LOYOLA AND THE EARLY JESUITS, 99 



here the Jesuit was born. This was no transient, evanescent effect. For as soon 

 as his wounds permitted, Loyola travelled to the shrine of "one lady of Monser- 

 rato," and, after laying aside his knightly costume and placing his sword and 

 dagger by the side of the "Virgin Mother's image," he assumed the sack-cloth, 

 the rope-girdle and the sandals. In this more fitting garb of humility, our ro- 

 mantic enthusiast watched through the long hours of the night. He pledged 

 himself to chastity, to a life of humility ; pledged himself to the ' ' mother " of the 

 "One" whose name he afterward connected with the most artfully planned of 

 human organizations. Soon after, this brilliant soldier, who has had all avenues 

 to earthly ambition and happiness opened to him, is seen limping painfully by the 

 -gates of the paternal castle, begging alms ; the hair-shirt, the bare head and feet, the 

 emaciated form, bearing witness to the severity of his self-humiliation. This was 

 something more than mere fanatic enthusiasm. We believe that there must have 

 been a strong conviction of duty here. The contrast between the stately knight 

 and the mendicant was wide indeed, but Lazarus was trying to realize a nobility 

 of which Dives had known nothing. Was this Loyola insane ? Only in the 

 degree that the whole Romish organization was insane. For the Church taught 

 the body was an enemy to the soul ; that spiritual growth could only come as the 

 body was whipped, torn, bruised and subdued ; that humility came with physi- 

 cal abasement and suffering ; and, that temptation could be escaped by flight and 

 self- isolation. We wonder at and pity the self-inflicted tortures of one who de- 

 sired, in those days, to live a holy life, but we admire the devotion of this Loyola. 

 Was he not right in a certain degree ? We sympathize with any attempt at self- 

 growth and government, although we may think the methods absurd. Loyola 

 was filled with an intense desire for something better. The Church taught and 

 the people believed that certain forms of self-humiliation materially aided in bring- 

 ing about this desired result. Loyola accepted this method as the best he knew, 

 and followed it unsparingly. He retired into solitude, fasted, prayed, and scourg- 

 himself, lived by charity and meditated on holy things. 



As a result of these experiences, he, about this time, composed his " Spiritual 

 Exercises." These teach nothing of the duties of social or domestic life, but 

 refer entirely to the discipline and meditations of those who are undergoing a life 

 of asceticism. Later, Loyola made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the desire of 

 converting the followers of Mahomet to the true religion, but he met with so much 

 opposition that he finally turned his back on the Holy City, and wandered again 

 to Spain, still enthusiastic and determined. The better to prepare himself for 

 the work of saving souls, he now resolved to undergo a long course of 

 study, and journeyed to Paris for that purpose. While in the Parisian Universi- 

 ty, his power of attracting and compelling minds had commenced to manifest 

 itself. It has been said that Loyola had the power of communicating motion to 

 to the minds of others. Whatever this charm was, it existed in him in a remark- 

 able degree, because the men whom he influenced and became his disciples were, 

 all of them, more than ordinary in intellect and attainments. Loyola had long 



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