYDEN.

[Footnote 1: Mary of Este, wife of James II.]

[Footnote 2: The superstitious and, as it proved, fatal insinuation, that

the birth of the Chevalier de St George was owing to the supernatural

intercession of St Francis Xavier, was much insisted on by the

Protestants as an argument against the reality of his birth. See the

Introduction to "Britannia Rediviva," Vol. X. p. 285. In that piece, our

author also alludes to this foolery:

Hail, son of prayers, by holy violence

Drawn down from heaven!--]

[Footnote 3: The Reverend Richard Hackluyt, editor of the large

collection of voyages to which Purchas' Pilgrim is a continuation.]

THE AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.

Having already presented you with the Life of St Ignatius, I thought

myself obliged to give you that of St Francis Xavier. For, besides that

it was just that the son should attend the father, it seemed to me, that

these two saints being concerned so much together, the history of the

apostle of India and Japan would give you a clearer knowledge of him

who was founder of the Jesuits. I may add likewise, that many

considerable persons, and particularly of the court, have testified so

great a desire to see a complete history of St Xavier in our language,

that I thought my labour would not be unacceptable to them; and that in

satisfying my own private devotion, I might at the same time content the

curiosity of others.

The writings out of which I have drawn this work, have furnished me with

all I could desire for the perfection of it, in what regards the truth

and the ornaments of this history: for without speaking of Turselline and

Orlandino, I have diligently read Lucena and Bartoli; the first of which

Wrote in Portuguese with this title, "The History of the Life of Father

Francis Xavier, and of what was done in the Indies by the Religious of

the Society of Jesus." He informs us, that he had in his hands the

authentic copies of the informations which were made by order of John

III. king of Portugal, concerning the actions of the blessed Father

Xavier, and the originals of many letters, written from the Indies on

that subject, which are to this day deposited in the archives of the

university of Coimbra. As for Bartoli, who is so famous by his writings,

and who is accounted amongst the best of the Italian authors, he has

extracted from the archives of the Casa Professa at Rome, and from the

acts of the canonization, what he relates of our saint in the first part

of the History of the Society, intitled, Asia.

Though these two historians have in some sort collected all that can be

said concerning St Francis Xavier, I omitted not to take a view of what

others have written on that subject; and chiefly the book of Nieremberg,

which bears for title, "_Claros Varones_, or Illustrious Men;" the

History of India, by Maffeus, and that of Jarrio; the Church History of

Japan, by Solia; the Castilian History of the Missions, which the Fathers

of the Society have made to the East Indies, and the kingdoms of China

and Japan, composed by Lewis de Gusman; and, lastly, the Portuguese

History of the Travels of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto.

But seeing St Francis Xavier himself has written some parts of those

accidents which have befallen him in India and Japan, I have faithfully

copied his letters, and from thence have drawn those particulars which

have much conduced to my information, and clearing of the truth. These

letters have also furnished me with materials to make the narration

appear more lively and moving, when you hear the saint himself speaking

in his proper words, and mixing his own thoughts and reflections with his

actions. I had almost finished this my work, when I received from Spain

and Italy two other lives of St Francis Xavier, which before that time I

had not seen: the one very new, which was written in Italian by Father

Joseph Massei; the other more ancient, written in Spanish by Father

Francis Garcia. I found nothing in those two books which I had not

observed in others; but read them with great pleasure, as being most

exactly and elegantly written, each in their several tongue.

For what remains, amongst all those historians which I have cited, there

is only the author of the new Italian Life, who has not followed the

common error, in relation to the age of St Francis Xavier: for the rest

of them not precisely knowing the year and day of his birth, have made

him ten years older than he was; placing his nativity about the time

when the passage to the East Indies was discovered by Vasco de Gama.

But Father Massei has taken his measures in that particular, from Father

Poussines, that judicious person to whom we are owing for the new letters

of St Xavier, and who has composed a dissertation in Latin, touching the

year of our apostle's birth.

He produces, in the said treatise, a Latin paper, written in all

appearance in the year 1585, and found in the records of the house of Don

Juan Antonio, Count of Xavier. That paper,--wherein is treated of the

ancestors and birth of the saint, and which very probably, as Poussines

judges, is the minute of a letter sent to Rome, where Dr Navara then

resided, to whom it refers you,--that paper, I say, has these words in

it: _Non scitur certò annus quo natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius. Vulgo

tamen invaluit, a quibusdam natum cum dici anno millesimo quadragintesimo

nonagesimo-sexto_: which is to say, the year is not certainly known, in

which Father Francis Xavier was born; but it is generally held, that some

have reported he was born in the year 1496.

But it is to be observed, that these words, _Non scitur certò annus quo

natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius_, are dashed out with the stroke of a

pen. There is also a line drawn over these other words, _Natum eum dici

millesimo, quadragintesimo, nonagesimo-sexto_: and this is written over

head, _Natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius anno millesimo quingentesimo

sexto_. Father Francis Xavier was born in the year 1506. There is also

written in the margin, _Natus est die 7 Aprilis, anni 1506_. He was born

on the 7th of April, 1506.

That which renders this testimony more authentic, is, that at the bottom

of the letter, these words, in Spanish, are written by the same hand

which corrected those two passages of which I spoke: _Hallo se la razon

del tiempo que el S. P. Francisco Xavier naciò, en un libro manual de su

hermano el Capitan Juan de Azpilcueta: la qual sacò de un libro, de su

padre Don Juan Jasso; viz_. "The time when the blessed Father Francis

Xavier was born, is found in the journal of his brother Don Juan de

Azpilcueta, who extracted it from the journal or manual of his father Don

Juan Jasso." 'Tis on this foundation, that, before I had read the Life

written by Father Massei, I had already closed with the opinion of Father

Poussines.

As to the precise day of the father's death, I have followed the common

opinion, which I take to be the most probable, in conformity to the bull

of his canonization. For the historians who have mentioned it, agree not

with each other, on what clay he died. 'Tis said in Herbert's Travels to

the Indies and Persia, translated out of the English, "St Francis Xavier,

the Jesuit of Navarre, died the 4th of December, 1552." Ferdinand Mendez

Pinto, the Portuguese, affirms, that he died at midnight, on Saturday the

2d of December, the same year. A manuscript letter, pretended to be

written by Anthony de Sainte Foy, companion to Xavier for the voyage of

China, the truth of which I suspect, relates, that the Saint died on a

Sunday night at two of the clock, on the 2d of December, 1552. Now 'tis

most certain, that in the year 1552, the 2d of December fell on a Friday;

so that it is a manifest mistake to say, that St Xavier died that year

either on Saturday or Sunday the 2d of December.

I should apprehend, lest a life so extraordinary as this might somewhat

shock the profaner sort of men, if the reputation of St Francis Xavier

were not well established in the world, and that the wonderful things he

did had not all the marks of true miracles. As the author who made the

collection of them has well observed, the mission of the saint gives them

an authority, even in our first conceptions of them: for being sent from

God for the conversion of infidels, it was necessary that the faith

should be planted in the East, by the same means as it had been through

all the world, in the beginning of the church.

Besides which, never any miracles have been examined with greater care,

or more judicially than these. They were not miracles wrought in private,

and which we are only to believe on the attestation of two or three

interested persons, such who might have been surprised into an opinion of

them; they were ordinarily public matters of fact, avowed by a whole city

or kingdom, and which had for witnesses the body of a nation, for the

most part Heathen, or Mahometan. Many of these miracles have been of long

continuance; and it was an easy matter for such who were incredulous, to

satisfy their doubts concerning them. All of them have been attended by

such consequences as have confirmed their truth, beyond dispute: such as

were--the conversions of kingdoms, and of kings, who were the greatest

enemies to Christianity; the wonderful ardency of those new Christians,

and the heroical constancy of their martyrs. But after all, nothing can

give a greater confirmation of the saint's miracles, than his saint-like

life; which was even more wonderful than the miracles themselves. It was

in a manner of necessity, that a man of so holy a conversation should

work those things, which other men could not perform; and that, resigning

himself to God, with an entire confidence and trust, in the most

dangerous occasions, God should consign over to him some part of his

omnipotence, for the benefit of souls.

THE LIFE OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER.

BOOK I.

_His birth. His natural endowments, and first studies. His father

purposes to recal him from his studies, and is diverted from that

resolution. He continues his studies, and sets up a philosophy lecture.

He is preserved from falling into heresy. His change of life. His

retirement, and total conversion. He consecrates himself to God, by a

vow. What happened to him in his journey to Venice. What he did at

Venice. He goes to Rome, and from thence returns to Venice. He prepares

himself to celebrate his first mass. He celebrates his first mass, and

falls sick after it. St Jerome appears to him. He goes to Bolognia, and

labours there with great success. He relapses into his sickness, and yet

continues preaching. He is recalled to Rome by Father Ignatius, and

labours there with great success. The occasion of the mission into the

Indies. He is named for the mission of the Indies. God mysteriously

reveals to him his intended mission to the Indies. He takes his leave of

the Pope, and what his Holiness said to him. He departs from Rome. How he

employed himself during his journey. His letter to Ignatius. Some

remarkable accidents in his journey to Lisbon. He passes by the castle of

Xavier without going to it. He arrives at Lisbon, and cures Rodriguez

immediately after his coming. He is called to court. The manner of his

life at Lisbon. He refuses to visit his uncle, the Duke of Navarre. The

fruit of his evangelical labours. The reputation he acquired at Lisbon.

They would retain him in Portugal. He is permitted to go to the Indies,

and the king discourses with him before his departure. He refuses the

provisions offered him for his voyage. He goes for the Indies, and what

he said to Rodriguez at parting_.

I have undertaken to write the life of a saint, who has renewed, in the

last age, the greatest wonders which were wrought in the infancy of the

church; and who was himself a living proof of Christianity. There will be

seen in the actions of one single man, a new world converted by the power

of his preaching, and by that of his miracles: idolatrous kings, with

their dominions, reduced under the obedience of the gospel; the faith

flourishing in the very midst of barbarism; and the authority of the

Roman church acknowledged by nations the most remote, who were utterly

unacquainted with ancient Rome.

This apostolical man, of whom I speak, is St Francis Xavier, of the

society of Jesus, and one of the first disciples of St Ignatius Loyola.

He was of Navarre; and, according to the testimony of Cardinal Antonia

Zapata, who examined his nobility from undoubted records, he derived his

pedigree from the kings of Navarre.

His father was Don Juan de Jasso, a lord of great merit, well conversant

in the management of affairs, and who held one of the first places in the

council of state, under the reign of King John III. The name of his

mother was Mary Azpilcueta Xavier, heiress to two of the most illustrious

families in that kingdom; for the chief of her house, Don Martin

Azpilcueta, less famous by the great actions of his ancestors, than by

his own virtue, married Juana Xavier, the only daughter and remaining

hope of her family. He had by her no other child but this Mary of whom we

spoke, one of the most accomplished persons of her time.

This virgin, equally beautiful and prudent, being married to Don Jasso,

became the mother of many children; the youngest of whom was Francis, the

same whose life I write. He was born in the castle of Xavier, on the 7th

of April, in the year 1506. That castle, situated at the foot of the

Pyrenean Mountains, seven or eight leagues distant from Pampeluna, had

appertained to his mother's house for about two hundred and fifty years;

his progenitors on her side having obtained it in gift from King Thibald,

the first of that name, in recompence of those signal services which they

had performed for the crown. 'Tis from thence they took the name of

Xavier, in lieu of Asnarez, which was the former name of their family.

This surname was conferred on Francis, as also on some of the rest of

his brothers, lest so glorious a name, now remaining in one only woman,

should be totally extinguished with her.

That Providence, which had selected Francis for the conversion of such

multitudes of people, endued him with all the natural qualities which are

requisite to the function of an apostle. He was of a strong habit of

body, his complexion lively and vigorous, his genius sublime and capable

of the greatest designs, his heart fearless, agreeable in his behaviour,

but above all, he was of a gay, complying, and winning humour: this

notwithstanding, he had a most extreme aversion for all manner of

immodesty, and a vast inclination for his studies.

His parents, who lived a most Christian life, inspired him with the fear

of God from his infancy, and took a particular care of his education. He

was no sooner arrived to an age capable of instruction, than, instead of

embracing the profession of arms, after the example of his brothers, he

turned himself, of his own motion, on the side of learning; and, as he

had a quick conception, a happy memory, and a penetrating mind, he

advanced wonderfully in few years.

Having gained a sufficient knowledge in the Latin tongue, and discovered

a great propensity to learning, he was sent to the university of Paris,

the most celebrated of all Europe, and to which the gentlemen of Spain,

Italy, and Germany, resorted for their studies.

He came to Paris in the eighteenth year of his age, and fell immediately

on the study of philosophy. 'Tis scarcely credible with how much ardour

he surmounted the first difficulties of logic. Whatsoever his

inclinations were towards a knowledge so crabbed and so subtle, he tugged

at it with incessant pains, to be at the head of all his fellow students;

and perhaps never any scholar besides himself could join together so much

ease, and so much labour.

Xavier minded nothing more, than how to become an excellent philosopher,

when his father, who had a numerous family of children, and who was one

of those men of quality, whose fortunes are not equal to their birth, was

thinking to remove him from his studies, after having allowed him a

competent maintenance for a year or two. He communicated these his

thoughts to Magdalen. Jasso, his daughter, abbess of the convent of St

Clare de Gandia, famous for the austerity of its rules, and established

by some holy Frenchwomen of that order, whom the calamities of war had

forced to forsake their native country, and to seek a sanctuary in the

kingdom of Valencia.

Magdalen, in her younger days, had been maid of honour and favourite to

the Catholic queen Isabella. The love of solitude, and of the cross, had

caused her to forsake the court of Arragon, and quit for ever the

pleasures of this world. Having chosen the most reformed monastery of

Spain for the place of her retreat, she applied herself, Avith fervour,

to the exercises of penitence and prayer; and became, even from her

noviciate, a perfect pattern of religious perfection.

During the course of her life, she had great communications with God; and

one day he gave her to understand, that she should die a sweet and easy

death; but, on the contrary, one of her nuns was pre-ordained to die in

strange torments. The intention of God was not thereby to reveal to the

abbess what was really to happen, but rather to give her an opportunity

of exercising an heroic act of charity. She comprehended what her

heavenly Father exacted from her, and petitioned him for an exchange.

God granted to her what himself had inspired her to demand; and was

pleased to assure her, by a new revelation, that he had heard her

prayers. She made known to her ghostly father what had passed betwixt God

and her, and time verified it: for the sister above mentioned died

without sickness, and appeared in dying to have had a foretaste of the

joys to come. On the other side, the abbess was struck with a terrible

disease, which took all her body, as it were, in pieces, and made her

suffer intolerable pains; yet even those pains were less cruel to her,

than those inward torments which God at the same time inflicted on her.

She endured all this with wonderful patience and resignation; being well

assured, that in the whole series of these dispensations there was

somewhat of divine.

For what remains concerning her, from the first years of her entry into a

religious life, the gift of prophecy shone so visibly in her, that none

doubted but that she was full of the spirit of God; and 'tis also

probable, that she left a legacy of her prophetic gifts to her spiritual

daughters. For, after her decease, the nuns of Gandia foretold many

things, which afterward the event confirmed; as, amongst others, the

unhappy success of the expedition to Algier; of which the Duke of Borgia,

viceroy of Catalonia, gave the advertisement from them to Charles V. when

he was making his preparations for that enterprize.

It was six years before the death of Magdalen, that Don Jasso, her

father, writ to her concerning Xavier. After she had received the letter,

she was illuminated from above; and, according to the dictates of that

divine light, she answered Don Jasso, that he should beware of recalling

her brother Francis, whatsoever it might cost him for his entertainment

in the university of Paris. That he was a chosen vessel, pre-ordained to

be the apostle of the Indies, and that one day he should become a great

pillar of the church.

These letters have been preserved for a long time afterwards, and have

been viewed by many persons, who have deposed the truth judicially in the

process of the canonization of the saint.

Don Jasso received this answer from his daughter as an oracle from

heaven; and no longer thought of recalling his son from his studies.

Xavier, thereupon, continued his philosophy; and succeeded so well in it,

that having maintained his thesis, at the end of his course, with a

general applause, and afterwards taking his degree of master of arts, he

was judged worthy to teach philosophy himself. His parts appeared more

than ever in this new employment; and he acquired an high reputation in

his public lectures on Aristotle. The praises, which universally were

given him, were extremely pleasing to his vanity. He was not a little

proud to have augmented the glory of his family by the way of learning,

while his brothers were continually adorning it by that of arms; and he

flattered himself, that the way which he had taken, would lead him onward

to somewhat of greater consequence.

But God Almighty had far other thoughts than those of Xavier; and it was

not for these fading honours that the Divine Providence had conducted him

to Paris.

At the same time, when this young master of philosophy began his course,

Ignatius Loyola, who had renounced the world, and cast the model of a

learned society, wholly devoted to the salvation of souls, came into

France to finish his studies, which the obstacles he found in Spain,

after his conversion, had constrained him to interrupt.

He had not continued long in the university of Paris, before he heard

talk of Xavier, and grew acquainted with him. Our new professor, who

taught at the college of Beauvois, though he dwelt in the college of St

Barbe, with Peter le Fevre, a Savoyard, was judged by Ignatius to be very

proper for the preaching of the gospel, as well as his companion. To gain

the better opportunity of insinuating himself into their acquaintance, he

took lodgings with them, and was not wanting to exhort them to live up to

the rules of Christianity.

Le Fevre, who was of a tractable nature, and was not enamoured of the

world, resigned himself without opposition. But Xavier, who was of a

haughty spirit, and whose head was filled with ambitious thoughts, made a

fierce resistance at the first. The discipline and maxims of Ignatius,

who lived in a mean equipage, and valued nothing but that poverty, made

him pass for a low-minded fellow in the opinion of our young gentleman.

And accordingly Xavier treated him with much contempt; rallying him on

all occasions, and making it his business to ridicule him.

This notwithstanding, Ignatius omitted no opportunities of representing

to him the great consequence of his eternal welfare, and urging the words

of our blessed Saviour, "What profit is it to a man to gain the whole

world, and to lose his own, soul?" but perceiving that he could make no

impression on a heart where self-conceit was so very prevalent, and which

was dazzled with vain-glory, he bethought, himself of assaulting him on

the weaker side.

When he had often congratulated with him for those rare talents of

nature with which he was endowed, and particularly applauded his great

wit, he made it his business to procure him scholars, and to augment his

reputation by the crowd of his auditors. He conducted them even to his

chair; and in presenting them to their master, never failed to make his

panegyric.

Xavier was too vain, not to receive, with a greedy satisfaction, whatever

incense was given him of that kind: applause was welcome from whatever

hands it came; and withal he was too grateful, not to acknowledge those

good offices which were done him, by a person whom he had used so very

ill: he was the more sensible of such a kindness, by being conscious to

himself how little he had deserved it. He began to look with other eyes

on him who had the appearance of so mean a creature; and at the same time

was informed, that this man, of so despicable a presence, was born of one

of the noblest families in Guypuscoa; that his courage was correspondent

to his birth; and that only the fear of God had inspired him with the

choice of such a life, so distant from his inclination, and his quality.

These considerations, in favour of Ignatius, led him to hearken, without

repugnance, to those discourses which were so little suitable to his

natural bent; as if the quality and virtue of him who made them, had

given a new charm and weight to what he said.

While things were passing in this manner, Xavier's money began to fail

him, as it frequently happens to foreigners, who are at a great distance

from their own country; and Ignatius, who was newly returned from the

voyages which he had made into Flanders and England, from whence he had

brought back a large contribution of alms, assisted him in so pressing

an occasion, and thereby made an absolute conquest of his affections.

The heresy of Luther began to spread itself in Europe: and it was an

artifice of those sectaries, to procure proselytes in the Catholic

universities, who, by little and little, might insinuate their new

opinions into the scholars, and their masters. Many knowing men of

Germany were come on that design to Paris, though under the pretence of

seconding the intentions of Francis the First, who was desirous to

restore learning in his kingdom. They scattered their errors in so

dexterous a manner, that they made them plausible; and principally

endeavoured to fasten on young scholars, who had the greatest reputation

of wit. Xavier, who was naturally curious, took pleasure in these

novelties, and had run into them of his own accord, if Ignatius had not

withdrawn him. He gave an account of this very thing not long afterwards

in a letter to his elder brother, Don Azpilcueta, of which Ignatius

himself was the bearer; who made a voyage into Spain, for those reasons

which I have set down in another place. And these are his words, which

well deserve to be related.

"He has not only relieved me, by himself, and by his friends, in those

necessities to which I was reduced; but, which is of more importance, he

has withdrawn me from those occasions which I had to contract a

friendship with young men of my own standing, persons of great wit, and

well accomplished, who had sucked in the poison of heresy, and who hid

the corruptions of their heart under a fair and pleasing outside. He

alone has broken off that dangerous commerce in which my own imprudence

had engaged me; and has hindered me from following the bent of my easy

nature, by discovering to me the snares which were laid for me. If Don

Ignatius had given me no other proof of his kindness, I know not how I

could be able to return it, by any acknowledgments I could make: for, in

short, without his assistance, I could not have defended myself from

those young men, so fair in their outward carriage, and so corrupt in the

bottom of their hearts."

We may conclude, from this authentic testimony, that Xavier, far from

carrying the faith to the remotest nations of idolaters, was in danger to

make shipwreck of his own; had he not fallen into the hands of such a

friend as was Ignatius, who detested even the least appearance of heresy,

and whose sight was sharp enough to discover heretics, how speciously

soever they were disguised.

It was not sufficient to have only preserved Xavier from error, but it

was farther necessary to wean him altogether from the world: these

favourable dispositions which appeared in him, encouraged Ignatius to

pursue his design, and gave him hope of a fortunate success. Having one

day found Xavier more than ordinarily attentive, he repeated to him these

words more forcibly than ever: "What will it profit a man to gain the

whole world, and to lose his own soul?" After which he told him, that a

mind so noble and so great as his, ought not to confine itself to the

vain honours of this world; that celestial glory was the only lawful

object of his ambition; and that right reason would require him to prefer

that which was eternally to last, before what would vanish like a dream.

Then it was that Xavier began to see into the emptiness of earthly

greatness, and found himself touched with the love of heavenly things.

But these first impressions of grace had not all their effect

immediately: he made frequent reflections within himself, of what the man

of God had said to him; and it was not without many serious thoughts, and

after many a hard struggling, that, being overcome at length by the power

of those eternal truths, he took up a solid resolution, of living

according to the maxims of the gospel, and of treading in his footsteps,

who had made him sensible of his being gone astray.

He resigned himself therefore to the conduct of Ignatius, after the

example of Le Fevre, who had already reformed his life, and was inflamed

with the zeal of edifying others. The directions of a guide so well

enlightened, made easy to Xavier the paths of that perfection which were

hitherto unknown to him. He learnt from his new master, that the first

step which a sincere convert is to make, is to labour in the subduing of

his darling passion. As vainglory had the greatest dominion over him, his

main endeavours, from the very beginning, were to humble himself, and to

confound his own pride in the sense of his emptiness, and of his sins.

But well knowing that he could not tame the haughtiness of the soul

without mortifying the flesh, he undertook the conquest of his body, by

haircloth, by fasting, and other austerities of penance.

When his time of vacancies was come, he performed his spiritual

exercises, which his lectures of philosophy had till then hindered. Those

very exercises I mean, which Ignatius, inspired of God, had composed at

Manreze; and of which I have drawn the model, in the life of that holy

founder of the society of Jesus.

He began his retirement with an extraordinary fervour, even to the

passing of four days entire without taking any nourishment. His

contemplations were wholly busied, day and night, on divine matters. And

an ancient memorial assures us, that he went to his devotions with his

hands and feet tied; either to signify, that he was desirous to do

nothing, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or to give himself

the same usage which was given to the man in the parable of the gospel;

"who dared to appear in the wedding-room, without cloathing himself in

wedding-garments."

By meditating at his leisure on the great truths of Christianity, and

especially on the mysteries of our Saviour, according to the method of

Ignatius, he was wholly changed into another man; and the humility of the

cross appeared to him more amiable than all the glories of the world.

These new insights caused him, without the least repugnance, to refuse a

canonry of Pampeluna, which was offered him at that time, and was very

considerable, both in regard of the profits and of the dignity. He formed

also, during his solitude, the design of glorifying God by all possible

means, and of employing his whole life for the salvation of souls.

On these foundations, having finished the course of philosophy which he

read, and which had lasted three years and a half, according to the

custom of those times, he studied in divinity, by the counsel of

Ignatius, whose scholar he openly declared himself to be.

In the mean time, Ignatius, who found in himself an inward call to the

Holy-Land, for the conversion of Jews and Infidels, discovered his

intentions to Xavier, which he had already communicated to Le Fevre, and

four other learned young men, who had embraced his form of life.

All the seven engaged themselves, by promise to each other, and by solemn

vows to God Almighty, to forsake their worldly goods, and undertake a

voyage to Jerusalem; or in case that, in the compass of a year, they

could not find an accommodation of passing the seas, that they would cast

themselves at the feet of our holy Father, for the service of the church,

into whatever part of the world he would please to send them.

They made these vows at Montmartre, on the day of our Lady's assumption,

in the year 1534. That holy place, which has been watered with the blood

of martyrs, and where their bodies are still deposited, inspired a

particular devotion into Xavier, and possessed him with a fervent desire

of martyrdom.

Towards the end of the year following, he went from Paris, in the company

of Le Fevre, Laynez, Salmeron, Rodriguez, Bobadilla, and three other

divines, whom Le Fevre had gained in the absence of Ignatius, who, for

important reasons, was obliged to go before, and who was waiting for them

at Venice.

Somewhat before their departure, Xavier, who was sometimes too far

transported by the fervency of his soul, had tied his arms and thighs

with little cords, to mortify himself, for some kind of vain satisfaction

which he took in out-running and over-leaping his young companions; for

he was very active; and, amongst all the recreations used by scholars,

he liked none but the exercises of the body.

Though the cords were very straight about him, yet he imagined they would

not hinder him from travelling on foot. But he had scarcely begun his

journey, when he was taken with extreme pains. He bore them as well as he

was able; and dissembled them, till his strength failed him. His motion

had swelled his thighs, and indented the cords so deep into his flesh,

that they were hardly visible; insomuch that the chirurgeons, to whom his

fellows discovered them, plainly said, that any incisions which could be

made, would serve only to increase his pains, and that the ill was

incurable.

In this dangerous conjuncture, Le Fevre, Laynez, and the rest, had

recourse to Almighty God, and not in vain. Xavier waking the next

morning, found the cords fallen down, the swelling wholly taken away from

his thighs, and the marks of the cords only remaining on his flesh. They

joined in actions of thanksgiving to the Almighty, for his providential

care already shewn in their behalf; and though the ways were very rugged,

in the inclemency of that season, yet they cheerfully pursued their

journey.

Xavier was serviceable to his companions on all occasions, and was always

beforehand with them in the duties of charity; whether it were, that,

being naturally officious, and of a warm temper, he was more eager to

employ himself for them; or that his health, miraculously restored,

rendered him more obliging and charitable towards those by whose prayers

it was recovered.

When they were arrived at Venice, their breathings were only after the

holy places. Ignatius, whom they were ravished to see again, and whom

they acknowledged for their common father, was of opinion, that while

they were waiting the opportunity of going to receive the Pope's blessing

for their voyage to Jerusalem, each of them should employ himself on

works of charity, in the hospitals of the town.

Xavier, whose lot fell in the hospital of the incurable, was not

satisfied only with busying himself all day, in dressing sick men's

sores, in making their beds, and doing them more inferior service, but

also passed whole nights in watching by them. But his care and pains were

not confined to the succour of their bodies. Though he was wholly

ignorant of the Italian tongue, he frequently spoke of God to them; and,

above all things, exhorted the greatest libertines to repentance, by

causing them to comprehend, in the best manner he was able, that though

their corporal maladies were incurable, yet the diseases of their souls

were not so; that how enormous soever our offences were, we ought always

to rely on God's mercy; and that a desire of being sincerely converted,

was only requisite in sinners for obtaining the grace of their

conversion.

One of these sick alms-men had an ulcer, which was horrible to the sight,

but the noisomeness of the stench was yet more insupportable; every one

shunned the miserable creature, not enduring so much as to approach him;

and Xavier once found a great repugnance in himself to attend him: but at

the same time, he called to his remembrance a maxim of Ignatius, that we

make no progress in virtue, but by vanquishing ourselves; and that the

occasion of making a great sacrifice, was too precious to be lost. Being

fortified with these thoughts, and encouraged by the example of St

Catharine de Sienna, which came into his mind, he embraced the sick

person, applied his mouth to the ulcer, surmounted his natural loathing,

and sucked out the corruption. At the same moment his repugnance

vanished; and after that, he had no farther trouble in the like cases: of

so great importance it is to us, once to have thoroughly overcome

ourselves.

Two months were passed away in these exercises of charity. After which he

set forward on his journey to Rome with the other disciples of Ignatius,

who himself stayed behind alone at Venice. They underwent great hardships

in their way. It rained continually, and bread was often wanting to them,

even when their strength was wasted. Xavier encouraged his companions,

and sustained himself by that apostolic spirit with which God replenished

him from that time forwards, and which already made him in love with pain

and sufferings.

Being arrived at Rome, his first care was to visit the churches, and to

consecrate himself to the ministry of the gospel, upon the sepulchre of

the holy apostles. He had the opportunity of speaking more than once

before the Pope: for the whole company of them being introduced into the

Vatican, by Pedro Ortiz, that Spanish doctor whom they had formerly

known at Paris, and whom the emperor had sent to Rome for the affair

concerning the marriage of Catharine of Arragon, queen of England, Paul

the Third, who was a lover of learning, and who was pleased to be

entertained at his table with the conversation of learned men, commanded

that these strangers, whose capacity he had heard so extremely praised,

should be admitted to see him for many days successively; and that in his

presence they should discourse concerning divers points of

school-divinity.

Having received the benediction of our holy father for their voyage to

the Holy Land, and obtained the permission for those amongst them who

were not in sacred orders, to receive them, they returned to Venice.

Xavier there made his vows of poverty and perpetual chastity, together

with the rest, in the hands of Jeronimo Veralli, the Pope's nuncio; and

having again taken up his post in the hospital of the incurable, he

resumed his offices of charity, which his journey to Rome had constrained

him to interrupt, and continued in those exercises till the time of his

embarkment.

In the mean time, the war which was already kindled betwixt the Venetians

and the Turk, had broken the commerce of the Levant, and stopt the

passage to the Holy Land; insomuch, that the ship of the pilgrims of

Jerusalem went not out that year, according to the former custom.

This disappointment wonderfully afflicted Xavier; and the more, because

he not only lost the hope of seeing those places which had been

consecrated by the presence and the blood of Jesus Christ, but was

also bereft of an occasion of dying for his divine Master. Yet he

comforted himself in reflecting on the method of God's providence; and at

the same time, not to be wanting in his duty to his neighbour, he

disposed himself to receive the orders of priesthood, and did receive

them with those considerations of awful dread, and holy confusion, which

are not easy to be expressed.

The town appeared to him an improper place for his preparation, in order

to his first mass. He sought out a solitary place, where, being separated

from the communication of man, he might enjoy the privacies of God. He

found this convenience of a retirement near Monteselice, not far from

Padua: it was a miserable thatched cottage, forsaken of inhabitants, and

out of all manner of repair. Thus accommodated, he passed forty days,

exposed to the injuries of the air, lying on the cold hard ground,

rigidly disciplining his body, fasting all the day, and sustaining nature

only with a little pittance of bread, which he begged about the

neighbourhood; but tasting all the while the sweets of paradise, in

contemplating the eternal truths of faith. As his cabin did not unfitly

represent to him the stable of Bethlehem, so he proposed to himself

frequently the extreme poverty of the infant Jesus, as the pattern of his

own; and said within himself, that, since the Saviour of mankind had

chosen to be in want of all things, they who laboured after him for the

salvation of souls, were obliged, by his example, to possess nothing in

this world.

How pleasing soever this loneliness were to him, yet, his forty days

being now expired, he left it, to instruct the villages and

neighbour-towns, and principally Monteselice, where the people were

grossly ignorant, and knew little of the duties of Christianity.

The servant of God made daily exhortations to them, and his penitent

aspect gave authority to all his words; insomuch, that only looking on

his face, none could doubt but he was come from the wilderness to

instruct them in the way to heaven. He employed himself during the space

of two or three months in that manner: for, though there was no

appearance that any vessel should set sail for the Holy Land, yet

Ignatius and his disciples, who had obliged themselves to wait one year

in expectation of any such opportunity, would not depart from the

territories of the republic till it was totally expired, that they might

have nothing to upbraid themselves, in relation to the vow which they had

made.

Xavier being thus disposed, both by his retirement, and his exterior

employments, at length said his first mass at Vicenza; to which place

Ignatius had caused all his company to resort; and he said it with tears

flowing in such abundance, that his audience could not refrain from

mixing their own with his.

His austere, laborious life, joined with so sensible a devotion, which

often makes too great an impression on the body, so much impaired the

strength of his constitution, that he fell sick, not long after his first

mass. He was carried into one of the own hospitals, which was so crowded,

and so poor, that Xavier had in it but the one half of a wretched bed,

and that too in a chamber which was open on every side. His victuals were

no better than his lodging, and never was sick man more destitute of

human succours. But, in requital, heaven was not wanting to him.

He was wonderfully devoted to St Jerome; and had often had recourse to

that blessed doctor of the church for the understanding of difficult

places in the scripture. The saint appeared to him one night, refulgent

in his beams of glory, and gave him consolation in his sickness; yet, at

the same time, declaring to him, that a far greater affliction than the

present was waiting for him at Bolognia, where himself and one of his

companions were to pass the winter; that some of them should go to Padua,

some to Rome, others to Ferrara, and the remainder of them to Sienna.

This apparition fortified Xavier so much, that he recovered suddenly; yet

whether he had some doubts concerning it, or was of opinion that he

ought to keep it secret, he said nothing of it at that time. But that

which then happened to him made it evident, that the vision was of God:

for Ignatius, who was ignorant of what had been revealed to Xavier,

having assembled his disciples, gave them to understand, that since the

gate of the Holy Land was shut against them, they ought not any longer to

defer the offering of their service to the Pope; that it was sufficient

if some of them went to Rome, while the rest of them dispersed themselves

in the universities of Italy, to the end, they might inspire the fear of

God into the scholars, and gather up into their number some young

students of the greatest parts. Ignatius appointed them their several

stations, just as they had been foreshewn by St Jerome; and that of

Bolognia fell to the share of Xavier and Bobadilla.

After their arrival at Bolognia, Xavier went to say a mass at the tomb of

St Dominic; for he had a particular veneration for the founder of that

order, whose institution was for the preaching of the gospel.

A devout virgin, whose name was Isabella Casalini, seeing him at the

altar, judged him to be a man of God; and was led by some interior motion

to speak to this stranger priest when his mass was ended. She was so much

edified, and so satisfied with the discourse of Xavier, that she

immediately informed her uncle, at whose house she lodged, of this

treasure which she had discovered.

Jerome Casalini, who was a very considerable clergyman, both in regard of

his noble blood, and of his virtue, went in search of this Spanish

priest, upon the account which was given of him by his niece; and, having

found him at the hospital, he importuned him so much to take a lodging in

his house, that Xavier could not in civility refuse him. But the holy man

would never accept of his table, of whose house he had accepted. He

begged his bread from door to door according to his usual custom; and

lived on nothing but the alms which was given him in the town.

Every day, after having celebrated the divine mysteries in St Lucy's

church, of which Casalini was curate, he there heard the confessions of

such as presented themselves before him: after which he visited the

prisons and the hospitals, catechised the children, and preached to the

people.

'Tis true, he spoke but very ill; and his language was only a kind of

Lingua Franca, a confused medley of Italian, French, and Spanish: but he

pronounced it with so much vehemence, and the matter of his sermons was

so solid, that his ill accent and his improper phrases were past by. His

audience attended to him, as to a man descended from above, and his

sermon being ended, came to cast themselves at his feet, and make

confession.

These continual labours, during a very sharp winter, threw him into a

relapse of sickness, much more dangerous than the former; as it were to

verify the prediction of St Jérome; for he was seized with a quartan

ague, which was both malignant and obstinate; insomuch that it cast him

into an extreme faintness, and made him as meagre as a skeleton. In the

mean time, lean and languishing as he was, he ceased not to crawl to the

public places, and excite passengers to repentance. When his voice failed

him, his wan and mortified face, the very picture of death, seemed to

speak for him, and his presence alone had admirable effects.

Jerome Casalini profited so well by the instructions and example of the

holy man, that he arrived in a short space to a high degree of holiness:

the greater knowledge he had of him, he the more admired him, as he

himself related. And it is from this virtuous churchman chiefly, that we

have this account of Xavier, that having laboured all the day, he passed

the night in prayer; that on Friday saying the mass of the passion, he

melted into tears, and was often ravished in his soul; that he spoke but

seldom, but that all his words were full of sound reason, and heavenly

grace.

While Xavier was thus employing his labours at Bolognia, he was recalled

to Rome by Father Ignatius; who had already presented himself before the

Pope, and offered him the service both of himself and his companions.

Pope Paul the Third accepted the good will of these new labourers;

enjoining them to begin their work in Rome, and preach under the

authority of the Holy See. The principal churches were assigned them; and

that of St Laurence in Damaso was allotted to Xavier.

Being now freed from his quartan ague, and his strength being again

restored, he preached with more vigour and vehemence than ever.

Death, the last judgment, and the pains of hell, were the common subject

of his sermons. He proposed those terrible truths after a plain manner,

but withal so movingly, that the people, who came in crowds to hear him

preach, departed out of the church in a profound silence; and thought

less of giving praises to the preacher, than of converting their own

souls to God.

The famine, which laid waste the city of Rome at that time, gave

opportunity to the ten stranger-priests, to relieve an infinite number of

miserable people, oppressed with want, and unregarded. Xavier was ardent

above the rest, to find them places of accommodation, and to procure alms

for their subsistence. He bore them even upon his shoulders to the places

which were provided for them, and attended them with all imaginable care.

In the mean time, James Govea, a Portuguese, who had been acquainted with

Ignatius, Xavier, and Le Fevre, at Paris, and who was principal of the

college of Saint Barbe, when they lived together there, being come to

Rome on some in portant business, for which he was sent thither by John

III. King of Portugal, and seeing the wonderful effects of their

ministry, wrote to the king, as he had formerly done from Paris, on the

reports which were spread of them, that such men as these, knowing,

humble, charitable, inflamed with zeal, indefatigable in labour, lovers

of the cross, and who aimed at nothing but the honour of Almighty God,

were fit to be employed in the East-Indies, to plant and propagate the

faith. He adjoined, that if his majesty were desirous of these excellent

men, he had only to ask them from the Pope, who had the absolute

disposition of them.

John III., the most religious prince then living, wrote thereupon to his

ambassador, Don Pedro Mascaregnas, and ordered him to obtain from his

Holiness, six at least of those apostolic men, which had been commended

to him by Govea. The Pope having heard the proposition of Mascaregnas,

remitted the whole business to Father Ignatius, for whom he had already a

great consideration, and who had lately presented to his Holiness the

model of the new order, which he and his companions were desirous to

establish.

Ignatius, who had proposed to himself no less a design than the

reformation of the whole world, and who saw the urgent necessities of

Europe, infected with heresy on every side, returned this answer to

Mascaregnas, that often, which was their whole number, he could spare him

at the most but two persons. The Pope approved this answer, and ordered

Ignatius to make the choice himself. Thereupon Ignatius named Simon

Rodriguez, a Portuguese, and Nicholas Bobadilla, a Spaniard. The first of

these was, at that time, employed at Sienna, and the other in the kingdom

of Naples, as they had been commissioned by the Holy Father. Though

Rodriguez was languishing under a quartan ague, when he was recalled from

Sienna, yet he failed not to obey the summons; and shortly after

embarking on a ship of Lisbon which went off from Civita Vecchia, carried

with him Paul de Camerin, who, some months before, had joined himself to

their society.

As for Bobadilla, he was no sooner come to Rome, than he fell sick of a

continued fever; and it may be said, that his distemper was the hand of

heaven, which had ordained another in his stead for the mission of the

Indies. For sometimes that which appears but chance, or a purely natural

effect in the lives of men, is a disposition of the Divine Providence

which moves by secret ways to its own proposed ends; and is pleased to

execute those designs, by means as easy as they are powerful.

Mascaregnas, who had finished his embassy, and was desirous to carry with

him into Portugal the second missioner who had been promised him, was

within a day of his departure, when Bobadilla arrived. Ignatius seeing

him in no condition to undertake a voyage, applied himself to God for his

direction, in the choice of one to fill his place, or rather to make

choice of him whom God had chosen; for he was immediately enlightened

from above, and made to understand, that Xavier was that vessel of

election. He called for him at the same instant, and being filled with

the Divine Spirit, "Xavier," said he, "I had named Bobadilla for the

Indies, but the Almighty has nominated you this day. I declare it to you

from the vicar of Jesus Christ. Receive an employment committed to your

charge by his Holiness, and delivered by my mouth, as if it were

conferred on you by our blessed Saviour in person. And rejoice for your

finding an opportunity, to satisfy that fervent desire, which we all

have, of carrying the faith into remote countries. You have not here a

narrow Palestine, or a province of Asia, in prospect, but a vast extent

of ground, and innumerable kingdoms. An entire world is reserved for your

endeavours, and nothing but so large a field is worthy of your courage

and your zeal. Go, my brother, where the voice of God has called you;

where the Holy See has sent you, and kindle those unknown nations, with

the flame that burns within you."

Xavier, wholly confounded in himself with these expressions of Ignatius,

with tears of a tender affection in his eyes, and blushing in his

countenance, answered him, that he could not but be astonished, that he

should pitch upon a man, so weak, and pusillanimous as himself, for an

enterprize which required no less than an apostle: that nevertheless he

was ready to obey the commands of heaven; and that he offered himself,

with the whole power of his soul, to do and suffer all things for the

salvation of the Indies. After which, giving leave to his internal joy to

break out, and to diffuse itself, he more confidently said to Father

Ignatius, that his desires were now accomplished; that for a long time he

had sighed after the Indies without daring to declare it; and that he

hoped, from those idolatrous nations, to have the honour of dying for

Jesus Christ, which had been denied him in the Holy Land.

He added, in the height of these transports, that at length he saw that

clearly, of which God had often given him a glimpse, under some

mysterious figures. In effect, Xavier had frequently dreamed by night,

that he carried on his shoulders a gigantic and very swarthy Indian; and

opprest with this strong imagination, he groaned and sighed, in that

uneasy slumber, as one out of breath, and labouring under an intolerable

burden; insomuch that the noise of his groans and heavings waked those

who were lodged in the same chamber; and, one night it happening that

Father Laynez being awakened by it, asked him what it was that troubled

him: Xavier immediately told his dream, and added, that it put him into a

sweat, with big drops over all his body.

Besides this, he once beheld, either in a dream, or in a trance, vast

oceans full of tempests and of rocks, desart islands, barbarous

countries, hunger and thirst raging every where, nakedness, multiplicity

of labours, with bloody persecution, and imminent dangers of death and of

destruction. In the midst of this ghastly apparition, he cried aloud,

"yet more, O my God, yet more!" and Father Simon Rodriguez heard these

words distinctly; but however he importuned him to declare their meaning,

he would discover nothing at that time, till embarking for the Indies, he

revealed the mystery.

Such ideas, always present in his imagination, filled his familiar

discourses with notions of a new world, and the conversion of infidels.

While he was speaking on that subject, his face was on a fire, and the

tears came into his eyes. This was testified of him by Father Jerome

Dominic, who, before he entered into the Society, had conversed with him

at Bolognia, where a strict friendship was made betwixt them.

As Xavier was advertised of this voyage to the Indies but the day before

Mascaregnas departed, he had but time enough to piece up his cassock, bid

his friends farewell, and go to kiss the feet of our Holy Father.

Paul III., overjoyed, that under his pontificate a gate should be opened

to the gospel, in the Oriental Indies, received him with a most fatherly

affection, and excited him to assume such thoughts, as were worthy of so

high an undertaking; telling him for his encouragement, that the Eternal

Wisdom is never failing to supply us with strength, to prosecute the

labours to which it has ordained us, even though they should surpass all

human abilities. He must, indeed, prepare himself for many sufferings;

but the affairs of God succeeded not but by the ways of suffering, and

that none could pretend to the honour of an apostleship, but by treading

in the steps of the apostles, whose lives were but one continual cross,

and a daily death; that heaven had employed him in the mission of St

Thomas, the apostle of the Indies, for the conquest of souls; that it

became him to labour generously, in reviving the faith in those

countries, where it had been planted by that great apostle; and that if

it were necessary for him to shed his blood, for the glory of Christ

Jesus, he should account it his happiness to die a martyr.

It seemed that God himself had spoken by the mouth of his vicegerent,

such impression had these words on the mind and heart of Xavier. They

inspired into him a divine vigour; and in his answer to his Holiness,

there shone through a profound humility such a magnanimity of soul, that

Paul III. had from that very minute a certain presage of those wonderful

events which afterwards arrived. Therefore the most Holy Father, having

wished him the special assistance of God in all his labours, tenderly

embraced him, more than once, and gave him a most ample benediction.

Xavier departed in the company of Mascaregnas the 15th of March, in the

year 1540, without any other equipage besides his breviary. In giving his

last adieu to Father Ignatius, he cast himself at his feet, and with all

humility desired his blessing; and, in taking leave of Laynez, he put

into his hands a small memorial, which he had written, and signed.

This memorial, which is still preserved at Rome, contains, that he

approves, as much as depends on him, the rules and constitutions, which

shall be drawn up, by Ignatius and his companions; that he elects

Ignatius to be their general, and, in failure of him, Le Fevre; that he

consecrates himself to God, by the three vows, of poverty, chastity,

and obedience, in the Society of Jesus, when it shall be raised into a

religious order, by the apostolical authority.

The conclusion of that affair was daily expected; and indeed it was

happily finished, before the ending of the year, in that almost

miraculous manner, as is related in the Life of St Ignatius.

His journey from Rome to Lisbon was all the way by land, and was above

three months. Xavier had a horse allowed him, by order from the

ambassador; but they were no sooner on their way, than he made him

common. The Father often alighted to ease the servants who followed on

foot; or exchanged his horse with others, who were not so well mounted.

At the inns he was every man's servant, even to the rubbing of the

horses, by an excess of humility, which, on those occasions, caused him

to forget the dignity of his character. He resigned his chamber and his

bed to those who wanted them; and never lodged but either on the ground,

or on the litter in the stable. In the rest of his actions, ever

cheerful, and pleasant in discourse, which made all men desirous of his

company; but always mixing somewhat with that gaiety, which was edifying

both to the masters and the servants, and inspired them alike with

thoughts of piety.

They went by Loretto, where they rested at the least eight days; after

which they continued their journey by Bolognia. From thence, Xavier wrote

to Ignatius, in this manner:

"I received, on the holiday of Easter, the letter which you wrote and

inclosed in the packet of my lord ambassador. God only knows my joy in

receiving it. Believing, as I do, that we shall never entertain each

other in this world, by any other way than that of writing, and that we

shall never see each other but in heaven, it concerns us, that little

time we have to live in this place of exile, to give ourselves the mutual

consolation of frequent letters. The correspondence, on my part, shall be

exactly kept; for being convinced, by the reasons which you gave me at

our parting, that a commerce of this nature ought to be established, in a

regular method, betwixt the colonies and the mother country, I have

resolved, that in whatever parts of the world I shall reside, or any

members of our Society with me, to maintain a strict communication with

you, and with the fathers at Rome, and send you as large an account, as

possibly I can, of any news concerning us. I have taken my opportunity of

seeing the Cardinal of Invrea, as you gave me in command, and have

discoursed at leisure with him. He received me with much goodness, and

offered me, with great civility, his interest, for our common cause. In

the midst of the discourse, which we had together, I threw myself at his

feet, and kissed his hand, in the name of all our Society. As much as I

can gather by his words, he extremely approves the manner of our living.

"As concerning my lord ambassador, he loads me with so many favours, that

I should never conclude, if I began to relate them. And I know not

how I could suffer the many good offices he does me, if I had not some

hope of repaying him in the Indies, at the expence of my life itself. On

Palm-Sunday I heard his confession, and after him many of his domestic

servants; I communicated them afterwards, in the holy chapel of Loretto,

where I said mass. I likewise confessed them, and gave them the

communion, on Easter Sunday. My lord ambassador's almoner recommends

himself to your good prayers, and has promised to bear me company to the

Indies. I am more taken up with confessions here, than I was in Rome, at

St Lewis. I heartily salute all our fathers; and if I name not every one

of them in particular, I desire them to believe, 'tis neither from my

want of memory, or affection.

"Your brother and servant in Jesus Christ,

FRANCIS."

_from Bolognia, March_ 31. 1540.

The whole town of Bolognia was in motion at the approach of Father

Xavier: they were wonderfully affected to him, and in a manner esteemed

him their apostle: both great and small were desirous of seeing him, and

most of them discovered the state of their conscience to him; many of

them proffered themselves to go along with him to the Indies; all of them

shed tears at his departure, as thinking they should never more behold

him.

Jerome Casalini, curate of St Lucy, who had lodged him the year before,

was most particularly kind to him at his return: he obliged him to accept

of his house once more; and his church became as it were the public

rendezvous, where Xavier heard an infinite number of confessions.

In the rest of this long journey, there happened two or three passages,

which were sufficiently remarkable. A domestic servant to the ambassador,

who rode before as harbinger, to take up lodgings for the train, a

violent and brutal man, being reprehended by his lord for having been

negligent in his duty, fell into a horrible fit of passion, as soon as he

was out of Mascaregnas his presence. Xavier heard him, but took no notice

of it at that time, for fear of provoking him to any farther

extravagance. But the next morning, when the same person set out before

the company, according to his custom, he spurred after him at full speed.

He found him lying under his horse, who was fallen with him from a

precipice, the man sorely bruised, and the horse killed outright.

"Wretched creature," said the father to him, "what had become of thee, if

thou hadst died of this fall?" These few words made him sensible of his

furious expressions, for which he sincerely asked pardon of Almighty God;

and Xavier alighting, mounted him on his own horse, and walked on foot by

him, to their lodging.

Another time, the gentleman of the horse attempting to pass a small

river, which was very deep and rapid, the current carried away both man

and horse, and the whole company gave him for lost. Xavier, moved with

compassion for the danger of his soul, because, having had a call from

heaven to enter into a religious life, he had not followed the motions of

grace, but remained in the world, began to implore God in his behalf. The

ambassador, who had a great kindness for him, joined in that devout

action, and commanded the whole train to follow their example. They had

scarcely opened their mouths for him, when the man and horse, who were

both drowning, came again above water, and were carried to the bank. The

gentleman was drawn out, pale in his countenance, and half dead. When he

had recovered his senses, Xavier demanded of him, what thoughts he had,

when he was at the point of perishing? He freely acknowledged, that the

religious life, to which God had called him, then struck upon his soul;

with dismal apprehensions, for having neglected the means of his

salvation. He protested afterwards, as Xavier himself relates, in one of

his letters, that, in that dreadful moment, the remorse of his

conscience, and the sense of God's judgments on souls unfaithful to their

vocation, were more terrible to him, than the horrors even of death

itself. He spoke of eternal punishments, with expressions so lively and

so strong, as if he had already felt them, and was returned from hell. He

frequently said, (as the saint has assured us,) that, by a just judgment

of eternal God, those who, during their life, made no preparations for

their death, had not the leisure to think on God when death surprised

them.

The ambassador, and all his people, doubted not, but the safety of this

gentleman was to be ascribed to the merits of the saint: but Xavier

himself believed it to be the pure effect of the ambassador's devotion;

for thus he writes to father Ignatius concerning it--"Our Lord was

pleased to give ear to the fervent prayers of his servant Mascaregnas,

which he made with tears in his eyes, for the deliverance of the poor

creature, whom he looked upon as lost; and who was taken from the jaws of

death by a most evident miracle."

In passing over the Alps, the ambassador's secretary alighting to walk in

a difficult way, which he could not well observe, by reason of the snows,

his foot happened to slip on a sharp descent, and he rolled down into a

precipice: he had tumbled to the very bottom, if, in falling, his clothes

had not taken hold on one of the crags of the rock, where he remained

hanging over the depths without ability, either to disengage himself, or

get up again. Those who followed, made towards him, but the horror of

that abyss stopt short the most daring: Xavier only made not the least

demur; he descended the precipice, and lending his hand to the secretary,

by little and little dragged him up.

Being gotten out of France, and having passed the Pyreneans, on the side

of Navarre, when they were now approaching Pampeluna, Mascaregnas

bethought himself, that Father Francis, for by that name Xavier was

usually called, had not spoken one word of going to the castle of Xavier,

which was but little distant from their road: he remembered him of it,

and was even so importunate with him, as to say, that since he was about

to leave Europe, and perhaps never more to see it, he could not in

decency dispense with giving a visit to his family, and taking his last

leave of his mother, who was yet living.

But all the arguments of Mascaregnas wrought no effect upon a man, who,

having forsaken all things for the love of God, was of opinion, that he

had nothing remaining in this world; and who also was persuaded, that

flesh and blood are enemies to the apostolical spirit. He turned not out

of the road, but only said to the ambassador, that he deferred the sight

of his relations till he should visit them in heaven; that this transient

view would be accompanied but with melancholy and sadness, the common

products of a last farewell, but in heaven he should eternally behold

them with pleasure, and without the least allay of sorrow.

Mascaregnas had already a high idea of Xavier's virtue; but this

wonderful disengagement from the world yet more increased the esteem

which he had of him; insomuch, that before they reached Portugal, he sent

an express to King John III. with no other errand, than to inform him of

the holiness of this second missioner to the Indies.

They arrived at Lisbon towards the end of June; and Xavier retired to the

hospital of All Saints, where Rodriguez, who came by sea, had taken up

his lodging. He found him much weakened with a quartan ague, which had

not left him; and embraced him just at the moment when his fit was coming

on him. But whether it were, that the extreme joy which Rodriguez found,

so unexpectedly to see him, dissipated the humour which caused his

disease, or that the embraces of Xavier had from that time an healing

virtue; certain it is that the fit came not, and from thenceforward the

sick man entirely recovered of that distemper.

Three or four days after, they were both called to court. The king and

queen, who were in company together, received Xavier as a saint, on the

report of Mascaregnas, and entertained him with all imaginable shews of

kindness. They asked them diverse questions concerning their way of

living; by what accident their new Society came to be formed; and what

was the ground and ultimate design of it; and at last desired to be

informed by them, from whence proceeded that strange persecution, which

was raised in Rome against their body, which had made so great a noise

over all Europe. Xavier made answer to all these demands in few words,

but so very pertinently, as much satisfied both their majesties: they

gave great approbation, (as himself relates in his letter from Lisbon

to Ignatius,) to what he said, concerning the discipline of our houses,

the quality of our ministry, and the spirit and model of our foundation.

In the midst of the conversation, the king sent for the Prince of

Portugal, his son Don Juan, and the Infanta Maria, his daughter, that the

two missioners might see them. And from thence his majesty took occasion

of relating to them, how many children he had still living, and how many

he had lost, which turned the discourse on the education of youth; and

before the fathers were dismissed, the king recommended to their care, an

hundred young gentlemen, who were bred at court.

Though an officer of the palace had orders to prepare an handsome

lodging, with good accommodation, for Xavier and Rodriguez, they returned

to their hospital, and there continued. They would not so much as receive

their entertainment of diet, which was assigned them from court, but went

the round of the city begging alms at their appointed hours, and lived in

poverty, according to the manner of life which they had prescribed

themselves.

The fleet not being to set sail till the next spring, and these

apostolical persons not knowing what it was to live in idleness, Xavier

was not satisfied only to instruct those young gentlemen in piety, whom

the king had committed to his charge; he gave himself an employment, and

did at Lisbon what he had done at Venice, Bolognia, and Rome, for the

space of two years and more. But, besides that he assisted the sick in

the hospital day and night, visited the prisoners every day, and

catechised the children many times in the week, he often discoursed

with the principal persons of the court, and engaged them in the

spiritual exercises of Ignatius.

At first he preached not in the churches, judging, that the ministries of

the gospel ought to begin with less public actions; and went not into the

pulpit, without being first requested by the king, who one day sending

for him to the palace, acquainted him with the desire he had to hear him

preach; and told him, "That the Bishop of Lisbon was of opinion, that

they ought not any longer to defer his public exhortations."

Father Simon Rodriguez laboured also on his part, in the service of his

neighbour, according to the same method, and with the same spirit.

In the mean time, Martin d'Azpilcueta, surnamed the doctor of Navarre,

who was uncle to Xavier, on the mother's side, and who was chief

professor of divinity in the university of Coimbra, having heard the news

of his nephew's arrival, wrote earnestly to the king, that it would

please him to send Father Francis to him. He added, that in case the

Father might have leave to remain with him till the departure of the

fleet, he would oblige himself to make two new lectures, at his own

expence, the one in canon-law, the other in mystical divinity. And

farther, that in few years afterwards he would follow Xavier to the

Indies, and preach the gospel in conjunction with him, to the eastern

idolaters.

These letters prevailed nothing; the man, who had refused so much as to

turn out of his way to see his mother, was bent against the taking of a

journey, and forsaking his important business to visit one of his

relations. The king retained Xavier at Lisbon, at the request of Xavier

himself; and the father wrote a letter of excuse to the doctor of

Navarre, who had written two to him full of tenderness and friendship. As

that doct&r was unsatisfied with that kind of life, which his nephew had

embraced, so Xavier resolved him, on that point, in this manner. "For

what concerns our institute, of which so many reports are now raised, I

have but one word, at present, to say of it. 'Tis of little consequence,

illustrious doctor, to be judged by men, especially by such, who will

needs be judging before they understand the matter, and know the merits

of the cause."

As to his intention of going to the Indies, he desired him to think no

farther of it; for thus Navarre relates that passage in his manual: "I

had resolved to have ended my days in those parts, if Xavier, in

consideration of my great age, had not thought me incapable of those

labours which attend his mission: and if he had not written to me at his

departure, that I should comfort myself for his absence, by the hope of

seeing each other in the celestial kingdom."

Our two missioners laboured not in vain at Lisbon. From the very

beginning of their ministry, devotion began to spread amongst the people.

All men ran to the blessed sacrament, which before was never thought on

but in Lent: and this holy custom diffused itself insensibly through all

the towns of Portugal Many, who had deferred their conversion from time

to time, now on the sudden gave themselves up to God, and even renounced

the world. The most inveterate enemies were sincerely reconciled, and the

most impudent harlots abandoned their prostitute way of living.

But this change of manners was most particularly apparent at the court:

the king, who was truly religious, and full of goodness, was the first

to declare himself against those vices which usually infect the palaces

of princes. And that he might introduce a reformation by degrees, not

only into his house, bat also dilate it through his whole kingdom, he

obliged all the young courtiers to confess themselves once a week; for he

said, "That if the lords and gentlemen would accustom themselves, from

their tender years, to the service and fear of God, they would live with

greater Christianity in their riper age: and if persons of quality came

once to give good examples of religion, the commonalty, who form

themselves according to their model, would not fail to regulate their

manners; and therefore the reformation of all degrees in the kingdom

consisted chiefly in the virtuous education of young noblemen."

The example of the prince and the young courtiers drew the rest; and

thereupon Xavier writes to Ignatius in these terms:

"Nothing can be more regular than the court of Portugal: it resembles

rather a religious society, than a secular court. The number of courtiers

who come to confession, and are afterwards communicated, every eight

days, is so very great, that we are in admiration of it," and are in

perpetual thanksgiving for it. We are so taken up with hearing

confessions, that if we were twice so many as we are, there would be

employment more than enough for us. We are sitting on the confession-seat

all the day long, and part of the night, though none but courtiers are

permitted to come to us.

"I remember, that I observed, when the king was at Almerin, those who

waited on him, from all parts of the kingdom, about their own affairs, as

the custom is, were in great admiration at this new court-mode; and when

they beheld the young gentlemen at the sacrament of the altar, every

Sunday and holiday, with great reverence, they thought themselves in

another world. But the greatest part of them imitating that which they

admired, drew near to the tribunal of penance, and the holy table. Had

we confessors enow to attend the crowds that come to court, no man would

venture to apply himself to the king for any business, before he had been

first with God, and were well with him."

The two labourers in God's harvest were so exhausted with their pains,

that at length they were constrained to accept of the diet which was

provided for them by the king's appointment; for they judged their time

was better employed in the service of souls, than in begging their daily

bread about the streets. Yet they omitted not to ask alms once or twice

a-week, that they might not disuse themselves from the spirit of

mortification and poverty. With these considerations, they reserved but

little of what was sent them from the palace, and distributed the rest

among the poor.

On the other side, the perpetual labour of confessions reduced them to

preach but very seldom, for want of leisure. But, all things duly

examined, they thought it of more consequence to God's service, to

administer the sacrament of penance, than to preach the word; because the

court of Portugal was furnished with able preachers, but was much wanting

in judicious confessors; which was the very observation that Xavier made

in the letter above cited.

These visible and wonderful operations caused the two missioners to be

respected as men sent down from heaven, and replenished with the spirit

of the Most High; insomuch that all men gave them the surname of

apostles, which glorious title still remains with their successors in

Portugal. The king, on all occasions, shewed them a most particular

affection; and Xavier, ravished with so many expressions of his goodness

to them, gives this account of it to Father Ignatius.

"Our whole society stands obliged to his majesty, for his singular favour

to us; as well the rest of you at Rome, as we in Portugal. I am given to

understand, from the ambassador Mascaregnas, that the king told him, he

should be very glad, that all the members of our company might be

gathered together, and established here; though on that condition he

employed a good part of his revenue for our entertainment."

"This pious prince," says Xavier in another of his letters, "who has so

tender an inclination for our society, and who wishes our advancement as

much as if he were one of us, has thereby engaged us for ever to his

service; and we should be guilty of a most horrible ingratitude, even to

be unworthy of life, if we made not a public profession of our service to

him, and if every day of our lives we endeavoured not to acknowledge, by

our prayers, as far as our weakness will give us leave, all the favours

of so generous a protector, and so magnificent a benefactor."

The Prince, Don Henry, who was nominated cardinal not long after, and in

process of time came to the crown by the death of Don Sebastian, had not

less affection for them than the king his brother. Being grand

inquisitor, he gave the fathers an absolute power in his tribunal; and

permitted them to discourse freely with all the prisoners of the

Inquisition.

Some of the greatest quality in the court were so much edified with the

apostolic life of Xavier and Rodriguez, that they were desirous to

embrace their institute; as some learned persons of the city had already

done. In short, every thing succeeded with them so, that Xavier had some

apprehensions concerning this tide of happiness: He bemoaned it sometimes

to himself, and said, that prosperity was always formidable, even in the

most pious undertakings; that persecution was more desirable, and a much

surer mark of Christ's disciples.

The two missioners appointed for the Indies lived in this manner; and

impatiently waited for the proper season of navigation. But the king

weighing in his mind the great good which they had done, in so short a

time, both amongst the nobility and the common people, was desirous to

retain them still in Portugal. It seemed reasonable to him, that the

interest of his own kingdom ought to be dearer to him than that of

foreign nations; and that these new labourers would produce a larger

increase in Catholic countries, than amongst barbarians.

Yet that he might undertake nothing without mature deliberation, he

called a council, and himself proposed it to them. All of them approved

the king's opinion, excepting only the Prince Don Henry; who strongly

urged, that Xavier and Rodriguez having been nominated for the new world,

by the vicar of our Saviour, it was in a manner to disturb the order of

Providence, if he thwarted their intended voyage; that the Indies were

equally to be considered with Portugal itself, since they had been

conquered by the Portuguese, and were annexed to the imperial crown; that

those idolaters had better inclinations towards Christianity than was

generally thought; and that they would come over to the faith of their

own accord, when they should see amongst them disinterested preachers,

free from avarice and ambition.

As the opinions of kings are always prevalent, the reasons of Don Henry

were slighted; and it was concluded in council, that the two missioners

should not depart the realm. This resolution afflicted them the more

sensibly, because they both breathed after those eastern countries; their

last recourse was to write to Rome, and interpose the mediation of

Father Ignatius. He accordingly moved the Pope in their behalf; but his

Holiness refused to make an absolute decision, and remitted the whole

affair to Portugal: insomuch that Ignatius sent word to the two fathers,

that the king was to them in the place of God, and that it was their duty

to pay him a blind obedience. At the same time he also wrote to Don Pedro

Mascaregnas, that Xavier and Rodriguez were wholly at the king's command;

and that they should always remain in Portugal, in case his majesty

desired it. Notwithstanding which, he thought a temperament might be

found, which was, that Rodriguez might be retained in Portugal, and

Xavier permitted to go for India.

The king was satisfied with this proposal of Ignatius; and believed it to

be inspired by God himself. Xavier, transported with joy at the news of

it, gave thanks to the Divine Goodness, which had chosen him anew for the

mission of the Oriental parts, or rather which had executed its eternal

purpose, notwithstanding human opposition.

The time of embarkment being come, he was called one day to the palace:

the king discoursed fully with him concerning the present condition of

the Indies, and recommended particularly to him the affairs of religion.

He likewise gave him in charge, to visit the fortresses of the

Portuguese, and take notice how God was served in them; and withal to

give him an account of what more was requisite to be done for the

establishment of Christianity in those new conquests; and to write

frequently on that subject, not only to his ministers, but to his own

person.

After this he presented him the four briefs, which had been expedited

from Home the same year; in two of which, our Holy Father had constituted

Xavier apostolical nuncio, and endued him with ample power for the

extending and maintenance of the faith throughout the East; in the third,

his Holiness recommended him to David Emperor of Ethiopia; and in the

fourth, to all the princes who possessed the isles of the sea, or the

continent from the Cape of Good Hope, even beyond the Ganges.

John III. had requested these briefs, and the Pope had freely granted

them, with design thereby to make the mission of Father Francis the more

illustrious and authentic. The father received them from the hands of the

king with profound respect; saying, that as much as his weakness was

capable of performing, he should endeavour to sustain the burden, which

God and man had laid upon him.

Some few days before he went to sea, Don Antonio d'Ataida, count of

Castagnera, who supervised the provisions of the naval army, advertised

Xavier to make a note of what things were necessary for him in order to

his voyage; assuring him from his majesty, that he should be furnished to

his own desire. They want nothing, replied the father with a smile, who

have occasion for nothing. I am much obliged to the king for his

liberality, and to you for your care of me; but I owe more to the Divine

Providence, and you would not wish me to distrust it.

The count of Castagnera, who had an express order from the king, to make

a large provision for Father Xavier, was very urgent with him, and

importuned him so strongly to take something, for fear, said he, of

tempting Providence, which does not every day work miracles, that Xavier,

not to appear either obstinate or, presumptuous, demanded some few little

books of devotion, for which he foresaw he should have occasion in the

Indies, and a thick eloth habit against the excessive colds, which are to

be endured in doubling the Cape.

The count, amazed that the father asked for nothing more, besought him to

make a better use of the king's offers; but seeing that all his

intreaties prevailed nothing, "you shall not be master in every thing,"

said he, with some kind of heat, "and at the least you cannot possibly

refuse a servant to attend you, because I am sure you cannot be without

one." "So long as I have the use of these two hands," replied Xavier, "I

will have no other servant." "But decency," rejoined the count,

"requires, that you should have one, if it were but to maintain the

dignity of your character. How shameful would it seem to behold an

apostolical legate washing his own linen on the deck, and dressing his

own victuals?" "I will take upon me for once," said Xavier, "to serve

myself, and others too, without dishonouring my character. So long as I

do no ill, I am in no fear of scandalizing my neighbour; nor of debasing

that authority with which I am entrusted by the Holy See. They are these

human considerations, and false notions of decencies and punctilios,

which have reduced the church to that condition in which we now see it."

This positive answer stopped Castagnera's mouth; but afterwards, he gave

great commendations of Xavier, and publicly said, "that he found it much

more difficult to combat the denials of Father Francis, than to satisfy

the craving desires of other men."

The day of his departure being come at length, and all things in a

readiness to set sail, Xavier went to the port, with his two companions,

whom he carried with him to the Indies; namely, Father Paul de Camerino,

an Italian, and Francis Mansilla, a Portuguese, who was not yet in

priests orders. Simon Rodriguez bore him company to the fleet; and then

it was, that, embracing each other with much tenderness, "My brother,"

said Xavier, "these are the last words which I shall ever say to you:

we shall see each other no more in this present world; let us endure our

separation with patience; for most certain it is, that, being well united

with our Lord, we shall be united in ourselves; and that nothing shall be

able to divide us from the society which we have in Jesus Christ.

"As to what remains, I will, for your satisfaction," added he, "discover

to you a secret, which hitherto I have concealed from your knowledge: You

may remember, that when we lodged as chamber-fellows, in the hospital at

Rome, you heard me crying out one night, 'yet more, O my Lord, yet more!'

you have often asked what that exclamation meant; and I have always

answered you, that you should not trouble yourself about it: I must now

tell you, that I then beheld, (but whether sleeping or waking, God only

knows,) all I was to suffer for the glory of Jesus Christ; our Lord

infused into me so great a delight for sufferings, that not being able to

satiate, myself with those troubles which he had presented to my

imagination, I begged of him yet more; and that was the sense of what I

pronounced with so much fervency, 'yet more, yet more!' I hope the Divine

Goodness will grant me that in India, which he has foreshewn to me in

Italy, and that the desires which he inspired into me shall be shortly

satisfied."

After these words they embraced each other anew, and parted both of them

in tears. When Rodriguez was returned on shore, they gave the signal of

departure, and set sail. This was on the 7th of April, in the year 1541,

under the command of Don Martin Alphonso de Sosa, viceroy of the Indies;

a man of known integrity, and consummate experience in what related to

those parts, where he had formerly lived for many years. He was desirous

of Xavier's company, in the Admiral, which was called the St James.

Xavier went aboard on his own birth-day, entering then on his

six-and-thirtieth year. He had resided eight months entire at Lisbon; and

forseven years, and somewhat more, had been the professed disciple of

Ignatius Loyola.

* * * * *

THE LIFE OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER.