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Cornell University Library 
 BV5095.A9 022 1898 
 
 Life of the blessed master John of Avila 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 355 561 
 
 LIFE OF THE BLESSED 
 MASTER JOHN OF AVILA. 
 
 QUARTERLY SERIES. VOLUME NINETY-SEVEN. 
 
ROEHAMFTON : 
 PRINTED BY JOHN GRIFFIN. 
 
 [All rights reserved, j 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924029355561 
 
'iffla agsi 
 
 BLESSED JOHN OF AVILA. 
 
LIFE OF THE BLESSED 
 MASTER JOHN OF AVILA 
 
 SECULAR PRIEST, 
 
 Called tbe Spoetle of antmlusia. 
 
 BY 
 
 FATHER LONGARO DEGLI ODDI, 
 
 OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 
 
 EDITED BY J. G. MACLEOD, S.J. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN. 
 
 LONDON : BURNS AND OATES, LIMITED. 
 
 NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO : BENZIGER BROTHERS. 
 
 I898. 
 
 3> 
 

 
 7 y*? 
 
AUTHOR'S DECLARATION. 
 
 The author, in compliance with the Decrees of Pope 
 Urban VIII. and of the Holy Roman Inquisition, 
 issued in the years 1625, 1631, and 1634, declares that 
 the faith claimed for the matters related in this history, 
 is that founded on mere human authority ; he submits 
 the whole to the judgment of the Apostolic See, 
 of which he glories 'in being an obedient son and 
 subject. 
 
 IGNATIUS VICECOMES, 
 
 PROPOSITUS GENERALIS SOCIETATIS JESU. 
 
 Cum librum, cui titulus : Vita del Venembil servo di Dio 
 il Maestro Giovanni d'Avila sacerdote secolare a P. Longaro 
 degli Oddi Societatis nostra? Sacerdote conscriptum, 
 aliquot ejusdem Societatis Theologi recognoverint, et 
 in lucem edi posse probaverint ; facultatem facimus 
 ut typis mandetur, si iis ad quos pertinet, ita videbitur: 
 cujus rei gratia has litteras manu nostra subscriptas, 
 et sigillo nostro munitas dedimus. Romae, 18 Martii, 
 
 !753- 
 
 Ignatius Vicecomes. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 BY THE ITALIAN EDITOR. 
 
 The readers of this Life of Blessed John of Avila 
 may well be surprised that one who even in his 
 lifetime was celebrated for no ordinary sanctity, 
 both in his own country and beyond it, should not 
 have been beatified before an interval of three 
 centuries and a half from the time of his death. 
 And this all the more, because, as a spiritual 
 director and guide, he had led so many along the 
 paths of the highest perfection, of whom several 
 have been venerated on our altars long before 
 he was ; we refer to St. John of God, St. Francis 
 Borgia, St. Peter Alcantara, St. Teresa of Jesus. 
 It is but recently that he who, for his skill in guiding 
 souls, was honoured with the title of "the Master," 
 has been promoted to only the initiatory step of 
 beatification. One reason for this delay seems to 
 be that in the case of a priest, who did not belong 
 to any corporate body of the clergy, secular or 
 regular, there have been none to undertake the 
 important and laborious work of promoting his 
 cause; the energies of those devoted to his memory, 
 however learned and capable, being not sufficiently 
 united to attain this end. But if we look higher, 
 
vili PREFACE. 
 
 we shall see that the Divine goodness, which by 
 its hidden providence rules and governs the other 
 events of this life, directs also for its own highest 
 purposes the religious honours to be bestowed upon 
 its servants. It sometimes happens that imme- 
 diately after they have passed into the other world 
 it brings them into prominence, either through the 
 eagerness which it awakens amongst Christians 
 to exalt them, or through the supernatural testimony 
 of miracles. Or, again, it sometimes permits their 
 memory to die out for a time, and even appears to 
 have lost all interest in them, but only in order 
 that it may manifest this again at the fitting time 
 with all the greater effect, and may revive their 
 memory by new portents, rousing men's minds 
 from their lethargy, and urging them to promote 
 by every means in their power the glory of His 
 saints on earth. 
 
 God has been pleased to act in this second way 
 with regard to His beloved servant, Blessed John 
 of Avila. We rejoice that, in our days, the desire 
 of so many holy souls has been granted ; we rejoice 
 that, amidst the moral and religious decay of 
 Christian nations, another beatified Saint comes 
 forward, along with so many others recently raised 
 to our altars, to re-invigorate by his example the 
 souls that have grown feeble. From out of the 
 cloud which obscures the sound principles of eternal 
 truth shines brightly this pure star in the spiritual 
 heavens, a fresh gem added to the lustre that 
 encircles the Roman Pontificate in this jubilee year 
 of our Holy Father, Leo XIII. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 This Life of John of Avila, which is now 
 published on the happy occasion of his Beatifi- 
 cation, was written during the last century by 
 Father Longaro degli Oddi, of the Society of Jesus. 
 It is one of the best which has appeared, and is 
 composed in a simple style, well calculated to 
 awaken admiration for the Servant of God and a 
 desire to imitate his virtues. The Society of Jesus 
 was, from its very beginning, especially dear to 
 Blessed John of Avila, as will appear from the 
 course of this narrative. He was bound to its holy 
 founder by ties of veneration and sincerest friend- 
 ship. To it he sent many of his best disciples, as 
 he thought it his duty to make some return for the 
 benefits received from St. Ignatius by spreading 
 the fame of his Institute through Italy when the 
 Cause of his Beatification came before the Sacred 
 Congregation of Rites. In compiling his Life, the 
 author made use of that written by the celebrated 
 Father, Louis of Granada, of the holy Order of 
 Preachers, an intimate friend of Blessed Avila, who 
 wrote with the sole purpose of setting forth a 
 perfect sample of what a sacred orator should be. 
 Father Longaro degli Oddi also availed himself of 
 the Life by the Licentiate, Louis Munoz, which 
 contains short sketches of Father Avila's principal 
 disciples ; and in the last place he made use of the 
 Processes compiled in his times for the beatification 
 of the Servant of God. We have only added a few 
 short notes, and have given at the end an account 
 of the three miracles which were carefully examined 
 by the Sacred Congregation and solemnly approved 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 by our Holy Father Leo XIII., in the Decree of 
 
 November 12, 1893. 
 
 The profit which will be derived by all classes 
 of persons, ecclesiastics or laymen, from the study 
 of this most edifying life, will gladden him who has 
 been beatified as reigning in Heaven, while it will 
 be, as it were, a continuation of his apostolate in 
 the Church, and a renewal of that masterly spiritual 
 teaching which was so pre-eminently his own whilst 
 he dwelt on earth. 
 
 The main portion of a document treating of the 
 Conformity of Spirit between the Blessed John of Avila 
 and St. Ignatius, and contained amongst the Cartas 
 de San Ignacio, has been appended by the English 
 Editor ; such portions only being omitted as were 
 already incorporated in the Life itself. 
 
 Last of all will be found a Letter of Advice given 
 by Father Avila to Father James de Guzman and 
 Dr. Loarte, when they were about to enter the 
 Society of Jesus. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CONTAINING THE ACCOUNT OF HIS BIRTH, STUDIES, AND 
 APOSTOLICAL MINISTRY. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Birth, education, and early studies p. i. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 His studies in philosophy and theology at Alcala. He receives 
 Holy Orders. His call to the Indies changed by God into 
 the work of preaching in Andalusia . . . . p. 7. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 He begins to preach in Seville ; his natural gifts for that holy 
 
 ministry, and his diligence in cultivating them . . p. 16. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Early results of his preaching in Seville, and in other parts of 
 Andalusia. He is denounced to the Holy Inquisition, and 
 declared innocent p. 23. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 He sanctifies the city of Cordova by his preaching. Provision 
 made by his action and advice for the restoration of piety 
 and good morals P- 3*. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 He preaches in Granada, gaining many souls. He confirms 
 St. Francis Borgia, then Marquis of Lombay, in his reso- 
 lution of abandoning the Court. He converts St. John of 
 God, and leads him to perfection by his counsels . p. 42. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Apostolical labours of the Servant of God in the town of Ecija. 
 Startling conversion of Doiia Sancia Carrillo, brought 
 about by his means P- 55- 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 His apostolical labours in Baeza, and his constant zeal in pro- 
 moting the education of the young .... p. 67. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 He preaches in Montilla, Zafra, and other parts of Estre- 
 madura, where he makes many conversions. A brief notice 
 of the Venerable Anne of the Cross .... p. 75. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 The great fruit produced by his indefatigable diligence in 
 hearing confessions. His advice most eagerly sought for, 
 and most highly esteemed . . . . . p. 89. 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 His discernment of spirits, by means of which he fully 
 approved the spirit of St. Teresa, and disclosed the false 
 holiness of two impostors p. 98. 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 St. Ignatius of Loyola, having informed Father Avila of the 
 serious persecutions which the Society of Jesus, founded by 
 him, was undergoing in Salamanca, receives an answer 
 greatly to his comfort. The love and favour shown by the 
 holy man to that Order p. 108. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 ON HIS PARTICULAR VIRTUES. HIS PRECIOUS DEATH. 
 
 THE MIRACULOUS GRACES OBTAINED THROUGH HIS 
 
 INTERCESSION. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 His charity towards God and towards his neighbour . . p. ng. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Of his prayer and sublime contemplation . . . . p. 130. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 His tender devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and the ardour 
 with which he promoted it in others. His opinion con- 
 cerning frequent Communion p. 139. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 His high esteem for the sacerdotal dignity, and his great 
 labours for the training of perfect priests . . .p. 150. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 His deep humility, and the other virtues connected with it p. 157. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 He suffers from constant sickness during the last seventeen years 
 of his life. His holy death. The high esteem in which 
 he held by the best men of his time . . . .p. 164. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 His supernatural gifts. Miraculous favours granted by God 
 to the intercession of His Servant, before and after 
 death p. 176- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Miracles examined by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 
 and approved by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. for the 
 Beatification p. 186. 
 
 Decrees p. 193. 
 
 Conformity of Spirit between the Blessed John of Avila and 
 St. Ignatius p. 196. 
 
 Advice given by the Blessed John of Avila to Father James 
 de Guzman and to Dr. Loarte, when they were about to 
 enter the Society of Jesus p. 205. 
 
Book I. 
 
 CONTAINING THE ACCOUNT OF HIS BIRTH, STUDIES, 
 AND APOSTOLICAL MINISTRY. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH, EDUCATION, AND EARLY STUDIES. 
 
 It is the usual habit of human depravity to endeavour 
 to escape from the shame of its own wickedness by 
 casting the blame upon the evil state of the times, as 
 if holiness were not the ornament of every age, and 
 the fruit of every season. Holiness did indeed flourish 
 and make its beauty manifest in the early ages of 
 the Church, when the Blood of the Divine Son, recently 
 shed, still ran warm in its veins. However, as years 
 went by, its vigour decreased more and more, so that, 
 to require from a world grown old in vice, the fruits 
 of evangelical perfection would be as vain as to seek 
 for the blossoms of spring amidst the bitter cold of 
 winter. Nevertheless, Divine Providence has raised up 
 in every age, some grand souls of sterner quality, who, 
 by the light of their exemplary life, showed that holiness 
 does not depend upon the times, but is a product of 
 grace, and that grace, when it finds in the soil of our 
 hearts the requisite dispositions, plants, fosters, and 
 brings to maturity habits of virtue which rise superior 
 to all the inclinations of nature, and belong rather to 
 Heaven than to earth. Such a soul was the Blessed 
 John of Avila, whose Life we have undertaken to write, 
 a great example and teacher of Christian perfection, 
 an honour to the secular clergy, and a missionary who 
 on account of his glorious labours for the conversion 
 of his fellow-men, was called the Apostle of Andalusia. 
 
BIRTH, EDUCATION, 
 
 He was a Spaniard, a native of Almodovar del 
 Campo, in the kingdom of New Castile, and in the 
 diocese of Toledo. His parents were Alfonso of Avila 
 and Catherine Chicona, who both belonged to families 
 of good position in the country, and were of untainted 
 faith and well-known piety. 
 
 They had been married some years without having 
 any children, when at last God was pleased to hear 
 their prayers and grant their desires through the inter- 
 cession of St. Bridget, to whom Catherine had specially 
 commended herself in order to obtain this favour. For 
 this intention, the pious lady had undertaken a devout 
 pilgrimage of thirteen days, barefoot, and dressed in 
 sackcloth, to a famous hermitage situated upon the 
 summit of a high mountain not far from Almodovar, 
 in which a miraculous picture of this Saint was vene- 
 rated. Her hopes were not deceived, for in a few 
 weeks Catherine found herself with child, and in due 
 time gave birth to a son, the John of whom we are 
 writing, an infant who, like Samuel, may truly be called 
 the son of prayers and tears. 
 
 He was born on the 6th of January, the feast of the 
 Epiphany, in the year 1500, during the Pontificate of 
 Pope Alexander VI., Spain being governed by the Most 
 Catholic King Ferdinand V., and Queen Isabella. It 
 is said that during the whole time of her pregnancy 
 Catherine could only take food once a day on Thursdays 
 and Fridays — a circumstance which, though it might 
 appear strange, was not considered significant until 
 after the birth of John, when it was noticed that upon 
 those two days he only took milk once, according to the 
 same rule. This was afterwards considered prophetic 
 of the tender devotion which he always manifested in 
 an especial manner to the Most Holy Sacrament of the 
 Altar and to the Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ, so that 
 out of reverence to those two sublime mysteries, he 
 
AND EARLY STUDIES. 
 
 observed the same rigorous fast until the close of his 
 life. 
 
 No sooner had reason dawned in John than he 
 showed that he possessed the germs of every beautiful 
 virtue ; openness of heart, which manifested itself in 
 his countenance, a tractable nature apt to receive every 
 good impression, a virginal modesty, a loving sub- 
 mission to his elders, an unvarying gentleness and 
 sweetness in dealing with all. His careful parents did 
 not neglect to cultivate this promising soil, instilling 
 into his mind at an early age the holy fear of God, 
 and instructing him minutely in the obligations of a 
 Christian life. And the pains they took grew delightful 
 to them when they saw that their labour was rewarded, 
 and that their teaching already bore fruit. 
 
 The things which have been related by persons 
 deserving of credit, who were his contemporaries, con- 
 cerning his early years, appear almost incredible. John 
 had not completed his fifth year, when, even thus early 
 visited by Divine grace in benedictionibus dulcedinis, he 
 was often found by the servants in the dead of night 
 either kneeling in prayer, trembling and benumbed 
 with cold, or lying, worn out by his long vigils, asleep 
 upon the ground. When he was later than usual in 
 returning home from school he was always discovered 
 in a corner of some church, holding sweet converse 
 with his Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. He was 
 also in the habit of frequently retiring to some remote 
 room in the house to torment his innocent body by 
 taking the discipline. His mother having bought for 
 him a new velvet suit handsomely trimmed, he could 
 mot bear to have to wear it, such was, even at that 
 time, his hatred of self and of all worldly pomp, so that 
 he never rested until, having met with some shabbily 
 dressed child of his own age, he obliged him to 
 exchange clothes. When asked by his mother what he 
 
BIRTH, EDUCATION, 
 
 had done to make himself look like a little beggar-boy,, 
 he blushed and frankly confessed the truth, adding 
 that the exchange had done justice to both of them. 
 
 Having obtained permission to partake for the first 
 time of the Bread of Angels, he went to Holy Com- 
 munion with a purity of heart and ardent charity which 
 the most perfect might envy. We must not omit to 
 notice here what we shall hereafter have to describe 
 more fully, namely, that this was for him the first 
 beginning of that sublime perfection to which he 
 attained in his mature years, so that he was wont to 
 say that to this, more than to any other mystery, he 
 was indebted for whatever good there might be in 
 his soul. 
 
 Childishness or frivolity he seems never to have 
 known, and the maturity of age shone in every action. 
 His whole delight was in intercourse with pious and 
 spiritual persons, in visiting churches, listening to 
 sermons, reading devotional books, and, the scholar 
 becoming teacher, in imparting to other children what 
 he had learned in catechisms and sermons. As hymns 
 are always attractive to the young, he gathered together 
 his companions, especially on festivals, to sing them 
 in the public streets and squares. This was the only 
 motive of sufficient force to draw him into companion- 
 ship with others, for as to himself, he was both by 
 nature and grace attracted to solitude, being fully con- 
 vinced that innocence is a flower which if touched by 
 any unwholesome breath may easily lose its freshness. 
 
 At the early age of fourteen, having already com- 
 pleted his course of Humanities and passed through the 
 class of Rhetoric, the promise of rare ability he had 
 displayed induced his father to send him to study law 
 at Salamanca. Success in that profession, it was hoped, 
 might lead to distinction, and help to advance the 
 worldly position of his family. However, God, whose 
 
AND EARLY STUDIES. 
 
 secret counsels are often far different from ours, and 
 who had nobler designs concerning John, made use of 
 this separation from his father only to unite him more 
 closely with Himself, and to render him a fit instrument 
 for His glory. He had scarcely entered upon his new 
 career when our Lord made His voice heard, illumi- 
 nating his mind with vivid celestial light by which to 
 recognize the worthlessness of all human things, and 
 the happiness of serving God, our highest and unfailing 
 good, who alone, when possessed and loved, suffices to 
 satisfy the soul. By that light, which stirred the soul 
 of the innocent youth like a trumpet-call, he felt his 
 "thoughts and affections suddenly changed, and there 
 arose in his heart an ardent longing to lead a perfect 
 life, and to seek nothing for himself but Jesus Christ. 
 
 In this frame of mind, having lost all relish for 
 the world, he applied himself seriously to a closer union 
 with God, to a stricter custody of the senses, and to 
 a more rigorous self-denial, examining minutely the 
 slightest movements of his heart and chastising it 
 severely for every trifling deviation from the right 
 path. From that time were remarked in him more 
 recollection in prayer, greater assiduity in frequenting 
 the sacraments, harsher treatment of his body, a more 
 interior spirit, fewer words, more circumspection in 
 his bearing, such, in fact, as to fill with holy envy souls 
 already far advanced in the path of perfection. 
 
 Nevertheless, he continued his legal studies with all 
 possible diligence, but as he afterwards admitted, simply 
 out of obedience, and without any pleasure, for what- 
 ever the reason might be, he conceived an aversion 
 for that kind of knowledge, and considered the time 
 employed in acquiring it completely wasted. He con- 
 tinued this study until, having informed his father of 
 his disinclination, he was allowed to abandon it, and 
 recalled home to his native place. 
 
BIRTH, EDUCATION. 
 
 Upon returning home, the first favour which John 
 begged from his parents was, the use of a small room 
 in a remote and unoccupied part of the house, where, far 
 from all noise and interruption, he could apply himself 
 quietly and undisturbed to the salvation of his soul and 
 to perfecting himself in virtue. He led the life of a 
 hermit in this chamber for nearly three years, never 
 going out except when required to do so by necessity, 
 duty, or devotion. His manner of life, in what was 
 rather a garret than a room, is almost incredible. Com- 
 plete abstraction from all things of sense, constant inter- 
 course with God, perpetual silence, unbroken prayer,, 
 the poorest and scantiest food, and for a bed, a hard 
 plank or a heap of brushwood, thrown down in a 
 corner ; frequent fasts and disciplines, rough sackcloth,, 
 things which, when reported among the neighbours, or 
 often witnessed with their own eyes, excited in all a 
 degree of wonder, and a depth of feeling which were 
 powerful enough to rekindle in the whole of that district 
 the almost extinct fervour of former days. Such force 
 has example to bring about what, without it, would 
 appear to be impossible. 
 
 It is easy to imagine how unwillingly his parents 
 beheld this severe treatment of his body by their son, 
 so dear to them on every account ; yet they did not 
 dare to interfere with him, being afraid of opposing the 
 Divine will, and of hindering the sovereign operations of 
 the Holy Spirit within him. It was therefore necessary 
 for God Himself to draw him forth from this hiding- 
 place, as it were from under a bushel, and place him 
 upon a candlestick to shine as a burning light for the 
 profit of His Church. This, change in his life came to- 
 pass as follows. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HIS STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY AT 
 ALCALA. HE RECEIVES HOLY ORDERS. HIS CALL 
 TO THE INDIES CHANGED BY GOD INTO THE 
 WORK OF PREACHING IN ANDALUSIA. 
 
 Young John of Avila continued to live thus for nearly 
 three years, remaining a solitary in the midst of the 
 multitude, a hermit amongst his own relations, and 
 leading, in his father's house, a life of rigid severity, 
 with no other thought than that of sanctifying himself, 
 and of making continual progress in the path of 
 Christian perfection. At this juncture there happened 
 to come to Almodovar a Religious of the Order of 
 St. Francis, who had a great reputation for holiness. 
 This Religious, hearing what was said throughout the 
 district of the virtues of the holy youth, of his retire- 
 ment, his penances, his continuous prayer, and his 
 union with God, conceived a wish to make his acquaint- 
 ance, and asked to speak with him. At the first 
 interview he recognized in him a great soul, capable 
 of performing the highest works for the glory of God. 
 He was amazed at finding such maturity of mind 
 and steadiness of resolution at so immature an age, 
 and advised him not to allow the many talents bestowed 
 upon him by God to remain hidden. He told him that 
 he ought at once to resume his studies, devoting 
 himself to the acquisition of holy and profitable kinds 
 of knowledge, which would enable him to render greater 
 
8 STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 
 
 service to the Church, and to sanctify his own soul and 
 the souls of others. He also spoke with his parents 
 to the same effect. That this counsel was from God the 
 event proved more fully than could at that time have 
 been foreseen. 
 
 Convinced by the reasons adduced by this holy 
 Religious, John, with his father's consent, speedily set 
 out for Alcala, in order to begin the study of philo- 
 sophy and theology. He had the good fortune to have 
 for his master, in both subjects, the celebrated Professor, 
 Fra Dominic Soto, a great luminary of the famous 
 Order of St. Dominic, and a noted teacher of that age. 
 No sooner had that experienced master, a man of 
 singular discernment, tested by a rigorous cross-exami- 
 nation the capacity and disposition of his new pupil, 
 than, having found his intellect to be clear and 
 methodical, quick in comprehending, subtle in object- 
 ing, and tenacious in retaining, he conceived such 
 esteem of him, that he several times declared publicly 
 that, were John to continue his studies, he would 
 speedily become one of the most learned men in Spain : 
 a prophecy which could be made with the greater 
 security inasmuch as the assiduity and diligence of the 
 pupil were all that could be desired. 
 
 No less was the reputation for holiness which John 
 acquired, not only with his teacher, but also with 
 the numerous students of that University, just as had 
 happened a few years previously at Salamanca. His 
 avoidance of all amusements, his entire absorption 
 either in his studies or in works of piety, his constant 
 attendance in the church and in the schools, his calm 
 and reserved bearing, his pure and guileless manners, 
 his freedom from conceit, and his humble and respectful 
 conduct attracted the attention of all, and made all 
 regard him with a certain respect, not to say veneration, 
 so that every one was anxious to have intercourse with 
 
STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 9 
 
 him and to gain his friendship. He, having perceived 
 this, was not deceived by the flattering breath of 
 vainglory : he became ever more and more distrustful 
 of self, redoubling his watchfulness in proportion as 
 the dangers were greater and more frequent in the 
 midst of this crowd of young men. Far from abandon- 
 ing any of his pious practices, he applied himself to 
 perform them more faithfulty, and, inasmuch as 
 his studies might be regarded, both as to their 
 ■subject, and as to the holy end to which they were 
 ■directed, as something sacred, he availed himself of 
 them to increase the fervour of his devotion, as he 
 made use of devotion to give himself more earnestly 
 to study. 
 
 It was at Alcala. that he contracted an intimate 
 spiritual friendship with Don Pedro Guerrero, who 
 afterwards became Archbishop of Granada ; at that 
 time his fellow-student, a man famous for holiness and 
 learning. This friendship, being founded on similarity 
 in virtue, was never interrupted, but went on increas- 
 ing, so that, throughout life, Avila had no one who 
 by influence and authority aided him more than 
 Guerrero in performing his great works for God, nor 
 had Guerrero anything which he valued more than 
 the prayer and advice of Father Avila, to help him 
 in the good government of the Church committed to 
 his care. 
 
 John had not yet completed his course of philosophy, 
 when it pleased God to call to Himself both his parents; 
 which loss, though deeply felt, he turned to his great 
 profit, using it to bind himself more closely to God, in 
 proportion as he became less attached to creatures. 
 He nevertheless continued his studies until he had 
 finished the course of scholastic theology, leaving 
 behind him a reputation as a brilliant genius and as 
 one of the most amiable and tractable students who 
 
RECEIVES HOLY ORDERS. 
 
 had ever frequented that University. His memory- 
 was long cherished there, and he served as a model 
 to those who came after, both for his conduct and for 
 progress in all piety and learning. 
 
 Having terminated his course of study in the most 
 necessary branches of knowledge, he resolved to take 
 Holy Orders. He had felt, almost from infancy, a 
 special attraction towards the priesthood, so that while 
 still a child, it was his great pleasure to be present- 
 in church at ecclesiastical functions, and afterwards to 
 imitate them at home before a little altar of his own. 
 Now that he had attained to an age and a position 
 in which he was able to carry his wish into effect,, 
 he did not hesitate a moment. Nevertheless, having 
 formed a high idea of the priestly dignity, and of the 
 holiness which befits such an office, he wished to make 
 a long and careful preparation for it. Having put 
 aside all other thoughts and occupations, he applied 
 himself for several days, by means of holy meditations 
 and fervent acts of every virtue, to the purification of 
 his heart from all earthly affections, plunging deeper 
 into the consciousness of his own nothingness, and of 
 the solemn obligations which the priestly character 
 entails, he who receives it becoming, by this ministry, 
 a mediator between God and man. For this end, he 
 redoubled his fasts, multiplied his disciplines, prolonged 
 his vigils, and dressed himself in the roughest sackcloth,, 
 until, having shaken off all dust of earth, and richly 
 adorned his soul with the virtues appertaining to the 
 great act which he was about to perform, he received 
 Holy Orders from the hands of the Bishop. It is- 
 difficult to say whether he was more confused at the 
 high honour to which he found himself raised, or more 
 pleased at seeing himself so closely united with God 
 by means of that new tie. 
 
 After being ordained priest, he returned to his. 
 
RECEIVES HOLY ORDERS. 
 
 native place, in order to say his first Mass in the 
 church where his parents were interred. The tender 
 devotion with which he offered the Holy Sacrifice for 
 the first time may be inferred from what has just been 
 said, and from what he did upon the day of those first 
 espousals. It was an ancient custom in that part of 
 the country for every newly-ordained priest upon this 
 solemn occasion to entertain all his relatives and friends 
 at a sumptuous banquet. John, rather than conform 
 to such a usage, which often degenerated into license,, 
 brought to his house instead twelve poor people, washed 
 their feet, dressed them all at his own expense, feasted 
 them handsomely, serving them himself at table, and 
 caressing them in every way, to the wonder and 
 admiration of all beholders, who were moved to tears 
 of tenderness and devotion. 
 
 But, in proportion as this new dignity raised him 
 above himself, so much the more did he feel it incum- 
 bent upon him to seek perfection, by entering from that 
 moment upon a new and more holy life. It will suffice 
 to say here, that all that he had conceived as to the 
 grandeur and sublimity of virtue and perfection befit- 
 ting the priestly office, was exemplified in his own life 
 and habits, so that he became, in all his actions, a 
 model for priests. The signal service which he was 
 afterwards able to perform for the salvation of souls 
 was in great part owing to this. It would be difficult 
 to tell how many of the clergy in various cities and 
 districts guided themselves by his example, either in 
 their preparation for the priesthood, or, if already 
 priests, in adopting a mode of life which was conform- 
 able to their holy state, being persuaded that they could 
 not regulate their conduct better than by following in 
 his footsteps. 
 
 However, the time had now arrived when, beside 
 the work of sanctifying himself daily more and more, he 
 
HIS CALL TO THE INDIES 
 
 was to take upon him the labour of benefiting others, 
 and of employing himself for the glory of God in the 
 salvation of souls. With this intent, various plans 
 occurred to his mind, but the one which pleased 
 him best was the idea of starting for America, to 
 carry the light of the Gospel to the barbarous 
 nations of those regions. This design was well suited 
 to his humility and zeal, seeing that it was little 
 likely to lead to earthly honours, and was rich in 
 its promise of sufferings and crosses. Moreover, he 
 might also attain thereby his ardent desire, which was 
 to give his life for Jesus Christ, and to die a martyr 
 for the faith. Having formed this resolution, after much 
 prayer he suddenly decided, in order that there should 
 be no drawing back from it, to sell his whole patrimony 
 in accordance with the example of the Apostles and the 
 counsel of Christ, and to distribute the money to the 
 poor, retaining only for himself a single suit of rough 
 cloth, in which he might appear decently dressed. 
 Having thus freed himself from all worldly impedi- 
 ments, he presented himself, upon the first opportunity, 
 before the new Bishop of Tlascala, who was about to 
 start for Mexico, and offered to accompany him. He 
 was accepted without a moment's hesitation, and, in 
 1527, set out for Seville, in order to be ready to embark 
 immediately, when the opportunity offered for such a 
 voyage. 
 
 In Seville John took up his abode in a small house, 
 in company with another good priest, being unwilling 
 to have any one to wait upon him, but desiring to live 
 in all things by the rule of evangelical poverty. For 
 food he contented himself with herbs, fruit, and a little 
 milk, all of which needed no fire for their preparation, 
 and these he bought with the scanty alms received from 
 a few devout persons who dwelt in the neighbourhood. 
 He spent a great part of the day, and also of the night, in 
 
CHANGED BY GOD. 13 
 
 prayer, torturing his body with harsh penances, visiting 
 the sick of the parish, serving in the public hospital, 
 comforting all with his devout discourse, and inflaming 
 them with the holy love of God. 
 
 He said Mass every morning in a neighbouring 
 church, to which a holy priest, Ferdinand Contreras, 
 also repaired daily for the same purpose. The latter 
 was a man of more than fifty years of age, of rare 
 virtue, greatly enlightened by God, and held in high 
 esteem throughout the city. Having seen John several 
 times, and having observed his long preparation for 
 the Holy Sacrifice, and the decorum, recollection, and 
 devotion with which he offered it at the altar, shedding 
 abundant tears ; also his long thanksgiving afterwards, 
 always made upon his knees ; this priest conceived a 
 great esteem for him, and desired to win his friendship. 
 Having talked with him, visited him in his house, and 
 held spiritual converse with him on several occasions, 
 he found him to be such as he had imagined, a man of 
 deep virtue and learning, greatly illuminated by God, 
 and already far advanced in the path of Christian 
 perfection. Upon hearing the reason which had brought 
 him there, and his determination to proceed to the Indies 
 to spend his life for the salvation of souls in those 
 regions, Contreras, enlightened, we must believe, by 
 some heavenly inspiration, set to work to dissuade him 
 from so doing, representing to him the greater service 
 which he might render to the Divine Majesty by aban- 
 doning his project, and employing himself wholly in the 
 sanctification of Spain, which was then in the greatest 
 need of such an apostolate. Notwithstanding his efforts, 
 Ferdinand could not succeed, because Avila, alleging 
 the engagement which he had entered into with the 
 Bishop of Tlascala, refused to break his promise, and 
 change the plan already decided upon. However, 
 Contreras was not discouraged, and being more than 
 
i 4 HIS CALL TO THE INDIES 
 
 •ever desirous to retain such a treasure for Spain, he 
 had recourse to Don Alfonso Manrique, Archbishop 
 of Seville, Inquisitor General of the whole kingdom, 
 and shortly after raised to the purple by Pope 
 Clement VII., informing him of the rich prize which 
 he had found in Avila, and of the great blessings which 
 the diocese and the whole kingdom might receive 
 through his apostolical labours. This was enough to 
 determine that zealous prelate not to allow John to 
 slip from his hands, and he decided, if the expres- 
 sion of his wishes in the matter failed to change his 
 resolution, to employ the full weight of his authority. 
 He summoned him to his presence at the beginning of 
 the year 1528, receiving him most kindly, and showing 
 him every attention. Having satisfied himself as to 
 his piety and learning, his charity and zeal, and the 
 holy desire with which God in His infinite mercy had 
 inspired him, to employ himself wholly in His service 
 and for the benefit of souls, he offered him his large 
 diocese as a field for his labours, a field in which oppor- 
 tunities would not be wanting for him to realize all his 
 ardent longing after a life of toil and suffering. He urged 
 that charity begins at home, and assured him that the 
 Indies would have sufficient labourers to satisfy their 
 needs. He would have said still more, had not Avila 
 continued to plead his previous engagement with the 
 Bishop of Tlascala, Fra Giuliano Gorges, and his 
 grateful determination not to forsake one who had so 
 lovingly accepted him as his companion. The Arch- 
 bishop therefore assumed an air in which kindness was 
 blended with the firm tone of command, saying, " Well, 
 since my reasons do not persuade you, my authority 
 shall suffice : listen to me ; I order you, in virtue 
 of holy obedience, to remain with me. God would 
 have you stay here." At these positive and resolute 
 words, spoken by one so deserving, on every account, 
 
CHANGED BY COD. 15 
 
 of the deepest respect, the objections died upon the 
 young priest's lips ; he bowed his head and re lied, 
 " My lord, since this is the Divine will for me, may it 
 be fulfilled. I am content." The Archbishop lost no 
 time in giving to his flock the benefit of the great 
 treasure which he had secured for it. But of this we 
 must speak in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HE BEGINS TO PREACH IN SEVILLE, HIS NATURAL 
 GIFTS FOR THAT HOLY MINISTRY, AND HIS DILI- 
 GENCE IN CULTIVATING THEM. 
 
 Manrique, greatly delighted at the recruit which he 
 had thus gained for his diocese, desired him to preach 
 before him in the Collegiate Church of S. Salvador, 
 July 22nd, 1529, the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, and 
 all John's humility was unable to find means of escaping 
 from that honourable charge. 
 
 No sooner was this bruited abroad in Seville, than, 
 attracted by the fame of his sanctity, all flocked to hear 
 him. The church was already filled with a crowd of 
 all classes, and he was about to ascend the pulpit when, 
 seized with sudden shame and fear, he broke down in 
 a violent fit of weeping, and was on the very point of 
 running away altogether. It was only a delusion of the 
 devil, who had now begun to be apprehensive of the 
 serious wounds which that tongue, keener than any 
 two-edged sword, would one day inflict upon him. 
 Nevertheless the evil one was not victorious, for whilst 
 the holy man was thus deeply agitated and perplexed, 
 he chanced to cast his eyes upon a crucifix which hung 
 from one of the walls. For a moment he remained 
 immovable, gazing fixedly upon the image of his 
 Saviour, when drawing a deep sigh he cried out, while 
 the tears streamed down his face : " My God, if it be 
 Thy will that I should preach, remove from me this 
 
HE BEGINS TO PREACH IN SEVILLE. 17 
 
 great confusion which I feel ; do this, I beseech Thee, 
 by that greater confusion which Thou didst experience 
 in Thy bitter Passion ; Thou knowest whether I seek 
 aught else but Thy glory and the salvation of souls." 
 
 At this God took pity upon him ; his fears vanished 
 in an instant, and he felt himself strengthened with 
 power from on high. He immediately mounted the 
 pulpit, and preached for two hours with such zeal, that 
 the whole of that numerous audience was filled with 
 holy terror and salutary fear. After the sermon, many 
 hastened to be reconciled with God in the tribunal of 
 Penance, so that, as some declared, more good could 
 not have been hoped for from a whole mission. 
 
 Many priests and clerics were so deeply moved, that 
 they firmly resolved to amend their lives, and to apply 
 themselves earnestly to the acquisition of Christian 
 perfection. For this purpose they entered into a close 
 spiritual friendship with the servant of God, and became 
 his scholars, that he might do with them whatever 
 would contribute most to the glory of God and the 
 salvation of their souls. 
 
 However, it was not this one sermon only which 
 was so wonderful in its results. It may be truly 
 affirmed, as we shall see hereafter, that every sermon 
 he preached was fruitful for the salvation of many 
 souls. So much was this the case, that a very learned 
 man of that time used to say, that a sermon of Father 
 Avila's resembled one of the nets with which fishermen 
 gather in fish of all kinds, and always in abundance : 
 and that master of Christian eloquence, Father Luis 
 of Granada, likened him to an arquebuse loaded to the 
 muzzle, which made great havoc at one discharge. 
 
 And here we may say something of his manner of 
 preaching, and of the brilliant gifts with which God 
 had endowed him, for the fruitful exercise of this 
 apostolical ministry. Father Avila was always con- 
 
HIS GIFTS AS A PREACHER. 
 
 spicuous for a natural and popular eloquence which 
 was clear and understood by all. It was enhanced by 
 a wonderful skill in exposition which insinuating itself 
 into the minds of his hearers, charmed and captivated 
 them without their being aware of it ; by powerful and 
 conclusive argumentation, which convinced even the 
 most intractable intellect ; and by an utterance which 
 was at times so vehement when fulminating against 
 vice, that, says Father Luis of Granada, the whole 
 church seemed to tremble. It is related, that when 
 he one day took the place of a noted preacher whose 
 audience were in the habit upon leaving the church, 
 of breaking out into the praises of their favourite, 
 and of commending loudly one or other of the brilliant 
 thoughts which he had so gracefully expressed, the 
 same congregation left Father Avila's sermon in silence, 
 with heads bent, compunction in their hearts, and tears 
 in their eyes. It was indeed the common opinion in 
 his day, that Father Avila had no equal in the pulpit. 
 So said Father Augustine Saluzio, of the Order of 
 Preachers, a holy man and profound theologian, who 
 declared that for several centuries no orator had been 
 heard in Spain so truly apostolical as Father Avila, 
 and that he had been sent by God for the reformation 
 of morals, and for the sanctification of all that country. 
 He did not neglect to cultivate his natural talents. 
 Though possessed of an intelligence both acute and 
 profound, though learned in theology, in which he had 
 already taken his master's degree, and equipped with 
 a rich store of science and sacred erudition, no sooner 
 did he become engaged, out of obedience, in the arduous 
 occupation of preaching, than he sought a guide in 
 whose steps he might walk securely without fear of 
 stumbling. Such he found in the great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, St. Paul, and he immediately set to work 
 to try to copy in himself his gifts and virtues, beginning 
 
CULTIVATION OF HIS TALENTS. 19 
 
 a diligent and attentive study of his Epistles, endeavour- 
 ing to penetrate their deeper meaning, to unravel the 
 most intricate knots, to dissect the finest and most 
 subtle fibres of thought, all which he did so thoroughly 
 that the very words remained impressed upon his 
 memory, and he could quote them freely at will. 
 
 Indeed we may say that the holy Apostle having 
 thus become his teacher, unfolded to him the most 
 hidden mysteries contained therein, so happily did the 
 Servant of God explain them and weave them into his 
 sermons. From these writings, more than from any 
 others, he learnt the soundness in argument, sublimity 
 of doctrine, the force of reasoning, and whatever else 
 of grandeur shone in his discourses, and is still admired 
 in his works. We must not omit to notice the effect 
 upon a distinguished theologian, also a Dominican, 
 who, upon hearing him expound from the pulpit one of 
 the most abstruse passages in those Epistles, said, filled 
 with wonder : " This morning I have heard St. Paul 
 explain St. Paul." 
 
 Yet, his pre-eminence as a preacher was not so 
 much due to natural talent, nor even to art acquired by 
 long study. It was a product of that intense charity 
 towards God which filled him and animated him with 
 the most burning desire to increase His glory, and to 
 see Him faithfully served by men. Whenever he was 
 about to preach, he wrote down brief notes of the 
 topics he intended to touch upon, together with such 
 arguments drawn from Scripture or from the Fathers, 
 as he thought were to the point. Before ascending the 
 pulpit he spent at least two hours on his knees before 
 a crucifix, and not unfrequently the whole night, 
 "bargaining" with God for the souls of those he 
 sought to save, persisting in prayer, until the sound 
 of the bell warned him that the hour for preaching had 
 come, when, like another Moses, his heart and coun- 
 
HIS GIFTS AS A PREACHER. 
 
 tenance inflamed ex consortia sermonis Domini, he went to 
 deliver to his hearers the message of his Heavenly 
 Master. 
 
 He spoke with such ardour and profundity, that 
 Doctor Francis de Terones, preacher to the King, a 
 celebrated man, and afterwards Bishop of Leon, has- 
 said of him in one of his printed treatises upon the art 
 of preaching : " We knew in our own time, Father John, 
 of Avila, who, in preaching, sent fire into the hearts of 
 all who listened ; " and that this was the literal truth, 
 and not merely the exaggeration of one prejudiced in 
 his favour, was proved by God, by means of extraordi- 
 nary signs and wonders. Many affirmed that, whilst 
 the Servant of God was preaching, they had seen sparks 
 of fire issue from his mouth, and strike one or other of 
 his hearers, and it was noticed that those who had been 
 thus touched changed their habits from that time forth, 
 and led better lives. Amongst the rest was a certain 
 Dona Sancia Carrillo, a lady of noble birth, who being 
 then in the bloom of her youth, made a great sensation 
 in the world by her beauty and accomplishments, and 
 who, after falling into the hands of Father Avila, was 
 gained by him for God, and attained to a high degree 
 of sanctity, as we shall hereafter relate. 
 
 This same Dona Sancia Carrillo, having become the 
 spiritual child of the holy master, and being already 
 far advanced on the road of evangelical perfection, 
 was permitted by God to behold over his head while 
 preaching, a flame of marvellous brilliancy, and to see 
 proceeding from his mouth bright rays of light, which, 
 reached to the ears of the hearers : clear tokens of that 
 celestial fire which burned in his breast and moved him 
 to speak. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter I will mention some 
 salutary instructions given by this apostolical man and 
 Christian orator, to those who consulted him on this 
 
INSTRUCTIONS ON PREACHING. 
 
 subject ; instructions worthy in themselves of being 
 recorded, and which, while intended to form a rough 
 outline for the guidance of others, serve admirably to 
 paint the portrait of the orator himself. Having been 
 asked by a young preacher for some suggestions as to 
 the best way of exercising that holy ministry with profit, 
 •" What can I say to you," he replied, " except tell you 
 to love our Lord deeply ? Love Him with all your 
 heart, and experience will teach you how from such 
 love proceeds an ardent thirst for His glory ; and since 
 God is never more highly glorified than by the holiness 
 of His creatures, there is kindled in the heart at the 
 same time, an insatiable zeal to sanctify souls, for 
 the sake of which one would gladly face martyrdom. 
 ' Lovest thou Me ? . . . feed My sheep,' are our Lord's 
 own words." 
 
 To another he writes thus, on the same subject : 
 " Would you labour fruitfully for the conversion of 
 sinners ? Excite first in yourself a deep sorrow for 
 their sins. Oh ! how few are the mothers who, like the 
 widow of Nain, weep over the death of their children ! 
 That is the reason why they are not sufficiently anxious 
 to have them restored to life." Exhorting another to 
 cultivate a great hunger for the salvation of souls, if he 
 desired to win many, he declared that this hunger 
 would nerve him to unceasing exertions, and supply the 
 fittest weapons for piercing hearts. He adds that he 
 ought to be like the falcon when it is taken out for a 
 hunting party ; for the more famished it is, the more 
 abundant is the prey which it finds and strikes down. 
 
 John of Avila was in Montilla with the Marquis of 
 Priego, when there came to preach in the city, Father 
 Luis of Granada, then in his early youth, an orator who 
 like a young plant showed in his sermons at that time 
 much more of flower than of fruit. The Servant of God 
 went several times to hear him with a sort of compas- 
 
INSTRUCTIONS ON PREACHING. 
 
 sion ; understanding fully the powerful genius of Granada, 
 and the signal service which he might render to the 
 Church by his talents, if he were to enter upon the 
 true path, and treat of the things of God in earnest. 
 However, as such censorship was no business of his, 
 he prudently forbore to speak ; but having been asked 
 afterwards by Count Pedro de Feria, in the presence 
 of Granada, what he thought of his preaching, he said: 
 " To say the truth, I have no great taste for sermons 
 which do not treat simply of Jesus Christ Crucified." 
 This gentle warning was not lost upon him for whom 
 it was intended, and Granada, deeply humble as he was, 
 hastened to confer with Father Avila, and to become 
 his pupil, entreating him to instruct him in the manner 
 to be pursued in preaching, and promising not to swerve 
 in the very least from his advice. This the Servant of 
 God undertook most willingly, furnishing him with 
 valuable suggestions, by the good use of which Granada 
 changed his manner from that time, with the great 
 fruit which is known to all, this happy result being 
 principally due to the advice of Father Avila. 
 
• CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EARLY RESULTS OF HIS PREACHING IN SEVILLE, 
 AND IN OTHER PARTS OF ANDALUSIA. HE IS 
 DENOUNCED TO THE HOLY INQUISITION, AND 
 DECLARED INNOCENT. 
 
 The Archbishop of Seville, having heard the new 
 preacher, and seen the great fruit produced by a single 
 sermon, rejoiced greatly, thanking the goodness of God 
 for having sent as a companion in his pastoral solici- 
 tudes, not so much a man of this earth as an angel of 
 Heaven. He summoned him to his presence, and 
 embraced him affectionately, saying, " Dear Father 
 Avila, your preaching has had this happy result — I am 
 more than ever convinced that it is in this land, and 
 not in the Indies, that God would have you labour. It 
 can be clearly seen that He wants you to stay here. Go 
 on bravely with the great work which you have begun. 
 From henceforth I place my authority in your hands, 
 and am ready to assist you myself, and with all that is 
 mine." 
 
 These kind expressions of the Archbishop were a 
 fresh incitement to one who already stood less in need 
 of the spur than of the bridle. Therefore, setting aside 
 all other thoughts, and having taken counsel with 
 competent persons, concerning the vices which pre- 
 vailed in that district, he began to combat them ener- 
 getically in his sermons. He preached in church on 
 Sundays and festivals, and the concourse was so great 
 
24 EARLY RESULTS OF HIS PREACHING. 
 
 that none of the churches being large enough to contain 
 the crowd, it was necessary to open all the doors that 
 those who remained outside might hear. The church 
 was filled several hours before the time fixed for the 
 sermon, and though it always lasted at least two hours, 
 and the greater part of his hearers were obliged to 
 stand, jostled by the immense crowd, they considered 
 the discomfort more than repaid by the profit which 
 they all derived from hearing him. 
 
 The benefit to their souls was indeed great ; the 
 very sight of him in the pulpit seemed to breathe 
 holiness. The knowledge of the penitential life which 
 he led, practising first himself what he prescribed to 
 others ; his bitter and continuous weeping over the 
 wrongs which he saw done by Christians to the Divine 
 Majesty ; the burning desire which manifested itself 
 in his countenance to save all, and to sanctify all ; his 
 loving calls to sinners to throw themselves into the 
 arms of the Divine Mercy, and to return to the bosom 
 of their good God ; all these things roused compunc- 
 tion in the hardest hearts, and kindled the desire for 
 a holier life. Whatever the vice might be against 
 which he declaimed, his words pierced the hearts of 
 his hearers, so that frequently the serrnon was inter- 
 rupted by the sobs of the audience, or by their cries 
 for mercy and forgiveness, and it often happened that 
 the preacher was obliged to pause in order that the 
 people might give free vent to their contrition. 
 
 But, since the preacher does no more than plant 
 the seed of the Divine Word in the soul of the hearer, 
 or at best foster it for a while with the heat of his zeal, 
 in order that it may take good root, while it belongs to 
 another province of the ministry to gather in the grain 
 white for the harvest, it was the invariable custom of 
 Father Avila, at the close of each sermon, to invite the 
 audience to be reconciled to God in the Sacrament of 
 
EARLY RESULTS OF HIS PREACHING. 25 
 
 Penance, and to announce that whoever wished might 
 have access to him in that sacred tribunal. Accordingly, 
 after descending from the pulpit, he went straight to 
 the confessional, and remained there several hours, 
 until he had attended to the needs and requirements of 
 all. By this means more than any other, he rescued a 
 large number of sinners from the mire of sin, and led 
 many souls to high perfection, having for this work of 
 direction a particular talent, besides the special assist- 
 ance of Almighty God. 
 
 Yet all this, however great, was not sufficient fuel 
 for the burning love of God and of his neighbour with 
 which he was consumed. His charity and zeal must 
 seek elsewhere more abundant materials with which 
 to satisfy his insatiable avidity, and he found them. 
 On week-days, after spending a considerable part of 
 the night as well as of the day in prayer, in offering 
 the Holy Sacrifice, and in reciting the Canonical Hours, 
 he employed the remainder of his time in serving his 
 neighbour, visiting those confined in the prisons, tending 
 the sick in hospitals and private houses, ministering 
 consolation to souls, and providing for their bodies by 
 means of the charitable resources placed in his hands 
 by the generosity of some wealthy friends. He also gave 
 long audiences to the large number of persons who 
 came to consult him about what concerned their 
 salvation. Besides this he often found time to make 
 up quarrels, to remove abuses, and to hinder public 
 scandals. 
 
 His chief care was, always and above all, the sancti- 
 fication of the clergy, that being the chosen portion of 
 the flock of Jesus Christ, and they, being raised by 
 their office above the rest, having the stricter obligation 
 to set a good example. For this purpose, he frequently 
 assembled the canons, parish priests, priests, and clerics, 
 in the palace of the Archbishop, and discoursed to them 
 
26 DENOUNCED TO THE HOLY INQUISITION. 
 
 upon subjects suited to their vocation and circumstances, 
 and so great was the fruit which resulted from these 
 labours, and the sensible reform of manners, that in 
 a short time the aspect of the city was completely 
 changed. 
 
 Such were the first-fruits of his apostolate, and 
 though there does not remain any particular and 
 precise record of the many conversions which he 
 effected, nor of his apostolical excursions into neigh- 
 bouring cities and districts during the nine consecutive 
 years which he spent in sanctifying that province, yet 
 we know in general that the conversions were numerous 
 and remarkable, and the journeys frequent, and always 
 with the same good result, a large ingathering of souls. 
 
 However, it was not likely that the devil would 
 long peacefully submit to these many signal defeats 
 without revenging himself. Before long the evil one, 
 who could not endure to see his prey snatched day 
 after day from his grasp, found means to set in motion 
 against the holy man the tongues of certain reprobates 
 like so many sharp-edged swords to attack and over- 
 throw him. These men, smarting under the denunciations 
 of vice in some of his sermons, conceived the idea that 
 his words were aimed at them in particular, in order to 
 mortify them and put them to open shame. They there- 
 fore, in concert, denounced him to the tribunal of the 
 Holy Inquisition, as a man of unsound doctrine, alleging 
 principally that he closed the doors of Heaven against 
 the rich. Having been summoned to give an account of 
 himself, he was detained in custody until the formal 
 indictment could be drawn up and the cause examined. 
 
 This heavy blow, which was all the more keenly 
 felt because he knew it to be undeserved, might have 
 utterly prostrated a man of less virtue than Father 
 Avila. The restraint, the discomfort, the solitude of 
 prison life, above all, the wound to his honour, attacked 
 
DENOUNCED TO THE HOLY INQUISITION. 27 
 
 in that most delicate matter, purity of doctrine, together 
 with the thought of what the world would say, all this 
 was most grievous and repugnant to nature. Never- 
 theless the calmness, patience, and gentleness which he 
 displayed were almost incredible, and he adored in 
 humble submission the dispositions of Divine Provi- 
 dence concerning him. 
 
 Having been advised by certain wise and prudent 
 persons to justify himself and give his reasons, he 
 could never be induced to do so, but always replied, 
 that his innocence was known to God, and that this sufficed. 
 When he heard them say afterwards that his cause 
 rested solely in God's hands, meaning to intimate to 
 him the serious danger in which he stood, he answered : 
 " If this be the case, my cause has never been in so 
 good a state as at present. Hitherto, men have acted, 
 it is now God's turn, and He will not forsake those 
 who trust in Him." 
 
 His hopes were not deceived. The judges were 
 indeed on the point of pronouncing sentence of con- 
 demnation against the holy man, the accusation having 
 gained strength from his silence, which was regarded 
 as a tacit admission of guilt ; but God, who brings 
 light even out of darkness, and who causes the oppres- 
 sion of those dear to Him to tend to their greater 
 exaltation, after having purified the soul of His servant 
 for some months in the crucible of affliction, would no 
 longer suffer such virtue to remain under the imputa- 
 tion of evil. His acquittal came to pass in this wise : 
 having been asked whether he was conscious of having 
 any enemy, he replied, that he was not conscious of 
 having ever given cause of offence to any, but that 
 perhaps some might have been angered by his sermons, 
 and imagine that they had reason to suspect him ; and 
 he named them, the names given being precisely those 
 of the accusers who had brought this sinister charge 
 
28 DECLARED INNOCENT. 
 
 against him. With this clue and by means of other 
 indications which seemed to be made known miracu- 
 lously, the iniquitous plot was discovered, and the 
 truth brought to light, so that he was declared innocent, 
 and on June 5, 1533, was once more set at liberty. 
 
 There are accusations which, as a well-known Italian 
 proverb says, leave a bruise behind them even if they 
 break no bones ; in order, therefore, that his innocence 
 might be clear to all, and that there might not rest 
 upon him a shadow of suspicion in the future, besides 
 the public declarations which were juridically made, 
 the Holy Tribunal decided that Father Avila should 
 resume his course of sermons upon the next feast-day 
 which occurred, in the Church of S. Salvador in Seville, 
 and return to the exercise of his apostolical ministry as 
 before. Upon the appearance of the holy man in the 
 pulpit, he was received with acclamations by the large 
 audience, and by a flourish of trumpets from a band 
 stationed by the magistrates in the square in front of 
 the church, all giving expression to the common joy 
 at the victory which he had gained over his enemies. 
 At this mark of esteem and affection the modest servant 
 of God blushed deeply. "It were better," he said, 
 "both for you and for me to implore the Divine 
 Majesty that we may obtain grace to repent of our 
 sins and to secure our eternal salvation." He after- 
 wards frankly admitted that this popular demonstration 
 formed to his thinking a more dangerous temptation 
 than anything which he had hitherto experienced. 
 
 To complete this account, we must not omit to 
 mention what Father Avila repeatedly stated as having 
 occurred to him during his brief imprisonment, namely, 
 that the Divine light which flooded his soul in the 
 darkness of his prison, was so vivid, enabling him to 
 recognize more and more the greatness of God, the 
 immense riches which we have in Jesus Christ, the 
 
DECLARED INNOCENT. 29 
 
 stringent motives which bind us to love Him, and 
 trust Him, and suffer willingly for His sake ; that, he 
 learnt more in those few weeks of trial, than in all 
 the prosperous years of his life. It being God's ordi- 
 nary practice with souls whom He specially cherishes 
 to make His presence felt beside them, precisely when, 
 to human eyes, He seems to be furthest away and to 
 have forgotten them completely. 
 
 There is a Brief of Pope Benedict XIV. dated 
 April 3, 1742, referring to the above events, of which 
 an outline may here be given, since it tends greatly to 
 the honour of the holy priest whose life we are writing. 
 It having been asked in the Sacred Congregation of 
 Rites whether the cause of the beatification and canon- 
 ization of the Venerable Master John of Avila might 
 be introduced, an objection was raised on the ground 
 of the accusation which had been made against him 
 in Spain before the tribunal of the Inquisition. This 
 having been brought forward, although his acquittal by 
 that tribunal, and the juridical declaration of his inno- 
 cence were also known, as we have just related it, 
 nevertheless, the gravity of the matter induced the 
 Holy Pontiff to inquire into it himself, and to insist 
 upon a fresh examination of the pleadings both for 
 and against the accused, as they had been officially 
 drawn up upon the occasion in question. This having 
 been done fully and with due deliberation, Benedict XIV. 
 declared the Servant of God to have been acquitted 
 by that sacred tribunal, not in an informal way, but to 
 have been pronounced innocent without a single dis- 
 sentient voice, by a definitive sentence, bearing date, 
 June 5, 1533. " In such a manner," added the learned 
 Pontiff, "that, far from the virtue of the holy man 
 remaining in any way clouded, it, on the contrary, 
 shone forth brighter and more beautiful." Therefore, 
 his Brief concludes with these formal expressions of 
 
3 o DECLARED INNOCENT. 
 
 commendation: "In fine the renown of his sanctity 
 and the whole tenor of his life were so creditable that he 
 stood forward as an example to others in the pursuit 
 of perfection, and it was believed even then that he 
 would some day be saluted as a great saint in Heaven, 
 seeing that he already knew how 'to do ' as well as 
 how ' to teach.'" 1 
 
 1 " Fama denique sanctitatis (of the Servant of God) vitasque tenor adeo 
 exemplaris, ut aliis exemplo ad virtutem praeluceret, ac magnus olim in 
 coelo vocandus am turn crederetur, quippe, qui faceret simul et doceret." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HE SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA BY HIS 
 PREACHING. PROVISION MADE BY HIS ACTION 
 AND ADVICE FOR THE RESTORATION OF PIETY 
 AND GOOD MORALS. 
 
 The fame of the singular holiness of Father Avila 
 having been bruited abroad, together with the news of 
 the great works which he had performed for the glory 
 of God and the salvation of souls, many cities and 
 districts desired to hear him, and the Bishops were 
 most urgent in their invitations to him to come and 
 sanctify their dioceses by his zeal. Among the first 
 to obtain this coveted favour was the noble city of 
 "Cordova, thanks to the earnest and repeated requests 
 made to him by Fra John of Toledo, a prelate of great 
 piety and learning, who at that time was Bishop, of the 
 see. 
 
 Truly the need could hardly have been greater, so 
 ■complete was the corruption of morals amongst all 
 classes. The young grew up ignorant and vicious ; the 
 nobility were given over to luxury ; the populace 
 thought of nothing but dissipation and gambling ; the 
 very clergy, who were bound to set an example of 
 pure living, gloried in their misconduct, so that the 
 vices of the ecclesiastics were the boldest and most 
 shameless. 
 
 Such was the deplorable state of the city when the 
 Servant of God entered it. He refused the comfortable 
 
32 SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 
 
 lodging provided for him by the Bishop in his own 
 palace, and took up his abode in the public hospital of 
 St. Bartholomew, where it seemed that God, to repay 
 him quickly and with interest for this act of humility, 
 wished to lodge him closer to Himself, for the room 
 assigned to him there adjoined the church, and had 
 a window opening into it, so that without leaving his 
 retreat he could pray before the Blessed Sacrament at 
 will and unnoticed, thus giving free scope to his tender 
 devotion for that ineffable Mystery. 
 
 Having recognized the evil state of the city, the 
 holy man clearly understood the arduous nature of the 
 task before him. He therefore prepared himself for it 
 by long prayers and severe penances, entreating the 
 Father of Mercies to bestow upon him light and 
 strength for the undertaking, and his request was 
 granted. No sooner was his voice heard from the 
 pulpit than the whole city was stirred. Inspired 
 with grace from on high, he inveighed against the 
 foulness of sin, and denounced it most vehemently, 
 especially the public scandals, threatening those who 
 refused to amend with the Divine vengeance, and 
 picturing the terrors of the last tremendous Judgment, 
 and the intensity of the pains reserved for sinners, so 
 powerfully that all were terrified. The gambling- 
 houses were quickly closed, the resorts of vice were 
 forsaken, evil communications broken off, the bitterest 
 quarrels made up, and scandals removed ; in a short 
 time Cordova resembled a repentant Ninive. Almost 
 all were desirous, under the direction of the holy man, 
 to become reconciled with God for the past, and to 
 re-model their life for the future. He was unwearied 
 in this great work, and insatiable in his desire to help 
 every one, dividing his time between the confessional 
 and the pulpit, giving himself to each and to all, 
 to the unspeakable satisfaction of John of Toledo, 
 
SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 33 
 
 and of his successor, Don Cristobal de Rojas, also a 
 prelate of great zeal and virtue. 
 
 Yet all this did not suffice to satisfy the great heart 
 of this man of God. The labours mentioned above 
 would have been enough to overtax the most robust 
 constitution, but to them was added another very 
 burdensome task, namely, that of returning every 
 evening towards sunset to the pulpit to deliver a 
 discourse 1 upon Holy Scripture, setting forth clearly, 
 and with masterly insight, the deepest and most 
 abstruse teaching of the Apostle St. Paul. The novelty 
 of this subject excited more than any other the curiosity 
 of the citizens, especially of ecclesiastics and men of 
 rank, and rendered it very fruitful in results and most 
 efficacious in winning souls. 
 
 Among these converts was one whose story is well 
 known, Dona Leonora de Cordova, a lady of noble 
 birth, who at the age of twenty-four was promised in 
 marriage to a young Spanish grandee, her equal in 
 position, and worthy of her by his excellent qualities. 
 Having heard Father Avila develop in one of these 
 discourses St. Paul's encomium on virginity, explaining 
 how dear it is to God, how it makes men similar to 
 angels, and the like, she was so deeply impressed that 
 she changed her resolution from that time and would 
 hear no more of earthly marriage. 
 
 In consequence of this determination, she sought an 
 interview as soon as possible with the holy preacher, 
 and opened her heart to him, disclosing the design 
 which she had formed, asking advice and help from 
 him to carry it out, and declaring that henceforth she 
 placed her soul entirely in his hands. It does not belong 
 
 1 These sermons are known as lezioni in Italy, and are distinct in style 
 from the prediche, or morning sermons, but the idea which they represent 
 would not be conveyed to English minds by either the word lectures or 
 readings. 
 D 
 
34 SANCTIFIES THE ClTY OF CORDOVA. 
 
 to us to relate here the wonderful progress which this 
 generous disciple made in the way of Christian perfec- 
 tion under the guidance of so wise and experienced a 
 master. She lived in the state of virginity to the age 
 of eighty years, ever leading a life more angelical than 
 human, constant in her endurance of the trial which 
 God sent her of long and terrible maladies, and often 
 supernaturally consoled in them. Finally, filled with 
 merits and virtues, she crowned her innocent life with 
 a still more precious death, as her biography, which 
 has been published, amply testifies. 
 
 Moreover, the Servant of God did not neglect to 
 enable those nearest him, namely, the sick in the 
 hospital where he dwelt, to feel the ardour of his 
 charity and zeal. Whatever time he could spare from 
 the duties of the day, as well as a considerable part of 
 the night, was employed in their service. There was no 
 service too low and mean for him to render them. He 
 swept the hospital, scoured the kitchen utensils, made 
 the beds, nursed, washed, and fed the sick people, in 
 short, he attended to everything. Above all, having 
 won their love by caresses and presents, he prepared 
 them for the sacraments, heard their confessions, 
 encouraged them to suffer willingly for the sake of 
 Jesus Christ, and gain merit from their crosses by 
 Christian resignation, and when any were dying he 
 never lost sight of them until he had, as it were, landed 
 them safely in Paradise. 
 
 It was by no means the aim of this holy priest to 
 produce in souls a mere temporary ebullition of fervour. 
 This not unfrequently, like a rushing torrent, causes 
 much noise and disturbance, but soon subsides and 
 leaves no trace of itself. He wished to introduce a 
 calmer but more durable piety, a natural spring which 
 wells up peacefully in the heart but which never fails 
 or runs dry. To secure this it was necessary to make 
 
SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 35 
 
 timely provision for training the young from their 
 earliest years. 
 
 In the whole of Andalusia, and especially at 
 Cordova, there was at that time a great scarcity of 
 masters capable to teach the arts and sciences. It 
 necessarily followed that most of the young men, even 
 though gifted with considerable ability, yet not posses- 
 sing sufficient means to support themselves during a 
 course of study elsewhere, spent their days in idleness, 
 and plunged headlong into the vices which it brings 
 in its train, to the notable detriment both of their own 
 souls and of the public welfare. 
 
 In order to afford a prompt remedy for a disorder 
 of such moment, Father Avila laboured earnestly, both 
 with the Bishop and also with the magistrates, until in 
 the end he obtained for Cordova the opening of public 
 schools for instruction in philosophy and theology, 
 taking upon himself the burden of their support, and 
 also of supplying them with suitable masters. The 
 schools thus established were quickly filled with a 
 number of pupils, and the city soon felt the benefit of 
 them, as the holy man had expected. Things continued 
 upon this footing until the Society of Jesus having been 
 introduced into Cordova by the advice and through the 
 action of Father Avila, the Fathers undertook the 
 charge both of teaching the higher branches of learning 
 just named, and of furnishing a good general education 
 for the young. 
 
 The Servant of God showed the same, or even 
 greater, care for the amendment of the clergy belonging 
 to that diocese, for which purpose he took advantage 
 of the diocesan synod held there by the new Bishop. 
 He preached several times before it, reminding the 
 priests of the high prerogatives appertaining to their 
 office, the holiness of the character impressed upon 
 their souls, and the strict obligations which it entails to 
 
36 SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 
 
 lead a pure life, and to set others an example of every 
 virtue. It is said that it was upon this occasion 
 that he first delivered his wonderful sermons upon the 
 priesthood. 
 
 The compunction and fervour which his forcible 
 language awakened in the hearts of all were manifested 
 by their tears and by their subsequent amendment 
 of life. By the advice, and under the direction of 
 Blessed John, good provision was made for the future, 
 and means were taken to restore a high tone of 
 spirituality among the clergy, to bring back the old 
 splendour to the Divine worship, to revive the exact 
 observance of the sacred canons, in a word, to do all 
 which might tend to the good guidance of ecclesiastics, 
 and principally to the formation of pious and learned 
 parish priests, such as it befits the pastors of the sheep 
 of Jesus Christ to be. 
 
 When the clergy dispersed and appeared again 
 amongst their people at the close of the synod, they 
 were completely changed. The parish priests occupied 
 themselves in preaching, in instructing their flock, in 
 catechizing children, visiting the sick, assisting the 
 dying, and in fulfilling, as far as they were able, the 
 obligations of their ministry. Many priests, not content 
 with adopting a more severe kind of life, renounced 
 their property, and employed themselves, some in one 
 manner and some in another, in helping souls. Among 
 the young clerics were several of good abilities and 
 disposition who gave exceptional promise of doing 
 much for God's glory in the future. These were 
 invited by Father Avila to Salamanca, and maintained 
 there at the expense of his diligent charity, through the 
 whole course of their studies. We shall see them 
 hereafter, in their maturity, well equipped both with 
 virtue and learning, sent by the Servant of God as 
 apostles throughout Spain, to the great profit of souls 
 
SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 37 
 
 and unspeakable advantage of all that large penin- 
 sula. 
 
 In order to render this salutary reform lasting, 
 Father Avila obtained from the new Bishop, Rojas, 
 the foundation of a College specially designed to 
 prepare exemplary and learned clerics and priests to 
 visit, from time to time, outlying parishes and hamlets, 
 with the object of putting an end to blasphemies, 
 disordinate feasting, strife, and public scandals ; and 
 by means of preaching, catechisms, and the frequent 
 use of the sacraments, to cultivate piety and good 
 manners. 
 
 Such foundations involved heavy expenses. Father 
 Avila, therefore, persuaded Don Pedro Lopez, the 
 celebrated physician of the Emperor Charles V., who 
 had lately come from Germany to consult him about 
 matters relating to the welfare of his soul, to lend him 
 a large sum of ready money for this most pious and 
 profitable work. It pleased God that this holy man 
 should see the good fruit produced by his charity, when 
 there was afterwards presented to him a band of these 
 new priests who, having been trained in this College of 
 the Assumption, as it was called, and having followed 
 with great piety and learning the course of higher 
 studies, had offered themselves to work in the diocese 
 for the glory of God. When they appeared before 
 him, he embraced them one and all, and exclaimed, 
 " Blessed be God. Nunc libenter mortar — Now shall I 
 gladly die." 
 
 Moreover, it must not be thought that this struggle 
 single-handed against so many enemies cost Father 
 John little in the way of trials, persecutions and 
 labours. His fierce war against vice was sure to 
 provoke the opposition of those who desired to continue 
 in it, but the charity of God which animated his heart, 
 and to which it belongs to be patient and benignant, 
 
38 SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 
 
 seeking nothing for itself, proved equal to the occasion, 
 so that gaining ground, as it were, inch by inch, he finally 
 remained master of the field. We will only mention 
 two or three particular instances, from which the reader 
 can infer how much he had to bear, and how opposition 
 only acted as a spur to his zeal. 
 
 A gentleman, who considered himself offended by 
 some words uttered by Father Avila in one of his 
 sermons, accosted him angrily as he came down from 
 the pulpit, and, after loading him with abuse and 
 reproaches, struck him on the face. At this unlooked- 
 for insult, the holy preacher, without showing any 
 resentment, knelt down with Christian humility and 
 presented the other cheek, declaring that he was ready 
 to suffer any affront for the sake of Jesus Christ. Upon 
 which the offender, with great confusion, coming to 
 himself, threw himself at his feet, weeping bitterly, and 
 asking pardon for the outrage he had been guilty of. 
 
 The following occurrence was of a more serious 
 character, though, as it happened, it was not less pro- 
 ductive of good in the end. One New Year's day, 
 the feast of the Circumcision, towards evening, the nuns 
 in a certain convent prepared, notwithstanding the fact 
 that day was already closing in, to recite a comedy, 1 and 
 the church was already filled with ladies and gentlemen 
 
 1 The reader must not allow himself to be too readily scandalized by 
 the laxity of ecclesiastical discipline which this story seems to reveal. It is 
 clear that what specially shocked Blessed John of Avila was not the idea 
 of a dramatic representation in a church, but rather the fact that it should 
 take place after dusk, and that nuns should act in it without their religious 
 habit. In most European countries the drama may trace its origin to the 
 religious plays (mystery plays, autos sjcramentales, &c.) which were so 
 popular in the middle ages. At this period, the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, secular tragedies and comedies were hardly known, but all the 
 great religious festivals were marked by dramatic representations, which 
 often seem to have developed out of ceremonies and dialogues in their 
 origin strictly liturgical. The autos sacramentales, the central action of 
 which always had reference to the Blessed Sacrament, were the most 
 
SANCTIFIES THE ClTY OF CORDOVA. 39 
 
 who had come to see and to hear it. Father Avila, 
 becoming aware of this by an especial illumination, it 
 is said, went there, and the dissatisfaction caused by 
 his arrival, together with the murmurings in which it 
 found expression, can easily be imagined. Any one less 
 courageous than Father Avila would have been deterred 
 from his purpose, but he without hesitating made his 
 way straight to the pulpit, and there denounced, with 
 equal modesty and efficacy, an abuse so unseemly in all 
 its circumstances. The result was that the nuns, either 
 abashed or frightened, immediately lowered the curtain, 
 and putting off their secular dresses resumed their 
 religious habit. In a very short time the church was 
 emptied, and Father Avila, being left alone with the 
 nuns, went on to speak to them with such gentleness 
 and sweetness concerning the unseemliness in the 
 virgin spouses of Jesus Christ of this unrestrained 
 intercourse with persons in the world, that they repented 
 of their fault and went back to their convent weeping 
 bitterly. In the end the Servant of God was enabled 
 to draw great fruit from this incident, nothing less 
 than the return of these Religious to the ancient strict 
 observance, which had fallen into decay. 
 
 famous of all, and were enacted on the feast of Corpus Christi. They 
 continued until the end of the eighteenth century, were attended by the 
 whole Spanish Court, and were the occasion of some of the noblest com- 
 positions of Lope de Vega and Calderon. Even here the humorous 
 element is often sufficiently prominent, but among the shepherds, the 
 Magi, and their retinue, who were the leading characters of the autos al 
 nacimiento, the dramas of Christmastide, there were still greater oppor- 
 tunities for comic episodes and a lighter treatment. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that a religious play intended for New Year's day should be 
 described as a comedia. The Church was not blind to the abuses 
 which could hardly fail to be occasioned by these representations. Severe 
 restrictions were placed upon them by the Council of Toledo, in 1565, 
 i.e., some thirty years after the date of the present chapter. L'Abb6 U. 
 Chevallier has recently published, in the Bulletin d 'Histoire EccUsiastique of 
 Romans, France, a lengthy Prosolarium, or liturgical drama of the thirteenth 
 century, composed in Latin for this very feast of the Circumcision.— [Ed.] 
 
4 o SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 
 
 The last instance we propose to quote required still 
 greater courage. Amongst the many worldlings whom 
 the holy man snatched from the jaws of the devil, was 
 a young lady of noble birth but abandoned habits, who, 
 under the pretext of not possessing sufficient means of 
 subsistence of her own, had taken up her quarters for 
 some years in the house of an ecclesiastic of high 
 position, the shameless character of her relations with 
 him causing grave public scandal. She, having been 
 led by Divine mercy to the preaching of Father Avila, 
 was so deeply touched that, horrified at herself and 
 her dissolute conduct, she resolved at any cost to break 
 off the life she was leading. For this purpose she 
 asked counsel and help from Father Avila, and he, 
 though fully aware of the difficulty of the undertaking, 
 with entire trust in God, accepted the task. The first 
 step was to remove the penitent from the influence of 
 her surroundings and place her in a religious house. 
 No sooner did the rich and powerful ecclesiastic know 
 this than his fury broke out like that of a wild beast. 
 Yet the brave heart of the zealous preacher was not 
 dismayed. To secure his prey from any attempt at 
 recapture by force, he obtained the aid of the secular 
 magistracy, and accompanied her with an armed escort 
 on horseback to Montilla, recommending her to the 
 Marchioness de Priego, that she might be protected by 
 her authority. The lady went soon after, by the advice 
 of Father Avila, to Granada, where she found a most 
 liberal friend and kind father in the person of the 
 Archbishop Don Gaspar de Avalos. This illustrious 
 penitent lived for more than thirty years under the 
 guidance of her holy director, and attained to such 
 purity of life that Father Avila, who was so wise, so 
 careful, and so cautious concerning the frequent use of 
 the sacraments, did not hesitate to allow her to com- 
 municate daily during many years. The ecclesiastic 
 
SANCTIFIES THE CITY OF CORDOVA. 4I 
 
 having died, she returned to Cordova, where she led a 
 retired life in her own house, advancing continually in 
 the practice of perfection until God called her to 
 Himself by a holy death. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HE PREACHES IN GRANADA, GAINING MANY SOULS. 
 HE CONFIRMS ST. FRANCIS BORGIA, THEN MARQUIS 
 OF LOMBAY, IN HIS RESOLUTION OF ABANDONING 
 THE COURT. HE CONVERTS ST. JOHN OF GOD, AND 
 LEADS HIM TO PERFECTION BY HIS COUNSELS. 
 
 The remarkable change effected in Cordova by the 
 preaching of Blessed John, and the numerous con- 
 versions of sinners who were transformed into fervent 
 penitents, acted as a spur to his zeal, prompting him to 
 spend all his energies in the service of others. Inflamed 
 with this celestial fire, he proceeded to Granada, where 
 he was anxiously awaited by the inhabitants, and 
 especially by the Archbishop Don Gaspar de Avalos, 
 a prelate noted throughout Spain for holiness of life 
 and for his ardour in the cause of religion. The humble 
 preacher wished to lodge in the public hospital ; but 
 the Archbishop used friendly violence to prevent this, 
 desiring to have him near himself in his palace, that he 
 might be able to see more of him, and get the benefit 
 of his advice. 
 
 With regard to his immense labours in preaching, 
 instructing, hearing confessions, and doing all that 
 befitted an apostle for the reformation of that city, we 
 can have no better testimony than that of the Venerable 
 Father Fra Luis of Granada, himself an eye-witness, 
 who writes that it was commonly believed that during 
 all that time God miraculously increased his vigour 
 and redoubled his zeal, so that he never said nor did 
 
PREACHES IN GRANADA. 43 
 
 anything save with the one object of promoting His 
 glory or of sanctifying souls. All classes of persons 
 found their fervour rekindled by his ardent devotion, 
 and conceived the desire to change their life and habits. 
 Clergy, nobility, and people, touched with real sorrow 
 for their past sins, practised penance, if one may say 
 so, even to excess, and innocent children joining in 
 pious processions, made outward profession of the com- 
 punction in their hearts. Many ecclesiastics, abandon- 
 ing all worldly affairs, went into voluntary exile, away 
 from their homes and relatives, that they might apply 
 themselves undisturbed to the service of God, and to 
 the acquisition of Christian perfection. Others, having 
 resigned lucrative prebends which they enjoyed, gave 
 themselves to the Servant of God to be his spiritual 
 disciples and companions in the Apostolate. The 
 doctors and professors of the College founded in 
 Granada for instruction in sacred science and in the 
 fine arts, becoming enlightened to see the vanity of 
 all other studies but that of practically knowing God 
 and loving Him, made such a strict reform in their 
 lives, that their example proved most useful in restoring 
 discipline amongst the wild young students who attended 
 their lectures, to the great benefit of public order. 
 Gambling, brawls, party feuds, and licentiousness, 
 having thus been banished, the scholars devoted them- 
 selves with ardour to the pursuit no less of piety than 
 of secular learning. 
 
 The same sensible improvement was perceived both 
 in the nobility and in the people ; and Christian virtue, 
 which had long been looked upon with contempt as 
 the superstition of the unmanly and weak-minded, was 
 enabled once more to raise its head and to challenge 
 the respect of all men. Restitution was made of the 
 good name and property of others, inveterate hatreds 
 were quenched, unholy relations were broken off, or 
 
44 PREACHES IN GRANADA. 
 
 changed to lawful marriage, and public scandals and 
 abuses were removed by the work of the holy preacher. 
 Granada soon scarcely knew itself, so greatly were the 
 inhabitants improved, so much more diligent were they 
 in their attendance at church, so much more assiduous 
 in frequenting services, so much more eager for the 
 Divine Word, so much more constant in the use of the 
 sacraments, so much more devoted to works of mercy, 
 so much more modest ; in short, so much more moral 
 and pious. 
 
 To the zeal of Father Avila and to his urgent 
 solicitations, were owing both the establishment of the 
 new seminary, which was erected and liberally endowed 
 by the Archbishop for the good education of the clerics 
 of the diocese, also the opening of a new house for 
 elementary religious instruction, and besides these the 
 foundation and good progress made by the Convent of 
 the Incarnation founded by Dona Isabel de Avalos, the 
 sister of the Archbishop, and its first Abbess. By his 
 many sermons preached there, and by numerous letters 
 which he wrote to the nuns, full of heavenly doctrine, 
 which were read from time to time in the community, 
 he awakened such fervour in those Religious, that most 
 of them made great progress in the way of perfection. 
 
 Father Luis of Granada, from his own observation, 
 tells us that amongst those whom the holy preacher 
 led to God in that city, were many persons remarkable 
 for holiness and learning, but Father Luis refrains from 
 naming them, as they were still alive when he wrote. 
 
 Of the particular conversions brought about by 
 means of the labours of this renowned evangelical 
 worker, we will only relate a few of the most celebrated, 
 of which some special memory has been preserved. One 
 of the sermons of the Servant of God was heard by 
 a young woman, who though of somewhat humble 
 condition, was famous throughout the city for her 
 
PREACHES IN GRANADA. 45 
 
 rare beauty and marvellous talents. Frightened and 
 remorseful at the words of the zealous preacher which 
 had pierced her heart like burning arrows, she returned 
 home, discarded her vain ornaments, and having 
 obtained leave from her husband to lead a separate 
 life, though under the same roof, each loving the other 
 merely as brother and sister, she, under the guidance 
 of the man of God, entered upon a course of severe 
 penance. She always wore a thick cord tightly drawn 
 round her waist and went barefoot ; her ordinary food 
 was a little bread, and a few roots ; the bare earth, or 
 a rough plank, was her bed, her disciplines and fastings 
 were frequent and severe, and she spent her time in 
 solitary communion with God, and in bringing up her 
 children in His holy fear, until she ended her days by 
 a saintly death, assisted to the end by Father Avila, 
 to whom she appeared shortly afterwards, letting him 
 know that she had gone direct to Heaven without 
 entering Purgatory. 
 
 Another fruit of the zeal and apostolical labours of 
 the Servant of God in Granada was the memorable 
 holiness of a certain Constance of Avila, as she in her 
 humility desired to be called, though she belonged to 
 a well-known family. Having been in the hands of 
 Father Avila from her childhood, she made, by his 
 advice, a vow of perpetual virginity. Growing more 
 and more in fervour, through his public sermons, and 
 through the wise instructions received from him in 
 private, she applied herself diligently to prayer, and to 
 the study of Christian perfection, so that she became 
 a model of every virtue, and especially of contempt of 
 the world. She attained to the age of eighty-eight 
 years, and was the holy master's pupil as long as he 
 lived. Shortly after his death, he appeared to her and 
 said : " Sister, know that through the Divine mercy I 
 am now in glory." She was favoured more than once 
 
46 ST. FRANCIS BORGIA. 
 
 by similar visits, and the last time, when she was dying, 
 he made known to her, on God's part, that her salvation 
 was assured. 
 
 The change in St. Francis Borgia from a life already 
 good to one of still greater perfection, and the resolu- 
 tion which he formed at the age of twenty-eight to 
 abandon the Court, in company with his wife and 
 children, with the view of withdrawing altogether from 
 the world, whenever he should be free and his own 
 master, must be ascribed in part, if not altogether, to 
 the preaching and counsels of Father Avila. 
 
 In the year 1539, the Empress Isabella died un- 
 expectedly of fever after a few days' illness at Toledo. 
 By her rare virtues, and her remarkable beauty, she 
 was the ornament of the time, and a worthy consort of 
 the Emperor Charles V. Don Francis Borgia, then 
 Marquis of Lombay, and first Master of the Horse to 
 the deceased lady, was chosen by the Emperor to escort 
 the dead body to Granada, the burying-place of the 
 Catholic Kings. Upon opening the coffin at Granada 
 in order to make the formal recognition of the remains, 
 it was found that the face once so beautiful, was in an 
 advanced stage of decomposition, an object ghastly to 
 look upon. At this dreadful spectacle Borgia at first 
 remained horror-stricken ; then, his mind being opened 
 to understand the perishable nature of all earthly 
 grandeur, reasoning like a true Christian, he deduced 
 that most important conclusion, that he ought no longer 
 to serve a master whose glory was vain and perishable. 
 
 He was strongly confirmed in this holy resolution, 
 when Father Avila who had been appointed to deliver 
 the funeral oration the next day, after having praised 
 the dead as she deserved, went on to treat of the 
 subject of human mortality with his accustomed zeal 
 and energy. The soul of Francis, like a tempestuous 
 sea, was agitated by the most violent and contrary affec- 
 
ST. JOHN OF GOD. 47 
 
 tions of hope, fear, joy, sadness, and the like ; and to 
 regain his calm he summoned Father Avila, whose holy 
 life and skill in the direction of souls were known to him. 
 He opened his whole heart and his whole conscience 
 to him, rendering an exact account of his past life and 
 of the inward movements which now agitated his mind. 
 He was not deceived. An expert in the great science 
 of the discernment of spirits like Father Avila, soon 
 sounded the depths of that great soul and recognized 
 its fine temper. He consoled him, relieved his heart 
 of the burden which crushed it, and encouraged him 
 to carry out the holy desires which God in His mercy 
 had given him, prophesying even then the great things 
 which he would one day perform for His glory. At 
 the same time, he prescribed a more exact and perfect 
 method of life to be practised, until God Himself who 
 had called him should open a way, and remove all 
 obstacles, as in fact He did shortly afterwards, with 
 what result is known to all. 
 
 Father Avila had a still greater share in the con- 
 version of St. John of God. The incident was so 
 remarkable in all its details that it will not, we think, be 
 unwelcome to our readers if we tell the story at some 
 length, the more so as it greatly redounds to the honour 
 of the Saint whose Life we are writing. 
 
 St. John of God was a Portuguese, a native of Monte 
 Maggiore il Nuovo, in the diocese of Evora. His life, 
 up to the age of forty-two, might be called a succession 
 of strange vicissitudes. He followed at different times, 
 the career of shepherd, soldier, day labourer, and shop- 
 keeper. Finally, having begun to wander from city 
 to city, gaining a livelihood by hawking books and 
 pictures, he reached Granada in 1537, precisely at the 
 time when John of Avila was sanctifying that city by 
 his labours. It was the 20th of January, the day 
 dedicated to the glorious martyr, St. Sebastian, whose 
 
48 ST. JOHN OF GOD. 
 
 feast was kept by the citizens at a hermitage dedicated 
 to the Saint, outside the city, and Father Avila was 
 there to address the people. 
 
 The preacher, dwelling with his usual zeal and 
 fervour upon the greatness of the reward prepared by 
 God for those who suffer willingly out of love to Him, 
 and enlarging most earnestly upon the obligation 
 incumbent upon every Christian to devote himself 
 wholly to the service of his Creator, and to die rather 
 than offend Him, John, who was present, was so filled 
 with contrition for his sins, and so deeply penetrated 
 by the words of the preacher, that, being no longer able 
 to contain himself, he left the church, crying with a loud 
 voice: " Mercy, Mercy." 
 
 In the extravagance of his remorse he threw himself 
 upon the ground, dashed his head against the wall, and 
 plucked out his beard, hair, and eyebrows, to the 
 wonder and fear of all ; then, bounding along like a 
 madman, he rushed off to the gate of the city, and 
 entered it, followed by an immense crowd of people 
 and children, who cried out after him : " The madman, 
 the madman." He arrived, panting, at his shop, where 
 he pulled down the pictures, and gave them away to 
 any one who would have them ; he did the same with 
 the religious books, and the worldly ones he tore to 
 pieces. Entering the house, he fetched all the money, 
 and whatever else he had, and divided it amongst the 
 poor, and not content with this, he stripped himself 
 even of his outer garment. 
 
 In this plight, barefoot and bareheaded, he began 
 to run through the streets, shouting with a voice like 
 a madman, and, having entered the principal church, 
 threw himself upon his knees, crying out, loudly : 
 " Mercy, my God! mercy, my God! Take pity upon 
 this miserable sinner ; " tearing his face the while with 
 his nails and violently beating his breast. Two citizens, 
 
ST. JOHN OF GOD. 49 
 
 moved with compassion at this sight, approached him, 
 raised him from the ground, comforted him with kind 
 words, and taking him to Father Avila, informed him 
 of what had occurred, leaving them alone together. 
 
 John at once threw himself at the feet of the Servant 
 of God, and with floods of tears. " My Father," he 
 said, " behold the greatest scoundrel whom God's good- 
 ness suffers to live ; behold the most ungrateful wretch 
 on earth." He then made known to him the sins of 
 his whole life, the extraordinary favours which he had 
 received from God, and from His Blessed Mother, and 
 his ingratitude for all these graces. He added, " You 
 must know that several times I should have despaired, 
 if I had not known that the Divine mercy is infinitely 
 greater than my iniquity. I trust therefore that there 
 will be mercy even for me, and as you have been 
 the author of my conversion, I entreat you to be the 
 physician of my infirmities. Dispose of me as you 
 please ! I will obey you in all things, as if it were God 
 Himself who commanded me." 
 
 Father Avila was filled with wonder and joy at 
 seeing this change of heart and this resolution in God's 
 service. He embraced him, pressed him to his bosom, 
 gave him the kiss of peace, and encouraged him by 
 prudent and gentle words to throw himself into the 
 arms of Divine mercy, which, being admirable in all its 
 dealings, would certainly carry into effect its designs 
 concerning him. In order to strengthen the new 
 penitent in his mastery over self-esteem, he approved 
 of his determination to act so as to be considered a 
 fool by the world ; he accepted him henceforth as his 
 disciple, exhorting him above all things to perseverance. 
 He was to have recourse to him in all his needs, and 
 might always count upon his help. In the meantime 
 Father Avila promised to commend him earnestly to 
 God in his prayers. 
 
50 ST. JOHN OF GOD. 
 
 John, comforted by these words, went away filled 
 with Divine love, and clothed with a new spirit. He at 
 once set to work to persuade the world of his madness. 
 Accordingly he came into the principal square of the 
 town, rolled, flung himself in the gutter, and then 
 began to tell his sins publicly, declaring that as a 
 traitor he deserved to be persecuted, beaten, and ill- 
 treated by all, that he was not fit to stand anywhere 
 but in the mire. Then he began again running and 
 jumping through the streets followed by a crowd of 
 children who pelted him with mud, calling out, " Mad- 
 man." 
 
 He persevered for some days in this self-humiliation, 
 absorbed in God, and oblivious of self until weakness 
 from want of food, to which he paid no heed, reduced 
 him to an almost fainting condition. In this state two 
 pious and respectable citizens took him to the Royal 
 Hospital, where lunatics were cared for, requesting 
 those in charge of the establishment to admit him, and 
 treat him in a separate room, allowing no one to see 
 him, where after a few days' rest he might speedily 
 regain his health. The superintendent of the house, 
 who had known him in the city, and who was not 
 aware of what had occurred, moved with pity, received 
 him charitably, and recommended him to the special 
 care of the infirmarians, who washed him clean of the 
 filth with which he had covered himself, clothed him, 
 and contrived to restore some of the strength which he 
 had lost. At that time it was considered that in any 
 case of lunacy, the chief hope of cure lay in subduing the 
 patient's ferocity by means of chains and blows, in order 
 that he might learn to come to his senses by experienc- 
 ing the unpleasant consequences which attended every 
 outbreak. Accordingly when he showed no signs of 
 improvement after their good treatment, the attendants 
 bound him hand and foot and beat him unmercifully. 
 
ST. JOHN OF GOD. 51 
 
 Moreover the fervent John, who desired to suffer even 
 for the sake of Jesus Christ, ingeniously found means 
 to arouse their resentment still further, upbraiding 
 them sharply and bitterly for their little charity towards 
 the poor lunatics, seeing that they were well paid by 
 the King expressly to serve them. This was the sober 
 truth, no sane person could have spoken more to the 
 point, but it was so skilfully mixed up by him with 
 ravings and delusions as to appear to be folly. They 
 did indeed give him the treatment which he desired, 
 and in good measure, for he had touched a sore point, 
 and they made him feel the weight of their resentment, 
 beating him cruelly and vindictively in order that he 
 might change his tone and speak with more respect. 
 Father Avila, having heard of the ill-treatment 
 which he received in the hospital, sent one of his 
 disciples several times to visit him, to congratulate him 
 on his generosity in suffering willingly for that Lord 
 who had endured such excruciating torments for him, 
 and to encourage him to fight like a good soldier, and 
 not desert his post. He in the humility of his repent- 
 ance received this comfort as a renewal of strength 
 from Heaven, and said, filled with confusion : " Thank 
 my dear Father for his charity towards me, his unworthy 
 son. May God reward him, tell him that he has here 
 in chains a slave whom he has captured in fair and 
 open fight, and ask him not to forget me in his prayers." 
 However, the brutality of the attendants exceeded 
 all bounds, and they were inhuman enough on occasion 
 to give him more than two thousand blows at once. 
 Father Avila heard of it, and went in person to console 
 him. He found him prepared to persevere in his 
 simulated madness until death, but the prudent director, 
 seeing him so well grounded in humility, commanded 
 him to desist, and after having obtained his liberation, 
 to come to him at Montilla, for the greater service of 
 
52 ST. JOHN OF GOD. 
 
 God. The humble disciple promptly obeyed ; he at 
 once began to show that he had recovered his senses, 
 and was allowed to go about the house, where he 
 ministered day and night to the sick, rendering them 
 of his own accord the meanest and most abject services. 
 Then, having taken leave of the infirmarians and 
 patients, who had in that short space become much 
 attached to him, after thanking them gratefully for 
 their charity towards him, he quitted the hospital to 
 the great sorrow of all its inmates. 
 
 He made his way to Montilla, where Father Avila 
 received him most kindly, and kept him with him for 
 several days. John prayed and wept day and night so 
 continually that Father Avila's companion, who was 
 lodged next door, complained that he could not get a 
 wink of sleep, but the Father replied, " Let him alone, 
 John's prayers are of more consequence than your rest ; 
 be patient, and do not disturb him." He made a 
 general confession of his whole life to Father Avila, 
 and, with his approval, went on a pilgrimage to the 
 celebrated sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, dressed 
 in rags, barefoot, and bareheaded, with a wallet hanging 
 round his neck and a staff in his hand. Upon his 
 return from Guadalupe, Father Avila told him to go to 
 Granada, where God wished to employ him for His 
 glory. He gave him various instructions for his guid- 
 ance, especially that he should cultivate the sense of 
 the presence of God ; he bade him to keep to one fixed 
 confessor and to do nothing without his advice. In any 
 emergency he was to write to Father Avila himself, and 
 be certain that as he was never absent from his Father's 
 heart, so he might always count upon his aid in time 
 of trouble. John afterwards employed himself in 
 Granada in those great works of Christian charity 
 which rendered him so dear to God, and so well known 
 to the world. He went frequently to Montilla to make 
 
ST. JOHN OF GOD. 53 
 
 his confession, and to give an account of himself to 
 Father Avila, and his humility and obedience were 
 such, that he would not even enter the city without 
 his leave ; but having arrived at the gate he used to 
 send a messenger to him, saying: "Tell my great 
 master and Father that the grievous sinner, John of 
 God, is here, and wishes to speak with him." In the 
 meantime he waited outside, bareheaded, exposed to the 
 burning sun, until he received the required permission. 1 
 The Saint also kept up a constant correspondence 
 with him as long as he lived, and in these intimate 
 communications he informed him faithfully and minutely 
 of all that God was pleased to perform in his soul, 
 seeking counsel and encouragement from him in all his 
 needs and labours. Of the letters written by Father 
 Avila to the Saint, some are still extant in print. They 
 are full of spiritual wisdom and breathe a spirit of 
 exalted virtue. From what has been said up to this, 
 it may easily be inferred, that the affection which 
 existed between the city of Granada and the holy priest, 
 John of Avila, was deep and sincere on both sides. 
 Whenever he mentioned it he spoke with admiration 
 of the excellent and tractable character of the citizens, 
 of their natural inclination towards good, their docility 
 to the impulses of the Holy Spirit, together with other 
 similar gifts, whence he was accustomed to call it, in 
 his tender affection, " My Granada." While, on the other 
 side, there was a great charm in hearing the citizens 
 call Father Avila openly, " The peace of Granada." 
 They looked upon him as their common Father, seeing 
 that he had begotten them again to God. They never 
 
 1 By the side of the road which leads from Montilla to Granada, a cross 
 is still standing, and tradition says that at that spot St. John of God used 
 to wait for Father Avila. Having met here, they made their way down to 
 a neighbouring spring ; the Father heard his confession, and after con- 
 versing for some time about the things of God, they separated, one of them 
 returning to Montilla, and the other to Granada, 
 
54 ST. JOHN OF GOD. 
 
 met him without crowding round him like loving 
 children, kissing his hand and his garments, asking for 
 his blessing and thanking him gratefully, to the great 
 confusion of his humility, so that all his remonstrances 
 being unable to prevent them, he was compelled to 
 remain shut up indoors, or when charity took him 
 abroad to seek out the most unfrequented paths, where 
 he stole along almost like a fugitive. 
 
 The Archbishop, above all, never ceased blessing 
 God for the spiritual succour sent to his aid in the 
 person of Father Avila, and, fearful of losing him, he 
 hardly let a day pass without urging him to take up his 
 abode there for good. " Brother," he said, "you must 
 remain with me, you must promise to do so ; you are 
 serving God greatly in this city ; what more can you 
 desire ? " But neither the earnest entreaties of the 
 Archbishop, nor the offer of a vacant canonry, were 
 sufficient to detain him there. He always answered 
 that he did not belong to himself but to God, and 
 consequently was not in a position to dispose of his 
 own future. However, though he was obliged to leave 
 it in body, he never quitted Granada in heart. Ever 
 and anon during his apostolical journeys, he made his 
 way back to his old home, and always with the same 
 zeal and the same abundant harvest of souls. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 APOSTOLICAL LABOURS OF THE SERVANT OF GOD IN 
 THE TOWN OF ECIJA. STARTLING CONVERSION OF 
 DONA SANCIA CARRILLO, BROUGHT ABOUT BY HIS 
 MEANS. 
 
 Amongst the numerous towns of Andalusia in which 
 John of Avila laboured was that of Ecija. The exact 
 year that he visited it and the length of his stay are not 
 clearly known, but it is certain that he preached there 
 more than once, and always with startling success. It 
 would weary the reader if we attempted to describe in 
 detail his apostolical ministry in each place, which was 
 generally pretty much a repetition of the story already 
 told. Abuses were reformed, pious customs introduced, 
 labours and sufferings were everywhere patiently under- 
 gone for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 
 We will only remark once for all that there was not a 
 town or district which was not transformed and sancti- 
 fied when Father Avila came to preach there. This 
 then, being presupposed, we will confine ourselves in 
 future to the most memorable events connected with 
 his mission in each city, making choice of those which 
 rest upon the evidence of persons worthy of credit. 
 
 One day as he was mounting the pulpit to preach, 
 he found it so ricketty and insecure as to be in great 
 danger of falling. He was obliged to come down in 
 order that it might be mended; but when he got up 
 into his place again: "We must hope," he remarked, 
 " that God intends to produce some great fruit from 
 
56 APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN ECIJA. 
 
 the sermon to-day, since the devil strives so hard to 
 hinder it." Two remarkable results followed. The first 
 was that Father Avila preached that day with such 
 vehemence and ardour that glowing sparks of fire were 
 seen by many to issue from his mouth and rest upon 
 the audience. The second fact, which has been related 
 by the same witnesses, as something which they had 
 carefully observed and noted, was that those upon 
 whom these miraculous sparks lighted, began from that 
 day forth to leave their evil courses and to show a 
 marked amendment in their lives. 
 
 Another result of his zeal and counsels was the 
 progress in piety of Dona Eleanor de Ynestrosa, wife 
 of Tello de Aguillar, who belonged to the principal 
 nobility of the city. Whenever the Servant of God 
 visited Ecija she would have him lodge in her house. 
 Constrained to do so by her hospitable importunity he 
 hastened to repay her pious offices with interest. He 
 began to cultivate the spiritual vineyard of her soul, 
 and introduced her to the way of perfection, in which 
 she made great progress, even so far as to be favoured 
 by God with extraordinary gifts and graces. As she 
 was agitated for some time by false apprehensions and 
 idle fears, the holy master wrote several letters to 
 comfort her, full of heavenly doctrine, by the help of 
 which, becoming ever more and more enlightened in 
 mind and strengthened in heart, she was afterwards 
 able to endure for her own great increase in merit the 
 severe trials with which God is wont to refine the 
 virtue of His servants. One of these trials was a 
 loathsome cancer in the breast, which devoured her 
 flesh like a burning fire, and ate its way inwards to the 
 bone. She bore this with invincible fortitude for the 
 last five years of her life. Amidst the excruciating 
 sufferings of this long and uninterrupted martyrdom, 
 filled with holy joy, she never ceased thanking God 
 
DONA SANCIA CARRILLO. 57 
 
 for the precious gift which He had bestowed upon her ; 
 until, rich in virtues and merits, she ended her life by 
 a holy death. 
 
 One of the most famous conversions which dis- 
 tinguished the apostolate of this great minister of the 
 Gospel, one which was all the more talked about 
 because it was so wholly unexpected, was that of Dona 
 Sancia Carrillo, daughter of Don Luis Fernandez di 
 Cordova and Dona Luisa de Aguillar, of the family of 
 the Marquises of Guadalcazar, descended on both sides 
 from an illustrous line of ancestors. This lady was in 
 the flower of her youth, of rare beauty, great vivacity, 
 and in gifts of mind and intellect superior to her sex. 
 She attracted the gaze and the admiration of all, so 
 much so that her fame having reached the Court, the 
 Empress Isabella wished to have her near herself, and 
 made her a lady in waiting. Being still greatly 
 influenced by the love of pleasure and gaiety natural to 
 her age, her beauty, wit, the constant flattery which 
 she received, and the favour she enjoyed with the 
 Empress, completely occupied her thoughts, so that 
 full of self, and caring for nothing else, she studied 
 every new art and device in order to render herself 
 more attractive and conspicuous. However, at the 
 very time that she believed herself on the point of 
 making some brilliant conquest in the centre of the 
 fashionable world, which the Court of the Emperor 
 Charles V. then was, God in His goodness, like a keen 
 hunter lying in ambush for his prey, arrested her pro- 
 gress and made her entirely His own. It came to pass 
 in this way. 
 
 Dona Sancia had a brother, named Don Pedro, a 
 priest of most exemplary character, the spiritual disciple 
 of Father Avila, and his inseparable companion in the 
 apostolate. He, disapproving of his sister's very 
 worldly life, urged her continually to make her con- 
 
53 DONA S A NCI A CARRILLO. 
 
 fession, at least once, to his holy master. After many 
 refusals she at last promised to do so, more with the 
 view of freeing herself from his importunity, than with 
 any wish to profit by it. The time and place were 
 fixed, and true to her promise she came at the appointed 
 hour to the Church of Santa Maria, but elegantly 
 dressed and daintily perfumed as if she were going to 
 a theatre or a ball. The Servant of God received her 
 with the courteous affability and gentleness which his 
 charity knew how to assume, especially when there was 
 question of saving a soul. He listened to her patiently 
 and kindly, giving her every encouragement to open 
 her heart freely to him, and to lay bare the state of 
 her conscience. 
 
 When Dona Sancia had finished speaking, Father 
 Avila began, and with what St. Basil happily terms 
 the art of Divine grace, pointed out to her first, her 
 great indebtedness to Divine Goodness for the many 
 and excellent gifts with which He had so richly adorned 
 her, and the strict obligation she was under to show 
 herself grateful to so loving a benefactor ; God having 
 thus loved and favoured her for no other end but that 
 she might love Him in return, and give herself entirely 
 to Him. After which preface with a mixture of severity 
 and gentleness that, without wounding, touched her 
 to the quick, he continued : " Where has been hitherto, 
 my dear daughter in Christ, your correspondence to 
 His many graces ? By what I see there is all else but 
 God in your heart. Is there anything about you, do 
 you think, to suggest that you are a penitent who 
 comes to ask forgiveness of her sins ? What can be 
 the meaning of all this finery, pomp, and display? This 
 is no preparation for sorrow over past offences, but 
 rather a laying oneself out to commit new ones. And 
 besides, whom do you seek to please by all these arts ? 
 The world ? What can you expect from the world ? 
 
DONA SANCIA CARRILLO. 59 
 
 The world is a seducer that flatters only to betray. 
 What a hard service the service of the world is, and 
 how niggardly and faithless it is in its rewards ! Even 
 if you were to succeed in obtaining its honours, riches, 
 and pleasures, what would all these profit you if your 
 soul were hereafter to be miserably lost for ever ? If 
 you only knew what a much better master God is, how 
 much wiser, more faithful, more generous He is towards 
 those who serve Him ! He has loved you tenderly 
 from eternity ; He became Man, and shed His Blood 
 to redeem your soul ; and, in return for a few short 
 years of service, He has prepared for you an everlasting 
 reward. Arise, take courage, be deceived no longer, 
 but choose the better part while yet there is time. Jesus 
 Christ invites you by my mouth, He is waiting for you 
 with open arms ; if only you will be His, He will be 
 yours without reserve. Think upon it and make your 
 decision." 
 
 While God's holy minister spoke thus to Dona 
 Sancia our Lord made His voice heard in her heart 
 with a still more insistent appeal, which roused her 
 from her deep lethargy, until horrified at the sight of 
 her danger, she began to weep bitterly for her past 
 follies. Her weeping was so vehement, that during 
 the whole time that she remained at the feet of the 
 Servant of God, she could not utter a word, and on 
 leaving could only say, with a voice broken by sobs : 
 " Father, I have already made my decision, as I hope 
 by God's grace you will soon see ; but in your charity 
 do not leave me without help." 
 
 With this holy resolution in her heart, her eyes 
 filled with tears, and a blush of shame upon her cheek, 
 she returned home in silence, hastened to shut herself 
 up in her room, and there, without tasting food, con- 
 tinued weeping the whole day before a crucifix, asking 
 mercy and forgiveness for her sins, and seeking strength 
 
6o DONA S A NCI A CARRILLO. 
 
 there at the feet of our Lord to carry out the resolu- 
 tions she had already made. After this, having thrown 
 aside all vain ornaments, and cut off her fair hair with 
 her own hand, she clothed herself in a simple black 
 woollen dress, with a coarse cloth on her head, and 
 presented herself towards sunset before her parents, 
 informing them of her intentions, and declaring that 
 she was firmly resolved to have nothing more to do 
 with the Court or the world, and to accept no other 
 spouse than Jesus Christ. 
 
 At this unexpected apparition her parents were 
 thunderstruck, and at first could scarcely believe their 
 own eyes ; but, finding that their daughter persisted in 
 her intention, the whole house was filled with lamenta- 
 tions, and they left nothing unsaid or undone to dissuade 
 her from the course she had resolved upon. They did 
 not, they declared, wish to hinder her from serving 
 God ; but such a serious step as this required time for 
 deliberation. A hasty decision could not be a wise one. 
 She ought first to measure her strength, and take into 
 consideration her youth and delicate constitution. 
 Moreover, if she desired to be a saint, could she not 
 become a saint in the world, and perhaps with more 
 merit ? The arrangement had already been concluded 
 for her attendance at the Court, and there, without 
 ceasing to procure her own sanctification, she might at 
 the same time further the interests of her family, who 
 had based all their hopes upon her. 
 
 Dona Sancia was too stout-hearted and resolute to 
 be influenced by reasonings of this sort. Contradiction 
 only lent strength to her determination, and she per- 
 sisted that she wished there and then without further 
 delay to shut herself up in one of the severest convents 
 of the city ; but, in spite of all her eloquence and all 
 her entreaties, she could not obtain permission for this. 
 It was therefore necessary to make a compromise, and 
 
DONA S A NCI A CARRILLO. 61 
 
 with the consent of her parents, and the approbation of 
 Father Avila, it was decided to purchase for her a 
 small house, consisting of two little rooms and an 
 oratory, attached to her father's house, where she could 
 live alone with God without going out into the world. 
 
 Things having been thus arranged, Dona Sancia, 
 having returned to Guadalcazar, lost no time in 
 entering her longed-for hermitage, without allowing 
 herself even a servant to wait upon her. Her chief 
 care was to drive far from her all thoughts of the world, 
 and even of her relations, as if they were already dead 
 to her. After which, having consecrated herself to God 
 by a vow of perpetual virginity in the hands of Father 
 Avila, she began, with his approval, to torment her 
 body in every possible manner, resolved to reduce it to 
 such a state of subjection that it should be unable in 
 future to war against the spirit. 
 
 When in health, her inner garment was a rough 
 hair cloth, which covered her from head to foot, and 
 which she never put off even at night time ; she wore 
 a belt round her waist armed with sharp steel points, 
 which penetrated so deeply into her flesh, that after 
 death, cavities were found in her body so wide, that 
 one's fingers could be inserted in them. She kept 
 frequent fasts, and her food at other times consisted 
 of decayed oranges, and the remains of herbs and fruit 
 which the servants threw out into the yard, and which, 
 she went down secretly, at a certain hour of the night 
 to pick out from beneath the other rubbish. Her sleep 
 was of the briefest, and her bed always a bare board, 
 with no other pillow but her book of Meditations, while 
 her rest was interrupted every night partly by long 
 prayers and partly by disciplines to blood. She went 
 nowhere but to the church or to some other devout 
 sanctuary, where she knelt for hours to receive and to 
 adore the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
62 DONA SAN CI A CARRILLO. 
 
 Her constant occupation was prayer, in which 
 devout exercise she speedily made great progress under 
 the guidance of her holy director, so as to acquire the 
 gift of the most perfect and sublime contemplation, 
 deriving from it a profound understanding of the mystery 
 of the Most Holy Trinity, and of the ineffable treasures 
 of the Life, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ. Besides 
 this, she received several visits from our Lord, and 
 from the Blessed Virgin, whom she ever regarded as 
 her devout Mother, as well as from Angels and Saints 
 in Paradise, and especially her Guardian Angel, who 
 appeared constantly before her eyes in visible form. 
 
 One day when she was going to the Church of 
 St. Augustine outside the city to receive Holy Com- 
 munion, she found the way so wearisome and the heat 
 so overpowering, that she was on the point of turning 
 back half-way, when Jesus Christ appeared to her, 
 barefoot, with His face covered with sweat, and said, 
 looking at her kindly, " Daughter, I was not weary of 
 seeking thee, even unto death." Whereupon comforted 
 by the vision, she continued her devout pilgrimage with 
 new vigour. Our Lord appeared to her another time 
 bearing the Cross upon His shoulder, at which sight she 
 threw herself at His feet, and, filled with tender com- 
 passion : " Lord," she said, " give that Cross to me," 
 and she stretched out her hand to take it from Him ; 
 but the Divine Spouse reproved her lovingly, and 
 answered: "No, no, I do not give my Cross to 
 sluggards ; " which served only to increase her love for 
 Him, and her desire to endure new sufferings. 
 
 She experienced terrible assaults from the devils, 
 who never ceased frightening her with dreadful appari- 
 tions, or disturbing her with the boldest temptations. 
 However, these evil spirits only rendered her victories 
 over them more glorious, for she put them all to flight 
 by setting before them a small wooden cross which had 
 
DONA SAN CI A CARRILLO. 63 
 
 been blessed, and which had been sent to her by her 
 holy master for this purpose. Having been assailed at 
 night by an unholy illusion, she ran out to throw herself 
 into a tank of cold water which stood in the courtyard 
 of her father's house, and there she remained immersed 
 up to the neck until the diabolical fire had been com- 
 pletely extinguished. 
 
 Furthermore, her Divine Spouse, in order to purify 
 her love and enrich her at the same time with new 
 merits, visited her with most painful and strange 
 diseases, so that her flesh began to fall from her in 
 pieces, and the bones and joints became loosened. She 
 was soon a horror to herself, a corpse decomposing before 
 it was dead ; and this she had asked from our Lord, 
 that she might in some degree share in the sufferings 
 of His bitter Passion. During the last year of her life, 
 which was the twenty-fifth of her age, Andalusia having 
 been threatened with a general famine for want of 
 water, this pious virgin, urged by fervent charity to her 
 neighbour, offered herself to God as a victim to pro- 
 pitiate His justice, if only He would show mercy to 
 others ; and God accepted the sacrifice. A time of 
 plenty followed, but her own diseases increased con- 
 tinually more and more. 
 
 Having been warned by God of the day and hour of 
 her approaching death, like a dying flame, which leaps 
 higher and shines more brightly before the moment of 
 extinction, she prepared herself for it by the practice 
 of all the virtues in the most heroic degree. She was 
 assisted to the end by her holy director, who never left 
 her, until her pure spirit winged its way to the bosom 
 of God. She died on the 13th of August, 1537, having 
 not yet completed her twenty-fifth year, in great reputa- 
 tion for sanctity throughout the whole of Andalusia. 
 Immediately after her death, a person highly pleasing 
 to God had the consolation during prayer of beholding 
 
64 DONA S A NCI A CARRILLO. 
 
 the soul of Dona Sancia amidst a large crowd of virgins, 
 clothed with indescribable glory. 
 
 A strange circumstance attended her burial. This 
 humble servant of God had asked our Lord that she 
 might be dragged through the most frequented parts of 
 the city in order that she might more closely resemble 
 her Heavenly Spouse ; and if she did not obtain this 
 grace in life, she obtained it after death. Her body 
 was being taken to Cordova, to be interred in the family 
 burying-place in the Church of S. Francisco ; but when 
 the mules reached the gate of the city, they set off at 
 such a wild speed as to upset the hearse, and, the coffin 
 being broken near the head, a considerable part of the 
 body protruded, so that she was dragged with her head 
 and arms trailing on the ground as far as the church 
 already mentioned, before the door of which the mules 
 stopped of their own accord. Strange to say after this 
 treatment the body was found not to have received any 
 wound, and her features still wore the happy smile of 
 her last moments. Father Avila was an eye-witness of 
 this occurrence, for he had desired to show a last proof 
 of his love for this blessed soul by accompanying her 
 body to the tomb. 
 
 It was to his spiritual child, this spouse of Jesus 
 Christ, that Father Avila addressed his famous Treatise 
 on that verse of the forty-fourth Psalm, Audi filia, et 
 inclina any em tuam, &c, which she always regarded as 
 a most precious treasure, and which she never looked 
 at without finding herself strengthened in spirit, and 
 conceiving fresh desires to perform great things for 
 God. Her life has been written by Father Martin 
 de Roa, of the Society of Jesus. We have only given 
 such a sketch of it here as will suffice to show how 
 admirable must have been the gifts and graces of the 
 master who could train in so short a time souls to such 
 great sanctity. 
 
HEROIC HUMILITY AND PATIENCE. 65 
 
 We will conclude this chapter with an act of heroic 
 humility and patience practised in Ecija by the Servant 
 of God, which drew tears of tender sorrow from the 
 beholders. A royal Commissary had lately arrived in 
 the city to publish the Cruzada} according to custom, 
 and in order to render that act more solemn, he had 
 forbidden any one to preach in the town upon the day 
 of publication. Notwithstanding this prohibition, some 
 persons of high position, in order not to deprive the 
 faithful of the great good which resulted from every one 
 of Father Avila's sermons, urged him to deliver his 
 discourse as usual, pledging their word to obtain per- 
 
 1 A Cruzada {Bulla cruciata), was and is an indult conferring certain 
 Indulgences and exemptions, for instance, from the law of abstinence, 
 which for many centuries past has been granted to all the faithful 
 in Spain upon the fulfilment of certain conditions. Pope Calixtus III., 
 following the example of more than one of his predecessors, considered it 
 his duty to encourage Christian princes in every possible way in their 
 struggle against the Mahometan power which threatened the peace of 
 Christendom. With this object, in 1457, during the reign of Henry, King 
 of Castile, he published a Bull, in virtue of which all those who took up 
 arms against the common enemy, or who paid into the treasury of the 
 King of Castile certain contributions towards the expenses of the war, 
 were entitled to gain an Indulgence applicable both to the living and the 
 dead. This Bull was called, from the object with which it was framed, the 
 Cruzada, or Bull of the Cross. The Indulgence was at first granted for a 
 period of five years, but it was afterwards renewed, and the Pope added 
 other immunities to the original grant, notably, exemption from the 
 Church's law of abstinence. In the course of time these contributions 
 originally intended for carrying on the war against the infidel came to form 
 a substantial part of the ordinary revenue of the Spanish crown. Com- 
 missaries made an annual visitation of every town and parish in the 
 peninsula, and in return for a contribution graduated according to the rank 
 and circumstances of the individual, they granted to each a document 
 attesting his right to enjoy the privileges specified in the Bull. The pious 
 object, however, with which these offerings were made had not yet been 
 lost sight of in the time of John of Avila, and the collection being in all 
 respects a voluntary one, it was usual for the Commissary to exhort the 
 people to give to this holy work as generously as their means allowed 
 them. This explains the prohibition spoken of in the text by which it was 
 forbidden to preach any sermons on the same day which might distract the 
 attention and divert the alms of the faithful to other channels. — [Ed.] 
 
 F 
 
66 HEROIC HUMILITY AND PATIENCE. 
 
 mission from the Commissary. Trusting to this, the 
 Servant of God went into the pulpit, though, for some 
 reason, no leave had been asked. But, before he had 
 ended his sermon, the Commissary having heard in 
 some confused manner that a priest was actually 
 preaching in that church, hastened there, filled with 
 anger ; and, having waited at the foot of the pulpit 
 steps for the preacher to come down, not content with 
 loading him with abuse, he finally lost all self-control 
 and struck him a violent blow on the face. This act 
 caused great indignation, and the audience crowding 
 round the Commissary, informed him of the facts, 
 explaining their own neglect, the innocence of the 
 zealous priest, his holiness, and the number of souls 
 that he had won to God. By this time the Commissary 
 had regained his self-possession, and was heartily 
 ashamed of the violence he had shown. He threw 
 himself at the preacher's feet, implored his forgiveness, 
 and tried to kiss his hand. But the Servant of God 
 would not allow it, and in his humility, embracing him 
 tenderly: " Senor," he said, "the fault was entirely 
 mine, and you may be sure of this that I have deserved 
 far worse treatment for my sins than I have received 
 from you." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HIS APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA, AND HIS 
 CONSTANT ZEAL IN PROMOTING THE EDUCATION 
 OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 No town gained more by the zeal and solicitude of our 
 Apostle than Baeza, in the province and diocese of 
 Jaen. When the Servant of God entered it, it resembled 
 a den of wild beasts, on account of the implacable 
 hatred which had existed for many years between the 
 two noble families of Carvajal and Benavides ; who, 
 being the principal people in the place, drew the whole 
 town after them into two hostile factions. So deep and 
 inveterate was this ill-feeling, that they often came to 
 blows, commonly ending in bloodshed, and this not- 
 withstanding the interposition of the royal authority 
 which had several times attempted to bring about a 
 reconciliation. With the spirit of discord, every other 
 evil passion seemed to have broken loose. All restraint 
 was at an end, every law trampled upon, while each 
 man lived according to his own caprice, and followed 
 his own unbridled will. 
 
 In the presence of these grievous disorders the holy 
 man felt saddened but not disheartened. The very 
 arduousness of the undertaking gave him courage, and 
 after having debated the matter for several days alone 
 with God, he prepared to open negotiations with men. 
 He first proclaimed to all from the pulpit the divine 
 and peremptory precept of fraternal charity and benevo- 
 
68 Apostolical labours in baeza. 
 
 lence, repeatedly inculcating the indispensable necessity 
 of fulfilling it, under pain of eternal damnation. He 
 then treated privately with each party, and urged, 
 threatened, and implored, so effectually, that yielding 
 alike to the force of his reasoning and to the winning 
 tact of his address, both factions not only laid aside 
 their weapons, but abandoning entirely their former 
 animosity, embraced each other in token of reconcilia- 
 tion, with abundant tears of joy and thankfulness. This 
 reconciliation being effected the town at once put on 
 a new aspect, and from a very Babel of confusion, 
 quickly became a Jerusalem of peace. At the same 
 time Father Avila was fully aware that the union of 
 hearts is never of long duration amongst men unless 
 they are firmly united also with God ; and therefore, 
 not content with his first success, he left no means 
 untried to secure the entire conversion of the city. For 
 this purpose he prolonged his stay in Baeza beyond 
 the time which had been fixed, and continued to preach 
 on every feast either from the pulpit or in the squares. 
 He heard confessions daily for six, eight, or even ten 
 hours, listening with unwearied patience to all who had 
 recourse to him for direction and counsel, comforting 
 each one, and prescribing for him the rules of a holy 
 life. Many notable conversions followed, especially 
 amongst the nobility, who did their utmost to repair 
 by a good example the scandal which they had formerly 
 caused. 
 
 Yet all this did not satisfy the zeal of Father Avila, 
 nor did he consider that he had effected any real good 
 until he had permanently provided, as he had done 
 elsewhere, for the sound education of the young ; well 
 knowing that upon this more than upon anything else 
 depend the welfare and preservation of Christian 
 nations. Above all there was one crying need which 
 he took most deeply to heart, and that was to provide 
 
APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 69 
 
 help for those youths who felt themselves called by 
 God to the ecclesiastical state. The higher the per- 
 fection was, which their life demanded, the greater 
 protection did they require ; out of a good cleric is 
 formed a good priest, who becomes a good head of his 
 parish and pastor of souls, fitted for every sacred 
 ministry in the promotion of Divine worship and 
 sanctification of his people and neighbourhood. 
 
 God furthered the pious designs of His faithful 
 servant. Paul III. at that time sat in the Chair of 
 Peter, and amongst those most intimate with, and in 
 constant attendance upon him, was a certain Doctor 
 Rodriguez Lopez, a Spaniard, and native of Baeza, 
 wealthy and devoted to the interests of his fellow- 
 countrymen, besides being a zealous promoter of the 
 public good. With this view he had recently opened 
 in Baeza, at his own expense, a house for the instruc- 
 tion of young children in reading, writing, catechism, 
 and virtuous habits, intending later on to found a 
 public university for the higher sciences, and a special 
 college or seminary for the education of those youths 
 who desired to become ecclesiastics. The distance, 
 however, at which he lived rendered his plan very 
 difficult of execution. 
 
 The fame of Father Avila's virtues, and of the 
 signal services he had rendered to the Church in Spain 
 by his apostolical labours, having spread as far as 
 Rome, Lopez resolved at once to avail himself of his 
 help in executing his design. He negotiated the matter 
 with the Pope, and obtained a Brief or Bull for the 
 erection of a new university, with the most ample 
 privileges in conferring degrees, obtaining rights and 
 immunities, and other similar advantages. In this Bull 
 the Pope, having been fully informed of the eminent 
 gifts and merits of Father Avila, constituted him 
 Superior and head of it, trusting him to prescribe, with 
 
70 APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 
 
 his prudence, whatever laws he thought opportune for 
 the good government of the same. 
 
 The Bull having reached the hands of the Servant 
 of God in Spain, together with the letters of Lopez, 
 his humility was much troubled at seeing himself 
 entrusted by the Vicar of Christ with so honourable 
 a commission, and addressed by the title of a master 
 in theology, and an eminent preacher of the Divine 
 Word. Yet the spirit of charity and of obedience to 
 the order of a Superior weighed most with him, and 
 he undertook the task. It would be hard to say how 
 much thought, solicitude, and labour, this important 
 work cost the holy man ; but we must not omit to 
 mention the admirable disposition of Divine Providence 
 in so uniting the two families of Carvajal and Benavides, 
 that they now combined in giving up certain houses 
 belonging to them in order that these might serve as a 
 foundation for the new university which afterwards 
 proved so beneficial to the town. 
 
 Under the direction of Father Avila, large and 
 handsome buildings were raised, part of which were 
 to form the University, with the schools, halls, courts, 
 and whatever else was requisite for the accommodation 
 of the professors and their different public duties ; the 
 other part was designed for the use of the students of 
 the Seminary, who were to live together, and be trained 
 up in piety and learning, that they might become in 
 future an honour to the clergy, and the support of the 
 Church and diocese. 
 
 As regards the rules to be observed, especially by 
 the clerics in the college, those which he drew up 
 were so well adapted to the state they had entered 
 upon, that, in all that concerned domestic discipline, 
 prayer, the frequentation of the sacraments, the observ- 
 ance of silence, assiduity in study, behaviour, cleanli- 
 ness, and modesty, nothing more could be desired 
 
APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 71 
 
 even in a religious cloister. In order to instil early 
 in them the true ecclesiastical spirit, and that zeal for 
 the salvation of souls, which should be characteristic 
 of priests, holding the office of mediators between God 
 and the people, a time was assigned for study of the 
 sacred ceremonies, for learning and practising the art 
 of preaching, for visiting the sick in the hospital, and 
 other similar duties. 
 
 The statutes laid down for those who frequented the 
 University, were of the like nature, having for their 
 object the prevention of gambling, drunkenness, licen- 
 tiousness, and brawling, the maintenance and increase 
 of a holy fear of God, as the principle and fount of all 
 true wisdom. Since it is of little use to make laws 
 unless their observance is insisted on, he entrusted this 
 office to two of his spiritual disciples, who had been 
 already named professors, Bernardino de Carleval, and 
 Diego Perez de Valdivia, both of eminent virtue, and 
 worthy of being placed as foundation-stones of that 
 literary edifice. Having thus prepared and put every- 
 thing in good order, the University was formally opened 
 and the studies commenced. 
 
 What the University afterwards effected for the 
 good of the city, diocese, and province, is well known ; 
 the report of its virtue soon filled Spain, so that it 
 became a model for imitation. The truth of this may 
 be gathered from the many celebrated men whom it 
 produced, men famous for holiness, for brilliant learning, 
 and for the great deeds they performed in the service 
 of the Church and State. 
 
 We need not wonder that this apostolical man 
 should have laboured so strenuously in order that the 
 young might receive a Christian training from their 
 earliest years, and have every facility for instruction in 
 piety and letters ; because, long experience had shown 
 him that the numerous vices which inundate a town 
 
72 APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 
 
 and destroy the happiness of families, usually proceed 
 from bad education. Knowing on the one hand the 
 gravity of the evil, and on the other the scarcity of 
 the remedies, he was filled with sorrow and a holy zeal. 
 " Must I then be worn to death," he used to exclaim, 
 " by this unavailing longing in my heart ? " Yielding 
 himself up to this holy enthusiasm, he felt assured that 
 he could do nothing more pleasing to God or more 
 efficacious for the public good, than to endeavour 
 during his whole life himself, or by means of others, 
 to repair effectually a disorder of so great magnitude. 
 
 Wherever he was invited to go to preach, there was 
 no point he had more at heart than the restoration of 
 the use of the Catechism, which had fallen into 
 neglect, and both in the pulpit and elsewhere he con- 
 stantly urged its utility and inculcated the practice of 
 it. It was a wonderful and touching sight to watch 
 the holy man, although advanced in years and suffering 
 from habitual infirmities, weighed down too with the 
 labour of preaching and hearing confessions, yet passing 
 along frequently to the different churches and squares 
 to teach large crowds of little children, and more 
 especially poor country people the chief mysteries of 
 the faith, adapting these to their capacity, and bringing 
 them within the range of their comprehension by means 
 of a great variety of comparisons and abundant examples, 
 which greatly pleased his hearers, so that even grown 
 up men crowded round to hear him. The numerous 
 schools still called schools of Christian doctrine, opened 
 in Seville, Cordova, Granada, Alcala di Guadiana, 
 Ubeda, Cheres, Palma, Ecija, Montilla, and many 
 other places for the service of the public, with com- 
 petent paid teachers, acknowledged him as their founder 
 and principal promoter. When requested to send his 
 disciples to cultivate other districts by their apostolical 
 ministry, he impressed nothing so strongly upon them 
 
APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 73 
 
 as this work, convinced that it was the most important 
 of all, and one which produced the most valuable 
 results. 
 
 For this end he laboured with the same ardour to 
 multiply colleges and seminaries everywhere, in which 
 poor children might be taught piety and human learning 
 from the lowest stage gradually to the highest. Of 
 this character were most of the seminaries and colleges 
 above mentioned, all founded after his advice, and 
 under his direction, through the zeal of the Bishops, or 
 the liberality of rich and pious persons. As there can 
 be little hope of forming good scholars without capable 
 masters to train them, he directed the zeal of the 
 Archbishops of Seville and Granada, and the Bishop 
 of Cordova towards the founding of colleges for young 
 priests, in which they might be prepared by the constant 
 study of human and Divine learning, and the test of 
 rigid examinations, for that important ministry. 
 
 Not content with this, when he found well-disposed 
 youths, possessed of more than ordinary capacity, but 
 prevented by their poverty from pursuing a course of 
 study, he used to send them at his own expense to one 
 of the most celebrated universities, taking upon himself 
 the heavy charge of providing them with food and all 
 other necessaries during that length of time. 
 
 To these motives, ever before him, we may also 
 attribute his deep and constant love for the Society of 
 Jesus, which had been recently founded by St. Ignatius 
 of Loyola, and confirmed by an Apostolical Bull of the 
 reigning Pontiff, Paul III. The sight of so many 
 young men steeped in vice, with no one to recall them 
 to the right path, or hold out a helping hand to draw 
 them from the mire in which, to their own ruin and 
 that of others, they were plunged, pierced like a sharp 
 thorn into the heart of the Servant of God. On learning, 
 therefore, that the Society of Jesus regarded it as one 
 
74 APOSTOLICAL LABOURS IN BAEZA. 
 
 of the essential aims of its Institute to found public 
 schools, for the instruction of the young in letters and 
 piety, he was greatly rejoiced, and said : " Blessed be 
 God, who has by means of His servant, Ignatius, 
 effected so well and so permanently, what I in my 
 unworthiness could only have done badly, and but for 
 a short time." Hence his liberal praise of its spirit, 
 his high opinion of its schools, and his ardour in its 
 defence, so that he gladly sent a number of his disciples 
 to assume its habit, and laboured continually to spread 
 and increase it. To his love and zeal principally it 
 owes almost all its colleges and homes in Andalusia ; 
 but of this we will speak more fully hereafter, as our 
 gratitude to so great a benefactor requires. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HE PREACHES IN MONTI LLA, ZAFRA, AND OTHER 
 PARTS OF ESTREMADURA, WHERE HE MAKES 
 MANY CONVERSIONS. A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE 
 VENERABLE ANNE OF THE CROSS. 
 
 Montilla, a town in the marquisate of Priego, was 
 especially fortunate in having Father Avila long as a 
 resident, and in profiting by his holy example and 
 apostolical ministry. Besides preaching there at 
 various times he abode there permanently for nearly 
 seventeen years, and when he died in the odour of 
 sanctity he left his body to that town in token of the 
 love which he bore it. The Divine and ever-loving 
 providence of God, it would seem, drew him thither 
 that he might become the spiritual director of a 
 particular soul very dear to Him, regarding whom He 
 had formed great designs for His own glory, and this 
 was the Venerable Anne of the Cross, whose noble 
 birth and eminent virtues made her name widely known 
 throughout Europe. To understand this, we must go 
 back a little in our narrative. 
 
 When the Servant of God preached the first time 
 in Montilla, during the Lent of 1545, the owner of that 
 property, inherited from his mother, was Don Pedro 
 Fernandez di Cordova y Figueroa, Count of Feria, 
 lately married to the Countess Anna Ponce de Leon, 
 belonging to the family of the Dukes of Arcos. Don 
 Pedro and his wife, observing with their own eyes the 
 
76 PREACHES IN MONT ILL A AND ZAFRA. 
 
 abundant fruit gathered by the holy man in their town, 
 the general confessions alone mounting within that 
 short time to five hundred, were full of joy, and 
 conceived at once that high esteem and tender love 
 for him which they ever after maintained. 
 
 Desirous of procuring the same blessing for their 
 other dependents, they succeeded in obtaining him as 
 preacher for the following year in Zafra, another town 
 which belonged to them in the county of Feria. God 
 blessed their pious intentions, and the whole place was 
 much benefited by the zeal of the holy preacher. They 
 themselves made a general confession to him, and 
 placing their consciences entirely in his hands, began 
 to lead, under his direction, so perfect a rule of life 
 that the house quickly assumed the appearance of a 
 religious establishment. Even the most careless servants 
 gave up their gambling, light talk, and idleness, and, 
 after the example of their master and mistress, began 
 to practise exercises of piety and mortification, carrying 
 their zeal so far as to assemble two or three times a 
 week in a large hall to take the discipline in public. 
 
 Don Pedro, in particular, made wonderful progress 
 in virtue under the guidance of Father Avila. From 
 early youth he had given no ordinary proofs of the 
 purity, gentleness, and charity of his disposition, 
 although the high position which he occupied in the 
 world had somewhat dazzled his mind. The Emperor, 
 Charles V., a quick discerner of excellence in others, 
 loved him for his rare gifts, and had made him his 
 favourite. No sooner did he fall into the hands of the 
 Servant of God than, enlightened as to the vanity of 
 all earthly greatness, and having refused the honourable 
 post of principal majordomo to the Prince, Don Philip, 
 he withdrew to his estates, with the sole purpose of 
 applying himself to his own sanctification, and that of 
 those under him. God afterwards, as we shall see, 
 
PREACHES IN MONTI LL A AND ZAFRA. 77 
 
 purified his spirit by three years of lingering and painful 
 illness, until being ripe for Heaven, while still in the 
 flower of his age, he closed his life with the precious 
 death of the just man. 
 
 We must speak at greater length of the Countess 
 Anne, for the heroic height of sanctity to which she 
 attained tends much to the praise of Father Avila, who 
 continued, as long as he lived, to be her spiritual 
 director. She was the daughter of Don Rodriguez 
 Ponce de Leon, Duke of Arcos, and of Dona Maria 
 Giron of the Counts of Uregna, and was born in 
 Mercena, a lordship of her family, on the 3rd of May, 
 1527. She was left an orphan when three years old, 
 and was educated by her aunt, Dona Mencia, a matron 
 of notable piety, and sister to Don Henry, Duke of 
 Sidonia. Dona Anna profited by the careful training 
 she received, giving early tokens of great virtue, and 
 her singular modesty, gentleness, and obedience, won 
 for her from all the title of the lamb. 
 
 When she reached a marriageable age, she felt a 
 strong desire to enter a cloister ; but, not wishing to 
 oppose the will of her relations, she was given in 
 marriage in 1542, to Don Pedro Fernandez de Cordova, 
 Count of Feria, and Marquis of Priego, and, in process 
 of time bore him two children, Dona Catalina, whose 
 signal virtues will draw our attention to her later on, 
 and a son, Don Lorenzo, who died within the year. 
 
 Dona Anna had been recently married when she 
 came under the direction of Father Avila in Montilla, 
 and she profited by his instructions to so great account 
 that she began to lead henceforth a most perfect life 
 as a wife and mother, firmly intending to become a 
 Religious as soon as she should be free to do so — a 
 day which appeared to be not far off, judging by the 
 frequent and serious illness of the Count her husband. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Servant of God had concluded his 
 
78 VENERABLE ANNE OF THE CROSS. 
 
 Lent preaching in Zafra, with a large harvest of souls ; 
 though he remained there for some weeks longer at the 
 earnest wish of the Count and Countess, availing him- 
 self of the time to complete some arrangements which 
 he had suggested for the spiritual good of the inhabi- 
 tants. He continued to preach on feast-days, to 
 instruct children in the catechism, and to explain daily 
 some portion of the canonical epistle of St. John, until 
 other business called him away to Cordova, when the 
 Count and his wife themselves returned to Priego. 
 
 Just at this time, the Count's illness increased so 
 much, that, at the close of the year 1548, he became 
 completely helpless. He continued bedridden for three 
 full years, drinking in, as it were, his death potion 
 drop by drop, and alleviating the bitterness of his 
 sufferings by calling to mind the far more terrible 
 sufferings of his Saviour Jesus Christ. Thoroughly 
 resigned to the Divine will, he never ceased blessing 
 God for the honour done him in admitting him to a 
 share of the cross. He was also much comforted by 
 the assiduous attention of his loving wife, who never 
 left him, and seldom took off her clothes at night, that 
 she might be ever ready to serve him. Each of the 
 Count's afflictions pierced her heart like a knife, but 
 however deeply she felt, she always appeared before 
 him with a calm and cheerful countenance, encouraging 
 him by pious exhortations, to gain merit by his pains, 
 with the hope of obtaining a greater reward hereafter. 
 
 But death was already close at hand, and being 
 warned of its approach by his anxious wife, he at once 
 sent to inform Father Avila. On his arrival, the first 
 favour which the latter obtained for the sick man was 
 the immediate cessation of the vomiting, the Count 
 having especially desired this that he might be able to 
 receive the Holy Viaticum. He then received all the 
 sacraments of the Church, after which he lived only a 
 
VENERABLE ANNE OF THE CROSS. 79 
 
 few hours, much comforted by having his dear Father 
 Avila to assist him on his death-bed, and to console 
 him in his agony. He died in 1551 ; a most truly 
 Christian man, adorned with every virtue, and worthy 
 of being held in lasting remembrance. 
 
 As soon as he was dead, the Servant of God passed 
 from the room, with the crucifix in his hand, to find 
 the Countess, and well knowing the steadfastness of her 
 heart and what might be expected from her virtue, said 
 to her in an authoritative and reverent tone : " Lady, 
 accept Him who must henceforth be your only Spouse." 
 Dona Anna understood the meaning of his words, but, 
 overcoming natural weakness with the strength of grace, 
 she took the crucifix into her hand, kissed it repeatedly, 
 and pressed it to her breast ; and then taking it with 
 her, went, without a word, to hide herself in the private 
 chapel. Having paid the last honours to her departed 
 husband by a stately funeral, she set out for Montilla, a 
 widow at the age of twenty-four, resolved to abandon 
 the world, and give herself wholly to God. 
 
 With the view of fixing irrevocably this her deter- 
 mination, she resolved to take a vow of obedience 
 and place it in the hands of Father Avila, her director ; 
 but he, having a firm intention never to receive the 
 obedience of women, would not consent. He ordered 
 her to obey in all things her sister-in-law, Dona Cata- 
 lina Hernandez de Cordova, Marchioness of Priego, a 
 lady of noble spirit, great sense, and singular piety. 
 This proved sufficient, for during the two years that 
 the Countess remained in the world, she held her sister- 
 in-law in the deepest respect, and rendered her the 
 most exact obedience, doing nothing without her advice 
 and approval. 
 
 Nevertheless, she withdrew from time to time, with 
 the consent of Father Avila, to the Convent of St. Clare, 
 that she might hold more uninterrupted communication 
 
80 VENERABLE ANNE OF THE CROSS. 
 
 with her Lord, and speak to Him at greater length in 
 prayer. During one of these brief periods of solitude 
 our Lord very distinctly invited her to carry His cross, 
 while the seraphic St. Francis exhorted her to assume 
 the habit of the Order ; invitations so precious to her 
 that she hastened at once to obey. The devil, as we 
 may be sure, interposed a thousand obstacles to hinder 
 the execution of her design, foreseeing from that moment 
 the total discomfitures he was to experience at her 
 hands. Yet, gaining fresh ground inch by inch, as it 
 were, and having by the help of her holy director 
 overcome every difficulty, in 1553, after two years of 
 widowhood, she turned her back completely on the 
 world, and assumed the religious habit of St. Clare, 
 under the title of Sister Anne of the Cross. 
 
 It does not concern the present history to describe 
 in detail the many eminent virtues practised by this 
 valiant woman during the forty-eight years of her life 
 in the cloister. Those who desire to know these, will 
 find the record of them in her Life, written by Father 
 Martin de Roa, of the Society of Jesus. We will merely 
 state, that she attained such heroic virtue that our 
 Lord put it to the proof of severest trials. Not content 
 with having so early taken from her both husband and 
 children, these lights, as it were, of her eyes, He made 
 her a martyr for thirty years to the most painful 
 infirmities. And as though this was not enough, He 
 allowed the devils to torment her for eight entire years, 
 terrifying her with frightful visions, and inflicting 
 terrible blows on her. From the moment that she 
 abandoned the world, it could no longer steal a thought 
 or an affection from her, and her detachment from 
 daughter, son-in-law, his mother, and from every tie 
 of flesh and blood, was so complete as to surprise even 
 the Venerable Father Luis of Granada. She ever 
 regarded herself, both in thought and action, as occupy- 
 
VENERABLE ANNE OF THE CROSS. 81 
 
 ing the lowest place in the convent ; and when any 
 one tried to prevent her fulfilling certain especially 
 humiliating offices, by reminding her of the nobleness 
 of her birth, she replied : " I would much prefer to 
 have remained a countess, than to be at the same time 
 both nun and countess." She was a woman of lofty 
 prayer, and continual union with God ; so great was 
 her love of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament that, 
 like a moth circling round the flame, she spent a con- 
 siderable part of each day in His presence, and passed 
 whole nights kneeling at His feet in prayer. 
 
 Having been raised by her Heavenly Spouse to the 
 sublimest contemplation, she penetrated into the most 
 hidden secrets of the Divinity, and the mysteries of our 
 redemption ; hence followed copious tears, raptures, 
 ecstasies, faintings, and other supernatural gifts and 
 visions, with which our Lord is wont to repay the 
 fidelity of His servants. Since there is no safe prayer 
 without mortification, these being the two wings 
 which bear the soul to God, that of Sister Anne might 
 almost be called excessive. Notwithstanding her deli- 
 cate constitution and habitual infirmities, she always 
 wore haircloth next the skin, and rough canvass ; a 
 mat spread upon the ground was her bed ; she fasted 
 almost daily, and took long and severe disciplines every 
 night. She was so exact as to silence, so recollected, 
 and so observant of even the slightest rules, that in all 
 those years she was never seen to transgress one of 
 them. On account of her charity, she was called by 
 all the Mother of the Poor. When she reasoned with, 
 advised, or comforted others, she increased the fervour 
 of all by her words, and had ever on her lips, the 
 teaching of Father Avila, being accustomed to say : 
 " Thus did my holy master instruct me." 
 
 She died full of virtue and merit on the 26th of 
 April, 1 601, in the seventy-fourth year of her age, 
 
 G 
 
82 CAT ERIN A HERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA. 
 
 thirty-one years after the death of Father Avila. Her 
 virtue was esteemed in the highest degree by that great 
 Servant of God, St. Francis Borgia, by Father Luis of 
 Granada, and by the whole of Spain ; Father Avila 
 used to say that God had given him that soul to direct 
 for his own profit. From the year 1664, several favour- 
 able decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites for 
 the cause of her Beatification were issued under Pope 
 Urban VIII. and Alexander VII. 
 
 We will only add a few words concerning the holy 
 daughter of these parents, the young Marchioness Dona 
 Caterina Hernandez de Cordova, wife of Don Alfonso, 
 Marquis of Aquillar, who, under the direction of Father 
 Avila, led a most perfect monastic life in the midst of 
 the world. She had imbibed his spirit from her earliest 
 years, and he directed her conscience from the dawn 
 of reason almost to its setting, for his death preceded 
 hers by only two years. 
 
 She was adorned with every virtue which could be 
 desired in a noble lady. She lived in the world, but 
 practised a pious deception on it, for whilst, in order 
 to please her husband, she was richly and handsomely 
 dressed according to her rank, she wore beneath her 
 dress a haircloth armed with sharp points. She took 
 severe disciplines every day ; her food was coarse, and 
 only sufficient in quantity to sustain life, and though 
 her table was always covered with abundant and 
 delicate viands, it was solely in order that she might 
 entertain the poor more sumptuously, amongst whom 
 she distributed them. 
 
 In the absence of her husband, whose duties fre- 
 quently summoned him elsewhere, she slept little, and 
 without undressing, upon a bare board. She spent 
 several hours a day in prayer, and also part of the 
 night. When she went to Communion, which was two 
 or three times a week, she passed the whole morning 
 
CATER IN A HERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA. 83 
 
 kneeling unsupported before the Blessed Sacrament, 
 amongst a crowd of the lowest class. Her modesty 
 was so great that she admitted to her director, she had 
 never, in the whole course of her life, looked any man 
 in the face except her husband. In order to practise 
 humility, she used herself to attend upon her servants, 
 sweeping their rooms, making their beds, and rendering 
 them every menial service, especially when ill. She 
 was most liberal of the goods which God had given her, 
 provided precious vestments for almost all the churches 
 on her estates, maintained whole houses of Religious 
 consecrated to God, and bountifully relieved the misery 
 of all who had recourse to her. 
 
 So choice a plant could not continue long in the 
 evil atmosphere of this world, therefore it pleased the 
 Divine Husbandman to transplant her into His heavenly 
 vineyard. She died after a few hours' illness, at the age 
 of twenty-seven, rich in merits, and ripe for Heaven. 
 She refused to be buried in the tomb of her ancestors, 
 and was laid at the feet of Father Avila, to whom she 
 always declared she owed, after God, whatever good 
 there was in her soul. It is said that she appeared a 
 few days after her death, clothed with a brightness so 
 radiant as to show plainly she was no more of earth. 
 
 In no way inferior to this was the fruit gathered by 
 the Servant of God throughout the marquisate of 
 Priego, and in the county of Feria, which he laboured 
 to cultivate. No sooner was he heard from the pulpit, 
 than the people, in pious fear, entered upon a salutary 
 penitence. Public scandals were at once removed, 
 blasphemy, gambling, enmities, and feastings banished; 
 and bad women who made merchandize of themselves 
 were driven away. The sacraments were frequented, 
 devotion revived, together with reverence for the 
 churches and respect for feasts ; so that it was 
 commonly said that with the coming of Father Avila 
 
84 PREACHES IN ESTREMADURA. 
 
 into those parts the golden age had returned, or more 
 truly, that the fervour of the early Christians had begun 
 to flourish again. Above all, a real reform became 
 manifest in the clergy, both as to gravity of manners 
 and holiness of life, and as to what concerned reverence 
 and decorum in dealing with the Divine Mysteries. The 
 change, moreover, was so abiding, that for a long course 
 of years' holy priests abounded in those parts. 
 
 This was effected, not so much by the words of the 
 Servant of God as by the example which he set them 
 of every virtue. His virginal modesty, his contempt 
 for earthly things, his evangelical poverty, his constant 
 union with God, the excessive severity with which he 
 treated his body, and the tremendous labours by which 
 he exhausted himself for the glory of God and for the 
 salvation of men, were so many efficacious sermons 
 preached before their eyes, against which they could 
 not without the greatest difficulty have closed them. 
 The proprietors of the estates always prepared a 
 comfortable lodging for him in their palaces, but he 
 would never accept it, and preferred to occupy a 
 small cottage, in company with a good priest, sharing 
 in his scanty supply of common food, and, notwith- 
 standing the intense heat, he never went out except 
 when the duties of his ministry required, or when 
 charity summoned him to the sick or needy in the 
 prisons, hospitals, or elsewhere. The rest of his time 
 he passed shut up in a small and wretched room, and 
 absorbed in prayer to God. 
 
 Having sanctified Montilla, Zafra, and the other 
 towns and districts belonging to these noble families, 
 the holy man's zeal could not be satisfied without 
 penetrating into the province of Estremadura, preach- 
 ing throughout it, and teaching and hearing confessions 
 with the same ardour of spirit and abundant harvest 
 of souls. The very devils, vanquished by the many 
 
PREACHES IN ESTREMADURA. 85 
 
 defeats which they had sustained from his preaching, 
 and enraged at seeing the prey daily torn from their 
 grasp, gave vent to the most piteous lamentations. 
 The holy man had been out one day to preach at some 
 place in the neighbourhood of Zafra, and was returning 
 to the town towards evening, when both he and his 
 companion heard a voice as of a person grieving over 
 some bitter misfortune. They stopped and looked 
 round, but saw no one. The holy man, nevertheless, 
 desirous of affording some assistance, bade his com- 
 panion, " Go and see if there be any one in need of 
 help." The latter had only gone a few steps forward 
 when he perceived a group of men clad in sombre 
 garments, of sad and doleful appearance, uttering loud 
 cries. "Who are you?" he asked, "and what evil 
 has befallen you ? " But they only replied : " What is 
 that to you, so long as you belong to our mortal enemy, 
 who has overwhelmed us in ruin and has driven us out 
 to-day by his preaching from many souls that have 
 long been ours ! " Upon this the man came back 
 precipitately in his alarm to Father Avila, who, when 
 told what had occurred, said to him: "Brother, what 
 are you afraid of ? Blessed be God ; trust in Him ; 
 He is omnipotent, He is with us, and that suffices." 
 
 Nor was this the only occasion on which the devil 
 showed so great resentment, and attempted, though 
 unable to do more, to bring discredit on him at least. 
 A gentleman, blinded by love, had long given grave 
 scandal to the whole neighbourhood by a guilty attach- 
 ment. Having heard a sermon by Father Avila, he 
 was seized with such horror for his past wicked life, 
 that he returned home, threw himself at the feet of a 
 crucifix, and began to weep bitterly over his sins, and 
 to prepare himself for a general confession at the same 
 moment. A stranger entered the apartment, who had 
 come, as he said, to treat with him upon some important 
 
86 PREACHES IN ESTREMADURA. 
 
 business, and entering into conversation, skilfully turned 
 the subject to the person of Father Avila. The gentle- 
 man, on hearing his name mentioned, could not refrain 
 from exclaiming : " Oh, how holy a man Father Avila 
 is! A saintly man, wholly filled with the spirit of God! 
 I do not believe that in all Spain there is another like 
 him. Sad would it have been for me if I had not met 
 with him ; it is he who has brought me to myself." 
 " How can a man of your intelligence speak thus ? " 
 answered the stranger. " Is it possible that a person 
 so clear-sighted as you are can be deceived by that 
 hypocrite ? Believe me, he is an ignorant man, and a 
 deceiver. . . ." He would have continued, had not the 
 gentleman, rising hastily, interrupted him, saying : 
 " Whoever you are, depart, and never dare to enter my 
 house again;" then making the sign of the cross, he 
 added, "You cannot be a man, but a devil," nor was he 
 mistaken. For at that instant there rose a strong blast 
 of wind which shook the whole house, when the man 
 vanished instantaneously and never returned. This 
 incident confirmed the gentleman in his holy reso- 
 lutions ; so that, making his confession to the Servant 
 of God, he began quite a new life under his direction, 
 and after many years, died a holy death. 
 
 These and other similar attempts having failed, the 
 evil one afterwards employed as his emissaries men 
 worse than the very devils themselves. The holy man 
 was returning to Zafra from preaching at some place 
 in Estremadura, when he saw in the distance four 
 armed men. His companion, alarmed at the sight, 
 cried out, " Father, let us turn back, those are very 
 evil-looking men." He replied, " Fear not, brother, 
 God is with us, let us go forward." As they approached, 
 the men laid their hands upon their swords, and called 
 upon them in loud tones to give up their purses. But, 
 in the very act of threatening, they were seized with 
 
PREACHES IN ESTREMADURA. 87 
 
 sudden fear, and remained stupefied and immovable, 
 unable to proceed either backwards or forwards. At 
 this sudden change, the Servant of God, filled with 
 pity for these miscreants, asked them gently and kindly 
 if they needed anything ; upon which they burst into 
 tears, and told him that they only desired forgiveness 
 for their wicked design. Father Avila replied, "You 
 must ask mercy and forgiveness from God." He then 
 represented to them in the most pathetic terms the 
 terrible outrage they were guilty of against the Divine 
 Majesty by their wicked lives, and the serious danger 
 in which they stood of eternal damnation. Led by 
 his words to consider their state, and seized with a 
 heartfelt compunction, they promised to abandon their 
 wicked courses, and enter upon a more Christian life. 
 
 At other times, the malignant spirits, being unable 
 to give vent to their rage against the holy man himself, 
 attacked his disciples and penitents. A gentleman of 
 great virtue, and a spiritual pupil of Father Avila, was 
 considering in his own room the great grace granted 
 him by God in bringing him within the influence of 
 that holy man, and the great benefits which his soul 
 had received through him ; when, suddenly, he saw 
 enter the room a horrible, misshapen beast of enormous 
 size. He was terrified, and tried to call for assistance, 
 but an invisible hand closed his mouth and stifled his 
 words. At the same time one of his ears was seized 
 so violently that he nearly fainted with the pain. Over- 
 come by the acuteness of the agony which he felt, and 
 in dread of suffering worse, he invoked most fervently 
 the holy names of Jesus and Mary. At these powerful 
 names, the foul beast vanished like lightning, and the 
 gentleman found himself unharmed. He afterwards 
 related the incident to Father Avila, who answered, 
 " You should not be surprised, for the devil has long 
 entertained a bitter hatred against you and me, fear 
 
PREACHES IN ESTREMADURA. 
 
 not, for he will not return to torment you henceforth " — 
 words which came true. 
 
 Either through lapse of time, or perhaps owing to 
 the negligence of contemporary writers, we have no 
 detailed record of the several towns and districts which 
 were sanctified by the zeal of this famous evangelical 
 labourer; but it is certain that while health and 
 strength lasted, he travelled through the provinces of 
 Seville, Cordova, Granada, Jaen, and Estremadura, 
 preaching, teaching, and hearing confessions, and that 
 he reaped such an abundant harvest of souls for Jesus 
 Christ, as to merit the glorious title of the Apostle of 
 Andalusia. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE GREAT FRUIT PRODUCED BY HIS INDEFATIG- 
 ABLE DILIGENCE IN HEARING CONFESSIONS. HIS 
 ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT FOR, AND MOST 
 HIGHLY ESTEEMED. 
 
 However great the fruit was which Father Avila 
 produced by his apostolic preaching, his constant 
 practice of hearing confessions was far more productive 
 of fruit in gaining souls for God. He never concluded 
 a sermon without inviting his hearers to cleanse their 
 souls from guilt by sacramental confession, and he thus 
 struck while the iron was hot. For this purpose, when 
 he came down from the pulpit, hot and tired, he 
 proceeded straight to the confessional, to hear the 
 penitents who crowded round him by hundreds, and 
 remained there four or five hours, until he had attended 
 to each one. His fame throughout Spain, as a man 
 singularly holy, and skilful in the direction of souls, 
 induced many persons at a distance to place their 
 conscience in his hands so that the hours of the day 
 proved insufficient, and he was often employed for a 
 considerable part of the night. 
 
 It would be difficult to describe the art and skill 
 with which he gained their hearts. When the most 
 abandoned sinners threw themselves at his feet, he 
 received them with the charity and gentleness of 
 Jesus Christ, and with the tenderness of a father ; he 
 embraced them, weeping with joy, as if he would wash 
 
go DILIGENCE IN HEARING CONFESSIONS. 
 
 away their stains with his tears. Having heard the 
 full list of their sins, he dwelt with great force on the 
 enormity of the wrongs done by them to the Divine 
 Majesty, the monstrous ingratitude which they had 
 shown to so kind a benefactor, and the great danger 
 they incurred of everlasting damnation ; yet at the same 
 time, he enlarged their hearts, encouraging them to 
 cast themselves into the arms of the Divine clemency, 
 and trust an infinitely merciful God, who offered them 
 pardon through his hands ; they must resolve, however, 
 to lead different lives for the time to come, while as 
 regarded the past, he would become surety for them 
 with God. Completely won over and filled with 
 compunction by words so full of gentleness and 
 compassion, they all disclosed their wounds to him 
 offering to undergo any remedy, however painful, were 
 he even to employ fire, or the knife to work their cure. 
 
 But this the loving heart of the holy man would not 
 allow : and so by means of mild remedies, he wrought 
 their cure with so much sweetness, that in a short time, 
 almost without their perceiving it, they found them- 
 selves restored to health, and quite changed from what 
 they had been. Thus did many witnesses aver that 
 the holy man, by means of his ministry of confession, 
 gained innumerable souls to God, and that no one was 
 ever known to make their confession to him without a 
 permanent improvement in their spiritual state. 
 
 When he met with docile and tractable souls, not 
 content with removing them from the mire of guilt 
 he led them, as it were, into the sanctuary, and 
 guiding them along the path of Christian perfection, 
 from being grievous sinners he made them great saints. 
 Besides the instances already mentioned, it is related that 
 a bad priest who had not approached the Sacrament of 
 Penance for eighteen years, happening to go to confession 
 to Father Avila, changed his mode of life so completely, 
 
DILIGENCE IN HEARING CONFESSIONS. 91 
 
 to the surprise and edification of all, that he became a 
 saint and an apostle. 
 
 So great was Father Avila's skill in uprooting from 
 souls every earthly affection, and implanting the love 
 of heavenly riches, that not a few of those who placed 
 themselves under his spiritual guidance, not only ceased 
 to desire worldly advantages, but even renounced rich 
 patrimonies, large prebends, or splendid and lucrative 
 offices which they already enjoyed. His special care 
 was to instil into his penitents, as the foundation of all 
 holiness, great contempt of self, and high esteem for 
 God, two virtues which, when rooted in the heart, bring 
 with them all the rest. Amongst the persons of rank 
 and position whom God led to a state of perfection 
 through his means, we must mention Dona Isabella 
 and Dona Maria Paceco, sisters of the Marchioness de 
 Priego, and Religious of St. Clare in Montilla, who were 
 under his direction for many years, and both of whom 
 died in the odour of sanctity. Of his disciples we will 
 speak elsewhere, only remarking here, that under the 
 rule of such a master they made great progress, and that 
 the lives of several have been written. It is not there- 
 fore too much to say that Father John of Avila was one 
 of the most skilful and successful directors of souls who 
 have flourished in God's Holy Church. 
 
 He also rendered signal service to others by his wise 
 and mature counsels. In this he was the oracle of his 
 time, " as if a man should consult God." l It was well 
 known that all persons remarkable for learning and 
 piety, especially in Spain, who desired to be safe from 
 error in matters of importance, had recourse to him 
 either in person, or by writing. Some undertook 
 journeys of more than a hundred leagues solely for the 
 purpose of consulting him. 
 
 Their expectations were not deceived, for, fully 
 
 1 3 Kings xvi. 23. 
 
92 HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 
 
 equipped with understanding, learning, and experience, 
 having a mind enlightened no less by the lights received 
 in constant prayer, than by the singular gift of counsel 
 infused by God for the benefit of souls, he speedily 
 probed their hearts, discovered the nature, temperament, 
 and inclination of each, and gave to each one the answer 
 adapted to his need, so that none were ever known to 
 have repented of having followed his advice. 
 
 To mention a few instances of this. When the 
 Servant of God was at Granada, there arrived in the 
 city, from the Indies, a young cavalier named Don 
 Pedro de la Cerda, who possessed a large fortune, led a 
 dissolute life, and wasted his riches with women of bad 
 character. Father Avila, moved with pity, and full of 
 desire for his conversion, gained access to him. Having 
 won his regard by his amiable manners, and formed a 
 closer intimacy with him, he remarked to him with 
 much earnestness, " Oh, sir, how much better would it 
 not have been to have spent your money with the poor 
 of Jesus Christ, than to have dissipated it in maintaining 
 such wolves as these ! " The gentleman, touched by 
 these few words, resolved to amend his life, and he did 
 so in fact. Conferring some months after, with the 
 Servant of God, he informed him of his desire to assume 
 the religious habit. The latter, however, replied, " No, 
 no, religious life was not made for you : do as I bid you, 
 and marry." He did marry, and amongst his other 
 virtues became most liberal in almsgiving, until, after 
 leading a good Christian life for many years, and 
 setting an example of deep piety to the town, he made 
 a holy death. 
 
 Two noble persons in Montilla, having been married 
 for twenty years without the birth of any children, 
 agreed that they would enter Religion. They consulted 
 Father Avila, but he replied, " No, God does not wish 
 you to walk in that path ; return home, live together in 
 
HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 93 
 
 holy charity, and thus you will be saved; and you," 
 he. added to the husband, " come back to see me in two 
 months' time." After that interval the gentleman 
 returned, and his first words were to inform the holy 
 man that his wife had been with child for some weeks. 
 Father Avila replied, " In due time she will give birth to 
 a son. Live in peace, and bring him up in the holy 
 fear of God, for he will enter a Religious Order, and 
 become one of its prominent members." All this was 
 fulfilled, and the parents lived a Christian life in perfect 
 concord until their death. 
 
 A young priest suffered grievous temptations against 
 purity. In order to exorcise this domestic demon, he 
 took counsel with Father Avila ; who, greatly edified at 
 the good-will of the young man, kept him near him for 
 several days, and supplied him with such preservatives 
 that he was permanently freed from this molestation. 
 
 Cardinal Toledo, of the Society of Jesus, when young, 
 wished to devote himself to the study of the law, with 
 the hope that in this profession he might one day relieve 
 the poverty of his family. Having taken counsel with 
 Father Avila, he was asked : " Why not apply yourself 
 to the study of theology ? Believe me," said the Father, 
 " in this knowledge you will attain to great eminence." 
 As the young man was without means to put in practice 
 this advice, he sent him to the University of Salamanca, 
 and maintained him there for some years by the help of 
 alms, until he had finished the whole course of his 
 studies. Afterwards he became celebrated for his 
 learning, and in due time was a brilliant member of the 
 Society of Jesus, was advanced to the purple, and to a 
 high position in the Church. 
 
 Don Pedro Lopez, a native of Valladolid, the 
 celebrated physician of the Emperor Charles V., was 
 induced by the widespread fame of the singular prudence 
 of Father Avila, to travel from Germany to Spain, and 
 
94 HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 
 
 to place himself entirely in his hands. By his advice, 
 Lopez founded a college for such young students in 
 Cordova, as being called by God to the ecclesiastical 
 life, might there be prepared in piety and learning for 
 making excellent priests in the future. Don Pedro 
 afterwards settled in that town, and living many years, 
 had the satisfaction of beholding the abundant fruit of 
 his liberality. 
 
 Father Avila had in his service a youth of good 
 disposition and tender conscience, named John 
 Rodriguez. During the last year of his life, he called 
 him, and said to him: "John, you know my love for 
 you ; but I can help you only for a short time longer. 
 If you really wish to serve God, my advice is that you 
 should become a Religious ; in that path you will save 
 yourself and become holy." John joined the Carmelites, 
 and having filled many different positions, including 
 that of Provincial, with great reputation for virtue, he 
 died full of years and of merits. 
 
 However, the prudence of the Servant of God was 
 not confined to giving sound advice in spiritual matters ; 
 upon whatever subject his opinion was asked he gave 
 such well-weighed answers that better could not be 
 obtained. Don Pedro Guerrero, Archbishop of Granada, 
 held his counsel in such high esteem, that he never took 
 any step in the management of his diocese without 
 consulting him as an oracle. He did his very best to 
 induce him to accompany him to the Council of Trent, but 
 the other excused himself on the ground of his habitual 
 infirmities, though he failed not to give him most useful 
 instructions, which were of the utmost service to him in 
 that great assembly. Nay, the Council itself, knowing 
 well the value of his advice, several times applied by 
 letter for his opinion as to the best means to be employed 
 for the reform of the clergy. 
 
 Together with this remarkable prudence in the 
 
HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 95 
 
 counsel which he gave, he had a singular talent for 
 affording comfort in afflictions, trials, and temptations. 
 Of whatever nature these were, whether interior or 
 exterior, it sufficed to disclose them to the man of God 
 to receive prompt relief. Having first allowed persons 
 full liberty to explain themselves, he carefully studied 
 each reason alleged, entered into their feelings, and 
 showed the greatest compassion for them, until, having 
 won their confidence and love, he began to comfort them. 
 To one he would say : " Let this cross be dear to you, 
 it is heavy indeed, but remember that the cross is the 
 ladder to paradise." To another, " Why are you for 
 ever at war with your scruples ? Where there is no 
 will there is no sin : go on your way rejoicing, fear not." 
 To another, " What do you complain of? If the body 
 is sick, so much the more vigorous will the spirit be ; it 
 is a sign that God loves you, and wishes to make trial 
 of your fidelity." " And you," he would say to another, 
 " why all this fear and timidity ? God is not a tyrant ; 
 but our good Father, who loves us tenderly." 
 
 Still more admirable was the masterly way in which 
 the holy man calmed the souls that were agitated by any 
 kind of temptation. More especially against chastity. 
 However troublesome and obstinate these might be, it 
 sufficed to disclose them to him to put them to flight, as 
 if the foul spirit could not endure the presence of that 
 angel in the flesh, who had so frequently conquered it 
 in himself and in others. This is affirmed by numerous 
 witnesses, stating the irrefragable testimony of their own 
 experience. To some who complained of the annoyance 
 caused them by the impure fire, he replied, " What does 
 it matter ? " adding his well-known remark : " The 
 temptation is in your power, and you are in God's. 
 Beware of being devils, and tempters to yourselves ; as 
 to the rest, Hell itself cannot overcome you if you do 
 not will yourselves to be conquered." Father Peter 
 
9 6 HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 
 
 Ribadeneira, who by his piety and learning was an 
 illustrious member of the Society of Jesus, asserts, that 
 Master Avila constantly inculcated in similar tempta- 
 tions frequent recourse to the great Mother of God, 
 and a tender devotion to her Immaculate Conception, 
 as the most powerful of all remedies, one found by long 
 experience to be most efficacious in preserving both 
 body and soul from the vice that is opposed to chastity. 
 
 The holy man was equally diligent in withstanding 
 the temptations which move us to irascibility, and when, 
 in the transports of sudden anger reason no longer has 
 sway, he was ever ready with some clever stratagem. One 
 man had become suspicious of his wife's fidelity, and, 
 not knowing how to extract this thorn from his heart, 
 he felt himself strongly urged to put her to death ; 
 conversing with the Servant of God, he allowed this 
 thought to escape him. " Kill her," replied the holy 
 man, " but how then about the offence against God, and 
 your eternal damnation ? " He next endeavoured, though 
 all in vain, to soften the enraged husband, and finally 
 exclaimed, " Let us go to the church ; for there is the 
 altar of our Lady ; go to her and ask her to enlighten 
 your mind and soften your heart." He went, and 
 presenting himself before the Blessed Virgin, prayed to 
 her as Father Avila had bid him, and he was quickly 
 heard. Abandoning his wicked design, he was 
 delivered from the temptation, and both husband and 
 wife lived henceforth together in peace and in the fear 
 of God. 
 
 In Montilla, two persons of honourable position 
 bore such a mortal hatred against each other that their 
 enmity, becoming public and notorious, was a scandal 
 to the whole town. Father Avila, having met the one 
 who had most cause for displeasure with his adversary, 
 endeavoured in the gentlest manner to induce him to 
 turn aside from his hatred and make peace : for in 
 
HIS ADVICE MOST EAGERLY SOUGHT. 97 
 
 this way God would be induced to pardon his sins, 
 the whole town would be edified, and he would avoid 
 all the evils which usually accompany such enmities. 
 However, the other, becoming still further embittered, 
 protested, that cost what it might, he must have his 
 revenge, and so saying, they entered the church. The 
 Servant of God then said to the infuriated man, "Can I 
 not obtain this at least from you, that you will recite, at 
 the foot of that holy crucifix, a Pater and Ave, and listen 
 to what our Lord shall say to you from the cross?" He 
 did so, but before he had concluded that brief prayer, 
 he rose hastily to his feet, and, terrified and trembling, 
 cried out, " Father Avila, where are you ? I am ready 
 to make peace ; be it your care to reconcile me with my 
 enemy from this hour ; I forgive him every provocation, 
 every injury which he has done me, and should he still 
 consider himself offended by me, I place myself in your 
 hands, I am ready to do anything. Oh, Father, if you 
 had seen the severe countenance with which Jesus Christ 
 looked at me from that cross. I do not wish that at the 
 moment of my death the Divine Redeemer should appear 
 angry with me, and refuse me forgiveness for my sins : 
 behold me ready to make peace." Upon hearing this, 
 the Servant of God embraced him, weeping : peace was 
 restored through his mediation, the whole town rejoiced 
 at the event, and the two remained henceforth firm 
 friends to the last. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HIS DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS, BY MEANS OF WHICH 
 HE FULLY APPROVED THE SPIRIT OF ST. TERESA, 
 AND DISCLOSED THE FALSE HOLINESS OF TWO 
 IMPOSTORS. 
 
 Our Lord, who never fails to afford His Spouse, the 
 Church, loving assistance, has, amongst the other gifts 
 imparted to her at all times, bestowed that special 
 and most necessary one of discernment of spirits men- 
 tioned by the Apostle, lest her children should mistake 
 tinsel for pure gold, or worthless glass for a gem of 
 great price. This is a supernatural inward light by 
 which God illuminates the mind of those pleasing to 
 Him, enabling them to recognize, both in themselves 
 and others, the interior movements of the soul, and to 
 know them for what they really are, according as they 
 proceed from Divine inspiration, from diabolical illusion, 
 or from mere human impulse. 
 
 Since such a gift is one of the gratia gratis data, in 
 the language of the schools, and independent of our 
 merits, it may be granted even to the wicked. Never- 
 theless, God does not generally bestow it except upon 
 highly spiritual persons, devoted to prayer, and chiefly 
 upon superiors, confessors, or directors of souls, to the 
 end that, studying under guidance of the Holy Ghost 
 and of the Fathers the consciences entrusted to them, 
 they may distinguish between the good and bad spirit, 
 and separate, according to the expression of the 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 99 
 
 Prophet, pretiosum a vili ; the devil being a great falsifier 
 of true values, who transforms himself into an angel of 
 light, and upon every opportunity attempts to make 
 the most subtly disguised temptation to evil pass for 
 an impulse of perfect and most heroic holiness. 
 
 That Father Avila possessed this heavenly light to 
 an eminent degree has been affirmed by many, and 
 amongst others, by Fra Luis of Granada, so often 
 quoted, who brings forward particular proofs of this, 
 especially in the approval by the Servant of God of 
 the spirit of the holy Mother Teresa of Jesus. Every 
 one knows in what great agitation this illustrious Saint 
 lived for many years, God leading her by ways so high 
 and sublime that they were little understood by men, 
 and were therefore considered by many as suspicious. 
 Afraid of deception, she went on consulting one theo- 
 logian after another in regard of the wonderful things 
 that God was pleased to operate within her soul. But 
 as in these matters practical and experimental know- 
 ledge is of far greater value than mere speculative 
 knowledge, and is acquired not so much by art and by 
 dint of study as by the free gift of God ; opinions 
 differed, and her fears, so far from being diminished, 
 were all the more increased. 
 
 She was advised to commit all her experiences to 
 writing, and send the account, through her confessors, to 
 Father Avila, who was famous throughout Andalusia 
 for holiness and learning, and was celebrated as a great 
 doctor of mystical theology, and most experienced 
 master in the direction of souls. Following this advice, 
 she wrote down, in the form of an account of her life, 
 a clear description of herself, of her mode of prayer, 
 and of God's whole manner of dealing with her. This 
 having been transmitted to Father Avila, he read and 
 examined it with the accuracy and attention which the 
 document and its author deserved. This done, he 
 
i60 DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 
 
 replied in writing : " That he had no reason to doubt, 
 from what he had read in her statement, that the whole 
 was from God, and proceeded from the Good Spirit ; 
 nevertheless, it was necessary to be ever in fear of 
 thieves." 
 
 The deep learning shown in this letter, its weighty- 
 sentences, the clearness and precision with which it 
 speaks of such difficult and abstruse subjects, are so 
 marked, that in the judgment of Monsignor de Yepes, 
 Bishop of Tarragona, the confessor of the Saint, and 
 afterwards the author of her Life, from it may well be 
 inferred how advanced was the spiritual state of him 
 who wrote it. It is therefore printed here in full. 
 
 Letter of Father Master John of Avila to Mother Teresa 
 of Jesus. 
 
 " The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 ever with your ladyship. 
 
 " When I undertook the task of reading the book 
 submitted to me, it was not so much because I con- 
 sidered myself competent to pronounce judgment upon 
 the subjects embraced therein ; but rather because I 
 flattered myself that with God's grace I might profit by 
 the teaching which it contained. I have not been able 
 to study it with the leisure necessary for the purpose, 
 but, thanks be to God, I have read it, and have been 
 edified and comforted by it ; to say this might suffice, 
 without adding more. Yet the importance of the 
 matter, and the authority of the person who recom- 
 mended it to me, forbid my dispensing myself from 
 giving my humble opinion respecting it, at least in 
 general. 
 
 " The book is in truth not one to be placed in the 
 hands of all, for in some parts the words require to 
 be studied more carefully, and in others the meaning 
 should be stated more clearly. There are certain things 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. toi 
 
 which may be profitable to your own spirit, but would 
 not be so to others who might adopt them, seeing that 
 the particular means by which God guides some, are 
 not intended for all. I have made a note of these and 
 kept them, that I may put them in order as soon as 
 I am able, and I will not fail to send them to your 
 ladyship ; but if you knew my infirmities, and my 
 indispensable occupations, you would rather pity me 
 than accuse me of negligence. 
 
 " The doctrine as to prayer is, for the most part 
 good, and you may safely follow it. 
 
 " In the raptures I find all the signs proper to true 
 raptures. 
 
 " The manner by which God teaches the soul without 
 help of the imagination or words, whether interior or 
 exterior, is very sound, and 1 find no risk therein ; 
 St. Augustine discourses very well upon this point. 
 
 " Locutions, both interior and exterior, have deceived 
 many in our times, and exterior ones are the less safe. 
 To know that they do not proceed from our own spirit 
 is easy, but to discern whether they proceed from the 
 good or the bad spirit is much more difficult. There 
 are, however, several rules for discerning whether they 
 are of God, one of which is that they be bestowed in 
 time of necessity, or afford great help to the soul ; for 
 instance, by encouraging it under temptation or in great 
 diffidence, or, in fine, putting it on its guard against 
 some imminent danger. For, as a good and wise man 
 does not utter words that are not well weighed, much 
 less does God act thus. When, therefore, this is the 
 case here, and the locutions and words are conformable 
 to Holy Scripture, or to the teaching of the Church, it 
 seems to me that the utterances referred to in the said 
 book, are at least, in greater part, from God. 
 
 " The visions, whether corporeal or in the imagina- 
 tion, are the most open to doubt, and should by no 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 
 
 means be desired, indeed they should be avoided, as far 
 as possible, even when they come undesired. The person 
 should pray God not to allow her to walk by sight, 
 reserving the vision of Him and of His saints until she 
 be in Heaven ; and to conduct her here on earth by 
 the level path, as He leads His true friends. By these 
 and other suitable means such things should be shunned. 
 If, after all this has been done, the visions continue, if 
 the soul derives profit from them, if instead of begetting 
 vanity in the soul they on the contrary lead it to humble 
 itself more and more, if what is said be in conformity 
 with the teaching of the Church, if they last long, and 
 are accompanied by a certain peace of mind which 
 is more easily felt than described, it is not necessary to 
 fly from them. 
 
 " Still, no one should depend upon their own judg- 
 ment in such things, but should at once communicate 
 them to those who can throw light upon the matter. 
 This is the general course to be followed under such 
 circumstances, with hope in God, and if we have the 
 humility to submit ourselves to the opinion of others, 
 He will not allow us to continue deluded, nor to deviate 
 from the right path. Neither should any be alarmed, 
 and promptly condemn these things, if aware that the 
 person to whom they have been granted is not so very 
 perfect ; because it is no new thing for God in His 
 goodness to change great sinners into great saints, 
 by allowing them to taste many spiritual consolations, 
 as I have myself seen. Who can set limits to the 
 goodness of God ? Especially when these favours are 
 granted, not from merit, nor by reason of superior 
 strength; but, as they frequently are, to the weak. 
 And as they do not make a man more holy, so they 
 are not always bestowed upon the holiest. 
 
 " Neither are those in the right who refuse to give 
 credence to these occurrences for no other motive 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 103 
 
 than because they are high and sublime, it appearing 
 to them incredible that infinite Majesty should con- 
 descend to hold such loving intercourse with its 
 creature. It is written that God is love, and if He is 
 love, He is infinite love and infinite goodness ; there- 
 fore it is not to be wondered at that the excess of His 
 love should seem strange to those who have little 
 acquaintance with it. Although many know of it by 
 faith, yet if they have no experience of God's loving 
 intercourse with those whom He loves, they cannot 
 rightly apprehend to what length this communication 
 may extend. Hence I have often seen persons scanda- 
 lized on hearing of the marvellous works wrought by 
 God in His creatures. It is far otherwise in their own 
 case, and they cannot bring themselves to believe that 
 God acts differently towards others from what He does 
 towards them, though reason itself demands that this, 
 being the work of love, and of such love as works 
 marvels, it should on that very account be a sign that 
 it proceeds from God, who is wonderful in His works, 
 and especially in those of mercy. Yet such find motives 
 for obstinacy in their unbelief exactly where they ought 
 to see arguments to strengthen their faith, when taken 
 together with the other circumstances which concur in 
 showing the thing to be good. 
 
 " It appears to me, therefore, from what I have 
 found in the book, that you have resisted these favours 
 from God, even too resolutely, and that your soul has 
 derived benefit from them, especially by the knowledge 
 thus acquired of your own wretchedness and defects, 
 and by the correction of the latter. They have accom- 
 panied you long in your spiritual journey, stimulating 
 you to the love of God, to contempt of self, and to acts 
 of penance ! Wherefore, I see no cause to condemn 
 them, and, for my part, I hold them to be good ; but 
 with this condition, that you should always be cautious 
 
io 4 DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 
 
 of trusting to them entirely, especially when they are 
 unusual in form, or when you feel urged to undertake 
 what is extraordinary and difficult ; in these and similar 
 cases, credence should be deferred and counsel sought. 
 
 " I warn you, moreover, that although these im- 
 pulses should be from God, others which come from the 
 devil are often mingled with them, you must therefore 
 always be on the watch. 
 
 " Besides, even if you know that they are from God, 
 you should not rest in them, because holiness consists 
 in a humble love of God and of our neighbour. These 
 other suggestions, however good, should be held under 
 suspicion, and all care be applied to the study of 
 humility, of the love of God, and holy virtue. 
 
 " Moreover, it is necessary that we should not give 
 divine honour to such visions, but only to Jesus Christ 
 in Heaven, or in the Blessed Sacrament. If the vision 
 be of some Saint, you should raise your heart to the 
 Saint in Heaven, and not to what the imagination 
 presents ; it suffices if the image conducts you to what 
 is represented thereby. 
 
 " I will add, that the things contained in this book 
 happen to persons in our times, with the certainty that 
 they proceed from God, whose hand is not shortened 
 to perform what He did in past times, and in weak 
 vessels, that He may be more highly glorified. 
 
 " Pursue your way, but always beware of thieves, 
 and often ask for the right path. Thank our Lord, 
 who has given you His love, self-knowledge, the desire 
 of penance and of the cross, and make little account of 
 those other things ; yet they ought not to be despised, 
 since they afford proof that very many of them are 
 from God, while those which are not can do you no 
 harm if you ask advice respecting them. 
 
 " I cannot believe that I have written all this 
 through my own strength, for I have none ; but your 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 105 
 
 ladyship's prayers have enabled me to do so. I beg 
 you by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to recommend 
 me earnestly to Him, for He knows well my great need. 
 With this I ask leave to conclude the present letter, 
 being under the obligation of writing another. May 
 Jesus be glorified by all and in all. Amen." 
 
 It would be difficult to describe the consolation 
 afforded to the Saint by this answer, or the perfect 
 calm which it produced in her soul, such as she had 
 never before thoroughly experienced after consulting 
 others. 
 
 Very different was the sad result of another case. 
 There lived, in the city of Cordova, a Religious named 
 Magdalene of the Cross, esteemed throughout Spain for 
 a heroine of sanctity, singularly dear to God, so that 
 by order of the Court she was selected to bless the 
 swaddling-clothes of Prince Charles, the eldest son of 
 King Philip II. When Father Avila arrived in the 
 city, and heard that Magdalene was in the habit of 
 receiving visits from great personages, and acting as 
 discerner of spirits in regard of those who had recourse 
 to her, he could not approve a holiness which was 
 constantly accompanied by all this pomp, and which 
 displayed itself so ostentatiously to others. True 
 holiness, especially in a nun, as she is not a debtor to 
 the world, seeks to remain hidden and loves solitude. 
 Feeling suspicious, he began to examine her conduct 
 critically, and became firmly convinced that the lady 
 was a hypocrite, having nothing of the saint about her 
 but the appearance. And because it was of great 
 importance for the good of the souls deceived by her, 
 that the truth should be made known, he frankly replied 
 to those who asked him to visit her : " No, Magdalene 
 of the Cross shall not see me. Spain and the world 
 will soon know what kind of holiness hers is." It was 
 
106 DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 
 
 not long before his prophecy was fulfilled ; for she 
 was shortly after discovered to be a woman of evil 
 life, and received merited punishment from the Holy 
 Inquisition. 
 
 There dwelt also, in the city of Cordova, a man who 
 had, by saying long prayers in the different churches, 
 gained a reputation for great piety. When praying he 
 gave vent to such deep and dolorous sighs, such loud 
 movements of the lips, and such violent agitation of the 
 arms and whole person, that the people were persuaded 
 these were all divinely wrought, and that the good man 
 was in an ecstasy. One day Father Avila happened to 
 behold this spectacle, and after watching the wretched 
 man attentively for some time, and observing his eccen- 
 tricities, he approached, and touching him lightly on 
 the shoulder, whispered in his ear: "Brother, cease 
 this dissimulation, God will not accept it ; remember 
 that you are speaking to Him who is a God of truth 
 and sees the heart." At this warning, the man was 
 transported with rage, and starting on his feet, rushed 
 like a madman at the Servant of God, crying: "Out 
 of this, bad Christian that you are, devil and tempter of 
 those engaged in prayer to God." While he continued 
 to heap on him every manner of abuse, the Father 
 remained silent and unmoved, and by this means was 
 the fraud of the impostor discovered, in thus attempting 
 to make profit out of his pretended holiness. 
 
 But the Servant of God generally used this gift in 
 a manner more in conformity with his character, in 
 promoting the good of souls which were disposed to 
 receive the impressions of the Holy Spirit. Some of 
 his most famous scholars, who lived with him many 
 years, learnt in his school the sublimest spiritual lessons, 
 becoming afterwards priests of consummate perfection 
 and his companions in the apostolate, through which, 
 like him, they brought many souls to salvation, It is 
 
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS. 107 
 
 greatly to the honour of Father Avila, and a most 
 striking proof of his holiness that, in each of his 
 disciples, he gained not one soul but many, forming of 
 them a fresh succession of apostles. To him, and to 
 his holy teaching, may be attributed, in great measure, 
 the signal conquest of souls which was made in the 
 kingdom of Spain. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, HAVING INFORMED FATHER 
 AVILA OF THE SERIOUS PERSECUTIONS WHICH 
 THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, FOUNDED BY HIM, WAS 
 UNDERGOING IN SALAMANCA, RECEIVES AN 
 ANSWER GREATLY TO HIS COMFORT. THE LOVE 
 AND FAVOUR SHOWN BY THE HOLY MAN TO THAT 
 ORDER. 
 
 Before entering at length upon the matters contained 
 in this chapter, I will justify myself by saying that they 
 are greatly to the honour of the Society of Jesus, of 
 which I, though unworthy, wear the habit. The reader 
 must not imagine that all that I write proceeds merely 
 from the pleasure, natural to every son, of sounding 
 the praises of his own mother. It would be unfair to 
 omit, through false humility, circumstances wherein, 
 perhaps more than anywhere else, the sincerity of 
 Father Avila's zeal shines forth, and his ardent charity 
 to others. There was instituted, in his time, the 
 Society of Jesus, an Order devoted to the service of 
 others, and joyfully welcomed by the whole Catholic 
 world. The Servant of God no sooner became 
 acquainted with it, than he began to love, to favour, 
 and to promote it, and allied himself with it in a holy 
 league, the sole aim of which was to unite their forces 
 together for the discomfiture of Hell, and the spread 
 of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Father Avila had laboured for many years in 
 various parts of Andalusia, sanctifying that province 
 
love of the society. io 9 
 
 by his apostolic ministry, and his long experience had 
 shown him the extreme need in which the people stood 
 of some one to instruct them in matters of faith, to 
 implant in them a horror of vice, and to stimulate 
 them to the practice of Christian virtue. Moved by 
 their deplorable condition, there arose in his heart 
 a lively desire to afford some remedy, and his zeal 
 could suggest none more efficacious than the institution 
 of a congregation of exemplary, learned, and zealous 
 priests, who, free from other occupation, should devote 
 themselves to the cultivation of that field by preaching, 
 by catechising, by the administration of the sacraments, 
 and by all other suitable means which true charity is 
 ever ready to employ. 
 
 While the Servant of God was engaged in devising 
 a method of carrying out this praiseworthy design, the 
 news reached him that Ignatius of Loyola had founded 
 a new Religious Order, very similar to his ideal, under 
 the name of the Society of Jesus, a kind of reinforcement 
 of fresh militia sent by God for the succour of His 
 Church ; and that it had been already confirmed by 
 a Bull of the reigning Pontiff, Paul III. Any other 
 heart than that of Father Avila would have been 
 somewhat disturbed by this news; finding himself 
 anticipated by another in a matter which, had it been 
 accomplished by himself, would have brought him great 
 fame. But, true charity is not ambitious, seeks not 
 itself, and, provided God be glorified, and its neighbour 
 benefited, it rejoices in the good done by others more 
 than by itself ; therefore, no sooner was he acquainted 
 with the character of the new Order, its Institute, its 
 ministry, and the means prescribed by its holy founder 
 for the attainment of the end aimed at, than, raising 
 his eyes to Heaven, and shedding tears of consolation, 
 he exclaimed, " Blessed be God ! To this giant 
 (St. Ignatius) has been reserved so great a work, the 
 
LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 foundation of such an Order, from which the Church 
 will derive great benefit." How sincerely the holy 
 man said this, can best be seen by quoting part of a 
 letter written some years after from Cordova by Father 
 Michael Turriano to St. Ignatius, in which he speaks as 
 follows : " The opinion of Father Avila which I had 
 formed at a distance, has been confirmed in dealing 
 with him. It has been to me a powerful argument for 
 the sincerity and truthfulness of his mind to see how 
 heartily he approves of the spirit and institute of the 
 Society ; and he declares that he does so almost from 
 self-love, it being wholly conformed to the ideal which 
 he had formed. He describes himself as another John, 
 the friend of the Bridegroom, who rejoices for the 
 Bridegroom ; as a weak child, who attempts to move 
 a large stone, and has not strength to do so, whereupon 
 a man with powerful sinews intervenes, and moves it 
 easily. He says that it grieves him much that he, 
 being old and sickly, is unable to enter the Society, 
 to which he would be a burden, and not a help ; and 
 that he will reinforce it by sending it as many of his 
 disciples as he can." Thus writes Father Turriano. 
 When Father Avila afterwards beheld the exemplary 
 life of the first Fathers of the new Order, their detach- 
 ment from earthly things, the immense labours which 
 they undertook for the salvation of others, and the 
 great gain of souls daily made by them, his affection 
 for them knew no bounds, he extolled them highly, and 
 declared that such an Order deserved the love and 
 esteem of all, on account of the signal services rendered 
 by it to Christianity. 
 
 In pursuance of this, he wrote to the bishops and 
 magistrates of various cities, exhorting them to procure 
 a great benefit to the souls committed to them by 
 founding houses and colleges of these Religious, "certain 
 of possessing in each of them (these are his exact words) 
 
LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 a slave both skilful and faithful, ready to give his very 
 blood and life for their salvation." He called those 
 cities happy, who had the good fortune to possess 
 them. When a college of the Society was founded in 
 Cordova, which the holy man had laboured so strenu- 
 ously to obtain, he rejoiced greatly, and said, " Now, 
 Lord, I am content : Nunc dimittis servant tuum, Domine." 
 In attestation of this gladness, he went to spend 
 several days in the college with those Religious, one 
 of whom was St. Francis Borgia, who was paying a 
 passing visit. It was a striking thing to see a man of 
 Father Avila's reputation, acting as the least of all, 
 choosing the most uncomfortable room, serving at table, 
 polishing the kitchen utensils, sweeping, and performing 
 every menial office, competing as it were with Borgia, 
 as to who should humble himself most. The same 
 thing occurred when the college was founded in Montilla 
 by the head men of the town. " Happy Montilla," he 
 exclaimed, "which has made this precious acquisition." 
 And in one of his sermons he himself set before the 
 citizens the great benefits which they would reap in 
 years to come by having the college in their town. 
 
 Not being able, as we said, to embrace the Order 
 himself, he sent to the Society, in fulfilment of his 
 promise, many of his disciples, men of great worth, 
 who in process of time became, by their glorious 
 deeds, a great help and ornament to it. On this point, 
 we will relate what happened to Don Antonio de 
 Cordova, brother of the Count de Feria, and a youth 
 of rare talent. Seeing a terrible storm raised against 
 the Society in Salamanca, where he was studying, 
 though he had hitherto loved and respected it, he was 
 thrown into considerable perplexity, whether or not he 
 should continue to hold intercourse with these Religious. 
 Having consulted Father Avila by letter, the Servant 
 of God replied with the highest praise of the Society, 
 
il2 LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 assuring him that the storm which had arisen was the 
 devil's work. He bade him continue to love and value 
 them, and to place his soul under their guidance ; he 
 could truly say that his own soul had greatly profited 
 by converse with them. These words, coming from 
 such a man, made so deep an impression upon the 
 well-regulated mind of Cordova, that in less than two 
 years he entered the Society, of which he became a 
 distinguished member. 
 
 In short, the Society of Jesus had not, in the whole 
 of Spain, a more loving Father, more efficacious pro- 
 moter, nor more powerful protector, than Father Avila. 
 It owes to him, and to his good offices, almost all the 
 houses and colleges it possessed in Andalusia. When 
 dying, he would be assisted by no one except the 
 Religious of the Society, to whom he left his body 
 after death, as a pledge of his love ; a precious treasure 
 which is still preserved in their ancient church in 
 Montilla. 
 
 But, if Father Avila loved and valued the Society 
 of Jesus so highly, no less strong were the love and 
 esteem entertained towards him by its members and by 
 its holy Founder. St. Ignatius never spoke of him save 
 in terms of the highest praise, calling him a man full 
 of God, a great doctor of mystical theology, an excellent 
 master of Christian perfection, to whom innumerable 
 souls owed their salvation. More than once he said 
 of Blessed Avila, that if the Holy Scriptures should 
 ever be lost, they would be recovered in the person of 
 Father Avila. Father Natale having informed him 
 that Master John of Avila had several times conferred 
 with him on the subject of entering the Society, though 
 he never did this on account of his age and feeble 
 health, St. Ignatius replied, " If it might please God 
 that this apostolic man should come to dwell amongst 
 us, we would carry him on our shoulders, like the 
 
LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 113 
 
 Ark of the Covenant, for there are few persons indeed 
 like him." 
 
 St. Ignatius never showed more plainly his esteem 
 for Father Avila, than when he had recourse to him 
 in the grievous tribulations which his Religious were 
 enduring in Salamanca. To understand this, we must 
 explain, that the Society had been recently admitted 
 into that city, and had, by their great labours for its 
 welfare, won the affection of all the citizens. Where- 
 upon, a person of great culture, and high reputation, 
 having taken a dislike to it from some motive or 
 other, made every effort to cast odium on its members 
 by the vilest calumnies, and went so far as to 
 denounce them from the pulpit as precursors of Anti- 
 christ. Notice of all this matter reached St. Ignatius 
 at Rome, and he knew well that great works will not 
 fail to meet with strong antagonism, for it is the custom 
 with God to inspire them with fresh vigour through 
 these very contradictions. He knew also how neces- 
 sary, according to the teaching of Scripture, and of 
 the Fathers, is a good name and character for those 
 who employ themselves in promoting the spiritual 
 benefit of others, and therefore he had recourse to 
 Pope Paul III., entreating him to interpose with his 
 authority in their defence. The Holy Father did so 
 promptly and most efficaciously by a Brief addressed 
 to the Apostolic Nuncio, and other documents contained 
 in the annals of the Society. 
 
 Meanwhile, in order to possess an able protector in 
 Spain itself, the holy Founder applied to Father Avila, 
 as being one held in high repute throughout the 
 kingdom, for holiness, learning, and zeal for souls. 
 After thanking him in the warmest terms for the many 
 and signal benefits rendered by him to the Society, he 
 informed him in detail of what had occurred at 
 Salamanca and in Rome, stating his reasons for 
 1 
 
ii 4 LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 requesting the aid of the Apostolical See in defence 
 of his children, and sending him a copy of the Pontifical 
 Brief. Lastly, he begged his prayers in a matter which 
 touched so deeply the honour of God, and asked him 
 ever to continue to regard the Society as favourably as 
 he had hitherto done. 
 
 Father Avila read the letter of Ignatius with all that 
 charity and tenderness, which might be expected from 
 so holy a man. He replied, that from his first acquaint- 
 ance with the Society of Jesus, he had regarded it as 
 a work of the Divine Wisdom, and a special gift, 
 bestowed by God upon His Church, in a time of sore 
 need. He thoroughly approved of the action taken in 
 referring to the Vicar of Christ, in order to hold their 
 slanderers in check, but he remarked that from the 
 beginning of the world, vice had always persecuted 
 virtue. God is not so highly pleased by the great under- 
 takings and glorious achievements of His servants, 
 though offered up in His cause, as by their readiness 
 and patience in enduring adversity. There would be 
 much difficulty in discerning between the true servant 
 and the false, were it not for the touch-stone of tribula- 
 tion. The eagle proves its eaglets by the burning rays 
 of the sun, and good gold never shines more brightly 
 than when purified by fire. Servants must tread the 
 same path as their master, and where the head has 
 passed, there must pass the members also. " On these 
 points," he concludes, " I touch all the more willingly, 
 inasmuch as I am confident that they represent the 
 practice of the holy Society." Such sentiments as these, 
 though already familiar to St. Ignatius, when coming 
 from one so beloved of God, and so highly esteemed by 
 himself, afforded the Saint unspeakable consolation. 
 
 Following in the footsteps of its holy Founder, the 
 Society has ever cherished the same feelings of esteem, 
 of love, and of gratitude, for its benefactor. It has 
 
LOVE OF THE SOCIETY. 115 
 
 never lost an opportunity of extolling his sanctity of 
 life, his soundness of doctrine, and high merits in the 
 Church, all the glory, in short, of his apostolate. Thus 
 wrote Nicolas Orlandino, in his History of the Society ; 
 Peter Ribadeneira also in his life of the saintly General, 
 Francis Borgia ; John Lorino, in his famous Com- 
 mentaries upon Holy Scripture ; Anthony Possevino, 
 in his learned work on the Sciences, and many other 
 distinguished authors. Numerous writers on spiritual 
 subjects, have likewise enriched their treatises by 
 maxims drawn from the writings of this famous master 
 of perfection. 
 
 As a last testimony in proof of what has been 
 said, may be read the loving tribute to his memory 
 placed by the Religious of the Society upon his grave 
 at Montilla. 1 
 
 1 See conclusion of chapter vi. book ii. 
 
Book II. 
 
 ON HIS PARTICULAR VIRTUES. HIS PRECIOUS DEATH. 
 THE MIRACULOUS GRACES OBTAINED THROUGH 
 HIS INTERCESSION. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND TOWARDS HIS 
 NEIGHBOUR. 
 
 Since charity towards God is, according to the teaching 
 of the Saints, the form, and, as it were, the soul of all 
 Christian virtues, the beginning and end of evangelical 
 perfection, it is not easy to imagine the great height 
 which it had attained in the generous heart of Father 
 Avila, a man of such eminent holiness, as we have 
 already described. Its first effect was that during the 
 whole course of his life it had preserved him in bap- 
 tismal innocence, ever accompanied by so great purity 
 of conscience that his spiritual directors often could 
 not find sufficient matter whereon to absolve him. 
 From childhood he avoided whatever might in the 
 slightest degree stain the lily of his virginal purity, 
 fencing it round by the careful custody of his senses, 
 so that at his approach the most ill-bred youths ever 
 used to say, " Let us speak of something else, here 
 comes John of Avila." 
 
 Nor was this the case only in his earlier years, when 
 he was most exposed to danger. After he had become a 
 priest, and director of souls, and was no longer young, 
 he never in the least mitigated his virtuous reserve and 
 angelic modesty, but became all the more careful in 
 their observance. He never admitted any woman into 
 his house, whatever her age or position. Those who 
 went there to consult him about the affairs of their soul, 
 
120 Charity towards god and his neighbour. 
 
 were told to go and wait for him in the church. There 
 he heard them neither in a confessional, unless they 
 came to confession, nor in a secluded place, but seated 
 on some bench in view of all, his own eyes being fixed 
 upon the ground. He was so brief and reserved of 
 speech that Father Alfonso Molina, who had much 
 intercourse with him, declares he never heard him utter 
 an idle word. When at table, where, along with the 
 refreshment of the body, it is allowable to give some 
 relaxation to the mind, his bearing was so modest and 
 recollected that, as Father Luis of Granada says, on 
 arising from it he seemed to be coming from prayer. 
 Father John Villaras, a man of singular perfection, and 
 a worthy pupil of such a master, writes that during the 
 thirty years that he lived with him, he never saw him 
 laugh. These things, however admirable in a solitary, 
 are much more remarkable in a man who, by reason of 
 his apostolical ministry, was constantly engaged with 
 a great number of persons and various kinds of 
 business. 
 
 Yet we must not think that his manner of behaviour, 
 everywhere and with all persons, was the result of a 
 discourteous austerity of disposition, for it would be 
 difficult to find one more affable, kind-hearted, or con- 
 siderate. He used to say that holiness and politeness 
 were two sisters who should go hand in hand. There- 
 fore he received every one with such courtesy, cheerful- 
 ness, and gentleness, that at their first meeting he 
 attached them to him, and nearly all were ready to 
 place their consciences in his hands, and most anxious 
 to have him for their director. 
 
 It is now time to penetrate further into the heart of 
 this great lover of God, and to become more minutely 
 acquainted with the wonderful effects of the Divine 
 charity that inflamed him. Indeed, if the perfection of 
 love, according to St. Thomas, consists in intimate 
 
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 121 
 
 union with the beloved, it is no exaggeration to say that 
 Father Avila was never apart from God. Besides the 
 many hours which he spent in the contemplation of 
 heavenly things, in offering the Holy Sacrifice, in the 
 recitation of the canonical hours, in visits to the 
 Blessed Sacrament, and in various other prayers, he 
 was accustomed, in the midst of the most distracting 
 occupations, to raise his heart in frequent aspirations 
 to where alone his true treasure lay. Everything reminded 
 him of God, and spoke to him of His greatness, lovable- 
 ness, beneficence, and other pivine perfections ; so that, 
 having lost all taste for earthly things, and loving only 
 those which were of Heaven, life was a burden to him, 
 and he was accustomed to say with a beaming counte- 
 nance, " When will it be, O my God, that my spirit, 
 set free from this body of death, will go to behold 
 Thee, and to be transformed into Thee through love ! " 
 Hence his frequent loss of the senses, his prolonged 
 ecstasies and faintings, God being pleased to afford to 
 His servant thereby some anticipation of the ineffable 
 riches which He has prepared for His elect in His 
 Kingdom. 
 
 From this intimate and familiar communication 
 with God there followed, as a natural result, the filial 
 confidence which the holy man always had in Him, 
 even in the most untoward circumstances; resting upon 
 His loving providence, as a child upon its mother's 
 breast. With this lively faith he gave up his property 
 from the first, not even retaining a fixed income for his 
 slender sustenance, convinced that if his thoughts were 
 placed in God, and in faithful service to Him, this 
 loving Father would never cease to think of him. For 
 the like reason, he always bore calmly the many perse- 
 cutions raised against him by perverse men, never 
 seeking to escape them through the kind offices of the 
 numerous princes and prelates who, justly esteeming 
 
122 CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 
 
 his great virtue, would have deemed it an honour to 
 assist him. 
 
 There was no undertaking, however arduous or 
 expensive, for the promotion of God's glory, which he 
 did not generously embrace. Those who attempted to 
 withdraw him from these by reminding him of his 
 poverty, and of the difficulties they might bring upon 
 him, he would answer with the words, " But God, does 
 He count for nothing ? If a rich merchant were to give 
 me letters to all his agents, in order that I might have 
 money at my command, I would consider myself well 
 provided, and safe ; should I not, therefore, trust in 
 God, a Lord so much richer, a Friend so much more 
 faithful and infallible in His promises ? " He often said 
 that he had never been deceived in this strong reliance. 
 One day, when explaining to some priests that saying 
 of Jesus Christ, Quarite primum regnuni Dei et justitiam ejus, 
 et hicc omnia adjicientur vobis, he remarked, " Forty years 
 ago, trusting in this Divine promise, I deprived myself 
 of everything, and I have never wanted for anything ; 
 on the contrary, I have always had means to provide 
 for others abundantly. What both confounds and 
 encourages me is, that I never give anything to God 
 without His speedily repaying me a hundredfold." His 
 numerous letters, written chiefly to console others, enter 
 much into this matter, and we see therein in what 
 high terms he always speaks of it, calling it the virtue 
 which contributes most to the honour of the Divine 
 Goodness, and is best calculated to encourage the 
 narrowest and most contracted heart in following in the 
 way of the Lord. 
 
 According to the measure of his love towards God, 
 was his sorrow at seeing Him so grievously offended. 
 When hearing of the heinous acts of wickedness by 
 which even Christians outraged the Divine Majesty, he 
 wept bitterly, and was inconsolable. Finding no other 
 
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 123 
 
 outlet for his sorrow, he would take the discipline, and 
 treat his body most unmercifully, saying, " Receive, 
 Lord, this slight reparation, which I, base as I am, offer 
 Thee in proof of the love I bear Thee." At another 
 time he would add, " How is it possible that there can 
 be in the world any one who offends so good a God ? 
 My God, enlarge my heart, so that I may love Thee as 
 deeply as others insult Thee, or fulminate against me 
 the thunders of Thy justice, provided only that men 
 pay Thee the respect which is Thy due." 
 
 In order to prevent such offences as far as possible, 
 and to promote God's greater glory — that one extrinsic 
 and accidental good which He can receive from His 
 creatures, he undertook immense labours, adopted 
 numberless useful plans, made incredible efforts, battling 
 against constant perils, and sometimes struggling even 
 with death itself. Whenever he inveighed against the 
 deformity of sin, or pressed home the argument how 
 deserving God is of being faithfully loved and served 
 by us, he urged the point with such vehemence, that it 
 was often wonderful he did not break a blood-vessel, 
 and more than once, upon such occasions, sparks of 
 living fire seemed to issue from his mouth while 
 preaching. Reviled, calumniated, and repeatedly sub- 
 jected to blows, plotted against even to the end of his 
 life, he was never intimidated, and never ceased to 
 maintain and defend God's cause. It was his lifelong 
 desire to shed his blood for Jesus Christ, that he might 
 give Him a more signal proof of his love. 
 
 As regards Father Avila's charity to his neighbour, 
 to treat of it worthily would oblige us to go back over 
 his whole history, for his life was a succession of acts 
 of it. Father Luis of Granada writes: "This apos- 
 tolical man was so transformed into the love of God, 
 and the desire of saving souls, that his thoughts, words, 
 and deeds, were all directed to their everlasting salva- 
 
I3 4 CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 
 
 tion : hence it is difficult to say whether he gained more 
 persons to God by his nervous eloquence, and the 
 forcibleness of his words, or by the loving dealings of 
 his invincible charity." 
 
 His anxiety for the spiritual good of others was so 
 deep, that he spared no labour, and left no means 
 untried to benefit them. To save even but one soul he 
 was ready to sacrifice not one, but a thousand, lives. 
 This was his sole desire to the very last, and if God 
 was not pleased to accept this sacrifice, it might have 
 been that He desired to employ him longer for the 
 benefit of others. At the sight of so many who, swept 
 away by the torrent of evil habits, were rushing on to 
 perdition, he would exclaim, quite inconsolable, and 
 weeping bitterly, " Shall it be, Lord, that so many 
 of Thy creatures whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy 
 Precious Blood must perish ! " 
 
 His prayers, studies, sermons, letters, journeys, in 
 short, all his labours, trials, and persecutions, were 
 directed to the sanctification of others. In imitation of 
 his great advocate, St. Paul, whom he had selected for 
 the example and model of his apostolate, he made 
 himself all things to all men, and refused no one. Even 
 when the indiscreet devotion of some urged them to 
 ask to speak with him at inopportune times, or when he 
 was weary, and needed repose, he had not the heart to 
 send them away. When advised to spare himself a 
 little, he replied, " How can I do that, when I belong 
 not to myself, but to others ? " 
 
 His kindness in receiving all, his patience in hearing 
 them without any sign of annoyance or disgust, his 
 compassion for their weakness, his salutary instruction, 
 his care for the good of their souls, and his courteous - 
 ness in assisting them, were the acts of a most loving 
 father. Towards grievous sinners of hardened con- 
 science his heart expanded, he embraced them, and 
 
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 125 
 
 encouraged them to cast themselves trustingly into the 
 arms of Divine mercy, sure of obtaining forgiveness of 
 the most heinous crimes, if only they were resolved to 
 amend their life. By these means, he not merely 
 rescued a great number of souls from the mire of sin, 
 but led many of them to a high degree of perfection, as 
 we have already described. 
 
 When he came across souls of a more callous 
 temperament, already hardened in vice, who, having 
 cast off all Christian modesty, far from feeling shame, 
 did not disguise, but even gloried in their sins, finding 
 that no gentleness on his part could conquer them, he 
 put forth, after the pattern of St. Paul, a salutary 
 vigour, going so far as to implore the aid of magistrates 
 and bishops, in order that they might at least be 
 prevented from infecting others by their scandalous 
 conduct. By this means he obtained from the Lords 
 of Priego the banishment of all abandoned women out 
 of their estates. On one occasion he ventured thus to 
 repress the audacity of a high ecclesiastic, who shame- 
 lessly attempted to prevent the conversion of a woman 
 of this class, and did not allow himself to be terrified 
 by his menaces, though he threatened him with death. 
 
 The same desire to benefit the souls of others, made 
 him employ a holy liberty in correcting their defects ; 
 such corrections being a sharp tonic, mingled, however, 
 with a sweetness that, so far from offending those 
 whom he corrected, only made them love him the more, 
 so that many placed their conscience in his keeping 
 from that moment. In like manner he reproved two of 
 the most notable prelates in Spain, one because the 
 excessive culture he bestowed upon his villa tended to 
 the prejudice of the poor ; the other, because he had 
 amongst his pictures one little becoming to the holiness 
 of his state. Both of these being warned with paternal 
 charity, and in the most discreet and humble terms, 
 
126 CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 
 
 instead of resenting it, thanked him, and promised 
 amendment, telling him that they would love him all 
 the more tenderly in future, and guide themselves by 
 his advice. The same good resulted from a reproof 
 which he gave to a young parish priest, who was osten- 
 tatiously vain in his dress. As he was passing Father 
 Avila one day, dressed in silk, and with great parade, 
 the latter gently plucked him by the sleeve, saying, half- 
 jokingly, " Signor Parroco, the rustle of this dress will 
 alarm your sheep." The other comprehended the full 
 meaning of these words, and taking the kind correction 
 in good part, changed both his mode of dress and his 
 habit of life, and, under the direction of Father Avila, 
 became henceforth quite a different man. When any 
 one ventured to censure the conduct of another in his 
 presence, he used to say, " Come, come," grasping the 
 while the arms of his chair with both hands, " Let us 
 allow him thirty days time, and let him then answer for 
 himself." In this way did he at once put an end to 
 the conversation. The effect of so gentle a manner, and 
 of the many kindly contrivances which his charity 
 suggested to him, was that no one ever left his company 
 without wishing to become holy. 
 
 In truth, so great was Father Avila's longing to 
 benefit all, that he was ever studying fresh means of 
 adding fuel to the fire. Not satisfied with preaching 
 frequently to large audiences, with administering the 
 sacrament of Penance daily for many hours, absolving 
 sinners, and leading souls to perfection, he gave exposi- 
 tions of Holy Scripture from the pulpit, he instructed 
 young children and rough peasants by catechisms, 
 either in church or in the public squares ; he sanctified 
 monasteries, bringing them back to the old observances 
 which had decayed ; he allayed enmities, and restored 
 peace to families. By the alms which he received, he 
 maintained many poor youths, that by the study of 
 
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 127 
 
 religion and the sciences they might qualify themselves 
 to serve the Church. He never ceased to urge upon 
 bishops and magistrates in the cities, the duty of 
 erecting colleges, seminaries, and other public institu- 
 tions for the good education of youth, and the formation 
 of faithful parish priests. Upon these two provisions, 
 the holy man well understood, depend the permanent 
 improvement of morals, and the true happiness of the 
 people. In addition to all this, he continually visited 
 the prisons, hospitals, and the sick in private houses, 
 consoling, instructing, and ameliorating their condition, 
 and in bringing them all to God. 
 
 No less did the Servant of God benefit others by his 
 letters than by his personal presence. These instilled 
 the principles of Christian perfection into all, and indi- 
 cated clearly the ardent charity which the writer bore 
 towards those to whom they were addressed. I will 
 quote here the opinion of two well-known authorities, 
 and first the celebrated Luis of Granada, who writes : 
 " Every competent judge who reads these letters, and 
 takes into account the variety of the matter, the dignity 
 of the language, the force of the reasoning, the amount 
 of Scripture treated of in it, and, above all, the ease 
 and readiness of its composition, will at once recognize 
 the presence of the finger of God." 
 
 Elsewhere he remarks, " God has bestowed upon 
 him such grace in the use of his pen, and such delicacy 
 of perception, that either of these might be trusted to 
 provide the true remedy for every kind of spiritual need 
 and difficulty." The other writer we would name is Father 
 Anthony Possevino, of the Society of Jesus, who says 
 as follows : " These letters have truly a heavenly character 
 in them, and show clearly that they are dictated by 
 God, for in addition to the profound learning, prudence, 
 and discretion which they manifest, may be found the 
 unction of the Holy Spirit. In studying them we feel 
 
128 CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR 
 
 excited to devotion. No one can read them without 
 deriving some notable fruit from them, and this many 
 declare who have experienced their wonderful effects in 
 themselves." 
 
 As, however, the most attractive bait for winning 
 souls is the supplying their bodily needs, Father Avila 
 observed due diligence in providing this means also. 
 There was compassion in that heart for every kind of 
 misery, and the wretched always received relief from 
 his hand. Besides his own patrimony, which had been 
 all distributed to the poor, the universal estimation in 
 which he was held as a man singularly holy, caused 
 many to believe that alms bestowed through his means 
 were all the more meritorious. Hence large sums of 
 money were often entrusted to him by rich persons, to 
 be employed at his discretion for the relief of the neces- 
 sitous ; and to this object he devoted them, taking 
 care, nevertheless, that the alms bestowed upon the 
 body should always prove advantageous to the soul. 
 
 It has been already narrated that he was touched 
 with pity at the sight of a number of youths of 
 good abilities but scanty means, who, becoming in- 
 different through idleness, were on their way to ruin, 
 and he maintained many such for several years at his 
 expense in the public Universities, to study religion and 
 secular learning, until, having become trained men, 
 they were fitted to be a help and ornament to their city 
 and to the church. When any women of abandoned life 
 wished to abandon their sin and return to God, they 
 were sure to find in him a kind father, and he main- 
 tained several of these for ten, twenty, or even thirty 
 years. To some noble but decayed families he secretly 
 supplied a monthly allowance, that they might have 
 wherewith to live without the shame of being forced to 
 beg. He never visited the prisons, hospitals, or the 
 sick and poor in other places, without being moved by 
 
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. 129 
 
 the sight of their misery to administer charity to them. 
 On learning that the building of the large hospital at 
 Granada was proceeding slowly for want of money, he 
 not only sent a large sum immediately, but never 
 ceased to help its funds until it was completed. 
 
 His house was the refuge of the poor, and the resort 
 of all who were in want of bread, clothes, bedding, &c, 
 and they never went away empty-handed. Amongst 
 other remarkable cases the following may be mentioned. 
 The licentiate Don Pedro de la Fuente had fallen into 
 extreme poverty, and his high birth did not permit of 
 his going about requesting arms publicly. He had 
 recourse to the Servant of God, and secretly related to 
 him the depth of his poverty. The holy man listened 
 to him with his usual kindness, and said, " Look under 
 that bed, and you will find a basket : take it, God has 
 kept it for you, since no one has come to ask for alms 
 during this last fortnight." The other took it, and 
 found it filled with money. But, in truth, the number 
 of similar cases prevents their being any longer marvels. 
 When, as occasionally happened, the holy man had not 
 the means at hand to relieve them, he sent them to 
 some pious matrons, or other rich penitents of his, who 
 supplied their needs, and reputed themselves his 
 debtors for affording them an opportunity of co- 
 operating with him in relieving the poor. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF HIS PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 Every one who has made himself intimately acquainted 
 with Father Avila's practice and writings in the matter 
 of prayer, must acknowledge that he was one of the 
 most eminent and enlightened contemplatives the 
 Church has possessed for many years. In truth he 
 should be classed among such saints as St. Peter of 
 Alcantara, St. Teresa, St. Francis Borgia, and other 
 famous doctors in this Divine science, and therefore 
 competent judges on such a question. He obtained, 
 or rather, to say the truth, almost forced this gift from 
 the hand of God by his strength of will, sparing himself 
 no fatigue nor allowing any means to escape him which 
 might at all help him to acquire this close intercourse 
 with his Lord. To this end he kept ever in view those 
 three offices which, in a very particular way, bound 
 him to apply himself to so holy an exercise. The first 
 of these was his priesthood, which constitutes him 
 who is invested with it a mediator between earth and 
 Heaven, one set apart in his public capacity to treat 
 with God of the most important concerns of men's 
 souls. The second of these offices was that of 
 evangelical preacher, a ministry that could be neither 
 worthily nor profitably exercised without union of the 
 mind with God, from whom all his efficacy and vigour 
 must be drawn. The third office which he dwelt upon 
 was that of a director of souls, a charge which, more 
 
PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 131 
 
 than any other, stood in need of heavenly light', in 
 order to detect all the snares which the devil lays in 
 the way of those who would follow Christian perfection, 
 and to become familiar with the different means of 
 securing the attainment of this perfection. 
 
 With pious prevention the early dawn found him 
 already on his knees before a large crucifix, where he 
 meditated for two hours on the eternal truths and 
 Divine mysteries. Then after reciting the Canonical 
 Hours, a long preparation for Mass followed, the time 
 of which had no other limit than that of his fervour, 
 and was often prolonged, without his perceiving it, by 
 his abundance of tears, by the abstraction of his senses 
 and his frequent ecstasies. His Mass having been 
 finished, he devoted at least an hour to his thanks- 
 giving, accompanied by such absorption of mind and 
 intensity of devotion, that violence was often necessary 
 in order to awake his attention. The study of the 
 inspired Scriptures and of the holy Fathers next took 
 up a large share of his time, so much so that the whole 
 morning down to nearly two hours after dinner, was 
 occupied either in recollection alone with God, or in 
 the study of the science of the saints, without admitting 
 in all that space any discussion of external affairs, 
 however important, with the exception only of those 
 days in which he had to preach, or those occasions 
 when charity or some duty of a higher order obliged 
 him to dispense with the rule he had set himself. 
 
 After spending the rest of the day in the service 
 of his neighbour, he returned at the approach of night 
 to the foot of his crucifix and there gave other two 
 hours to prayer, adding some particular devotions 
 which kept him long occupied, for he was not accus- 
 tomed to sleep beyond three or perhaps four hours at 
 the most. The nights of Thursday and Friday were 
 spent by him in continual prayer throughout the whole 
 
132 PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 year, and he used to say that the man who could sleep 
 during the nights on which our Divine Redeemer lay 
 either imprisoned or in the state of death, little under- 
 stood his obligations towards so great a benefactor. 
 His very sermons were the fruit rather of prayer than 
 of study ; for, having drawn up on paper only a brief 
 sketch of the argument to be discussed, along with the 
 reasons, the texts from Scripture and the passages from 
 the Fathers with which it was to be seasoned, so to 
 speak, and developed, he then placed himself before 
 the crucifix, where he often remained immovable the 
 whole night in consultation with his crucified Lord 
 how he should treat his subject before his audience on 
 the morrow. 
 
 I would not willingly omit here an incident that 
 occurred in Granada and is worthy of attention. A 
 preacher of great fame had delivered in the Cathedral 
 a sermon stuffed with such strange conceits as to 
 attract general admiration. Having heard of this, the 
 Archbishop, Don Pedro Guerrero, caring more for the 
 benefit to his flock than for the applause gained by 
 the preacher, requested Father Avila to preach upon 
 the next feast, which happened to be on the morrow. 
 The holy man at first excused himself, out of deep 
 humility ; but as the Archbishop insisted, it was his 
 place to obey. Shutting himself up in his room it was 
 observed that he passed the whole night in prayer on 
 his knees before the crucifix. With no other prepara- 
 tion, he mounted the pulpit the next day, and preached 
 so earnestly, that he drew tears of compunction from 
 the numerous audience assembled to hear him, many 
 of whom did penance for their sins, and adopted thence- 
 forth a new mode of life. 
 
 In proportion as his infirmities gradually obliged 
 him to give up his more fatiguing undertakings for the 
 service of others, he remained all the longer in prayer 
 
PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 133 
 
 to his Lord, without losing sight of the interest of his 
 neighbour, on behalf of whom he earnestly besought 
 the Divine Majesty with prayers and tears ; and as 
 the sharpest thorn which pierced his heart was the 
 terrible excesses committed against so good a God, 
 and the irreparable loss of thousands of souls which 
 had been bought with the Blood of their Redeemer, 
 so being completely forgetful of self, he offered himself 
 as a victim of propitiation for the sins of the people, and 
 for the salvation of all. 
 
 It would be difficult to find any moment in which 
 Father Avila was not engaged in prayer or in close 
 union with God, even when most deeply taken up with 
 the service of others. He resembled the sun, which, 
 without leaving the heavens, not the less benefits the 
 earth with its heat ; or those celestial spirits who, 
 while ever fixed on the vision of God, are yet cease- 
 lessly active for the benefit of men. Besides walking 
 constantly in the Divine presence, and directing every- 
 thing he did to God's glory, he was accustomed to offer 
 up frequent aspirations and ejaculatory prayers, even 
 amidst the most engrossing occupations, together with 
 elevations of mind and heart to the supreme good. 
 Father Luis of Granada, who was his guest for several 
 days, says that the holy man always rose from table 
 as one who had refreshed himself by prolonged and 
 devout prayer. When requested to give advice, he 
 never replied without first consulting God as to the 
 answer to be given. He never commenced any, even 
 the least, thing, without previous recourse to prayer. In 
 short, he seemed to live only by prayer, carrying out 
 in practice his well-known and oft-repeated saying, 
 " That prayer is as necessary to the soul, in order to 
 obtain the grace of God and the Christian virtues, as 
 water is to the earth for the production of its fruits." 
 
 He always endeavoured to impress this love of 
 
134 PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 prayer upon his spiritual children, and upon others who 
 came to confer with him concerning the affairs of their 
 soul. In writing to Don Juan Manuel, a gentleman 
 belonging to the highest nobility in Cordova, and 
 Lord of Calatrava, he said: "My lord, if you wish 
 efficaciously to escape from sin, seclude yourself for a 
 season from the bustle of the gay world, and apply 
 yourself to prayer." Likewise, in a discourse to some 
 students at Granada, he says : " How much more 
 pleased I should be if your knees were hardened with 
 prayer, than your eyes weakened through study." To 
 one of his spiritual disciples who had given him an 
 account of his daily occupations, he said : " Brother, 
 a little less study, and a little more prayer ; in this way 
 you will learn much within a brief space, God becomes 
 better known, and the art is acquired of exercising 
 charity towards our neighbour." In every sermon, 
 letter, or private instruction, he inculcated always and 
 upon all persons, the practice of the holy exercise of 
 prayer. 
 
 The adorable mysteries of our redemption formed 
 the most frequent subject of his meditations ; concerning 
 these he attained to the most lofty insight, penetrating 
 the innermost secrets regarding the Word made Flesh, 
 His incomprehensible greatness, and the immense 
 treasures which we possess in Him. Hence he drew 
 that intense love for the Sacred Humanity of Jesus 
 Christ, the dearest objects of his thoughts and affections, 
 and most welcome argument for his public and private 
 discourses, in the treatment of which, more than any 
 other subject, his eloquence shone conspicuously, pro- 
 testing with the Apostle : " I judged not myself to 
 know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him 
 crucified." 1 He never fixed his regard on his crucified 
 Lord without melting into tears of the tenderest 
 
 1 I Cor. ii. 2. 
 
PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 135 
 
 devotion. From that sight he derived a remarkable 
 vigour of spirit wherewith to undertake any enterprise, 
 no matter how arduous, for His glory ; from that he 
 drew that great light whereby he guided souls along 
 the hardest and sublimest ways of evangelical perfec- 
 tion ; the sight of that sweetened the bitterness of his 
 pains and of his trials ; finally, from it he learnt 
 humility, patience, gentleness, the love of God and 
 man. 
 
 He taught, as Father Luis of Granada relates, that 
 we ought to go to prayer more in order to listen than 
 to speak, rather to exercise the affections of the will 
 than to speculate with the intellect. In consideration 
 of our unworthiness, we should not so much speak with 
 God, as remain reverently and respectfully before Him, 
 with a timorous and yet loving heart, waiting, "in 
 silence and in hope," 1 for the supply of our needs from 
 His Divine mercy; in the guise of a wounded mendicant, 
 who solicits alms at the door of a rich man by the mere 
 display of his sores. In accordance with such teaching, 
 the holy man used to kneel bareheaded before the 
 crucifix, clinging lovingly to the feet of our Lord, 
 waiting in holy humility until his good God should 
 deign to communicate with him, and admit him to an 
 audience. How agreeable this method of prayer was 
 to the Divine Majesty may be inferred from the 
 continual and remarkable gifts granted to His servant, 
 and the rich treasures of grace poured out upon him. 
 
 There is a constant tradition, confirmed on oath by 
 those who assert that they heard it from the lips of 
 many disciples of the Servant of God, that once the 
 holy figure of the crucifix, before which he was praying, 
 spoke to him audibly, saying: "John, thy sins are for- 
 given thee." 
 
 When praying, his countenance or whole person 
 1 Isaias xxx. 15. 
 
136 PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 was often seen encircled with light ; he always came 
 from prayer with an expression which clearly showed 
 that he had been conversing with God. On one 
 occasion, having travelled the whole day, he arrived 
 about nightfall at an inn, and shut himself up at once 
 in his room ; a child chancing to enter this room after, 
 came out again quickly, crying: "Help, for the stranger 
 priest is wrapped in fire burning everything." The 
 people of the house, having hastened to the room, found 
 no fire, but a brilliant celestial light which completely 
 encircled the Father. 
 
 Loss of sense, faintings, and elevations of the body 
 from the ground, were in his case deprived of wonder 
 through their frequency. An eye-witness states upon 
 oath, that one day on passing his oratory, he beheld 
 the Servant of God in prayer, with his body raised in 
 the air more than an ell, having his eyes immovably 
 fixed on the crucifix. Upon describing this to his 
 brother-in-law, a servant of Father Avila, the latter 
 replied that this was no novelty, but of almost daily 
 occurrence, and that often when he went to call him, 
 he failed to rouse him either by loudness of voice or by 
 shaking him. 
 
 His loving Lord deigned to appear to him several 
 times, and to converse with him as with an intimate 
 friend, at one time unfolding to him the most abstruse 
 mysteries of His Divinity, at another, manifesting to 
 him the most hidden secrets of other hearts, and giving 
 him a knowledge of future things. His humility strove 
 to conceal these favours, but God so disposed it for 
 His own glory, that the Father once unintentionally 
 allowed something of the truth to escape from his lips. 
 The little that is known, reveals to us how much 
 remains untold. 
 
 While at Baeza, it was the holy man's custom to 
 go to say Mass once a week at a hermitage at some 
 
PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 137 
 
 distance from the town. One morning, on his way 
 thither, absorbed in contemplation of this great 
 Mystery, a pilgrim suddenly appeared by his side, and, 
 saluting him courteously, inquired where he was going. 
 He replied, "To say Mass at such a place; but I 
 scarcely know if I shall be able to do so, on account 
 of the extraordinary weakness which I feel." " Go on 
 courageously," answered the other, "for the greater 
 the fatigue, so much the greater will be the reward." 
 To this he replied, " I wish to do so, but I cannot, I am 
 completely exhausted." The pilgrim then uncovered 
 his wounded breast and said : " And I, when I received 
 these wounds, was more weary than thou art," and so 
 saying, disappeared. These words were both a 
 reproof and an encouragement ; for the presence of 
 the Redeemer infused such new strength, that Father 
 Avila pursued his way easily, offered the Holy Sacrifice, 
 and returned to the house at which he lodged. 
 
 Another fruit of his diligent prayer was his tender 
 devotion to the Holy Ghost, whose wonderful opera- 
 tions he continually experienced in himself. His 
 sublime treatment of this subject in the five treatises 
 which he wrote gave clear proof that his learning was 
 a gratuitous gift of the Holy Spirit, and not acquired by 
 dint of hard study. He used to call the week which 
 precedes Pentecost, his holy week, to be spent in prayer, 
 fasting, almsgiving, and other good works, in preparation 
 for receiving in greater fulness the outpouring of His 
 heavenly gifts. He often made these the subject of his 
 preaching, and of his private instructions, and was wont 
 to say, with a beaming countenance: " Oh, if I could but 
 kindle within you some devotion to this truly consoling 
 Spirit ! I feel certain that in a few hours you would 
 become completely changed ; open your heart to Him, 
 and allow Him to imprint His Divine teaching upon 
 you, and you will see," 
 
138 PRAYER AND SUBLIME CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 He had also the greatest esteem and love for the 
 Blessed Virgin, which he had acquired by long medita- 
 tion upon her lofty prerogatives and supernatural virtue. 
 He paid her the greatest homage, and left no means 
 untried to induce others to honour her as she deserved. 
 He wrote nine long treatises, with the view of instilling 
 into others the same sentiments as those he cherished 
 towards her himself. He promoted, as far as possible, 
 the honour due to her Immaculate Conception, a 
 mystery most dear to him, and of which he availed 
 himself as the most efficacious means of impressing 
 upon the young, love for holy purity. When young 
 girls went to consult him concerning the choice of a 
 state of life, he used to say to them, " How do you 
 love Mary ? " And if the)' replied that they loved her 
 dearly, he said, "If you love this Queen of Virgins, 
 and really wish to afford her pleasure, choose Jesus for 
 your Spouse." In this gentle way he withdrew many 
 of these innocent souls from the perils of the world, 
 and filled the holy cloisters with them. Having been 
 asked to preach in Granada in aid of the construction 
 of a church in honour of the Mother of God, he did 
 so with such ardour and energy, that not a few, having 
 no ready money, sold their furniture in order to assist 
 in this work. 
 
 In proportion to his love and esteem for our Lady, 
 was his filial affection for her as his most dear mother. 
 In her hands he had placed himself and all that he 
 possessed, assured by long experience that he would 
 always have in her a powerful mediatrix with her 
 Divine Son, and would thus obtain all that he desired 
 for himself and for others. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HIS TENDER DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST, 
 AND THE ARDOUR WITH WHICH HE PROMOTED IT 
 IN OTHERS. HIS OPINION CONCERNING FREQUENT 
 COMMUNION. 
 
 If it be true that where our treasure is, there our heart 
 is also, the Blessed Sacrament of the altar must 
 certainly be called the treasure of Father Avila, as it 
 was ever the centre of all his thoughts and affections; 
 so that he might well be named the Saint of the Blessed 
 Sacrament. It is no exaggeration to say that this 
 noble sympathy with Jesus Christ in the Blessed 
 Sacrament, seemed almost born with him, for while 
 still a very young child it was his delight to spend 
 hours kneeling at His feet. After he had once tasted 
 this Heavenly Food, he never ceased to partake of it as 
 frequently as he was allowed. So many and so great 
 were the interior consolations which inundated his 
 soul in his Communions, that for a long space of time 
 he could neither think nor talk of anything else. 
 When one spoke to him of the difficulty of sympathy 
 with this great Mystery, he ingenuously admitted that 
 to him it offered so little difficulty that he sometimes 
 feared his faith in It was devoid of merit ; so sweet 
 and easy did it come to him, by reason of the celestial 
 favours which he received therefrom, and the marvellous 
 effects which he experienced. 
 
 He never went out of doors, nor passed a church, 
 without entering it to salute his Lord ; and when he 
 
1 4 o DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 set foot on the threshold, he immediately prostrated 
 himself in adoration. It was his earnest wish through 
 life to be able to dwell permanently close to the Blessed 
 Sacrament. He therefore envied Religious, whose happy 
 lot it is to do so, who can go to greet our Lord at any 
 hour without leaving the house, and can converse with 
 Him at will. At Cordova, where he lodged in the 
 hospital, a room was assigned him which had a small 
 window looking on the altar, where the Holy Eucharist 
 was reserved for the convenience of the sick. This room 
 appeared to him like Paradise ; and it was observed 
 that besides all his free time during the day, he spent 
 whole nights in prayer, unable to leave it even when 
 summoned to take necessary refreshment. 
 
 It was only his desire to receive our Lord frequently 
 that overcame the repugnance caused by his humility 
 to being promoted to the priesthood. On hearing one 
 of his disciples remark that were Jerusalem now in the 
 hands of Christians what a happy thing it would be 
 to spend one's life among those holy spots, once con- 
 secrated by the labours, sweat, and blood, of our loving 
 Redeemer; so far from being edified, he replied, " Have 
 we not the same Divine Lord sacramentally present 
 upon our altars ? What more can we desire ? For 
 my part, I never think of the Blessed Sacrament with- 
 out feeling every other wish, however holy, extinguished 
 within me." The mere mention of this ineffable Mystery 
 was sufficient to make his face glow, and to melt him 
 to tears, and he would exclaim, as if beside himself: 
 "Oh, great stroke of love ! Oh, great stroke of 
 love ! " 
 
 When admitted to the priesthood, his new dignity 
 was accompanied with still greater fervour, and he 
 seemed to rise as it were above himself. His first 
 great employment of the day, and the function which 
 was his chief care, was offering the Holy Sacrifice. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 141 
 
 Hence, his whole morning prayer of two hours was 
 a preparation for holy Mass, upon the termination of 
 which, he spent another hour in thanksgiving, and in 
 treating with his Lord concerning the interests of his 
 soul, being accustomed to say, in the excess of his 
 love : " Holy angels, remain without, and leave me 
 alone with Jesus." The length of time spent in cele- 
 brating was measured only by his love, and sometimes 
 extended over two or three hours. His tears were so 
 abundant and continuous that the corporals and cloths 
 were usually soaked by them. The ardour of his heart 
 shone in his face, but in addition to this clear indica- 
 tion, God was sometimes pleased to grant extraordinary 
 signs. One morning, when celebrating Mass, a holy 
 penitent, Dona Sancia Carrillo, saw sparks of fire issue 
 from his mouth at the Dominus vobiscum. The Licentiate, 
 Alfonso Fernandez, being present in Montilla at the 
 Holy Sacrifice offered by Father Avila, beheld, to his 
 great surprise, a globe of living fire descend upon him. 
 On another occasion, during the same function, his 
 head was seen encircled with rays of great brilliance. 
 Notwithstanding all this, he never considered that he 
 was sufficiently prepared to present himself at the altar, 
 or had the purity necessary for such a holy ministry ; 
 so dissatisfied was he with himself that he used from 
 time to time to say to his disciples: "Wretched that 
 I am, would that I could even once say Mass well ; 
 and when I have received our Lord within me, I would 
 not open my mouth." This truth will be better under- 
 stood from the next chapter, which will treat of his 
 high estimate of the sacerdotal dignity, and how much 
 he effected for the training of perfect priests. 
 
 During the last years of his life, when he was 
 oppressed with habitual infirmities, he could find no 
 greater relief under his sufferings than to write upon 
 the Blessed Sacrament, declaring that, had he spent 
 
i 4 2 DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 his whole life in doing this, matter would never have 
 failed him. He did, in fact, write, in addition to many 
 letters, one whole volume divided into twenty-seven 
 treatises, full of truly heavenly doctrine. His great 
 trial, amidst the sufferings of old age, was his inability 
 to celebrate holy Mass, or to receive Holy Communion, 
 by reason of his weakness, which compelled him to 
 take refreshment two or three times before dawn. 
 Our Lord, however, moved with pity for His servant, 
 consoled him in this matter by putting it into the head 
 of Alfonso Salmeron, of the Society of Jesus, one of 
 the first companions of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and a 
 famous interpreter of Holy Scripture, to request for 
 him, in 1558, from Pope Paul IV., the favour of leave 
 to celebrate for himself, or to receive from the hand of 
 another, Holy Communion immediately after midnight. 
 The Pontiff, in consideration of his signal merits in the 
 works which he had done for the Catholic Church, 
 graciously acceded to the request ; and this availed, 
 more than any other remedy, to alleviate the severity 
 of the holy man's sufferings. 
 
 From his own vehement affection for Jesus Christ 
 in the Blessed Sacrament, can easily be inferred his 
 ardent longing to increase this devotion in others, and 
 to spread it as widely as possible. During the forty- 
 six years of his apostolical preaching, he never ceased 
 to magnify, either through his own efforts, or those of 
 his disciples, the greatness of the Blessed Eucharist, 
 using every art in the pulpit, and outside it, in public 
 and private, to instil into others a high esteem and love 
 for so ineffable a Mystery. Above every other pious 
 exercise, he recommended to each one frequent visits 
 to the Blessed Sacrament, proceeding in person to an 
 audience with so courteous a Monarch, who with open 
 door invites all and waits to listen to our needs, and 
 to bestow upon us His graces. When the Blessed 
 
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 143 
 
 Sacrament was exposed for public veneration, it was 
 his desire that this should be done with as much 
 magnificence as possible, and if we may use the 
 expression, with luxury ; such splendour being calcu- 
 lated to impress upon the populace, who understand 
 little beyond what they can see, greater respect and 
 esteem for that Sovereign Majesty. 
 
 His chief care, however, as considered by him a 
 matter of the greatest importance, because it concerned 
 the defence of the honour of Jesus Christ then so 
 grievously outraged, was the restoration of the solemn 
 feast of Corpus Domini to its former lustre of holy and 
 devout observance ; with its accustomed processions 
 upon the day itself and throughout the octave. This 
 feast, having been instituted by the Church with the 
 holiest intentions, had in process of time been profaned 
 in those parts through the wickedness of men by idle 
 shows, improper dances, bull-fights, and every kind 
 of sin and public scandal. God Himself suggested 
 this to His servant in the following vision. Upon the 
 Feast of Corpus Domini, Father Avila, in order to 
 keep the day with greater recollection and privacy, 
 left Granada, and was proceeding to the neighbouring 
 monastery of the Carthusians. When mid-way, Jesus 
 Christ appeared to him, sad and afflicted, having His 
 Head crowned with thorns, and bearing a heavy cross 
 upon His shoulder, while blood poured from all His 
 Body. Amazed at the sight, the man of God threw 
 himself at His feet, shedding bitter tears, and crying, 
 " Lord, what is this, why dost Thou appear thus vested 
 and thus strangely adorned, upon a day of such glad- 
 ness to Thee?" "Why not," replied the suffering 
 Redeemer, " when Christians treat Me thus in these 
 days." Then at once He vanished, leaving His 
 servant with this sharp thorn in his heart. The holy 
 man grieved over so terrible an abuse, and determined 
 
144 DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 henceforth to remedy the evil even at the cost of his 
 blood and life. 
 
 His efforts for this purpose were almost incredible. 
 Upon the approach of the Feast he occupied himself 
 in warning, preaching, and impressing upon his hearers 
 the indispensable obligation incumbent upon all Chris- 
 tians of celebrating it with an interior spirit of devotion, 
 and a modest and composed exterior ; this being due 
 to the respect we owe to the Man-God really present 
 in the Blessed Sacrament. Gratitude to so great a 
 Benefactor demands it, seeing that He has given 
 Himself wholly for us, and this excess of love must be 
 repaid by a corresponding love. As to the processions, 
 he said, the intention of the Church in instituting them, 
 was to offer Jesus Christ some compensation by our 
 homage for the outrages which He suffered in the 
 streets of Jerusalem during His bitter Passion, and 
 at the same time induce Him to bless our houses in 
 passing, and to fill them with His graces. Then, his 
 countenance all inflamed with holy anger, he proceeded 
 to condemn in the severest terms the abominable 
 shamelessness of those who, before the very eyes of 
 His Sovereign Majesty, and in the very act of paying 
 homage to Him, instead of rendering Him true honour 
 and worship, do really dishonour and insult Him, both 
 from the balconies and along the streets, by their 
 worldly attire and scandalous nudity, their lascivious 
 and profane dances, and by every other kind of shameful 
 dissoluteness. It was wonderful to see, especially 
 towards the end of his life, a man so weak and unable 
 to bear up at all during the rest of the year, yet regain 
 his strength and healthy colour at the approach of that 
 feast, and declaim daily for several hours throughout 
 the octave, with such force, that sparks of fire were 
 sometimes seen to issue from his mouth. At the 
 conclusion of the feast, he was again laid prostrate 
 
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 145 
 
 with weakness, and racked with pain, as though this 
 short respite had been granted him simply in order 
 that he might give vent to his love for this Mystery so 
 dear to his heart. 
 
 As all that he could say or do failed to purge the 
 functions of this holy season from the objectionable 
 dances and entertainments which amused and excited 
 the people, and were keenly supported by them, he 
 next had recourse to the bishops and magistrates, from 
 whom he sometimes met with little sympathy and 
 much contradiction ; but he was ever ready to expose 
 even his life to danger, provided only the Divine 
 honour was safe. Still, a single sermon of his was 
 often more than sufficient to restore order, however 
 ill-disposed the audience might be, as was notably the 
 case in Montilla one day during the octave. Upon the 
 conclusion of Vespers in the principal church, the town 
 was already in commotion, waiting for the beginning 
 of the procession, when the Vicar said, turning to the 
 holy man who was present : " Father Avila, the only 
 thing which remains to be done is for your Reverence 
 to give the people a good exhortation how they ought 
 to behave in accompanying our Lord." The holy man 
 ascended the pulpit, and though wholly unprepared, 
 spoke of that Mystery in words so sublime and full of 
 such thrilling earnestness, that the large audience, 
 seized with sudden compunction, burst into tears, and 
 then passed out to accompany the Blessed Sacrament, 
 with a contrition and recollection which would well 
 have become a penitential procession. 
 
 In order to add a more joyful character to this 
 devotion, he caused the hymns used by the Church in 
 honour of the Blessed Sacrament, such as the Pange 
 Lingua, the Sacris Solemniis, and others, to be translated 
 into Castilian, and directed them to be sung in the 
 procession by choirs of children dressed as angels, so 
 
 K 
 
146 DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 that while their senses were gratified, the minds of the 
 people were raised to the perception and love of that 
 ineffable Mystery. 
 
 He awakened a like zeal in almost all the prelates 
 of Spain by the letters which he wrote, laying before 
 them, with all authority and force of reason, under 
 what strict obligation they were, and how great was 
 the merit they would obtain before God, if they could 
 abolish the many profanities from the holy processions, 
 and thus prevent the committing of such a number of 
 sins. And indeed God blessed with happy results the 
 pious intentions and labours of His servant. On 
 account of the esteem in which he was held by all, 
 his representations had such weight that the bishops 
 left no means of supporting him untried, and the holy 
 man had the satisfaction of beholding the change 
 effected throughout whole dioceses, and thus a consider- 
 able part of Spain acknowledges itself indebted to him 
 for that fervour of devotion which was afterwards 
 manifested. 
 
 In order to increase in the clergy, and especially 
 amongst priests, a love and esteem for this Divine Food 
 of Life, he wrote to the highest ecclesiastics, requesting 
 their leave that the Office of the Blessed Sacrament 
 should be recited upon every Thursday, when there 
 was no impediment. To his care and zeal is principally 
 owing the re-establishment in those parts of the frequen- 
 tation of the sacraments, which had been almost 
 abandoned for a great length of time. He never lost 
 an opportunity of inculcating the propriety of frequently 
 receiving this Divine Food, and the rich blessings which 
 the soul desires therefrom. Although some of the 
 bishops, and other persons of note, opposed him in 
 this, as a novelty, and not to be allowed in the relaxa- 
 tion of habits which then prevailed, yet he never 
 desisted from his purpose both by writing and by word, 
 
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 147 
 
 urging with very learned arguments the justness of his 
 claims, and stating that the Church possessed no other 
 means more opportune and efficacious than these for 
 the reform of manners. 
 
 His eagerness, however, was never wanting in discre- 
 tion, as is expressly stated by that great spiritual master, 
 Father Luis of Granada, and also appears clearly from 
 various letters of Father Avila himself, which, besides 
 detailing the various delusions which readily mix 
 themselves up with this matter, prescribe rules of 
 highest prudence concerning the more or less frequent 
 use of this Heavenly Bread. He also inculcated, in 
 the pulpit and elsewhere, frequent reception of Holy 
 Communion, according to the intention of Jesus Christ 
 and the ancient practice of the Church, supported by 
 the Councils of the Fathers. Yet he never omitted to 
 instruct the people at the same time concerning the 
 dispositions necessary for approaching the holy altar. 
 " It seems to me," he says in one of his letters to a 
 preacher, "that no one should fix a precise limit as 
 regards the partaking of this Heavenly Food, since, 
 looking at the thing in itself, it is well to receive It 
 daily, if a person be daily prepared to receive It. The 
 whole point lies in securing that no mistake exists as 
 to the preparation ; or that a person imagines he is 
 sufficiently prepared when he is not." And again : 
 " Those are mistaken, who imagine that it suffices to 
 have a languid desire to communicate, founded rather 
 on the habit which they have formed than on any other 
 motive. The fault consists in not having regard to 
 the profit received from Holy Communion, which is the 
 true sign of a good Communion." 
 
 To another director of souls he writes : " I exhort 
 you not to admit the reception of this Divine Food so 
 readily, but have regard to the state of the conscience 
 of each one and dispense it accordingly. Warn them 
 
148 DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 that if this banquet is a pleasure to them, it must cost 
 them something, and that is amendment of life ; that 
 if they are living carelessly, they do not deserve to 
 taste this Food, which is prepared only for those who 
 strive to resist their passions and to mortify their self- 
 will. The words of the Apostle concerning material 
 bread, being still more applicable to this Spiritual 
 Food : ' If any man will not work, neither let him 
 eat.'" 1 
 
 Again, in another letter to a preacher, speaking of 
 those under his spiritual direction, he advises : " Do 
 not give them a loose rein, to communicate as often 
 as they please, for many people communicate lightly, 
 and not out of true reverence and devotion ; such 
 persons derive no profit from Communion. Keep them 
 in a profound humility ; cause them to desire this 
 Heavenly Bread, and to feel themselves most unworthy 
 of it. Let them learn that, in payment for this Food, 
 they must render to God some service, either in 
 repressing some passion each day, or in performing 
 some other act to correspond with each Communion." 
 
 In one of the above mentioned letters he remarks : 
 " There are some who, though they do not appear to 
 profit by Communion, draw from it this amount of good, 
 they do not turn back, nor relapse into the faults which 
 they are wont to fall into when they do not communicate. 
 For such men, frequent Communion is beneficial, since 
 it is no slight gain to diminish the number of falls. 
 Others there are, who, though they neither advance 
 in virtue, nor avoid sins, do not cease to communicate 
 frequently. You should inculcate upon the latter, what 
 a dreadful thing it is to take this Divine fire into their 
 breast, and not to burn ; to taste this Heavenly Manna, 
 and not relish Its sweetness ; to make use of this 
 powerful medicine, and yet remain sick. You should 
 1 2 Thess. iii. 10. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 149 
 
 deprive them of it, as idle persons, in order that, 
 grieved at seeing themselves deprived of so great a 
 good, they may learn to value it, and dispose them- 
 selves for it by more suitable preparation, such as 
 mortification, &c." Thus does he speak and write in 
 all his works. 
 
 Lastly, so deep was his love for this adorable 
 Mystery, that he chose it as his particular device and 
 armorial bearings, sealing his letters with the impression 
 of it. Thus ingenious is love in seeking out fresh 
 inventions to add fuel to its flame. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HIS HIGH ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY, 
 AND HIS GREAT LABOURS FOR THE TRAINING OF 
 PERFECT PRIESTS. 
 
 From the description which has been given of Father 
 Avila's tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the 
 altar, and of the extraordinary reverence with which he 
 offered the Holy Sacrifice, may be inferred his high 
 esteem for the dignity of the Christian priesthood ; but 
 we must now give some account of his laborious efforts 
 for the training of perfect priests. 
 
 He used to call priests, shrines of God, and mediators of 
 peace between heaven and earth. He was amazed at himself, 
 for ever having been bold enough to accept this dignity, 
 the befitting maintenance of which requires a purity of 
 heart little short of the angelical. Hence came his 
 constant dissatisfaction with himself and with the 
 tenour of his life, although it was so perfect, for he 
 regarded himself as a sacred vessel devoted to the 
 service of the sanctuary, which therefore could not 
 be profaned without very grave sacrilege. The earnest 
 endeavours which he made to advance daily in holy 
 virtue and in the path of perfection, were in him no 
 arbitrary fancy or work of supererogation, but of the 
 most strict obligation and indispensable to his character, 
 so that he could not omit them without being faithless 
 to it. 
 
 He always endeavoured to instil this esteem and 
 
ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. 151 
 
 respect into those who were already priests, or who 
 aspired to that office, reminding them of their high 
 dignity, surpassing that of any temporal monarch, and 
 of the strict obligation under which they lay, to lead a 
 life corresponding with their holy state. Having been 
 consulted by a young man as to his embracing the 
 priestly office, he wrote a long letter, exhorting him to 
 abandon a project, " too perilous to the soul," as he 
 describes it, " since it is given to so few to acquire the 
 perfection requisite for that dignity. And," he adds, 
 "believe me, dear brother, it is the devil himself who 
 in our days has led some into such pride and pre- 
 sumption, as to endeavour to obtain for themselves thus 
 boldly so great a dignity, in order that, having raised 
 them by this path to the loftiest pinnacles of the temple, 
 he may all the more easily cast them down." 
 
 To another, who asked his advice upon this subject, 
 he writes in similar terms: "Oh! if you only knew, dear 
 brother, what a priest ought to be, and how strict an 
 account he will have to render to God on quitting this 
 life ! Words cannot express the high perfection 
 requisite for the exercise of the office of opening and 
 shutting Heaven with the tongue, and of causing, at a 
 sign from it, the Creator of all things to descend to 
 earth. Many take upon themselves this office in order 
 to obtain a maintenance. Oh ! grievous abuse ! To offer 
 Sacrifice in order to eat ! To make Heaven serve earth, 
 and employ the Food of the soul to satisfy the body." 
 
 A single Mass to be answered for by any priest at 
 the Divine tribunal, was, in his opinion, a terrible charge. 
 A priest of rare probity had died in Baeza, and had 
 ordered, by will, that a great number of Masses should 
 be said for his soul. Upon hearing this, the Bishop of 
 Jaen took counsel of Father Avila whether, considering 
 the holy life of the deceased, it would not be more 
 suitable to divide the money destined for that purpose 
 
152 ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. 
 
 amongst the poor, of whom there was a large number 
 in great need. After imploring light from Heaven, and 
 taking due time for mature consideration, the holy man 
 gave it as his opinion that the Masses ought to be said, 
 giving as a reason the fact that the deceased man was a 
 priest, who would therefore have a large account to 
 render to eternal justice. 
 
 Another priest named Laurence Garcia, died in 
 Montilla, with a great reputation for sanctity. The 
 news was brought in these terms to Father Avila, 
 who had been acquainted with him: "Be it known 
 to your Reverence that good Laurence Garcia has 
 ceased to live, and that it is exactly a year to-day since 
 he said his first Mass." " What ? " he replied, with 
 an air of wonder, " Garcia has been a priest a whole 
 year ? Serious indeed is the account which he will have 
 to render to God ! Let us go to pray for his soul, and 
 entreat the Divine Majesty to give us grace, that we 
 may render a good account of the many years that we 
 have unworthily borne this character." So saying, he 
 withdrew in order to pray. 
 
 For this reason, when he felt that he was dying, 
 Father Avila being asked by the Marchioness of Priego 
 whether he stood in need of anything, replied, filled with 
 holy fear at the thought of the many years of his priest- 
 hood : " Madam, I am in deep need of Masses, and if 
 you wish to do me a charity, have many said for me 
 and quickly." This sentiment, coming from the mouth 
 and from the heart of a man so holy and so rich in 
 merits, may well strike terror into many priests who, 
 with the same obligations as Father Avila, lead a life 
 the direct opposite to his. 
 
 He neither spoke, nor wrote to any priest, without 
 inculcating as efficaciously as possible, the necessity of 
 serious preparation for such a tremendous Sacrifice. 
 " The first rule to be observed, " he writes to one, " is 
 
ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. 153 
 
 to recall to mind upon waking in the morning, the 
 words : Ecce Sponsus venit, exite obviam ei. As one about 
 to entertain a friend is busied therewith, especially if it 
 be a high personage ; how much more reasonable it is 
 that the thought of receiving the great God, before 
 whom even the angels in Paradise tremble, should 
 occupy all your thoughts and cares. Be amazed that 
 so filthy a worm should be admitted to this close 
 intercourse, and receive his God within him. Ask 
 Him, who has induced Him to descend into the hands 
 of so grievous a sinner, and caused Him to enter a 
 stable more mean and sordid than that of Bethlehem. 
 Remember St. Peter, who did not deem himself worthy 
 to be in the same ship as his Lord, and the Centurion 
 in the Gospel, who did not dare to aspire to receive 
 Him into his house. Consider how much this act 
 resembles that of the Eternal Father, when He sent 
 His Divine Son upon earth to become Man, and to take 
 human flesh in the chaste womb of Mary." After 
 various other considerations, he adds, " Call to mind 
 particularly the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, 
 and inform Him of your gratitude for a blessing which 
 infinitely surpasses your deserts. Show Him all your 
 weaknesses and passions, as a sick person displays his 
 wounds to a physician in order to obtain a remedy. 
 Offer to the Eternal Father His Divine Son, as a victim 
 of propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Ask 
 Him for a knowledge of yourself, and for a spark of that 
 ineffable charity with which His Divine Son gave 
 Himself to us, with all His infinite treasures. Have 
 recourse to the great Mother of God, beseeching her, by 
 the joy which she had in the Divine Incarnation, to 
 obtain for you the grace to treat her Son well, who is 
 shortly to descend into your hands." 
 
 To another priest he writes thus : " The first thing 
 to be remembered is, that the Lord with whom we have 
 
154 ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. 
 
 to deal, is both God and Man. Engrave these words 
 deeply upon your heart : I am about to cause Jesus 
 Christ to descend from Heaven, and to receive Him 
 within my breast . . . Who would not burn with love, 
 if he were to consider the great blessing which he is 
 about to receive ? Who would not tremble with awe 
 before Him, in presence of whom the heavenly powers 
 tremble ? Who would not trust, when he holds in his 
 hands such a pledge ? O God, what ought to be the 
 sentiments of one, having in his hands and in his breast 
 Him whom the great Mother of God conceived in her 
 womb ? Compare yourself with our Lady, and the 
 greeting she gave- Him with your treatment of Him, 
 and be confounded." 
 
 In speaking afterwards of the suitable employment 
 of the time after the conclusion of the Holy Sacrifice, 
 he says: "Listen to the Divine Guest, who says to you: 
 Scitis quid fecerim vobis ? Oh, if you ever attained to the 
 knowledge of what our Lord has done for you during 
 Mass ! If any one could but taste Him with the palate 
 of the soul ! if one had a just balance wherein to weigh 
 His merits ! how blessed he would be even here on 
 earth ! and the sight of all earthly things would be to 
 him but weariness and annoyance." This and much 
 more is contained in his letters, and in his two treatises 
 upon the great dignity of the priesthood — teaching, 
 which may be called a distillation of heavenly wisdom, 
 and has availed for the amendment of many priests, and 
 for the sanctification of large numbers of the clergy. 
 
 Besides this inward fervour of spirit, with no less 
 earnestness did he inculcate upon priests exterior 
 decorum in their whole style and behaviour ; and when 
 he happened to see any of them profane that Most Holy 
 Mystery by irreverence, it brought tears into his eyes. 
 Having chanced to observe one morning that a priest in 
 celebrating Mass, made the sign of the Cross too rapidly 
 
ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. : 53 
 
 over the Sacred Host, he could not contain himself, but 
 approaching him quietly, as if to arrange a candle, he 
 said to him, " My brother, treat Him well, for He is 
 the Son of the good Father." At the end of Mass, 
 having taken the priest apart, he gently admonished him 
 to bear himself towards those Most Holy Mysteries 
 more reverentially ; and the other, having taken this 
 humble and discreet correction in good part, expressed 
 his sorrow, and promised immediate and sincere amend- 
 ment. 
 
 Having these principles so much at heart and con- 
 vinced of their importance, he made the sanctification 
 of the priests his chief care wherever he went to 
 exercise the apostolic ministry. He gave them special 
 instructions daily, held lengthy spiritual conferences 
 with them, exhorted them to be men of prayer, well 
 skilled in all holy doctrine, and urged them to excite 
 within themselves an ardent desire to save souls. He 
 would often remark on this subject : " How few are the 
 pious mothers who, in imitation of the widow of Nain, 
 weep for their dead sons." 
 
 The Servant of God employed even greater care in 
 perfecting such priests as, having once become his 
 disciples, never abandoned his teaching. It will be 
 enough to say that these made such progress in virtue 
 and zeal, that he did not hesitate to admit them to a 
 share in his apostolate. Upon hearing in Cordova, that 
 various populations in remote parts, and especially in 
 the Moorish hills, were living, for want of priests, in 
 complete ignorance of the Divine mysteries, and, as a 
 natural consequence of decay of faith, had abandoned 
 themselves to every vice ; he chose out of his disciples 
 twenty-four of the most prudent and fervent priests, 
 and sent them forth two by two, barefoot, badly 
 clothed, and without any worldly provision, like the 
 Apostles, that they might sanctify those lost districts. 
 
156 ESTEEM FOR THE SACERDOTAL DIGNITY. 
 
 They did not return until they had spent many weeks 
 in traversing vast tracts of country, bringing numberless 
 sinners to penance, and together with faith, causing 
 piety and good manners also to flourish again. The 
 harvest was so abundant, that the fame of it was 
 published throughout Spain. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HIS DEEP HUMILITY, AND THE OTHER VIRTUES 
 CONNECTED WITH IT 
 
 To dazzle others by the splendour of glorious actions, 
 and not to be in some degree dazzled oneself; to extort 
 from others expressions of honour and esteem, and to 
 deem oneself worthy of nothing but contempt ; to be 
 reputed a saint by all, yet to consider oneself a grievous 
 sinner: this is, in the opinion of St. Bernard, a humility 
 as heroic and sublime as it is rare and difficult to 
 practise. The humility of the holy Master John of 
 Avila was of this character, it was dearer to him than 
 any other virtue, and he flattered himself that by it, as 
 by a thick veil, he could hide from the world the rich 
 gifts with which he was so fully adorned. But he was 
 mistaken, for it was precisely this virtue which, as a 
 background does to gold, brought out his other virtues 
 into greater relief and shed a stronger light upon 
 them. 
 
 We have already said something of the high esteem 
 in which he was held throughout Europe. He was 
 reputed one of the most eminently hoi)' men which the 
 Church possessed in those days ; he was listened to 
 with admiration from the pulpit as another St. Paul, 
 consulted as an oracle by the most renowned theo- 
 logians, by magistrates, bishops, monarchs, and even 
 by the Vicars of Jesus Christ, and called by common 
 consent the Apostle of Spain ; yet he thought so 
 
158 DEEP HUMILITY. 
 
 humbly of himself, that he considered himself the 
 vilest object in the world, and in truth marvelled how 
 God could have tolerated him so long upon the earth, 
 seeing that he was so hateful an object in himself. The 
 honours which he received only served to render him 
 more deeply ashamed and to place him in a state of 
 consternation. Philip II. having nominated him to the 
 bishopric of Segovia, and afterwards to the arch- 
 bishopric of Granada, and Pope Paul IV. having offered 
 to raise him to the purple, he not only refused these 
 brilliant offers with invincible fortitude, but, horrified 
 at himself, often repeated : " A fine thing this is. What 
 a consummate hypocrite I must be to succeed in 
 deceiving all : if they knew what I really am, instead 
 of seeking me, they would flee from me." Actuated by 
 the same mean opinion of himself, he refused an invi- 
 tation to the Court given him by King Philip II., who 
 desired to avail himself of his counsel, concealing his 
 humility beneath the plea of those habitual infirmities, 
 which were so dear to him on that very account. 
 
 Was there, on the other hand, some affront or 
 humiliation to be endured, as when certain wicked men 
 iniquitously calumniated him before the tribunal of the 
 Inquisition, or when he was often insolently assailed 
 and severely beaten, so far from resenting it, or seeking 
 compensation, his heart was filled with joy, and he used 
 to say: "Now they recognize me for what I am and 
 treat me as I deserve." In order to confirm others in 
 this opinion he was wont to remark: "What great 
 mercy God has shown towards me, in causing me to be 
 born of humble parentage ; otherwise who could have 
 borne with me ? " When asked to assist criminals con- 
 demned to die by the hand of justice, he replied : " Let 
 us go to see what we also should have been, had not 
 God's restraining hand held us in the beginning." From 
 this profound humility proceeded those fears for his 
 
DEEP HUMILITY. 139 
 
 everlasting salvation, which often, and especially 
 towards the close of his life, distressed his heart, and 
 suggested to him in this extremity sentiments befitting 
 the holy man that he was. " Ah, dear Father," he 
 would say, all trembling and full of confusion, " if you 
 care for my soul, suggest to me those acts which you 
 are accustomed to suggest to those who are about to be 
 executed, for of such I too have sore need." 
 
 All the inclination of his heart, or to speak more 
 truly, the one great aim of his humility, was to instruct 
 children, and the commonest workmen in the squares, 
 and in country places the roughest and most neglected 
 peasants. The hospitals also, and the prisons, were 
 to him gardens of delight, the cultivation of which 
 was all the dearer to him, because it involved the whole 
 burden of the apostolate without any of its honour. 
 When obliged to engage in matters of greater dis- 
 tinction, and to deal with persons in high places, he 
 did this with the utmost ardour, persuaded that this 
 was God's will for him, yet it cost him a great effort, 
 and did painful violence to his humility. 
 
 In his frequent visits to the Novitiate of the Society 
 of Jesus in Montilla, though aged, and far advanced 
 in perfection, it was his delight to converse on holy 
 subjects with the young novices, protesting that he 
 derived no little profit thereby for his soul. 
 
 Like holy Job, he feared at his every act, however 
 trifling ; and never performed any without a previous 
 strict examination, saying that the time is well spent 
 which a person devotes to knowing and rebuking 
 himself, and that we never walk more securely in God's 
 way, than when we are most dissatisfied with self. 
 
 From this absence of self-esteem sprang that entire 
 dependence upon the Roman Pontiff, and all other 
 Superiors, whom he considered himself bound to serve, 
 not moving a step, unless he had received an express 
 
160 DEEP HUMILITY. 
 
 command from them. This was the ruling principle of 
 his conduct, and his truest comfort under all circum- 
 stances, however untoward they might be : " Because," 
 as he said, "things are better thus, even for self-love, 
 for it spares me the trouble of seeking means to please 
 God ; one incurs fewer risks, one labours with more 
 merit, and one goes to Heaven carried upward, as it 
 were, by the chariot of obedience." 
 
 This same humility induced the holy man to deprive 
 himself of all that he could hope for in this world. Not 
 content with having distributed his patrimony to the 
 poor, when he commenced his apostolic work, retaining 
 for himself merely two simple suits of clothes and a few 
 books ; he would never allow himself to be treated 
 otherwise than in accordance with his poverty, refusing 
 lucrative canonries, rich prebends, and generous dona- 
 tions. Many rich persons gave him large sums of 
 money to be disposed of as he chose, and he used 
 always to answer : " I will be your almoner, for as to 
 myself, I seek your souls, and not your possessions." 
 The whole of what he received went in relief of the 
 indigent. 
 
 His food, clothing, and dwelling, were at all times 
 and in every case similar to those of the poor. His 
 table was supplied with bread, raw and ill-seasoned 
 herbs, and a little fruit. When, upon grand occasions, 
 he treated himself somewhat more liberally, a little milk 
 was added, but never anything cooked by fire. Although 
 he valued cleanliness in dress, and used to say that 
 health and civilization walk hand in hand ; his clothes 
 were generally worn and ragged, so that they scarcely 
 hung together. When urged to replace them, he 
 answered, jokingly: " I cannot do so, they have served 
 me so well hitherto, that I have not the heart to discard 
 them." Neither did the stratagems of the Marchioness 
 of Priego and the Archbishop of Granada, Don Pedro 
 
DEEP HUMILITY. 161 
 
 Guerraro, avail, who, having detained him all night in 
 their palace, under some pretext, had them secretly 
 changed for new ones. He no sooner perceived this 
 loving device than he wept and entreated so earnestly, 
 that he obtained the restitution of his old ones. 
 
 When invited by Archbishops and Bishops and by 
 the lords of Priego to preach in the towns and districts 
 under their jurisdiction, he would never accept their 
 pressing invitations to lodge in their palaces, but con- 
 tented himself with a small house contiguous to theirs, 
 in company with some good priest. Wherever he 
 lodged the furniture of his apartment consisted of a 
 poor bed, a crucifix, a table, a chair, and little else. It 
 always remained imprinted on his memory, that Jesus 
 Christ lived and died poor, and, six years before his 
 death, he stripped himself of the few things which he 
 possessed, handing them over, by written donation, to 
 one of his disciples. 
 
 To his deep humility mus.t also be attributed his 
 constantly severe treatment of himself, as long as 
 health and strength permitted. He used to call humility 
 and penance sister virtues, which gladly go hand in 
 hand, it being the office of the former to detect faults 
 and of the latter to punish them. Hence, although during 
 the whole course of his life, the holy man had pre- 
 served untarnished the beautiful flower of his virginal 
 purity, and is not known to have ever lost his baptismal 
 innocence ; nevertheless, convinced, in his humility, 
 that he was a great sinner, and taking no account of 
 the arduous and unceasing labours indispensably con- 
 nected with his ministry and the severe sufferings 
 which he frequently endured, together with the bitter 
 persecutions excited against him by men and devils ; 
 he used his body so harshly as to arouse compassion 
 and cause a holy envy in the most fervent penitents. 
 
 Throughout the whole course of his apostolate he 
 
 L 
 
i6z DEEP HUMILITY. 
 
 never tasted meat, except when sick: during Lent, and 
 at other times when engaged in preaching, he would not 
 grant this indulgence to his infirmities, being convinced 
 that to eat meat himself, ill accords with preaching 
 abstinence to others. His underclothing consisted of 
 rough hair-cloth, which enveloped the whole body : he 
 took the discipline daily, so as to draw blood. He 
 fasted rigorously upon all Thursdays and Fridays, and 
 in addition used a bed made of a heap of dry twigs 
 spread upon the bare ground ; he adopted various other 
 extraordinary mortifications which the ingenuity of his 
 charity invented from time to time, being anxious to 
 offer to God some reparation for the grievous outrages 
 which He continually received from men. 
 
 Yet it must not be imagined that this humility and 
 perfect absence of self-esteem rendered the holy man 
 either backward in acting or less resolute in encounter- 
 ing any danger, when the honour of God and his 
 neighbours' good required it. As our whole activity 
 in doing good proceeds from grace, which God dis- 
 penses in greater abundance to the humble, so in pro- 
 portion as he plunged more deeply into the knowledge 
 of his own nothingness, he experienced an increase in 
 mental vigour, which rendered him indefatigable and 
 greedy of further toil, exclaiming with His beloved 
 Apostle St. Paul : " I can do all things in Him who 
 strengthened me." 1 
 
 Hence, though his body was exhausted and con- 
 sumed by those habitual infirmities which were a long 
 martyrdom, and by his own harsh treatment of it, 
 nevertheless he obliged it to conquer its sufferings and 
 further the holy designs of his fervent spirit, so that he 
 alone effected more than ten other labourers would have 
 done. Constrained to endure all kinds of contradic- 
 tions, from men and from devils, despised, calumniated, 
 
 1 Philipp. iv. 13. 
 
DEEP HUMILITY. 163 
 
 and beaten, he never hesitated nor lost courage, nor 
 ever yielded an inch, but gaining ground, as it were, 
 step by step, made steady advance, until he routed his 
 enemies and remained master of the field. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HE SUFFERS FROM CONSTANT SICKNESS DURING THE 
 LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS OF HIS LIFE. HIS HOLY 
 DEATH. THE HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS 
 HELD BY THE BEST MEN OF HIS TIME. 
 
 Although our self-love inclines us to regard corporal 
 infirmities as a heavy burden attached to the blessing 
 of life, a debt which is always paid unwillingly, and 
 through constraint ; not the less are they, especially 
 to the friends of God, a precious gift by which He 
 rewards their faithful service, purifies their spirit from 
 every earthly affection, that it may become more 
 enamoured with heavenly riches, and gives them 
 therein abundant matter for practising every virtue, 
 and weaving for themselves a richer crown of glory. 
 Father Avila regarded in this light the many and 
 painful diseases, by means of which his good God 
 admitted him to a share of His cross. 
 
 His indefatigable mental application, the frequent 
 mishaps in his journeys, his long and energetic preach- 
 ing, and habitual ill-treatment of his body, in short 
 the labours and exertions of an apostolate of more 
 than twenty-five years, gradually reduced him to such 
 a condition that, in spite of his vigorous spirit, his 
 body was so weakened as to make it no exaggeration 
 to call him during the last seventeen years of his 
 life, virum dolorum et scientem infirmitatem ; seeing that 
 every part of him was racked with its own peculiar 
 
HE SUFFERS FROM CONSTANT SICKNESS. 165 
 
 torment. He suffered agonies from indigestion, had 
 acute pains in the side, constant attacks of catarrh, 
 great oppression in his chest, besides a discharge from 
 the eyes so continuous and virulent as almost to 
 deprive him of sight, while frequent returns of gout 
 made havoc of his limbs. More trying to him, however, 
 than any other pain, were the violent attacks of fever, 
 during the height of which, lasting generally for six 
 hours, he lost the use of his senses, and was incapable 
 of anything except simple endurance. 
 
 Under this martyrdom of pain in every part, his 
 heroic patience and tranquillity of mind were the 
 admiration of all in Montilla, and of such as came to 
 visit him. He never uttered a complaint, nor showed 
 any irritation or weariness in his sufferings ; and during 
 all those years he never asked God to remove this 
 heavy cross from him. With a countenance ever calm 
 and cheerful, and with a heart tranquil and full of 
 confidence, he kissed the hand that smote him, and 
 accepted his sufferings as so many pledges of God's 
 love. When his pains became more intense he would 
 only exclaim : " Oh, my God, if it please Thee, strike, 
 but hold me firmly, that I may not slip from Thy 
 grasp : Auge dolorem sed auge patientiam." One night, 
 having been seized with acute spasms, which he feared 
 he had not strength enough to endure, he asked God 
 to mitigate them somewhat ; and received such con- 
 solation from his loving Lord, as to obtain several 
 hours' respite. But, reflecting upon this in the morning, 
 he said to one of his disciples, " What a rebuff God 
 gave me last night, He has shown me how weak I am, 
 and unwilling to carry the cross." 
 
 To an inquiry as to his state of health, he once 
 answered: "It is very bad, seeing how weak I am, 
 for were it otherwise, God would not relieve me of my 
 sufferings so speedily." A Religious having told him 
 
166 HE SUFFERS FROM CONSTANT SICKNESS. 
 
 one morning that he had had a bad night, he asked 
 what had been the cause, and when the other replied 
 that it was the acute pain which he had been suffering ; 
 " Ah, if that be so," said Father Avila, "your Reverence 
 would speak more correctly, if you were to say that you 
 had had an excellent night." On another occasion, 
 when compassionated in his sufferings, on account of 
 the loss to the public of the benefit of his preaching, 
 " My dear sir," he remarked, " God is no less admir- 
 able in His dealing with an invalid chained to his bed, 
 than He is with a preacher in the pulpit." 
 
 Whenever his sufferings allowed him a brief rest, 
 he immediately resumed his labours, being always full 
 of anxiety to benefit all, and to inflame all with the fire 
 of Divine love. When it became generally known that 
 the Servant of God was to preach that day, it was 
 wonderful to observe the commotion in the whole city, 
 one person inviting another to come and hear Father 
 Avila, till in a few minutes the church was filled. He 
 received all who came to him about their soul's 
 interests, comforting each one with the same kindness 
 and tenderness of heart as of old, without the slightest 
 sign of weariness or annoyance. At the same time, 
 he wrote or dictated a great number of letters to all 
 classes of persons, full of heavenly wisdom and holy 
 advice. Indeed many remarked that the letters which 
 were dictated by him when sick had in them a singular 
 force and spiritual unction. 
 
 In proportion as his illness rendered him daily more 
 incapable of sanctifying others by his labours, so much 
 the more did he converse with God, spending almost 
 the whole night and day in sweet intercourse with Him. 
 Having almost reached the age of seventy, and the 
 house of his body being already in ruins, through the 
 shocks which it had undergone, he thought only of his 
 imminent journey to the house of eternity. His 
 
HE SUFFERS FROM CONSTANT SICKNESS. 167 
 
 thoughts, desires, and conversation, were all of that 
 blessed land, of the glory of the saints, and of the 
 unspeakable felicity which they enjoy in beholding with 
 open face their highest good ; the bitterness of his 
 present pains he sweetened with the sure hope of 
 speedily sharing in their joy. 
 
 He was not disappointed, for, at the commencement 
 of the year 1569, his strength was so sensibly diminished, 
 that it was clearly seen he had only a short time to live. 
 New maladies were added to his former ones, including 
 extreme pain in the liver and in the loins, which, 
 spreading upwards, and increasing in violence, attacked 
 the whole of the left side ; God thus disposing, that, 
 as he had lived upon the cross for so many years with 
 His Divine Son, he should also die upon the cross 
 with Him. He passed the whole of April in this state, 
 as it were in a constant agony, ever dying, and yet not 
 ceasing to live ; but on the 8th of May there were evident 
 indications that death was approaching. The physician 
 having come to examine the progress of the disease, 
 declared him to be dying, and said to him, " Father 
 Avila, it is now time for friends to tell the truth. The 
 good God wishes to have you, that He may give you 
 the reward corresponding to your many merits." At 
 this announcement, looking up into Heaven, and then 
 fixing his eyes upon a picture of his dear Mother Mary, 
 he poured forth his whole soul into the prayer, Recordare, 
 Virgo Mater, dwm steteris in conspectu Dei, ut loquaris pro 
 nobis bona. He expressed a wish to make his confession 
 immediately, and to receive the Holy Viaticum, begging 
 them several times, with holy impatience, to bring him 
 his Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 At the news of his dangerous state, the Marchioness 
 of Priego, oppressed with grief for the great loss which 
 was impending her, hastened to his house, to ensure 
 by her authority and vigilance that nothing should be 
 
168 HIS HOLY DEATH. 
 
 wanting to him in his extremity. Thither came also, 
 all the Fathers from the College of the Society, though 
 it would be hard to say whether their object was to 
 assist him in dying, or to learn from his example how 
 precious is the death of the just. When his Lord 
 entered his room, his heart went forth to meet Him, 
 his strength seemed to revive, and he exclaimed, with a 
 beaming countenance, " Come, come, Lord." Being 
 asked by Father Villaras to say something for the 
 instruction and edification of the bystanders before 
 communicating, he replied : " What good thing can I 
 say, except that this loving Lord has descended from 
 Heaven to earth to be the remedy, salvation, and 
 consolation of contrite sinners ? I am one of these, and 
 therefore I pray our Lord that out of charity He may 
 be given to me." An answer which drew tears from all 
 present. 
 
 Invigorated by the bread of the strong, and having 
 gained strength for the journey he was about to make, 
 he asked anxiously for Extreme Unction. When told 
 that there was time enough, he said, " No, there is no 
 time to lose : I wish to receive it while I am capable of 
 seeing and hearing what is done and said in that holy 
 function." Afterwards when asked by the Marchioness 
 of Priego what his wishes were as regards his burial, he 
 replied, that he wished to be interred in the church of the 
 Fathers of the Society of Jesus, not being willing to be separated 
 even in death, from those whom he had loved and esteemed so 
 highly in life. 
 
 One or other of the Fathers who stood round the 
 bed of the dying man, suggested to him various 
 ejaculations taken from the Holy Scripture, and other 
 sentiments suitable for one of his holiness and learning. 
 The Servant of God, entering into himself, with the 
 deepest humility, implored them, with his hands clasped 
 in act of entreaty : " Oh, my beloved Fathers, suggest to 
 
HIS HOLY DEATH. 169 
 
 me the acts which you are accustomed to suggest to 
 those about to die by the hand of justice in punishment 
 for their misdeeds." One of the Fathers replied: 
 " Upon such occasions we remind them frequently of 
 Divine mercy, and exhort them to trust in the merits of 
 Jesus Christ." " Oh," said the dying man, " Speak to 
 me a great deal of that." 
 
 Having been asked by the same Father whether his 
 conscience was at peace, he replied : " For whom has 
 God made Heaven, if not for penitent sinners?" 
 " But, your Reverence," rejoined the Father Rector, 
 " must now draw great consolation from all the good 
 that you have done for God's glory, and for the salvation 
 of souls." " Anything but consolation," replied the 
 humble Servant of God, " I experience instead a 
 grievous fear which is justly caused me by my sins." 
 That he felt this truly in his own heart was evident, 
 when, being asked by the Marchioness of Priego 
 whether he needed anything, he said, " Madam, out of 
 your charity, when I am dead have many Masses said 
 for me, and quickly." 
 
 Yet this fear in no wise diminished the firm conviction 
 which he always had, that he should go to behold God 
 speedily. It was indeed this hope which ever encouraged 
 him to endure joyfully his long and acute sufferings, so 
 that as they daily became more severe, he used to say : 
 " Oh, my God, it is well thus." When he was almost in 
 his agony, Father Villaras prepared to offer the Holy 
 Sacrifice in order to obtain from God especial strength 
 and help for him during the last decisive battle of life. 
 Having been asked what Mass he would prefer to be 
 said, he named without hesitation the votive Mass for the 
 Resurrection of Jesus Christ, that being the foundation 
 of all his hopes. 
 
 Before entering upon the final struggle, he showed 
 some signs of inward perturbation, during which, 
 
170 HIS HOLY DEATH. 
 
 without speaking, he kept his eyes immovably fixed upon 
 an Ecu Homo. Then, quickly regaining his serenity, he 
 said, " Thank God, I have no further trouble now." 
 The last recommendation of the soul being made in the 
 accustomed prayers of the Church, he responded with a 
 loud and clear voice ; taking his crucifix in his hand, he 
 pressed it tenderly to his breast, exclaiming several 
 times : " My God, I commit my soul to Thee, which 
 Thou hast redeemed with Thy Most Precious Blood." 
 After these words, invoking with his dying breath the 
 names of Jesus and Mary, amidst the tears of all 
 around him, on the ioth of May, 1569, in the seventieth 
 year of his age, and nearly the forty-fifth of his 
 apostolate, he ended his holy life, in osculo Domini. 
 
 No sooner was the death of the Servant of God 
 publicly known, than the whole town was in mourning 
 as though for some unexpected general calamity. 
 Persons recounted to each other the signal benefits 
 received from him, and all deplored the irreparable loss 
 which they had sustained. The people hastened to the 
 house of the deceased, to have at least the satisfaction 
 of beholding him once more, of kissing his hand, and 
 of carrying away some small article belonging to him, to 
 be retained as a precious relic. For this object, they 
 would even have ransacked his poor house, if the 
 magistrates had not made timely provision by setting 
 up strong barriers and placing an armed guard. 
 
 The bearing of his venerated body to the church of 
 the Society of Jesus, accompanied by a procession of 
 the whole clergy, secular and regular, wore the 
 appearance of a solemn triumph. So great was the 
 concourse of citizens, and visitors from the neighbouring 
 districts, that it was necessary to halt several times, 
 and force open a passage through the crowd on the way 
 to the church. At the conclusion of the obsequies, the 
 body having been enclosed in a coffin, was placed in a 
 
HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HELD. 171 
 
 niche formed for it in the side wall of the principal 
 chapel, belonging to the lords of the domain. An 
 inscription in praise of the deceased Father was placed 
 above it, and so remained for several years : until it was 
 transferred to a more precious urn of red jaspar, made 
 expressly, at the expense of Don Mateo Vasquez Leca, 
 Archdeacon of Carmona, Canon of Seville, who was 
 devoted to the Servant of God, and who highly esteemed 
 his virtues. 
 
 But the demonstrations of esteem in honour of 
 Father Avila did not end here. The room in which he 
 died soon came to be held in such veneration that it 
 was frequented by the devout almost like a public 
 sanctuary. St. Francis Borgia, who was then in Spain, 
 would enter it only upon his knees, and was never tired 
 of kissing the walls which had sheltered so holy a man. 
 His tomb, in like manner, became the most valued 
 treasure of Montilla, and a spot whence graces were 
 dispensed most abundantly to those who sought them. 
 His clothes, hair, letters, signatures, portraits, and 
 whatever else had belonged to him, were eagerly sought 
 and jealously preserved, not only by the common people, 
 but by princes, prelates, and monarchs. 
 
 Whilst men were paying these honours to the body 
 of the Servant of God upon earth, our Lord was 
 pleased to proclaim in various ways the glory which 
 that grand soul was enjoying in Heaven. Dona Agnes 
 de Hozes, a Religious of great virtue in Cordova, and 
 favoured by God with extraordinary graces, to whom 
 Father Avila had written many letters, was anxious to 
 know whether her holy director had gone straight to 
 Heaven without being detained in Purgatory, as she 
 felt persuaded that he had. There suddenly appeared 
 to her a beautiful youth, surrounded by dazzling light, 
 who, after uttering the words: "How could it be 
 otherwise with him ? " at once vanished. On another 
 
172 HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HELD. 
 
 occasion, after his death, the same nun, when in her 
 cell, saw Father Avila pass before her in his priestly 
 vestments, and heard him say, as he turned towards 
 her : " Sister, remember that you also will have some 
 day to take the same journey." 
 
 The Servant of God appeared one day to Mother 
 Constance of Avila, a nun far advanced in the path of 
 perfection, when she was agitated by a strong tempta- 
 tion to doubt of the immortality of the soul, and 
 encouraged her with the words : " Know, that I enjoy, 
 through Divine mercy, a share in the glory of Heaven. 
 You also will die at the time decreed, and we shall meet 
 in Paradise." Nor was this the only visit with which 
 the holy man favoured her ; for he twice returned to 
 thank her for having, out of regard to him, redeemed 
 at her own expense ten young girls who were groaning 
 under the harsh slavery of the Moors. 
 
 In 1589, on the feast of the Apostle St. Matthew, 
 the heavens were darkened over with clouds, and a 
 furious tempest burst upon Montilla, turning day into 
 night, so that the whole country seemed about to be 
 submerged. In the general consternation, a barefooted 
 friar began to adjure the clouds with the exorcisms 
 prescribed by the Church ; when suddenly there 
 appeared as if mocking him, a number of demons, 
 who cried out: "Why do you weary yourself? what 
 are you afraid of? Montilla is strong enough, and well 
 defended by walls." " No," replied the good Religious, 
 "she is weak, and without walls." To which they 
 made answer: "What wall is stronger than John of 
 Avila, who is buried in the church of the Jesuits ? Evil 
 would it be for Montilla if it had not such a wall for its 
 defence." 
 
 The esteem in which he was held by the chief 
 personages of that time, may be gathered from the 
 number who have written of him and of his heroic 
 
HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HELb. iji 
 
 deeds. The seraphic St. Teresa, the Carmelite, con- 
 trary to her wont, wept bitterly when the news of 
 Master Avila's death was brought to her at Toledo, 
 and being asked why she wept, since there was every 
 reason to believe that the Servant of God was already 
 in the glory of Heaven, she replied : " This I do not 
 doubt, but what troubles me is, that the Church of God 
 has lost a strong pillar, and many souls a powerful 
 support ; though living at a distance, I myself was 
 under great obligations to him." 
 
 St. Thomas of Villanova, Archbishop of Valencia, 
 declared that he knew no one, from the Apostles down- 
 wards, who had produced greater fruit in souls than 
 Master John of Avila. So great a pattern of penance, 
 and authority in mystical theology, as St. Peter of 
 Alcantara, after conversing several times with Father 
 Avila, declared that beyond a doubt all esteemed him 
 singularly able and skilful in understanding and direct- 
 ing spiritual matters. St. Francis of Sales, a Bishop 
 of eminent holiness and learning, in his Practice of the 
 Love of God, calls him the learned and saintly preacher of 
 Andalusia. St. Francis Borgia always spoke of him as 
 the great Master. The opinion of St. Ignatius, and the 
 expressions he used concerning him, have been already 
 mentioned. The Pontiff, Paul III., in a Bull dated 
 1540, describes him as : Virum sanctum, magistrum in 
 theologia, et verbi Dei praconem insignem. 
 
 The Venerable Father Luis of Granada, who has 
 been so often quoted, when writing the Life of this 
 great Servant of God, says that the virtues of this 
 apostolic man were too high and sublime for our mental 
 vision, and that to write of them as they deserved, one 
 must turn one's eyes from common objects, and raise 
 them to that band of renewed souls in whom, through 
 great mortification of the flesh, the Spirit of God reigns 
 supreme. Again, speaking as an eye-witness, he adds: 
 
174 HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HELD. 
 
 " I have observed in this Servant of God deep humility, 
 ardent charity, unquenchable zeal for the salvation of 
 souls, and constant diligence in winning them to God." 
 Fra Diego de Yepes, Bishop of Tarragona, and con- 
 fessor to King Philip II., in his Life of St. Teresa, 
 describes Father Avila as " well known in our time to 
 be an evangelical man, one of the most faithful and 
 zealous ministers which the Church of God has pro- 
 duced for many centuries." 
 
 Lastly, we find that all the men illustrious for 
 holiness and learning who flourished in his time, 
 whether secular or religious, conferred with him either 
 personally or in writing, concerning their spiritual state. 
 King Philip II. invited him several times to the Court 
 in order to obtain his advice : an honour which the 
 humble Servant of God always refused, under the just 
 pretext of ill-health. In short, there was no class of 
 persons that did not profess the highest veneration for 
 the holy man, and consider him, on account of his 
 heroic virtues, most worthy to be raised by the Vatican 
 to the honours of beatification. 
 
 Note. 
 
 The church of the Society in Montilla remains in 
 its old state, except that, having passed into the hands 
 of the Franciscans, it has been dedicated to their holy 
 Patriarch, and the Jesuit Saints have been replaced by 
 those of their own Order. 
 
 Shortly before their expulsion from Spain in the 
 last century, the Jesuits had commenced and made 
 some way in the erection of a finer church, and a 
 College better adapted for teaching. Part of this 
 building has now been converted into a theatre, and 
 the remaining portion into an inn. 
 
 The house in Montilla which was so long the abode 
 of Father Avila is still preserved, and in it is the small 
 
HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HE.Lt). 175 
 
 chapel where he used to say Mass and hear confessions. 
 It is now inhabited and taken care of by a chaplain, 
 but certain alterations have been made in the room 
 where the Father died. 
 
 The venerated remains of the Beatified, almost 
 untouched, are placed in the principal chapel of the 
 said church on the Gospel side, enclosed in a marble 
 tomb, which is surmounted by a bust, also of marble, 
 bearing on its front the two following inscriptions : 
 
 THIS TOMB CONTAINS THE BODY OF THE VENERABLE 
 FATHER, MASTER JOHN OF AVILA, APOSTOLIC PREACHER 
 OF ANDALUSIA. BORN JANUARY 6, I5OO. DIED MAY 10, 
 1569, AGED 69. 
 
 TRANSFERRED TO THIS PLACE IN THE YEAR 164I. 
 
 MAGISTRO JOANNI ABYL.E PATRI OPTIMO 
 
 VIRO INTEGKRRIMO DEIQUE AMANTISSIMO 
 
 FILII EJUS IN CHRISTO P. 
 
 MAGNI ABYL-E CINERES VENERABILIS OSSA MAGISTRI, 
 
 SALVETE EXTREMUM CONDITA AD USQUE DIEM. 
 
 SALVE, DIGNE PATER, PLENO CUI FLUMINB CCELUM. 
 
 AFFLUXIT ; LARGO CUI PLUIT IMBRE DEUS. 
 
 CCELI RORE SATUR QU.E MEUS TUA SEVERAT INTUS 
 
 MILLE DUPLO RETULIT FCENORE PINGUIS AGER. 
 
 QUAS TAGUS AC BCETIS QUAS SINGYLIS 1 ALLUIT ORAS 
 
 ORE TUO CHRISTUM BUCCINA PERSONUIT. 
 
 TE PATRII CIVES TE CONSULTURUS ADIBAT 
 
 ADVENA TU TERRIS NUMINIS INSTAR ERAS. 
 
 QUANTUM NITEBARIS HUMI REPTARE PUSILLUS 
 
 TANTUM PROVEXIT TE DEUS ASTRA SUPER. 
 
 JOANNES LECTORI. 
 
 ABYLA MI NOMEN : TERRA, HOSPITA : PATRIA CCELUM. 
 QU^RIS QUO FUNCTUS MUNERE ? MESSOR ERAM. 
 VENERAT AD CANOS FALX INDEFESSA SENILES 
 QU.E CHRISTO SEGETES MESSUIT INNUMERAS. 
 
 1 Est fluvius Boeticae, vernaculo sermone, Guadagenil, 6 Guadajenil. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HIS SUPERNATURAL GIFTS. MIRACULOUS FAVOURS 
 GRANTED BY GOD TO THE INTERCESSION OF HIS 
 SERVANT, BEFORE AND AFTER DEATH. 
 
 Though God, for His own good ends, has occasionally 
 been pleased to bestow even upon His enemies some of 
 those gifts which, inasmuch as they surpass the powers 
 of nature, are called by theologians gratia gratis data; 
 His intention usually is that these gifts should form 
 part simply of the equipage, so to speak, of His 
 servants, giving them all the more credit before the 
 eyes of the world. Hence, the Church, so wary and 
 so wise in her decisions, although convinced, after rigid 
 examination, of their heroic virtues, does not hesitate 
 to draw arguments from those gifts, as to whether or 
 not the honours of the altar should be decreed to them. 
 Now in the bestowal of such great gifts as these 
 our dear Lord was most liberal towards His faithful 
 servant. At one time, as we are told, an angel was 
 sent from Heaven to save his life ; at another, he was 
 seen clothed in dazzling light, and raised several 
 handbreadths from the ground. It was granted to 
 him to penetrate the most hidden secrets of the heart, 
 and to foresee future events. On one occasion our 
 Lord spoke to him through the lips of the Figure on 
 the Cross, assuring him of the pardon of his sins ; and 
 once more Jesus appeared to him bearing the cross 
 upon His shoulder and spoke familiarly to him. We 
 
SUPERNATURAL GIFTS. 177 
 
 need only add, on this last point, a few other favours 
 with which God was pleased to enrich him, together 
 with certain miraculous graces conferred for his sake 
 on such as had recourse to him in their necessities. 
 
 The district of Cordova had been afflicted for many- 
 months by a continuous drought, the sky was as bronze, 
 and the heavens yielded not a drop of water ; were this 
 state of things to last much longer the whole harvest 
 would be lost. In order to escape so great a calamity, 
 the magistrates were advised to have recourse, by a 
 fervent novena, to Mary, the great Mother of mercies 
 and true consoler of the afflicted. As a means of 
 rendering the act of general prayer more efficacious, 
 Father Avila was asked to preach, and most efficiently 
 did he do his part, urging with equal force and clearness 
 that the calamity was a chastisement for sin, and that 
 God would most certainly cease to scourge them if only 
 they should cease to offend Him. The audience was 
 seized with contrition, and with tears in their eyes, and 
 heartfelt sorrow of heart, they begged audibly for mercy 
 and pity ; at which point the holy preacher paused, 
 and then in words full of authority and tenderness, 
 bade them take courage, and lay aside their fears, for 
 that the harvest of this year would be abundant, and 
 on that very day the longed for rain would come ; this 
 he said though at that moment the bright heavens 
 above gave no indications of any change. The result 
 proved him right ; that same day it rained heavily, and 
 continued doing so for several days. The fields were 
 refreshed, and regaining their moisture, produced in 
 good time a rich and abundant harvest, as the Servant 
 of God had foretold. 
 
 Not less definite was the prophecy made by him to 
 Don Pedro Perez, an ecclesiastic of no ordinary 
 sanctity. The latter, having been offered the arch- 
 deaconry of Jaen, took counsel with Father Avila 
 
 M 
 
178 SUPERNATURAL GIFTS. 
 
 before accepting it, and he, after listening to him 
 quietly, said : " Accept it, for by that path God wishes 
 to sanctify you ; yet prepare yourself for the great 
 trials that await you." In the five years during which 
 Perez held that office, his trials were so many and 
 grievous that in the end he was obliged to resign it in 
 the hope of regaining his peace of mind. 
 
 Father Avila's next prediction was still more 
 remarkable. Amongst those under his direction was 
 James Perez, a young and newly ordained priest of rare 
 talent, who, with his full approbation, had devoted 
 himself to the apostolical ministry of preaching. Being 
 curious, like many beginners, to hear those older and 
 more experienced than himself, he went to Seville, 
 where Dr. Constantine, an orator famed throughout 
 Spain, was preaching in one of the principal churches. 
 After listening to him, he was much pleased, and 
 praised highly his sermon on the Passion of Jesus 
 Christ, for its great fervour and impressiveness with 
 the people. When, however, the sermon was concluded, 
 he met the preacher returning home ostentatiously 
 dressed in a silk habit and riding upon a richly 
 caparisoned mule, followed by a large escort of pages 
 and servants. So pretentious a retinue could not fail 
 to excite wonder in one accustomed to have before his 
 eyes only the extreme poverty and humble bearing of 
 his master. This astonishment increased, when, having 
 gone one day to visit the great preacher, he found his 
 house richly furnished and hung with rare tapestry. 
 Upon his return to Montilla, Perez informed Father 
 Avila of what he had seen, adding that in his opinion 
 it boded ill, and savoured more of the school of Luther, 
 as his deeds did not correspond with his words. Father 
 Avila replied, " You have hit the point, such is the 
 case ; but in a short time the world will be undeceived, 
 and I ask you to call to mind then what I now say to 
 
MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 179 
 
 you." In effect, Constantine was shortly afterwards 
 incarcerated by order of the Holy Inquisition, and, 
 having been convicted of Lutheranism, received the 
 punishment which he merited. 
 
 In Montilla, the Marchioness Dona Catalina, received 
 letters telling her that her sister, the Duchess of Arcos, 
 was dying. Deeply affected by the news, in the 
 earnestness of her desire to see her sister while still 
 alive, she insisted on setting out at once, giving no 
 time for the necessary preparations to be made. Her 
 servants, having in vain entreated her to wait a little, 
 went to inform Father Avila, who came at once to 
 calm and reassure her. "Your sister," he said, "will 
 not die so speedily ; you will find her alive, and not 
 only will you be present at her death, but you will be 
 able, by assisting her then, to give her full proof of 
 your love." This prediction was verified, to the great 
 surprise of all present. 
 
 While Master John of Avila, Father Luis of 
 Granada, Don Diego de Guzman, and Doctor Loarte, 
 were seated at table together, in the house of the Count 
 of Feria, who at the time was unwell, the conversation 
 happened to turn upon the sad havoc that heresy had 
 made, and was still making, in the flourishing kingdom 
 of France ; and upon one of the guests exclaiming, 
 " May God in His infinite mercy preserve our Spain 
 from so great a calamity," Father Avila looked grave 
 for a few moments, and then, suddenly striking his 
 hand upon the table, appealed to those present : " Let 
 us give heartfelt thanks to God, for it is His fixed will 
 that heresy should not enter Spain." A prophecy 
 which remained true for more than two centuries, 
 although every other part of Europe was more or less 
 contaminated. 
 
 Laden with years, and bowed down by habitual 
 infirmities, the holy man used sometimes to walk, 
 
180 MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 
 
 leaning upon his staff, to the villa of the College of 
 the Society of Jesus, in order to enjoy the air. Con- 
 versing one day with the Brother who was in charge 
 of it, he asked him how he wished to love God. " Most 
 tenderly," replied the Brother, "but I know not how 
 to do so." " Well," continued Father Avila, " do you 
 know, dear Brother, when you will love Him truly ? 
 It is when you shall endure being beaten by one of the 
 youths belonging to this villa ; and when, instead of 
 resenting it, you defend him, and endeavour to assist 
 him and do him good." This was not a matter of 
 simple instruction, but of prophecy ; for in a short time, 
 one of these same youths, being enraged against the 
 Brother, without cause, set hotly upon him and beat 
 him. Justice was about to take its course and punish 
 the delinquent severely, but his victim, remembering 
 the words of the Servant of God, generously interposed 
 in favour of the guilty man, and obtained his pardon, 
 to the edification of all. By this act he merited from 
 God the grace to love Him more and more perfectly 
 ever after, till he died with the reputation of being a 
 Religious of eminent virtue and singular holiness. 
 
 It was Father Avila's invariable custom never to 
 admit others to conversation with him during the time 
 that he spent alone with God in prayer, holding that 
 the respect due to the Divine Majesty required he 
 should not distract himself with other matters whilst 
 in communion with Him. However, one morning, 
 before retiring, he said, contrary to his usual habit, to 
 Father Villaras: " If any one comes to ask for me whilst 
 I am alone, inform me immediately." When an hour 
 and a half had expired, a stranger arrived, and asked 
 for him. Having been admitted, they held a long con- 
 ference together, after which the stranger departed, 
 saying as he left, in a voice of astonishment, to Father 
 Villaras: "What a truly holy man and full of God your 
 
MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 
 
 Father Avila is ! I have travelled the whole way from 
 Rome for the express purpose of conferring with him, 
 and he has told me things which were most certainly 
 known only to God and to myself." 
 
 It often happened that when he had withdrawn to 
 pray, persons came to speak to him, but in consequence 
 of his order that none should be admitted, they were 
 obliged to leave again. After his prayer was ended, he 
 would call his attendant and bid him, " Go and take 
 some particular answer to such a person ; " and it was 
 found to be precisely a solution of the question which 
 that person had come to discuss. 
 
 A like thing occurred in the case of another stranger, 
 who having come to Montilla to consult the holy man 
 upon some affair of conscience, was told that Father 
 Avila was in the act of preaching in the church. " Very 
 well," he said, " I will go meanwhile to hear him and 
 afterwards return." He listened to the sermon, but did 
 not return, because, said he, " I need nothing further : 
 the holy man has, by his discourse from the pulpit, as 
 fully satisfied my desire as if he beheld my interior." 
 
 Father Stephen Centenaras, who belonged to a 
 noble family, and had been page to King Ferdinand 
 the Catholic, became afterwards a priest of consummate 
 perfection and a very dear disciple of Father Avila. 
 He had withdrawn, with the approbation of his holy 
 director, to lead a solitary life in one of the mountains 
 of the Sierra Morena, separating Andalusia from the 
 rest of Spain. Having built a small hermitage there, 
 he devoted himself to the contemplation of heavenly 
 things, the administration of the sacraments, and the 
 instruction of the poor inhabitants of those rugged 
 mountains, who, destitute of all spiritual help, were 
 leading the life of wild beasts rather than that of 
 Christians. On a dark night, as chill and stormy as 
 can well be imagined, a man came to the door of the 
 
182 MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 
 
 hermitage and asked Father Stephen to take, out of 
 charity, the Holy Viaticum to a poor man who was 
 dying. Centenaras was at first somewhat perplexed at 
 this request, considering the circumstances of time and 
 place and that the person was unknown to him ; then, 
 taking fresh confidence, he said : " Let us go in God's 
 name ; " and, carrying the Holy Eucharist, he set out. 
 No sooner had he crossed the threshold, than he found 
 two youths of pleasing aspect, with lighted torches in 
 their hands, who accompanied him to the house of the 
 sick man, and reconducted him in the same manner to 
 his hermitage : upon reaching which they silently dis- 
 appeared and were no more seen. Not comprehending 
 the character of an incident so strange and inexplicable, 
 Father Stephen was about to write very early next 
 morning an account of it to Blessed Avila, when at 
 that moment he received a letter from him which 
 enlightened him on the point. " Brother," it said, 
 "let not what occurred last night surprise you; for 
 you may be assured that the two youths whom you 
 saw were angels sent by God to strengthen you, and as 
 a reward for your zeal. Return thanks to the Divine 
 Mercy, and continue to love and serve Him faithfully." 
 
 That God, through the intercession, and for the 
 merits of His Servant, performed during his life, and 
 also after his death, many and great miracles, was the 
 public opinion in Spain ; but we here add the testimony 
 of a few out of the many witnesses who made their 
 depositions in the process of beatification. 
 
 The Licentiate Juan Ramirez de Mesa deposes 
 upon oath, that, being in November, 1623, a student of 
 the College of the Conception in Seville, while pursuing 
 his studies he was attacked by a slow fever, which was 
 accompanied by severe pains in the chest, a violent 
 cough, a very tainted expectoration, and above all by 
 such emaciation and loss of strength, that he could 
 
MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 183 
 
 neither move nor breathe without difficulty. Having 
 consulted Professor Francis Ximenes, the most skilful 
 and celebrated physician at that time in Seville, he 
 was told, after a long study of all the unfavourable 
 symptoms and an application of the usual remedies, 
 that his case was one of confirmed phthisis, which had 
 already reached so advanced a stage, that he could not 
 count on three months longer life. Finding that he had 
 nothing more to hope for from men, he sought the aid 
 of the saints in Heaven ; and addressed himself to 
 Father Avila, because he had heard how dear he was 
 to God, and entreated him to obtain the restoration of 
 his health, promising to employ it wholly in God's 
 service. His doctor returning several days after to 
 visit some other patient, chanced to meet Ramirez, 
 and found him looking so strong, with so good a colour, 
 and an eye so clear and bright, that he could not help 
 exclaiming in amazement: "What do I see, this is 
 indeed a stupendous miracle." " It is in truth," replied 
 Ramirez, " a miracle of holy Master Avila's working, 
 to whom I recommended myself. Know, that from the 
 moment of my appealing to him, the fever left me and 
 has never returned. Expectoration, cough, exhaustion, 
 all have disappeared : in short, I am now quite well 
 again." " Praise be to God," said the physician, " and 
 to His faithful servant ; for whose glory I am ready, if 
 I should be asked, to depose upon oath that this is a 
 real and striking miracle." 
 
 Not less so is the recovery of Don Martin Gomez, 
 domiciliary of the principal church in Montilla, who 
 had been tortured for several weeks by acute pains 
 caused by a tumour which had formed in his body. 
 Doctors and medicines had alike failed to cure him, the 
 swelling grew worse, and already threatened gangrene. 
 Hearing that the venerated body of the holy Master 
 Avila, preserved in the church of the Jesuit Fathers, 
 
MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 
 
 was being transferred from the chest in which it lay to a 
 more precious one of jaspar ; he at once petitioned the 
 Servant of God to pray for the recovery of his health, 
 and, though with much difficulty, obtained as a great 
 favour, a small piece of the habit belonging to the holy 
 man. Touching the tumour with this he soon fell asleep, 
 and waking up some hours later, he found, to his great 
 surprise, that the tumour had disappeared, leaving no 
 sign of its presence, in short, that he was completely cured. 
 Maria de Herrera, owner of a small garden, was 
 most devout to Father Avila, whom she believed to be 
 already in Heaven ; finding herself burdened with debts 
 in the year 1731, she had recourse to the Servant of 
 God, hoping to obtain, through his intercession, some 
 relief from her extreme poverty. Nor was she disap- 
 pointed, for, having finished her prayer, and entered the 
 garden, she found to her great wonder, that some French 
 beans she had recently sown, had not only sprung up 
 prematurely, but were ready for gathering, so that she 
 was able to sell them and thus relieve her poverty. 
 This help, however, was short-lived, as the supply of 
 beans was soon exhausted. Not discouraged by this, 
 but on the contrary filled with fresh confidence she 
 applied again to her ready benefactor, saying : " My 
 dear Saint, you are aware of my heavy debts, which I 
 know not how to discharge ; it is for you to see to this, 
 for I have no one else but you." Thus saying, she 
 returned to the garden, and found such a number of 
 beans ready for cutting, that, being unable to contain 
 her joy, she summoned the whole neighbourhood, crying 
 out: "Behold the great miracle which Father Avila 
 has performed." Every one wanted to procure some of 
 these miraculous beans, and the woman sold them so 
 profitably, that she was not only freed from her debts, 
 but had also wherewith to live for a considerable length 
 of time without further anxiety. 
 
MIRACULOUS FAVOURS. 185 
 
 Josephine Castiglio was constantly tormented by 
 violent pains in the stomach, which during the month of 
 June, 1731, increased to such a degree, as to become 
 unbearable ; and she had to try to obtain relief by 
 casting herself on the ground, and rolling about from 
 side to side like one possessed. Some water having 
 been given her to drink, mixed with dust from the room 
 of the Servant of God, she quickly fell asleep, and when 
 she woke she was found to be completely cured, after 
 which the pains never returned to trouble her. 
 
 When a certain Juan de Prados, a mason, had gone 
 down into a well to gauge the height of the water, a 
 shower of stones, bricks, and lime, from the sides of 
 the well suddenly fell in upon him, and any one would 
 have thought that he must be crushed to death by so 
 great a weight. In this danger he invoked Father 
 Avila, who saved his life miraculously, for although he 
 remained two hours buried under this mass of rubbish, 
 he received no hurt. 
 
 It was a remarkable fact that a very fragrant 
 odour pervaded the room which the blessed Master 
 had inhabited, and remained very observable in it for 
 more than forty years after his death. It seemed as 
 though his loving Lord would thus embalm the memory 
 of his bodily presence, and at the same time preserve 
 the memory of the interior virtues of his soul, thus setting 
 His seal to them, and showing how grateful they were 
 in His sight, and how worthy of everlasting remem- 
 brance, and constant imitation by us. 
 
 May it please God, that He who gave this apos- 
 tolical man, this great pattern and master of Christian 
 perfection to His Church as a worthy instrument in 
 promoting His glory upon earth, may equally render 
 him, now that he has been raised to the honours of the 
 altar, its powerful protector in Heaven. So may it be 
 
1 86 MIRACLES. 
 
 MIRACLES 
 
 Examintd by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and approved by 
 His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. for the Beatification. 
 
 First Miracle. 
 
 Catalina Rodriguez del Rio, afflicted with a putrid 
 tumour, was brought to the point of death by the 
 severing of an artery, when, invoking the Blessed John 
 of Avila, she was immediately cured. 
 
 Towards the middle of October, 1777, Catalina 
 Rodriguez del Rio, wife of Antonio Nunez de Arenas, 
 a citizen of Almodovar del Campo, which was the 
 birthplace of Blessed John, began to suffer from a 
 violent pain in the loins, and beneath the ribs on the 
 right side. External remedies having failed to afford 
 any relief, after about a month's time, the surgeon, 
 D. Isidore Carrero, was sent for, who at once perceived 
 that within what seemed but a simple tumour, was 
 concealed a large quantity of matter, which fluctuated 
 under the pressure of the hand. He therefore judged 
 it necessary to lance the tumour, but was opposed by 
 others of his art who had been summoned in consulta- 
 tion, and whose advice it was decided to follow. The 
 external remedies which they proposed proving useless, 
 the internal malady gained ground so rapidly, that the 
 slightest movement about the bed or in the room 
 became intolerable to the sufferer. Towards the end of 
 the year there were frequent spasms of increasing 
 violence, until in the beginning of January, 1778, it was 
 found absolutely necessary to open the tumour : and 
 when this was done, sixteen pounds weight of purulent 
 
MIRACLES. 187 
 
 matter was drawn from the wound. Matter, however, 
 quickly formed again, and Dr. Carrero considered it 
 necessary to perform a second operation, in order to 
 give easier exit to the corrupt humours. When he 
 informed Catalina's husband that this second operation 
 would be attended with much more serious risk, as the 
 tumour was so near the greater arteries, the latter sent 
 for the celebrated surgeon, D. Sebastian Serrano, from 
 the neighbouring Miguelturra, to perform it. This was 
 done quickly and skilfully, and to all appearance very 
 successfully, on the morning of the 20th of February, 
 the patient remaining quiet and undisturbed during the 
 whole of that day and the following night. But when 
 towards dawn, wishing to call her husband, she made 
 some slight movement, immediately an immense flow 
 of blood burst from the wound, and could in nowise be 
 checked by the bandages employed, as it soaked them 
 all, and increased in quantity when these were changed. 
 The two doctors being hastily summoned, perceived 
 that the artery, of which the external membrane might 
 have been injured during the operation, had given way 
 through the sudden movement of the sick person, and 
 was pouring forth blood continuously. Dismay at so 
 unwonted an occurrence, prevented their attempting 
 any of the expedients which science might have 
 suggested, and the hemorrhage lasted the whole of 
 that day and the day following until the evening, a 
 space of nearly forty hours. 
 
 The lamentable consequences can easily be imagined : 
 fainting, cold perspiration, syncope, suffocation, prostra- 
 tion, loss of sight and of pulse, a death-like pallor, and 
 other tokens of the approaching end succeeded each 
 other. The afflicted Catalina, having no longer any 
 hope of life, prepared for the end, and received Extreme 
 Unction. Towards eight o'clock in the evening the 
 major-domo of D. Ferdinand Gijon Pacheco came to 
 
MIRACLES. 
 
 visit her, bringing a picture of the Venerable John of 
 Avila, and recommended her to implore his inter- 
 cession. Catalina took the picture, applied it to the 
 diseased side, and, as she afterwards deposed juridi- 
 cally, invoked with firm confidence the help of the 
 Servant of God. She instantly felt her strength so 
 far revive, that, contrary to the opinion of all the 
 bystanders, she became convinced her cure was at 
 hand. Shortly after the flow from the artery had 
 ceased, for the bandages had become almost dry. 
 Along with the hemorrhage all other dangerous symp- 
 toms vanished, and with renewed energy in mind and 
 body, she was able, when left alone for a few moments, 
 to move herself from the head to the foot of the bed, 
 and to call the others with a loud voice to come and 
 lighten the weight of wraps and bandages which 
 oppressed her. Great was their astonishment when, 
 on removing these, they found the artery perfectly 
 sound again and a clean wound taking the place of 
 the enormous purulent cavity and already in process 
 of healing. All this had occurred, as the husband of 
 Catalina testified, in less than an hour. From this 
 time she experienced no difficulty in any of her move- 
 ments : on the 25th or 26th, she arose and walked about 
 the room ; and, a few days after, she went, without any 
 support, to thank her heavenly benefactor in the grotto, 
 where he used to withdraw to practise his penances. 
 The instantaneous and complete cure of Catalina was 
 thus owing to the invocation of Blessed John of Avila, 
 as was readily attested by Campobadol, one of the 
 physicians, and by the surgeon, Carrero. 
 
 But the favours granted did not stop here. Catalina 
 had been with child about a month, when the disease 
 first manifested itself in October : and, after all that 
 she had suffered during the four months which preceded 
 her cure, there seemed little hope that she could give 
 
MIRACLES. 189 
 
 birth to a living child. But it may not be too much to 
 say that this life also was miraculously saved through 
 the intercession of the Servant of God, for in due time 
 Catalina brought forth a strong and healthy infant, 
 who, out of gratitude to this heavenly benefactor, 
 received the name of John, and was surnamed by the 
 physician, the child of miracle. 
 
 Second and Third Miracles. 
 
 Francis Martin del Burgo, and Joseph Gomez, 
 having been seriously injured in the face by an explo- 
 sion, were saved from death through the intercession of 
 Blessed John of Avila, and, in a very short time were, 
 contrary to all expectation, entirely healed. 
 
 It had been already determined, in the year 1731, to 
 transform into a chapel the room in which the Servant 
 of God had been born, in Almodovar del Campo. A 
 master stone-cutter of the name of Joseph Gomez was 
 commissioned to provide the stones requisite for this 
 purpose. Taking with him one Francis del Burgo, a 
 labourer, he proceeded to a stone- quarry not far off in 
 what was called the district of the fountains; and, 
 having fixed on a large block of stone, they began to 
 perforate it in order to form a cavity. This done, they 
 placed in it half a pound of powder, and covered it with 
 lime and earth, treading it firmly round an iron tube 
 which was to guide the match. In drawing the piece of 
 iron violently out, del Burgo may have struck some 
 rock, and so produced a spark, which, communicating 
 with the powder, caused a violent explosion right in the 
 face of the unfortunate labourer and his master. Del 
 Burgo was thrown a distance of fifteen paces, and 
 Gomez of four or five paces, and both were dashed to 
 the ground. They cried out with fright and invoked 
 27 Venerabile, (as Avila was called in that country), 
 
tgo MIRACLES. 
 
 in whose honour and service they had undertaken the 
 work. Dom Juan Gyon Romero, with two others, 
 Bartolomeo Arcediano, and Ventura Carrasco, who were 
 watching the work from a distance, ran up to their 
 assistance and found them with their faces charred, and 
 their eyes closed, as they thought for ever. Assisted by 
 these, the two men were able to rise and return to the 
 village, though meanwhile large blisters filled with blood 
 and water had formed on their faces ; in other respects, 
 they were uninjured and without pain, except that 
 Martin complained of a little in the ribs of his left side, 
 owing probably to his fall. The first miracle then, 
 performed in their behalf by the Servant of God as 
 having been employed in his honour, was their preserva- 
 tion from the death inevitable from so terrible an 
 explosion so close to them. From his past experience 
 in his trade, Gomez knew this well, and he remembered 
 having at one time seen in the neighbouring districts of 
 Almaden, where there were mines of quicksilver, at 
 least five persons killed by similar explosions, and as 
 many rendered permanently blind. This last was what 
 they both feared had now happened to themselves, for 
 neither of them could open their eye-lids. 
 
 We must here divide our account into two narra- 
 tives that we may give some particulars concerning 
 each, leading to their both being unexpectedly and 
 completely cured, as they and others testified in the 
 process subsequently made. 
 
 When del Burgo found himself stretched upon the 
 ground, he invoked the Blessed John, saying: " Holy 
 Saint, have pity on me, for you know that I am burdened 
 with a family;" and continued to call upon him 
 unremittingly. He afterwards recollected that in that 
 extremity, he had once invoked the Eternal Father, 
 and once our Lady of Carmel. Having been conducted 
 to his house, his wife, Isabella Cogolludo, beginning 
 
MIRACLES. 191 
 
 in her distress to cleanse his face from the marks of 
 the explosion, found that in addition, his right hand 
 and the sleeve of his coat were singed. Francis would 
 allow no remedy to be applied, but continued to invoke 
 27 Venerabile, mildly complaining to him of the mis- 
 fortune which had overtaken him in his service, and 
 chiefly of his loss of sight, which he believed to be 
 irreparable. Thus passed the painful and tedious hours 
 from eleven o'clock in the morning of that day, until 
 half past four the next morning; when, in order perhaps 
 to afford him some slight relief, his wife led him out 
 into a small courtyard adjoining the house. After he 
 had seated himself, his wife being a short distance 
 off, he exclaimed with tears, " Is it possible, my Saint, 
 that I am not to regain my sight, seeing that I have 
 laboured so zealously for your honour ? " Suddenly, 
 his eyes opened without effort, and the sight was found 
 to be fully restored ; nor was this all, the blisters and 
 other injuries to the face and hands immediately 
 vanished, leaving as little trace as if they had never 
 existed, and the man was able at once to resume his 
 work. 
 
 In the case of the stone-cutter, Gomez, the favour 
 was not granted so immediately, perhaps because he 
 had not placed the same full and absolute trust in the 
 Saint as del Burgo, and had therefore sought other 
 remedies. He was first led to the house of a relative, 
 where his face was washed with rose-water, and then 
 taken home, where he ordered his wife, Anna Lopez 
 Izquierdo, to make a poultice of pure water and earth, 
 taken from the room in which Father Avila had been 
 born, with which to anoint his face, and principally his 
 eyes, for he believed his sight to be for ever gone ; he 
 also promised that if cured he would prosecute without 
 any payment the work on which he was engaged, and 
 this he afterwards did. Besides this a physician had 
 
igi MIRACLES. 
 
 been called in, and bled him once or twice, to counteract 
 the effects of the shock. But, Joseph, continuing to 
 implore the intercession of 77 Venerabile, on the third 
 day found himself completely cured, his sight being 
 perfectly restored, and his face retaining no trace of its 
 past injury. 
 
 To these facts, the two sufferers, their wives, and 
 four other eye-witnesses, made their juridical deposition. 
 Several skilful doctors and surgeons were likewise 
 summoned to examine into all the circumstances, and 
 pronounce an opinion. These unanimously decided 
 that, while the perfect cure of both could not have 
 been considered miraculous, if it had not happened so 
 suddenly, yet it really was miraculous if we consider 
 that the mischief done to them by the explosion of the 
 powder might have been, and ought to have been, far 
 more considerable than it actually was. But that they 
 should have found themselves, on the second and on 
 the third day, completely cured, surpassed, as all 
 agreed, the powers of nature, or of science. As one 
 of the experts remarked, some miracles' are contrary 
 to, others above, and others beyond nature, and to this 
 last class must be assigned the sudden and complete 
 cure of these two men, because in no wise could nature, 
 or science, have accomplished it in so short a time. 
 
DECREES. 193 
 
 DECREES. 
 
 DECRETUM PRIMUM. 
 
 DE VIRTUTIBUS HEROICIS VEN. SERVI DEI 
 JOANNIS DE AVILA. 
 
 Cum in Congregatione Generali Sacrorum Rituum habita 
 coram sanctissimo Domino Nostro Clemente XIII. die 
 30 Januarii, 1759, in Causa Toletana seu Corduben. 
 Beatificationis et Canonizationis Ven. Servi Dei Joannis 
 de Avila Presbyteri Magistri nuncupati, propositum 
 fuerit Dubium a Rmo. Domino Cardinali Portocarrero 
 Ponente — An constet de Virtutibus Theologalibus Fide, Spe 
 et Charitate in Deum et pvoximum ; nee non de Cardinalibus 
 Pmdentia, Justitia, Fortitudine et Temperantia, earumque 
 adnexis in gradu heroico, in casu et ad effectum de quo agitur ; 
 Sanctitas Sua, auditis Rmorum. D.D. Cardinalium, 
 nee non Consultorum suffragiis, nihil turn definire 
 voluit, ut interim, tam suis quam aliorum precibus, in 
 tam gravi negocio divino lumine mens ejus illustraretur. 
 Hac vero die 8a Februarii post celebratum Missae 
 Sacrificium, vocatis coram se Rmis. DD. Cardinalibus 
 Portocarrero Causas Relatore, et Tamburino Sacrorum 
 Rituum Congregationis Prsefecto, nee non R.P. Bene- 
 dicto Veterani Promotore Fidei, meque Secretario, 
 statuit — Ita constare de Virtutibus Ven. Servi Dei Joannis 
 de Avila in gradu heroico, ut procedi possit ad ulteviora, nempe 
 ad discussionem trium miraculorum. Et ita decrevit, ac servari 
 mandavit. Die 8 Februarii, 1759. 
 
 Ita reperitur in Actis et Regestis Secretarise Con- 
 gregationis Sacrorum Rituum. Ex eadem Secretaria 
 die 11 Aprilis, 1S64. 
 
 D. Bartolini. 
 
 S.R.C. Secretarius. 
 
 L. + S. 
 
 N 
 
194 DECREES. 
 
 DECRETUM SECUNDUM. 
 
 DE TRIBUS MIRACULIS A DEO PATRATIS 
 AD INVOCATIONEM VEN. SERVI DEI JOANNIS DE AVILA. 
 
 Ven. Joannes de Avila, sa3Culo XVI., prseclaro Ecclesiae 
 et exemplo fuit et adiumento, propter laudem qua simul 
 floruit sapiential ac sanctimoniae. In eius enim moribus 
 et documentis ea claruerunt, descripta a Iacobo Apostolo 
 indicia sapientiag qua desursum est; cuius pretiosis fructi- 
 bus christianus placet Deo, et hominibus probatur. 
 Vere sapiens secundum Christum, evangdizavit investi- 
 gabiles divitias eius turn verbo divino praedicando, turn 
 animis in via spiritualis perfectionis consilio pariter 
 scriptisque documentis, iuvandis, turn etiam suis ipse 
 exemplis praelucendo. Haec autem tanto fecit cum 
 divinae gloria? incremento et animarum profectu, atque 
 tantam inde sanctitatis et sapiential famam de se 
 excitavit, ut viri insigniter sancti, qualis Joannes de 
 Deo, Ignatius de Loyola, Franciscus Borgia, Petrus ab 
 Alcantara, Teresia a Jesu, eius consiliis se regi voluerint, 
 eique Magistri cognomentum adhasserit. Haec eadem 
 fama, qua clarus, septuagesimum annum agens, Montiliae 
 obiit anno XDLXIX., postea latius manavit prodigiis 
 aucta, quibus Deus Servi sui sanctitatem firmasse 
 ferebatur. Quare de ipsius Beatificationis Causa apud 
 Sacram Rituum Congregationem agi coeptum est, 
 eiusque virtutes heroicum attigisse gradum fel. rec. 
 Clemens XIII. VI. idus Februarias anno MDCCLIX. 
 declaravit. De miraculis deinde eius intercessioni 
 tributis quinquies disceptatum est : primo penes cl. me. 
 Cardinalem Aloisium Bilio Causae Ponentem in anteprae- 
 paratorio Ccetu III. idus Iulias anno MDCCCLXXV., 
 deinde triplici prasparatorio conventu in iEdibus Vati- 
 canis, XV. calendas Apriles anno MDCCCLXXXIV. 
 XIII. calendas Decembres anno MDCCCLXXXIX., 
 et XV. calendas Septembres anno MDCCCXCL, 
 
DECREES. 195 
 
 demum X. calendas Decembres anno MDCCCXCII. 
 coram Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Leone Papa XIII. 
 in iisdem Vaticanis /Edibus, ubi Rmi. Cardinales et 
 Patres Consultores huius Sacra? Congregationis, in 
 generalibus comitiis coadunati, singuli suffragium tuler- 
 unt. Sanctissimus vero, omnium audita sententia, in 
 re tanti momenti judicium suum proferre distulit, interea 
 monens ut caelestis consilii lumen imploraretur. 
 
 Hodierna vero Dominica XXV. post Pentecosten, 
 qua festum Patrocinii Beatse Mariae Virginis recolitur, 
 incruento Missae sacrificio oblato, in hac Vaticani aula 
 pontificio solio assidens, ad se arcessiri iussit Rmos. 
 Cardinales Caietanum Aloisi-Masella Sacrse Rituum 
 Congregationi Praefectum, et Aloisum Serafini Episco- 
 pum Sabinen. Causae Ponentem, una cum R.P. Augus- 
 tino Caprara Sanctae Fidei Promotore,meque infrascripto 
 Secretario, risque adstantibus solemni decreto sancivit : 
 
 Constare de tribus propositis miraculis, nempe de 
 primo : Instantaneae perfectaeque sanationis Catharinae 
 Rodriguez Del Rio a phlegmonoso tumore, necnon, ob 
 eius incisionem, a gravi laesione arteriae in regione ileo 
 lumbari dextera ; de altero ac tertio : Prseservationis ab 
 obitu, atque instantaneae perfectaeque sanationis Fran- 
 cisci Martin del Burgo, et Iosephi Gomez a gravibus 
 ustionibus e pulvere pyrico. 
 
 Atque hoc Decretum evulgari, et in Acta Sacrorum 
 Rituum Congregationis referri mandavit pridie idus 
 Novembres, anno MDCCCXCIII. 
 
 C. Card. Aloisi-Masella, 
 
 S.R.C. Prasfectus. 
 L. + S. 
 
 VlNCENTIUS NuSSI, 
 
 S.R.C. Secretarius. 
 
196 CONFORMITY OF SPIRIT BETWEEN B. JOHN 
 
 CONFORMITY OF SPIRIT BETWEEN THE BLESSED JOHN 
 OF AVILA AND ST. IGNATIUS. 
 
 + 
 J.H.S. 
 
 And for my part, and that of the rest of the Society who are here, 
 I can say that we shall ever maintain the close union of spirit 
 and of desires which God has given us, for His divine service 
 and praise. (Letter of St. Ignatius to B. John of Avila. Cartas, 
 torn. v. Letter dcii.) 
 
 Those who have read attentively the letters of 
 St. Ignatius to the Blessed Master and Apostle of 
 Andalusia, John of Avila, may consider it needless 
 to spend time in proving the similarity of spirit 
 between them. This similarity is so evident, that 
 scarcely a single writer has made a careful comparison 
 between the characters of these two saints without 
 pointing it out to his readers. Nevertheless, it seemed 
 well to explain in what this conformity of spirit, which 
 we find to have been so great, between St. Ignatius 
 and the Blessed John of Avila consists, and to state the 
 opinions of grave writers of the period, whose testimony 
 we hold to be conclusive. 
 
 When we speak of the spirit of a particular saint 
 and compare it with that of another, we are not alluding 
 to the natural character or disposition of the man, nor 
 to the fervour which characterizes his affections, words, 
 or actions, nor to the supernatural intention and grace 
 which animate and sanctify all that he does, although 
 each of these may be signified by the word spirit. But 
 we speak of that special characteristic which causes 
 us to distinguish the sanctity of one holy man from 
 the sanctity of another. Holiness, it is true, is one, 
 since it consists in the conformity of the soul and all 
 its operations with the will, the laws, the counsels, and 
 the operations of God, so that one soul possesses greater 
 
AND ST. IGNATIUS. 197 
 
 holiness in proportion as it imitates God's perfections 
 more closely than another. Still, seeing that God is 
 infinite, the soul of man, being finite, does not contain 
 all His perfections, but some of these are more fully 
 developed in one saint, and some in another. Grace 
 does not destroy, but perfects nature, and even in 
 supernatural operations habit counts for much. God 
 is free and provident in the distribution of His graces, 
 therefore there is diversity of operations, and conse- 
 quently of the holiness which informs them. Experience 
 confirms this, for every one perceives the great differ- 
 ence in spirit between a St. Jerome and a St. Francis 
 of Sales, between a St. Teresa and a St. Bridget, and 
 so as to other saints ; yet we do not dare, on that 
 account, to maintain that some of these are more holy 
 than others. 
 
 The fundamental character of the holiness of the 
 Blessed John of Avila did not differ from that of 
 St. Ignatius, much less was there opposition between 
 them ; and this was the opinion of the older writers, 
 founded principally upon the sentiments which these 
 two holy men entertained towards each other. 
 
 The Licentiate Munoz writes : " The glorious 
 Patriarch, St. Ignatius, proved both by his words and 
 deeds his high esteem for the Venerable Master Avila. 
 The spirit of these two holy men was the same ; they were 
 one in intention and in ministry, and in the desire of 
 founding a congregation of priests for the help of souls. 
 Our Lord granted to St. Ignatius the execution of this 
 object, to the Blessed Master John of Avila the 
 intention which aimed at it ; the latter had in view that 
 Society of Jesus which the former did actually raise 
 up, and sent his disciples to St. Ignatius to be received 
 into it. As the authority and holiness of the Baptist 
 gained credit for Christ, so did the holy Master Avila 
 gain credit for the Society, promoting its introduction 
 
198 CONFORMITY OF SPIRIT BETWEEN B. JOHN 
 
 and the foundation of its colleges, and favouring its 
 members." 
 
 Father Orlandino, in book xiv. of his History, n. 59, 
 after quoting the advice given by Master Avila to 
 Father James de Guzman and Doctor Loarte, and 
 similar counsels given by St. Ignatius to Father Olave, 
 adds : Ut intelligas, quam geminum Mud evangelica sapientia 
 lumen {Ignatius tt Avila), consentirent." 
 
 Father Michael de Torres, Provincial of Andalusia, 
 in a letter to St. Ignatius, giving an account of what 
 he had perceived in the Blessed Avila, says : " The 
 opinion which I had previously formed of Father Avila 
 was confirmed when I became personally acquainted 
 with him. It was to me a powerful argument for the 
 sincerity and truthfulness of his spirit, to observe how 
 heartily he embraced and received the spirit of the 
 Society and all its intentions. 
 
 The complete conformity of spirit between Blessed 
 John of Avila and the Society, and consequently 
 between- him and St. Ignatius, appears still more 
 strikingly from the following remarkable events recorded 
 by Jouvency : " Henry, Cardinal Archbishop of Evora, 
 afterwards King of Portugal, had founded a famous 
 Academy in Evora, which in time attained a high 
 reputation, and sent forth brilliant doctors. At its com- 
 mencement, the chief concern of the founder was to 
 provide it with competent masters. He applied for 
 these to St. Francis Borgia, at that time Commissary 
 of the Society in Spain, who, on account of the infant 
 Society being as yet unable to attend to all the places 
 or supply the different offices which it was invited to 
 fill, passed on the letters of the Cardinal to Blessed 
 Avila, requesting him that if he had amongst his 
 disciples any who were fitted by learning and virtue 
 for the charge of teaching in Evora, and were suitable 
 subjects for the Society, he would send them to him 
 
AND ST. IGNATIUS. 199 
 
 immediately. The Blessed John, having treated with 
 God of the matter, chose from his disciples two remark- 
 able for piety and erudition, Ferdinand Perez and Peter 
 Paul Ferrer, both Spaniards. Having summoned them, 
 he told them that he felt moved by God to recommend 
 them to the Society, in imitation of the Baptist, who 
 sent his disciples from his own school to the superior 
 school of Christ ; and that the life which they had led 
 with him was but a shadow of that other more perfect 
 discipleship. He added : " Father Francis asks me for 
 two theologians, who possess faculties for teaching, and 
 the degrees and titles which the Universities grant, that 
 they may proceed to the recent foundation in Evora 
 and become professors there." " I think," he said, 
 " that with God's grace, you can fill this post. Go, 
 therefore, whither the glory of God calls you, and, 
 following my advice, give your names to the Society ; 
 which is the school of Christ. To it I send you, and I 
 trust that you will some day prove yourselves to be 
 worthy disciples of so great a master." Obeying the 
 voice of Blessed Avila, as though it came from God, 
 both left their relations, and abandoning considerable 
 worldly possessions, together with the expectation of 
 earthly honour, they presented themselves before St. 
 Francis, who received them affectionately and admitted 
 them into the Society. It required no long time to form 
 them to the Institute, so well prepared had they come 
 from the hands of Father Avila, and even in the 
 novitiate showed themselves well practised in virtue. 
 Within a comparatively short time the Commissary 
 sent them to Evora, Perez being appointed Professor 
 of Theology and Ferrer of Holy Scripture. While both 
 adorned the University with their brilliant learning, 
 Perez in particular speedily drew scholars to it from 
 the whole of Portugal, to the great satisfaction of its 
 illustrious founder, who thanked Father Francis for 
 
200 CONFORMITY OF SPIRIT BETWEEN B. JOHN 
 
 sending him such teachers, and spoke of them in terms 
 of the highest praise. 1 
 
 Father Bartholomew Alcazar, in the Chrono-historia de 
 la Provincia de Toledo, devotes a long paragraph to the 
 death and eulogy of the Blessed Master John of Avila, 
 and to the high appreciation of his eminent holiness by 
 the Society of Jesus. He commences thus : " It would 
 be a culpable omission to pass over in silence the 
 precious death of the Blessed Master John of Avila, 
 which occurred in Montilla, on the ioth of May, in this 
 year. We mention him here, not merely by way of 
 a short, passing eulogy, but in order to express the 
 lasting gratitude felt towards him by our least Society, 
 especially in this Province of Toledo, which he enriched 
 by sending to it some of his best disciples, as well as 
 others who have swelled the numbers filling our houses 
 and colleges, as we have already seen." 2 After the 
 narrative of his life he continues: "He was one in 
 desires, as in spirit and zeal, with our holy Father 
 St. Ignatius ; for his high ambition was to found a 
 Congregation of Priests for the conversion of souls. 
 It has been stated, that the usual matter for the 
 Blessed John of Avila's sermons was drawn from the 
 more terrible truths of religion, and that he and his 
 disciples had thus acquired certain habits of austerity 
 little tempered with the spirit of compassion. Even if 
 this be true as to the subjects of his sermons, he was 
 still in perfect accord with the spirit of St. Ignatius. 
 The Blessed John and his disciples devoted themselves 
 chiefly to giving missions in country towns and villages, 
 and such missions have the special design of leading a 
 rough and illiterate people to attain peace of mind in 
 some degree, by giving them the Spiritual Exercises. 
 With such persons St. Ignatius directs that the subject 
 
 1 Jouvency, Hist. Soc. p. v. 1. xxiv. § xvii. 
 2 Alcazar, Chrono-hist. Dec. iii, ano ix. c. i. § 4. 
 
AND ST. IGNATIUS. 
 
 of election should not be entered upon nor the other 
 Exercises continued beyond those of the First Week, 
 and these contain, as is well known, the more severe 
 truths of Christian life. Did the constant preaching 
 of these truths produce in the Blessed John and his 
 disciples any undue austerity ? On this head the 
 Venerable Luis of Granada, the intimate friend and 
 beloved disciple of Master Avila, writes as follows in 
 his Life of him : " It is difficult to say whether he won 
 most souls to Christ by his teaching or by the greatness 
 of his charity and love in his exercise of good works 
 towards all. He loved them, and accommodated 
 himself to their needs, as if he were the father of all, 
 making himself, as the Apostle says, all things to all 
 men, that he might save all." 
 
 Father Luis of Granada aimed in this biography 
 at benefiting those who are devoted to the office of 
 preaching, assuring them in his Preface that "in this 
 evangelical preacher will be distinctly seen, as in a 
 bright mirror, the characteristics and qualities which 
 this office requires." We know that Father Granada 
 attained his end in this as in his other writings, but it 
 is at the same time interesting to observe that the 
 similarity between Father Granada's description of 
 Blessed Avila, and what we know of St. Ignatius, is 
 so marked, that by merely changing the name, we might 
 apply to the latter whatever has been said of the 
 former, and that occasionally, when describing the 
 sentiments of Blessed Avila, the author employs words 
 which seem to have been quoted from the text of 
 St. Ignatius' writings. For example, in § vii., where 
 he treats of the virtue of penitence and sorrow for sin, 
 " Another efficacious method of attaining contrition 
 Blessed Avila used to recommend to his corre- 
 spondents, bidding them ask of God the favour that 
 He would disclose to them the demerits of their 
 
202 CONFORMITY OF SPIRIT BETWEEN B. JOHN 
 
 conduct, and cause them to understand what their 
 past life had been in relation with God, and what 
 God had been in regard to them, showing them what 
 blessings they had received from God since their birth, 
 and how badly they had corresponded to them. ' When 
 this thought comes only from the human spirit in man 
 it produces a feeling of sadness, but when it proceeds 
 from the Spirit of God, it becomes so clear and makes 
 him so conscious of his great unworthiness, that it 
 strikes him as a miracle how the earth can endure him, 
 and it fills him with wonder and enables him to believe 
 all that faith teaches him. He is animated with so 
 great an anger against himself for having lived as he 
 has done, that were it not for the fear of offending God, 
 he would lay violent hands upon himself, and wish all 
 creatures to revenge the insult offered to the Creator. 
 That which a man feels when God discloses to him the 
 poor opinion he ought to have of his actions is beyond 
 description, for it comes from a higher spirit than that 
 of man.' " Now, these expressions are almost word for 
 word the same as some that are contained in the first 
 and second Exercises of the First Week. 
 
 The maxim which Blessed Avila followed, and 
 which he inculcated upon all his disciples, is stated in 
 the celebrated letter that he wrote to a preacher, and is 
 usually placed at the beginning of the Audi Filia. In 
 it he gives this counsel : " For the office to which your 
 Reverence has been called, you should take heed that 
 the childlike spirit towards God, our common Father, 
 be not quenched within you, nor the fatherly spirit 
 towards those whom God has given you as your 
 children." Father Granada also relates that Master 
 Avila, having been asked by an earnest-minded theo- 
 logian what he should do in order to obtain fruit 
 by his preaching, replied : " You must love our Lord 
 intensely." 
 
AND ST. IGNATIUS. 203 
 
 The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar was the subject 
 which Master Avila chose most frequently for his dis- 
 courses ; therefore he is usually represented as kneeling 
 in adoration before this Divine Mystery. Luis of 
 Granada says that " he preached daily during the 
 Octave of Corpus Christi, and when in Granada every 
 Thursday, . . . often exhorting to frequent Communion, 
 a practice nearly unknown at that period. He had to 
 endure much persecution and contradiction, both from 
 prelates and others, on this account. . . . He also 
 recommended his disciples to urge the same in their 
 sermons." For the space of forty-six years he dwelt 
 on the sublime mystery of the Holy Eucharist, his 
 words pouring forth like fiery darts from his burning 
 heart, and enkindling love in the hearts of all who 
 heard him. 
 
 His zeal was equally active in imparting to all the 
 knowledge of the mysteries of Christ, His Life, 
 Passion, and Death, and he did this so fervently and 
 habitually, that upon the day of his funeral, the holy 
 and learned Father Francis Arias placed amidst the 
 inscriptions which adorned the church of our College 
 of Montilla, a tablet with merely the following words, 
 embodying an ancient saying : Quidquid conabar dicere, 
 Christus erat. 
 
 If the most terrible truths of religion had furnished 
 the ordinary subject of Master Avila's preaching, a like 
 spirit of dread would have pervaded the tone of his 
 writings, but, on the contrary, in every case, they 
 breathe throughout a spirit of sweetness and gentleness, 
 and his argument is ever drawn from the most con- 
 soling truths of our holy faith. The very titles of his 
 treatises make this evident. He wrote one on Divine 
 Love, five on the Holy Spirit, twenty-seven on the 
 Blessed Sacrament, ten on the Blessed Virgin, one on 
 St. Joseph, and one on the Audi Filia, besides his 
 
204 B. JOHN AND ST. IGNATIUS. 
 
 letters. In the Audi Filia, he sometimes propounds 
 the eternal truths with such moderation and benignity 
 as to feel obliged to excuse himself on that very 
 account to the reader, as he states in the Preface : "It 
 seems well to inform you that as this book was written 
 to a pious virgin, and as she and those of her condition 
 require rather to be fortified by motives for confidence 
 than terrified by excess of rigour, it has the former 
 purpose more in view than the latter." As to the 
 matter contained in the letters, Father Luis of Granada 
 says : " I do not believe that a single one will be found 
 wherein the principal considerations are not founded on 
 this exalted theme (the love of Christ our Lord)." 1 
 
 1 Translated and abridged from the Cartas de San Ignacio, torn. v. 
 App. p. 441. 
 
advice given by b. john. 205 
 
 ADVICE GIVEN BY THE BLESSED MASTER JOHN OF AVILA 
 TO FATHER JAMES DE GUZMAN AND TO DOCTOR 
 LOARTE, WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO ENTER THE 
 SOCIETY OF JESUS. 
 
 + 
 J.H.S. 
 
 1. Avoid seeking to promote your own ends by any 
 particular line of action, nor take any account of souls, 
 except in order to do them good, and ask help for this 
 from our Lord. Do not make choice for yourselves of 
 any particular means of benefiting them ; you should, 
 on the contrary, resist this thought like any other 
 temptation. 
 
 2. In nowise imagine that you enter the Society of 
 Jesus with the view of pronouncing judgment on what 
 others do, but take to heart that saying of a Religious : 
 Ego judicari veni et nonjudicare. Beware of this danger, 
 especially if you think that you are men of some know- 
 ledge, for in this matter it is easy to err, and so run the 
 risk even of the loss of God's grace. Believe that God 
 guides those who govern in the Society, and that they 
 are actuated by some motive which you are not aware 
 of, or that they have some special intention in view. 
 Take not upon yourselves the responsibility of judging 
 others — Quid ad te, tit me sequere ; for if you do you will 
 bring upon yourselves much trouble and anxiety. 
 
 3. Root yourselves firmly in obedience, esteeming 
 its practice to be a signal favour granted by God to you 
 on earth, and wait for Him to indicate to you His will 
 through your Superiors, not founding this expectation 
 on the wisdom of the Superior, but on God's promise, 
 who bestows His help on him who humbles himself. If 
 you thus set a true value on obedience you will enjoy 
 great peace of mind and profit to your soul. 
 
206 ADVICE GIVEN BY B. JOHN. 
 
 4. You should understand that although you may 
 not feel you possess the liberty which you think needful 
 for the direct winning of souls, and are engaged in 
 different matters leading to other immediate ends than 
 the conversion of souls, you ought not to be disturbed 
 thereat ; for, since upon the preservation and extension 
 of this Society great good to souls depends, whatever 
 may be ordained for the promotion of this end, if it be 
 even scrubbing dishes, helps towards the conversion of 
 souls, and should be performed with great content, 
 consecrating your lives to the attainment of the end in 
 view, in all that is commanded you. You should, there- 
 fore, turn your thoughts away from other occupations 
 and apply yourselves to what is ordered, not so much 
 for what it is in itself as because it is committed to 
 your care, holding it to be a favour from Christ that 
 you are members of this holy body, in which God is 
 served so faithfully. 
 
 5. Be prepared for the cross, and have it ever before 
 your mind in your labours ; giving no occasion to 
 others to complain ; bear patiently what is done to you, 
 without any complaint as to the diversity of grades 
 which must exist in communities, remembering that 
 however much you are tried by your neighbour, this is 
 very little in comparison with the favours you have 
 received from God. Direct your efforts chiefly to the 
 avoidance of all irritation against others and to the 
 endurance of insults, gladly allowing yourselves to be 
 trampled upon like clay, after the example of Christ ; 
 and see that you pay much attention to this, for should 
 you be careless in regard of it a fall is inevitable, seeing 
 that this warfare is continuous. Look to yourselves, 
 and endeavour not to gain the mastery over others, nor 
 enter much into argument with them, unless it be your 
 duty to do so ; remember the words I have already 
 quoted : non judicate vent sed judicari. 
 
ADVICE GIVEN BY B. JOHN. 207 
 
 6. Labour in the work of your own progress with 
 that diligence which is due to the affairs of God, 
 bearing in mind that you have been admitted to the 
 heavenly vision of God as He hung upon the tree of 
 the Cross and that 3'ou are standing on holy grouud, that 
 should raise you above all passing affections. Strengthen 
 yourselves much in Christ, and in the power of His 
 might, that you may deny yourselves, not only in matters 
 of sense, but more in your will, and most of all in your 
 understanding, for this is the canker-worm, the enemy 
 of your true peace, condemning like a presumptuous 
 ring-leader the acts of Superiors, fomenting division, 
 and opposed to the spirit of obedience, in short, an 
 idol set up in place of the Holy One of God. Again 
 and again I recommend you, and entreat you by the 
 tender mercies of Christ, to humble your understanding, 
 that God may reign in you by faith, being confident 
 that what your Superiors command is God's will. Take 
 this, and nothing but this, for your consolation in every 
 case, and for comfort in all your doubts ; as long as you 
 follow these principles all will go well with you. 1 
 
 1 Cartas de San Ignacio, torn. v. App. p. 458.