BENEVOLENT ESTABLISHMENTS. 



183 



in Paris, that children illegitimately born, and orphans, were 

 deserving of the proteition of the public*, they had found in 

 Lima an asylum in which they were reared and supported. 

 These data could not certainly have been in the possession of 

 the historians who have since represented us as the negligent 

 offspring of cruel parents. 



In the year 1597, there dwelt in Lima a pious and philoso- 

 phical man, according to the true acceptation of Christianity, 

 named Luis Pecador-f. The sole obje6t of his desires was the 

 establishment of a receptacle for the infants, who, having been 

 abandoned from the earliest moments of their existence, were 

 found lying before the doors of the dwellings, and were there 

 exposed to the attacks of dogs, by whom they had, in many 

 instances, been devoured. The innocence of these tender 

 vi6lims claiming his most earnest solicitude, he obtained the 

 permission of the Sovereign Pontiff, to found, for the above 

 benevolent purpose, an order of hospitallers, of which he 

 himself became the prior. With the aid of liberal public sub- 

 scriptions, a suitable edifice was ere6led, and likewise a chapel 

 dedicated to Our Lady of Atocha, who was chosen patroness 

 of the institution. For the reception of the infants, a turning 

 box, having a double communication with the street and the 

 building, was provided. 



* Until the year 1638 there was not in Paris a receptacle for orphans. At that 

 time a rich and virtuous widow laid the foundation of an establishment of this nature, 

 the maintenance of which required all her constancy and heroism. It was not until 

 1675 ''^''^ attrafled the notice and consideration of the sovereign, who assigned to 

 it a rent of twenty thousand livres. 



+ His leal name was Oxeda, which he changed for that of Pecador (sinner), con- 

 formably to the spirit of humility by wliich devout persons were then influenced. 



Those 



