380 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



royal university having presented a petition to that effecSl, he 

 was called to the hrst chair of theology, which he occupied on 

 the death of his master, father Avila, in 1601. On that oc- 

 casion he afforded a remarkable instance of the retentiveness of 

 his memory, which was so good, that what he had once read, 

 remained deeply imprinted, insomuch that he never forgot it, 

 or changed the smallest of the words. Being seated in the 

 professor's chair, in the presence of the viceroy, of the mem- 

 bers of the royal audience, of the nobility, chapter, do£lors, 

 &c. he requested the re6tor to order one of the secretaries 

 to open at random the book of the theology of St. Thomas, 

 and name to him the question and article which should thus 

 fortuitously present themselves. This having been done, he 

 repeated the article literally, and commented on it for an 

 hour, to the admiration of all present. 



He continued to teach theology in the royal university of 

 St. Mark, for the space of twenty-five years without any inter- 

 ruption. His studies and application were unwearied and un- 

 remitting : he employed daily from ten to twelve hours in read- 

 ing and meditation. There was not a subjedl, however compli- 

 cated and obscure, which he could not comprehend without the 

 necessity of a re-perusal. To his eminent wisdom he united the 

 exercise of the christian virtues, and possessed in an extraordi- 

 nary degree, humility, purity, a contempt of all sublunary enjoy- 

 ments, and patience. The latter enabled him to support the 

 excruciating pains under which he laboured for upwards of 

 fifteen years, in consequence of a fall from the top of a stair- 

 case, in fleeing from the devastations of the dreadful earth- 

 quake which occurred at Lima in the month pf 06tober 1609. 

 He expired without a groan, on the zoth of January, 1626, 



in 



