While the Tender-hearted was leading a life of scandal, her brother,
Francisco, was studying in the College of the Escolapians in the
village, and afterwards entered the Seminary at Tortosa. He did not
distinguish himself there by his intelligence or by his good conduct;
but by force of time and recommendations he succeeded in getting
ordained and saying mass at Villanueva. His father’s restless blood
boiled in him: he was a rowdy, brutal and quarrelsome. As life in the
village was uncomfortable for him, he went to America, ready to change
his profession. He could not have found wide prospects among the laity,
for after a few months he took the vows, and ten or twelve years later
he returned to Spain, the Superior of his Order, and went to a monastery
in the province of Castellón.
Francisco Guillén had changed his name, and was now called Fray José de
Calasanz de Villanueva.
If Fray José de Calasanz, on his return from America, had not learned
much theology, at any rate he had learned more about life than in the
early years of his priesthood, and had turned into a cunning hypocrite.
His passions were of extraordinary violence, and despite his ability in
concealing them, he could not altogether hide his underlying barbarity.
His name figured several times, in a scandalous manner, along with the
name of a certain farmer’s wife, who was a bit weak in the head.
These pieces of gossip, though they gave him a bad reputation with the
town people, did not prevent him from advancing in his career, for
pretty soon, and no one quite knew for what reason, he was found to have
acquired importance and to wield influence of decisive weight, not only
in the Order, but among the whole clerical element of the city.
At the same time that Father José de Calasanz was becoming so
successful, the Tender-hearted took to the path of virtue and got
married at Valencia to the proprietor of a little grocery shop in a lane
near the market, his name being Antonio Fort.
The Tender-hearted, once married, wrote to her brother to get him to
make her father forgive her. The monk persuaded the old bandit, and the
Tender-hearted went to Villanueva to receive the paternal pardon. The
Tender-hearted, being married, lived an apparently retired and
devout life. Her husband was a poor devil of not much weight. The
Tender-hearted gave a great impetus to the shop. After she began to run
the establishment there was always a great influx of priests and monks
recommended by her brother.
Some of them used to gather in the back-shop toward dusk for
a _tertulia_, and it was said that one of the members of the
_tertulia_,--a youthful little priest from Murcia,--had an understanding
with the landlady.
The priests’ _tertulia_ at Fort’s shop was a well-spring of riches and
prosperity for the business. The little nuns of such-and-such a convent
advised the ladies they knew to buy chocolate and sweets at Fort’s; the
friars of another convent gave them an order for sugar or cinnamon, and
cash poured into the drawer.
The Tender-hearted had three children: Juan, Jerónimo, and Isabel.
When the two elder were of an age to begin their education, Father José
de Calasanz made a visit in Valencia.
Father José had a powerful influence among the clergy, and he offered
his support to his sister in case she found it well to dedicate one of
her sons to the church.
The Tender-hearted, who beginning to have great ambitions, considered
that of her two sons, Juan, the elder, was the more serious and
diligent, and she did not vacillate about sacrificing him to her
ambitions.