CHAPTER II. 



LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. 



Conversion op Loyola. — Foundation of the Society op Jesus- 

 — Pkeparation of the Novice. — Characteristics op the Or- 

 der. — The Canadian Jesuits. 



It was an evil day for new-born Protestantism, 

 when a French artilleryman fired the shot that 

 struck down Ignatius Loyola in the breach of 

 Pampeluna. A proud noble, an aspiring soldier, a 

 graceful courtier, an ardent and daring gallant was 

 metamorphosed by that stroke into the zealot whose 

 brain engendered and brought forth the mighty 

 Society of Jesus. His story is a familiar one : how, 

 in the solitude of his sick-room, a change came 

 over him, upheaving, like an earthquake, all the 

 forces of his nature ; how, in the cave of Manresa, 

 the mysteries of Heaven were revealed to him ; how 

 he passed from agonies to transports, from trans- 

 ports to the calm of a determined purpose. The 

 soldier gave himself to a new warfare. In the 

 forge of his great intellect, heated, but not dis- 

 turbed by the intense fires of his zeal, was wrought 

 the prodigious enginery whose power has been felt 

 to the uttermost confines of the world. 

 18] 



