Post #6162

He then, in the famous Benedictine abbey of Montserrat, suspended his arms at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and his generous soul, once eager for worldly glory, aspired only to the greater glory of the King whom he would now serve. On the night of March 25, in which the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word is celebrated, after the confession of his sins, he made his first vigil of arms and the Mother of God created him a knight of Christ and of the militant Church, her Spouse. Then dressed in sackcloth as he was, having first given his rich clothes to a beggar, he retired to Manresa, where he stayed a year, begging for the bread and water he fed on, fasting every day except Sundays, taming the flesh with a rough chain and with a hair shirt, sleeping on the ground and whipping myself to the point of blood, with an iron discipline, but comforted by God with such marvelous lights, that he used to say: Even if the Holy Scriptures did not exist, I would be no less ready to die for the faith for the things alone that the Lord revealed to me in Manresa. It was then that this completely illiterate man, guided by grace, composed that admirable book of the «Spiritual Exercises» - perhaps inspired by the practice of the Exercitatorium of the Benedictine Abbot Gisneros of Montserrat (year 1500) - which is recommended for the approval of the Apostolic See and for the good that everyone derives from it. However, to make himself more capable of winning souls, he resolved to enlist the assistance of letters, and began to study grammar with the children. Meanwhile, not neglecting at all what concerns the salvation of others, he is amazed to see how many hardships and challenges he had to endure everywhere, suffering the hardest trials, prison and beatings almost to the point of dying; however, this did not prevent him from longing even more for the glory of the Lord. Having united with him nine companions from different nations, belonging to the University of Paris, all masters in the arts and doctorates in theology, he laid there in Montmartre the first foundations of his order, the Society of Jesus, which he then established in Rome, adding to three ordinary a fourth vote concerning the Missions, and placing him under the strict dependence of the Apostolic See; and Paul III first admitted it and confirmed it with the bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae (27th of September 1540), and other Popes and the Council of Trent approved it. He then sent Saint Francis Xavier to preach the Gospel in the Indies and disseminated others in different parts of the world to spread the religion there, he declared war on paganism and heresy, and with such success, that, by universal sentiment, also confirmed by pontifical testimony, God wanted Ignatius and his company to oppose Luther and the heretics of the time (including the Jansenists), like other holy men in other times. But first and foremost, he had at heart the renewal of piety among Catholics. The splendour of the temples, the teaching of the catechism, the attendance of sacred meetings and the sacraments owe much to his action. He opened colleges everywhere to form young people in literature and piety: in Rome he founded the Germanic college, shelters for lost women and young women in danger, houses for catechumens and orphans of both sexes, and other works of piety attest to the his tireless zeal to win souls for God. More than once he was heard told that if given the choice, he would have preferred to live in uncertainty of beatitude, and meanwhile work for God and the salvation of his neighbor, rather than die immediately with security of the glory of heaven. He exercised an extraordinary empire over the demons. St. Philip Neri and others saw his face all radiant with heavenly light.