ivjif jfrMiH IkWiI fthMiilJtl YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIFE OP SAINT PHILIP NERI. [The Copyright is reserved,] jjt IS stints anb Sitfmnis of «DoJ). THE LIFE OF SAINT PHILIP NERI, APOSTLE OF EOME, AND FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE OEATOBT. "Gande Maria Virgo, cnnctas bsereses sola interemisti in universe, mnudo," — Antlpih. Ecclesia-, SECOlfD HTHTTOTT. LONDON : THOMAS BAKER, 1, SOHO SQUARE. JIBCCCiSVIII. ZM35" 3z(o TO THE SECULAR CLERGY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ENGLAND, THE SUCCESSORS AND SPIRITUAL CHILDREN OP GENERATIONS OP MARTYRS, WHO, BY THEIR CHEERFULNESS IN HOLY POVERTY, THEIR DILIGENCE IN OBSCURITY AND UNDER OPPRESSION, THEIR UNEXAMPLED CONFIDENCE IN THE TRUTHS THEY TAUGHT, THEIR FORGIVING CHARITY TOWARDS UNGENEROUS OPPONENTS, AND THEIR SELFDENYING KINDNESS TOWARDS THOSE WHOM THEIR PRAYERS, THEIR SACRIFICES, AND THEIR SUFFERINGS RESCUED FROM THE DARKNESS OF ERROR, HAVE PRESERVED TO THEIR COUNTRY, TOGETHER WITH THE PRECIOUS EXAMPLE OP THEIR OWN VIRTUES, THE UNFAILING LIGHT OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH, AND THE HEREDITARY DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SEE WHICH DISTINGUISHED THE PILGRIMS AND SAINTS OF SAXON TIMES, AND THE PRINCELY BUILDERS OF OUR NORMAN CHURCHES. St. Wtlfbid's, Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury, m.d.ccc.xlvii. PREFACE. The Life of St. Philip, in two volumes, which formed the first of the series of " Lives of the Saints and Servants of God," commenced by Father Faber in 1847, was a translation of the Italian Life by Father Bacci, from an enlarged and corrected edition, published at Rome, by Marini, in 1837. Jt has been out of print for some time, and is republished in the present volume. A few words seem called for to explain the changes which have been made in this edition. It was felt that the Saint's Life would be brought within the reach of a largely increased number of readers, if it could be reduced within the compass of a single volume. This has been done by the omis sion of the fifth and sixth Books, which are exclusively occupied with the Saint's miracles before and after his death. As the specially supernatural characteristics of St. Philip are completely interwoven VU1 PREFACE. with the narrative of his life, it is hoped that this omission will not be seriously felt. The Letters and Maxims of the Saint, which completed the second volume of the former edition, are not republished for the same reason. One or two trifling omissions have also been made in the course of the Life, with the view of ren dering it more suitable for general read ing. Several details introduced into the latest Italian edition of Bacci, published at Florence in 1851, have been incorporated in the present volume. The whole of the text has undergone a careful revision, and considerable changes have T)een made in the translation, for the most part with the object of giving a closer representa tion of the original ; but it is hoped that words and phrases which have become endeared to English lovers of St. Philip have not in any case been altered. Lastly, an Index and a table of contemporary Popes have been added, for the reader's convenience. The Oratory, Brompton. Feast of St. Philip, 18G3. CONTENTS. BOOK I. THE ACTIONS OF PHILIP FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HE WENT TO LIVE AT SANTA MARIA IN VALLICELLA. CHAPTER PAGE I. Birth and boyhood of Philip ... ... ... 1 II. At sixteen he is sent to S. Germano, to learn busi ness under his cousin ... ... ... 16 III. He goes to Home : his first fervour .... ... 8 IV. Philip studies philosophy and theology ... 10 V. He leaves his studies and gives himself wholly to spiritual exercises ... ... ... ... 13 VI. Of the miraculous palpitation of his heart ... 17 VII. The winning of souls, and the works of charity that he did in his youth ... ... ... 22 VIII. Philip, with some others, begins the confraternity of the Santissima Trinita de' Pellegrini e de' Convalescent! ... ... ... ... 26 IX. In obedience to his confessor he is ordained priest, and undertakes the charge of hearing confessions 30 X. The beginning of the spiritual conversations in his room ... ... ... ... ... 32 XI. Of some of his penitents who led holy lives ... 34 XII. Of the greatness of Philip's zeal for the holy faith 14 XIII. For the same end of converting unbelievers he commands Cesare Baronius to compose his ecclesiastical annals ... ... ... 53 XIV. Of Philip's spiritual exercises at S. Girolamo della Carita ... ... ... ... 63 X CONTENTS. CHAPTSK PAGB XV. The Florentines desire Philip to undertake the charge of their church of S. Giovanni at Eome 71 XVI. Philip endures many persecutions because of the 77 exercises ... ... ... ¦•• ¦•• '• XVII. Foundation of the Congregation of the Oratory in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella ... 87 XVIII. Philip leaves S. Girolamo, and goes to live with his disciples at the Vallicella ... ... 93 XIX. Of the institute and government of the Congre gation ... ... ... ... ... 95 XX. Of the great obedience and reverence which his subjects paid to him ... ... 105 BOOK II. OF HIS VIRTUES. I. Philip's love and devotion towards God ... 117 ' II. Of Philip's devotion to our Blessed Lady, and to holy relics ... ... ... ... ... 127 III. Philip communicates devotion to those who con verse with him ... ... .., ... 134 IV. Of Philip's gift of tears 137 V. Of prayer ... ... ... ... ... 143 VI. Of Philip's charity concerning the salvation of souls ... ... ... ... ... 154 VII. Philip's wonderful way of keeping young people from vice ... ... ... ... ... 164 VIII. Of the great care which Philip took of his peni tents when they were ill ... ... ... 170 IX. Philip frees many from different temptations and troubles ... ... ... ... 182 X. Philip delivers many from melancholy and scruples ; — his singular power of giving con solation ... ... ... ... ... 191 XI. Of Philip's alms ... ... ... ... 198 XII. Of his compassion and tenderness of heart ... 201 XIII. Of Philip's virginal purity ... ... ... 209 XIV. Of Philip's abstinence ... ... ... 220 XV. Of Philip's detachment from worldly goods ... 224 XVI. How far removed Philip was from every kind of ambition ... ... ... ... ... 232 XVII. Of Philip's humility 239 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTEE piQ8 XVIII. Of Philip's mortification of himself ... ... 250 XIX. Of the mortifications with which Philip exercised his spiritual children ... ... 258 XX. Of Philip's patience ... ... ... ... 271 XXI. Of Philip's perseverance and stability in well doing ... ... ... ... ... 283 BOOK III. WHICH TEEATS OF THE GIFTS WHICH GOD VOUCHSAFED TO HIM. I. Philip's raptures and ecstasies ... ... 291 II. Philip's visions ... ... ... ... 299 III. Philip's gift of prophecy. — He predicts the death of many persons ... ... ... ... 313 IV, Philip predicts the recovery of many ... ... 320 V. Other predictions of Philip ... ... ... 326 VI. He prophesies to several that they will be Car dinals or Popes ... ... ... ... 335 VII. Philip sees things which happen at a distance ... 341 VIII. His knowledge of the secrets of the heart ... 348 IX. Of Philip's prudence and discernment of spirits, and of many counsels whioh he gave to guide the soul in its actions ... ... ... 366 X. Philip delivers many who were possessed by the devil ... ... ... ... ... 385 XI. Philip appears whilst alive to several persons in different places ... ... ... ... 393 XII. He raises a young man to life, and commands a lady to die, who was in danger of yielding to temptation had her agony endured longer ... 399 XIII. Of the opinion men had of Philip's sanctity ... 403 CONTENTS. BOOK IV. WHICH TREATS OF PHILIP'S SICKNESSES AND DEATH. CHAPTEE PAGB I, Philip's last sicknesses, and the apparition of our Blessed Lady ... ... ... ... 419 II. Philip foretells his death ... ... ... 425 III. Philip dies in peace on the night after the Feast of Corpus Domini, the 26th of May, 1595 ... 431 IV. Immediately after his death Philip appears to several persons ... ... ... ... , 436 V. Of the concourse of people that came to see the Saint's body before it was buried ... ... 440 VI. Of the miracles which were worked before the body was buried ... ... ... ... 443 VII. Of what happened when Philip's body was opened, and of his burial ... ... ... 448 VIII. Seven years after his death the body of St. Philip is translated to his chapel ... .., ... 451 IX, Honours paid to Philip after his death ... 457 X. Of the canonization of Philip, and of the steps taken for that purpose ... ... ... 466 TABLE OP THE POPES WHO BEIGNED DUfiING ST. PHILIP'S LIFETIME. Leo X. Adrian VI. .. Clement VII. Paul III. .. Julius III. .. Marcellus II. Paul IV. .. Pius IV. .. St. Pius V. .. Gregory XIII. Sixtus V. Urban VII. Gregory XIV Innocent IX. Clement VIII TEAS OF ACCESSION, 1513 1522 1523 1534 15501555 1555 1559 1566 1572 1585 1590 15901591 1592 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. BOOK FIRST. THE ACTIONS OF PHILIP FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HK WENT TO LIVE AT SANTA MARIA IN VALLICELLA. THE . LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF PHILIP. Philip was born in the city of Florence, in 1515, the third year of Leo the Tenth's pontificate, in the month of July, shortly after six o'clock in the afternoon, on the eve of S. Mary Magdalene. He was baptized in the Church of S. John the Baptist, as is customary in Florence, there being in fact no other baptismal font in the city. He received his grandfather's name, Philip, and to this was added Romolo, from the great devotion shown in those parts to the Saint of that name. His father, Francesco Neri, was a lawyer honourably known in his profession, and a great friend to the religious orders, especially to the Dominicans. His family came originally from Castelfranco, but had been long established in Florence, and had become allied with the chief noble families of the city, though in his time it had somewhat fallen into decay. His mother was named Lucrezia, and was the daughter of Antonio d' Andrea of Mosciano and Lena Soldi. The Soldi were one of the noble houses of Florence, and in the time of the republic had long held high offices in the state. 1 2 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Francesco Neri had four children; two girls, Caterina and Elisabetta, and two boys, Philip and Antonio, who died young. Philip was gifted with excellent talents, an amiable disposition, a winning appearance, and a wonderful power of attraction; qualities which are usually found in those who are chosen to gain souls to God. His parents gave him an excellent education. He went through the usual course of grammar, and suc ceeded so well as not only to keep up with his com panions, but to astonish every one. He also went on to the course of rhetoric, and attained the greatest proficiency in it. His master in these studies was a certain Clemente, a man of no small skill and learn ing for those times. Among the signs of future sanctity which Philip gave, while still a child, were a great reverence towards his elders, a singular modesty, and a more than usual attraction to the things of God. He was so obedient to his father, that he never caused him the least uneasiness, except once when he gave his sister Caterina a slight push, because, while he was reading the psalms with his other sister Elisabetta, she kept on interrupt ing them in their prayers. For this fault, if fault it really can be called, he was corrected by his father, and when he reflected upon it, he was so grieved that he shed many tears. His attention to his mother's commands was equally exemplary. If she told him to stay in a particular place, nothing would induce him to move without her leave. After her death, his father married again, and Philip's dutifulness to his step-mother was such that she quite reverenced him, and loved him as tenderly as if he had been her own child ; eo that when he left THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 3 Florence she wept bitterly, and on her deathbed appeared to have him always before her, kept pro nouncing his name, and declared that the very remem brance of him was a refreshment to her. It was not only to his parents that Philip was respect ful, but to all who were older than himself. "With his equals and inferiors he was lighthearted, and so peace able, that he seemed not to know how to be angry. He was never heard tq speak evil of any one. His conduct with all ranks and ages was such as made him a universal favourite ; and from the kindliness of his temper and the purity of his ways, his comrades nick named him Good Pippo. Nor was it only in the sight of men that he found favour, because of the goodness of his disposition ; but he seemed to be under a special guardianship of Providence. One day, when he was about eight or nine 'years old, he saw an ass standing in the court-yard, and with a boy's thoughtlessness jumped upon its back. By some accident he and the beast both tumbled down a flight of steps into a cellar. He fell beneath the ass, and no part of his body was visible except an arm. A woman who witnessed the accident, ran to him and drew him from under the animal, not as she expected, killed or maimed, but safe and sound, without the least vestige of his fall. He often related this escape as one of the greatest favours the Majesty of God had conferred on him, and was continually returning Him thanks for it. To his other good qualities Philip joined devotion and spirituality. His devotion too had a certain character of maturity about it. It did not con sist in those exhibitions of childish piety, which are laudable enough in themselves, such as dressing little altars and the like, but in praying, reciting psalms, and 4 THE MFR OF ST. PHIMP NERI. above all in eagerly listening to the word of God. He never spoke lightly, as boys will do, of becoming a priest or a monk, but concealed the wish of his heart, and began even from his childhood to shun all parade, of which he was ever an implacable enemy. This maturity of spirit, united with his childlike innocence, rendered him so dear to God that He appears to have granted him whatever he prayed for. When he had lost anything, he had recourse to prayer in order to find it. Thus, for instance, returning once from the Zecca to the Pittj palace, near which he was born and dwelt, he lost a gold necklace, but no sooner had he prayed than he found it ; and another time he recovered by the same means some things which had dropped from under his arnj a great way off. At this time Philip frequented, among other churches, that of St, Mark, belonging to the Dominican Friars, from whom he received the first germs of spirituality. Hence afterwards, when he was at Rome, he used to say to some Fathers of that order who were accustomed to go to visit him : " All the good I have ever had from my youth up, I owe to your Fathers of St. Mark's at Florence ;'' and he named in particular F. Zenobio de' Medici, and F. Servanzio Mini, in. evidence of whose virtues he used to relate the, following amongst various other anecdotes. These two fathers had agreed together to hear each other's confessions, every night before they went to matins, in order tbat they might say office with greater devotion; but the devil was envious pf so much good, and one night about two hours before ^he usual time, he knocked at the cell of Fra Zenobio, saying, "(Up quickly, it is time." At these words the good father woke and got up, and went as usual into the Church, where he found the devil THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 5 under the form of Fra Servanzio, walking up and down near the confessional. Believing it was really his companion he knelt down to make his confession. The devil at the same time sat down as if to hear him, and at each fault which Fra Zenobio named, he cried out, " That is nothing, that is nothing." At last, the friar adding a fault which seemed to him of a somewhat more grave character, the devil still said "that is nothing;" when Fra Zenobio heard this form of speech he bethought himself a little, and suspecting, not with out reason, some diabolical illusion, he at once made the sign of the holy cross, saying, " Perhaps you are a devil from hell," at which words the evil spirit was con founded and immediately disappeared. Besides these two, with whom Philip was on terms of the greatest confidence and familiarity, he used to delight in hearing a famous preacher of those times, called F. Balduino of the order of the Umiliati, to whose holiness the saint used often to bear witness, declaring that, by the prayer of that good servant of God, the city of Florence was much helped in the dis turbances and troubles, of 1527, when the Duke of Bourbon made his passage through Italy. From the religious exercises in which the holy youth thus engaged, there sprang up in him a great desire for all virtues, and in particular, with that covetousness characteristic of the saints, a wish to suffer for the love of Christ. So when he was attacked by a violent fever in the sixteenth year of his age, he endured it with such patience and fortitude, that he even sought to conceal by silence, so far as he could, what he really suffered ; but his step-mother's sister perceived it, and took pains to provide everything he wanted without his asking anything of her or of others. Nor did he O THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. display less firmness in a fire which happened in the house, and destroyed a great deal of property; for so remarkable was the calmness with which he took the matter, that many persons on that occasion predicted that he would be no ordinary man. Furthermore, by means of the same spiritual exercises, he acquired in addition to the love of virtue an actual aversion to those things which the world most esteems. On one occasion a paper was given him, containing a pedigree of his family ; but instead of reading it, he tore it in pieces, not caring to be put down in that, but only in the Book of Eternal Life with the Just. CHAPTER II. AT SIXTEEN* HE IS SENT TO SAN GERMANO, TO LEARN BUSINESS UNDER HIS COUSIN. Philip's father, Francesco Neri, had a cousin named Romolo, an industrious man, who went from Florence into the kingdom of Naples, and for many years was in business at San Germano, a town at the foot of Monte Cassino, until at length he had amassed a fortune of more than 22,000 crowns which in those times was a very considerable sura. Now when Philip was about sixteen years old, and advanced in' human learning beyond the average, he was .sent by his father to this cousin with the intent that, after learning business under him, he should be his heir, Romolo having no * Bacci makes St. Philip go to San Germano at eighteen— but as he spent two years there, and went to Eome in 1533, that is, when still only eighteen, there is an obvious mistake. It has been correoted on the authority of Gallonio, one of the Saint's com- panions, who wrote the annals of his life five years after his death. TEE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 7 one nearer of kin, to whom he might leave hia property. By order, therefore, of his father, he went to San Germano, where his cousin received him with much affection. Romolo soon discovered his good qualities, and before long determined to make him heir of all that he had. But God, who had destined him to greater things, thwarted this design : for when Philip had lived there for a short time, he felt himself inwardly spurred to embrace a more perfect state ; and considering how riches, and especially trading, stand in the way of perfection, he began to think within himself of disposing otherwise of his life ; and this thought was quickened by a devotion which he adopted in those parts. Near to the harbour of Gaeta, not far from San Germano, there is a celebrated mountain which, accord ing to a very ancient and common tradition, is one of those which were rent at our Saviour's death. It belongs to the Benedictine fathers of Monte Cassino, who have a church there dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity. This mountain is split from top to bottom by three huge fissures; and in the middle one, which is the largest, there is a little chapel on a rock, under the care of the monks, and on it a crucifix painted, which the sailors salute with their guns, as they pass beneath. Here Philip was in the habit of retiring for prayer and meditation on the Passion of his Lord. It was during these retirements that his disdain of earthly things grew on him by little and little, and he deliberated on the best means of putting in execution the design which he had conceived ever since his coming to San Germano, of leaving trade, and giving himself up to God in a state of life in which he could serve Him with less hindrance. When his 8 THE LIFE OF ST. PaiLIP NEE!. cousin became aware of this, he endeavoured by every possible means to dissuade him from his purpose, proposing, what he had already designed, to make him heir of all his fortune. He bade him also think of his family, of which he was the last representative, and above all not to adopt lightly a resolution of such importance, adding that he was not conscious that any thing had been wanting on his part to deserve at least gratitude from Philip, for the love and the acts of kind ness which he had bestowed on him. Philip, at once putting away from himself all idea of earthly riches, answered with the modest brevity befitting such reso lutions, that he never should forget his cousin's kind ness, but that as to the rest, he was more pleased with his affection than with his advice;. CHAPTER III. HE GOES TO ROME : HIS FIRST FERVOUR. Philip kept firmly td his intention, in spite of all the suggestions which were made to divert him from it. He had now resided two years in those jiarts, and in 1533, after mature consideration, he departed for Rome without even letting his father know; though in all other matters he had never so much as deliberated about anything without his knowledge. He acted in this way that he might not be turned from his good design of serving God in detachment from worldly things, and especially from riches. He carried nothin« with him, that he might the more freely traffic for the merchandise of Heaven, to which he felt the Lord con tinually calling him. No sooner had he arrived at Rome, than an occasion offered ilself of serving God aa THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 9 he desired; for the first place to which he bent his steps was the house of a Florentine gentleman named Galeotto Caccia, who seeing his modesty, and withal considering his need, gave him a little room to live in, and a yearly allowance of corn, which Philip gave to the baker, going daily to get bread from him, as he wanted it. In order to return that gentleman's kindness, the saintly youth did not disdain to under take the care of his two little boys, teaching them letters, and also virtuous ways, specially purity and modesty, so that they became as it were two angels. While he remained there, which was for many years, he led a life of great hardship and rigour, courting solitude as much as might be ; so that some have said that his was rather the life of a hermit than anything else. In food he was so abstemious that he seemed to take no thought either of eating or drinking. At first the people of the house were wont to reserve for him some part of their meals ; but he, not wishing for any thing, took a roll, and retired below into the court-yard near the well ; there he ate his bread, and then drank some water, adding at times some few herbs or olives. In general he only ate once a day; nay, he sometimes continued three entire days without taking food of any sort, and in later years, when a priest, he used on occasion to relate to his spiritual children, by way of stimulating them to mortification of the- flesh, how that in his youth he was contented with ten sixpences a month. As to his room, to say nothing of its extreme small- ness, it was so poor, that there was nothing in it but a little bed, and some books ; and his clothes, linen or woollen, were hung on a rope which went across the room. It was no rare thing for him to make the floor 10 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. his bed ; and the time which was not spent in sleep was given mostly to prayer, in which he had such a facility that he felt himself impelled to prayer rather than had need of any effort to excite himself to it. Indeed he sometimes spent entire nights in it. So unusual a way of life began by degrees to be spoken of, so that the rumour of it was not only spread over all Rome, but travelled as far as Florence. One of his relations, hearing some one speak of his holy life, and of the wonders that he wrought, and having known him intimately from a child, said, " I do not wonder at this, for I remember very well what Philip was while he was yet a boy at Florence : when therefore you return to Rome, bid him pray to God for me." CHAPTER IV. PHILIP STUDIES PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. When the youthful Philip had led this austere life for about two years, he determined, in order the better to understand heavenly things, and to taste them more perfectly, to add the study of philosophy and theology to what he had previously learned. First, therefore, he betook himself to philosophy, in which he profited so much that, according to the testimony of Alessandro Buzio, his fellow student and afterwards an eminent philosopher, he was reckoned one of the most distin guished scholars at that time in the schools of Rome. His masters in philosophy were Cesare Jacomelli, who was afterwards bishop of Bencastro in Calabria, and Alphonso Ferro, both of them among the first lecturers of Rome in their day. He studied theology in the schools of the Augustinian monks under Alessio THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 11 Stradella, afterwards bishop of Nepi, and laid a sufficient foundation therein to last throughout his life, se that in his old age he used to answer the deepest questions about the Holy Trinity, the angels, the Incarnation, and other matters, both theological and philosophical, with a memory as fresh as if he had but just studied them; many were greatly astonished to hear him speak with such solidity and depth about the various opinions on those subjects, and the Abate Maffa said of him, that he was ' magnus sestimator iu- geniorum.' When he conversed with such of his spiritual chil dren as were stndents, both for their advancement, and as a means of endearing himself to them, and so winning them to the service of God, he would enter into discussion with them, with as much ease as if he made those questions his daily study. Hence many young men delighted to frequent his rooms, where they found both a help and a stimulus in their studies. At other times, though not often, he would discourse as occasion arose with the first theologians of the age, and in particular with Fra Ambrogio of Bagnuolo, who was afterwards made bishop of Nardo by St. Pius V., Fra Paolo Bernardini of Lucca, a man of the greatest learning and prudence, and others with whom he was on terms of familiarity. But with those with whom he had not the like intimacy, it was his way so to conceal himself that no one would have taken him for a man of education, especially as in familiar conversation his manner was concise and interrupted, and he did not use many words to develop his thoughts : yet when he chose he could discourse with a length and sequency, most striking to his hearers. Thus a prelate of great worth, having one day had a 12 THE LIFE OF ST. PniLTP NRTU. long conversation with him, said when he went away, " I thought that father was a simple and illiterate man, but I have found him great both in spirituality and in learning." The same happened to the Blessed Alex ander Sauli, bishop of Pavia, a very holy and deeply read man. In conversation with Philip, he entered upon some theological questions, and was astonished at the learned answers which the Saint made, having hitherto esteemed him certainly as a saint, but not much of a scholar. He was so ready and well-grounded in scholastic and doctrinal matters that when the discourses first began in San Girolamo della Caritsk, and in San Giovanni de' Fiorentini, where there were so few preachers that laymen, if spiritual and eloquent, were admitted to discourse, if by chance Philip heard any proposition stated, or any fact narrated, without fitting clearness and precision, he would immediately mount the pulpit himself, and expound it so judiciously as to show his own learning in the matter, even in spite of himself; so that many held his knowledge to be rather infused than acquired. In theology he invariably followed the teaching of S. Thomas, to whom he had a special love and devotion, having the Summa almost always in his hand. He also constantly read and meditated upon the Holy Scriptures, and acquired a great readiness in applying them, of which he availed himself on occasion to the admiration and unspeakable edification of his hearers; and in all discussions he joined so much modesty to his acuteness, that he quite won the listeners over to him. When young, he took pleasure in writing poetry, both Latin and Italian, and in the latter he acquired such THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERT. 13 facility that he could compose off-hand ; though out of humility he caused all his writings to be burned before he died. We have however remaining by chance, three sonnets of his, composed in youth, and written with his own hand. While, however, Philip attended to his studies he did not neglect the things of the spirit. He continually visited the hospitals, and often, after the schools were closed, went to the portico of S. Peter's or of S. John Lateran, to instruct the poor in the holy faith, and spent the night in protracted prayer. His fervour, far from diminishing, so increased that he was unable to attend to the theological lecture in the school of the Augustinian fathers, because of a very devout crucifix which hung in the lecture hall ; for every time he beheld it he was unable to restrain his sighs and tears. As in Florence he had been called Good Pippo, so in Rome he was commonly called Good Philip, a name by which Antonio Altoviti, archbishop of Florence, used to call him, and Cesare Jacomelli, his master in theology, and many others.. CHAPTER V, HE LEAVES EIS STUDIES., AND GIVES HIMSELF WHOLLY TO SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, He had now made sufficient advancement in learning, not for his own use only, but also for the edification of others; and he began to consider the apostle's words, Non plus sapere quam oportet sapere, sed sapere ad sobrietatem. (Rom. xii. 3.) Now therefore he laid his studies aside, and applied himself wholly to that science which is found in the crucifix. He gave him- 14 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. self up more than ever to prayer, knowing full well that that was the means of arriving at the perfection which he desired ; whereas study is a great hindrance to perfection, prayer and study with equal jealousy demanding the whole man. First of all then he sold all his books, and gave the price away for the love of God. After this he gave himself up to prayer in such a way, that from that time forward he had nothing more at heart than perseverance in that exercise ; and indeed, he sometimes continued in it forty hours at a time. While he prayed he felt the incentives of divine love multiply with such power within him, and kindle such a flame in his breast, that besides continually weeping and sighing, he was often obliged, in order to moderate the fire, to throw himself on the ground, to bare his breast, and use other means to relieve his spirit which was overpowered by the impetuosity of the flame. Besides prayer, he studied how to macerate his flesh with every sort of mortification. He slept very little, and that mostly upon the bare earth, and disciplined him self nearly every day with some little chains of iron. He loved poverty as his dearest companion, avoided conversation, and all recreations, even blameless ones; in a word, he studied how to deprive himself of every thing which could bring comfort or pleasure to his body. His life now became more retired than ever ; indeed, he almost separated himself, like a hermit, from com merce with men. Above all things he gave himself to silence, which he prized and practised all his life long, so far as his institute allowed; and he made use of these means to enable himself to attend with greater fervour to the contemplation of divine things; in order to do so with greater recollection, he adopted THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 15 the devotion of going every night to the Seven Churches, a distance of some twelve miles, and particularly to the Cemetery of San Callisto, generally called the Catacombs of S. Sebastian, and there he prayed for a long while together. He used to carry with him, either under his arm or in his hood, some devout book and a roll, on which he lived all day. It was in consequence of these practices that a Dominican Friar, named F. Francesco Cardone da Camerino, master of the novices in the convent of the Minerva, used to propose him to the novices as a model of penance, and often said to them, " Philip Neri is a great Saint, and, among other wonderful things, he has dwelt for ten years in the caves of S. Sebastian in the practice of penance, and has lived on bread and the roots of herbs." For although his regular habitation was in the house of Galeotto Caccia, he mostly spent the night in the above named places. Whenever he found the churches shut, he used to remain under the porticoes, where he was often seen reading by the light of the moon, particularly at S. Mary Major's and S. Peter's; for he lived in such poverty, that he could not provide himself even with a piece of candle for a light. Besides the above mentioned visits he went for some time to the four churches ; for once, when speaking disparagingly of himself, he mentioned that he had gone for many years to the four basilicas of S. Peter, S. John Lateran'i Holy Cross, and S. Mary Major, where he often Occupied himself in instructing the poor who stay about the doors of those churches. In these places Philip was often surprised by such an abundance of spiritual consolations, that, unable any longer to endure so great a fire of lOve, he was forced to cry out, " No more, Lord, no more," and throwing him- 16 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. self down, he used to roll upon the ground, not having strength to endure the vehement affection which he felt in his heart ; and beiDg thus so full of God, we need not wonder at his often saying, that to one who truly loved God, nothing was so really burdensome as life ; for these words were often on his lips, " The true servants of God take life patiently, and death eagerly." Notwithstanding, however, the great sensible conso lations, with which the Lord favoured His servant, while he went about alone visiting these places by day and by night, yet very grievous also were the temptations by means of which the devil sought to divert him from his holy purpose. One day as he was passing by the Coliseum, on hia road to S. John Lateran, the devil, who never sleeps, presented himself to him under the appearance of a naked person, and excited most filthy thoughts in his imagination ; but Philip, perceiving the device of the enemy, betook himself to his usual remedy of prayer, and remained conqueror in the fight. At other times, and especially in the dark, the evil spirit tried to terrify him. One night the Saint was near S. Sebastian's, at the place called Capo di Bove ; he was alone and praying as he- went along, which was his usual custom, when there appeared before him three demons of horrible shapes with the design of frightening him and hindering his devotions ; but^as he made game of them, and pursued his way without taking further notice of them, they disappeared. Philip had other combats and temptations, while he was leading this solitary life, but, like a good soldier of Christ, he came victorious out of them all. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NRRI, 17 CHAPTER VI. OF THE MIRA.CULOUS PALPITATION OF HIS HEART. Philip had been following this manner of life a long time, and was twenty- nine years old, when God gave him among other graces a miraculous palpitation of the heart, and a no less wonderful fracture of his ribs, which happened as follows. One day, a little before the feast of Whitsuntide, he was praying according to his wont to the Holy Ghost, for Whom he had such a devotion, that he daily poured out before Him most fer vent prayers, imploring His gifts and graces, and when, a priest, always said at mass, when the rubric allowed, the prayer "Deus, cui omne cor patet.' Now, while he was with the greatest earnestness asking of the Holy Ghost His gifts, there appeared to him a globe of fire, which entered into his mouth and lodged in his breast ; and thereupon he was suddenly surprised by such a fire of love, that, unable to bear it, he threw himself on the ground, and, like one trying to cool himself, bared his breast, to temper in some measure the flame which he felt. When he had remained so for some time, and was a little recovered, he rose up full of an unwonted joy, and immediately all his body began to shake with a vehement tremour ; and putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart a swelling about as big as a man's fist, but neither then nor ever afterwards was it attended with the slightest pain or wound. Whence this swelling proceeded, and what it was, was manifested after his death ; for when his body was opened, it was found that the two highest of the five 18 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. false ribs, that is the fourth and fifth, were completely broken and thrust outward, and the two sides standing wide apart, never having re-united nor returned to their proper position in all the fifty years which Philip lived after this miraculous event. It was at the same time that the palpitation of his heart commenced, which lasted all his life, though he was of a good con stitution, a very lively temperament, and without the least tendency to melancholy. This palpitation only came on when he was performing some spiritual action, such as praying, saying mass, communicating, giving absolution, talking of heavenly things, and the like. The trembling which it caused was so vehement, that it seemed as if his heart would break out from his breast, and his chair, his bed, and sometimes the whole room, were shaken as if by an earthquake. On one occasion when he was in St. Peter's, kneeling upon a heavy plank, he made it shake as if it had been of no weight at all ; and sometimes when he was lying upon the bed with his clothes on, his whole body bounded into the air. ' Whenever he pressed any of his spiritual children to his breast the beating of his heart against their head was so violent that they felt as if they re ceived a smart blow, the pulsations resembling the strokes of a hammer, whilst they experienced in thus approaching him the greatest consolation and spiritual contentment, and many found themselves in the very act delivered from temptations. While upon this matter, I must not omit to relate what is affirmed by Tiberio Riceiardelli, canon of St. Peter's, who served the Saint out of devotion for forty successive years. " While I was serving the father," he says, " there came upon me a temptation to impurity, and after I had told him of it, he said to me, " Tib,e- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 19 rio, come here, close to my breast ;' and taking hold of me, he pressed me to his bosom, and I was not only freed at once from that particular temptation, but I never afterwards had any similar ones; and besides this, I had such an increase of devotion that it seemed as if I could do nothing but pray." Marcello Vitelleschi, canon of St. Mary Major, another of Philip's spiritual children, declared that he had been repeatedly freed from temptations, especially those of the flesh, by the Saint's pressing him to his bosom ; and whenever Philip knew that he was suffering from such tempta tions, without his saying a word to him, he used to take hold of his head and press it to him, and in no case was this done without immediate release from the tempta tion. Philip felt besides such a heat in the region of the heart, that it sometimes extended over his whole body, and for all his age, thinness, and spare diet, in the coldest days of winter it was necessary, even in the middle of the night, to open the windows, to cool the bed, to fan him while in bed, and in various ways to moderate the great heat. Sometimes it quite burned his throat, and in all his medicines something cooling was generally mixed to relieve him. Cardinal Crescenzio, one of his spiritual children, said that sometimes when he tbuched his hand, it burned as if the Saint was suffering from a raging fever ; the same was also perceived by the Abate Giacomo, the Cardinal's brother, who was also tenderly beloved by Philip. Even in winter ho almost always had his clothes open from his girdle up wards, and sometimes, when they told him to fasten them lest he should do himself some injury, he used to say he really could not because of the excessive heat which he felt. One day, at Rome, when a great 20 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NT5RI. quantity of snow had fallen, he was walking in the streets with his cassock unbuttoned ; and when some of his penitents who were with him were hardly able to endure the cold, he laughed at them, and said that it was a shame for young men to feel cold when old men did not. We may here relate what is said to have happened in the time of Gregory XIII. An order having been published that all confessors should wear the cotta in the confessional, the Saint went one day to the Pope with his doublet and cassock unbuttoned ; his holiness, marvelling very much, asked him the reason of it. " Why," said Philip, " I really cannot bear to keep my doublet buttoned, and yet your holi ness will have me wear a cotta besides." " No, no," replied the Pope, " we do not mean the order to apply to you ; do as you please.'' On account of the various effects of this palpitation on his system, the physicians who treated him often gave him remedies which he knew to be of no use ; upon which he would say banteringly : " I pray God that these men may be able to understand my infirmity," not choosing openly to discover that his infirmity was not natural, but caused by the love of God. Hence it was that in the fervours of the palpitation he was wont to say, " I am wounded with love ;" at other times, considering himself as it were imprisoned by this love, he broke out into those verses : — Vorrei aaper da voi com* ella e fatta Qaesta rete d'amor, che tanti ha preso, " I would know from you how that net of love is made which has taken so many." At other times, unable to stand upon his feet, he was obliged to throw himself upon his bed, and languish there, so that his THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 21 own people were accustomed to say, that those words of the Spouse were verified in him : " Fulcite me flori- bus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo." When he was surprised by thesd affections, he used to tell his spiritual children about a Franciscan of Ara Cceli, named Brother Antony, a man of most holy life, who, though he did not macerate his body by any great austerities, was always crying out, " Amore langueo, amore langueo," and languishing in this way through love of God, wasted slowly away till he died. But in his own case the Saint, to hide the real cause, pretended that all this was bodily infirmity, or a habit which he had contracted in his youth, and he almost always kept his handkerchief in his breast, on the side of his heart, in order that no one might perceive the swelling. He could not however deny, when speaking once to Francesco Zazzera, that for the most part his infirmities came from the palpitation. The whole appears still more wonderful from the fact that the palpitation was in his case perfectly voluntary. He mentioned this to Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, his most intimate and devoted friend, telling him that it was in his power to stop the motion by a simple act of his will ; but that in prayer he did not apply himself to do this, in order not to distract himself or keep thinking of it : and that the palpitation was so far from being painful, that it created a feeling of lightness and joyous- ness. This however did not always happen, nor did it exactly observe any general rules. The physicians who attended him in his illnesses, considered this pal pitation miraculous and supernatural. This was the opinion of Alfonso Catanio, Domenico Saraceni, and others, and in support of it Andrea Cesalpino, Antonio Porto, Ridolfo Silvestri, Bernardino Castellani, and 22 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Angelo da Bagnarea, have written particular treatises on the palpitation, all agreeing that God had wrought in him' that fracture of the ribs, so that the heart might not be injured in these violent beatings, and the sur rounding parts be the more easily dilated, and the heart kept sufficiently cool. When Philip had received this great and remarkable gift from God, he frequented the Seven Churches with still more ardour. There he was often surprised with such vehement devotion, that he could endure no more. One day in particular, unable to stand, he threw himself on the ground, and feeling himself actually dying through the fervour and impetuosity of his spirit, cried out vehemently, " I cannot bear so much, my God, I cannot bear so much, Lord S for see, I am dying of it." From that hour God gradually mitigated his intense sensible devotion, in order that his body might not be come too much weakenedby it, and permanently injured. Hence in his latter years he used to say, " I had more devotion when I was young, than I have now." CHAPTER VII. THE WINNING OF SOULS, AND THE WORKS OF CHARITY THAT HE DID IN HIS YOUTH. Philip having thus lived a retired life for some time, and feeling himself more and more called by God to the conversion of souls, resolved to quit in part the enjoyment of solitude for which he had the greatest attraction, and to give himself up with greater fervour to the assistance of his neighbour. To this end he began about the year 1538 to go about the squares, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 23 shops, schools, and sometimes even the banks, talking with all sorts of persons in a most engaging way about spiritual things. Amongst others, he exhorted young men in the warehouses to serve God, saying, " Well ! my brothers, when shall we begin to do good?" and thus with his natural sweetness and - wonderful power of attraction, he gradually gained such influence over them as to win them to God. Among many whom he brought to the service of God in these early times, was Enrico Pietra, of Piacenza, who was employed at the warehouse of the Bettini, and who left business, became a priest, and, after an edifying life, died most holily at S. Girolamo della Carita. He it was who extended so much the company of Christian Doctrine, in which undertaking he was greatly aided by Philip's advice and assistance. Another of his converts was Teseo Raspa, who also abandoned worldly business, and lived and died, giving great edification, at San Girolamo. Another was Giovanni Manzoli, from the warehouse of the Bon- signori; he remained a layman, but led a most holy and exemplary life. There were also many others whom we shall have occasion to mention in the follow ing chapters. B ut Philip's earnest longing after the salvation of others did not stop here. By a particular inspiration of God, he began to converse with men of the very worst lives ; he went out every day in search of sinners, whose con version he continually begged of God with abundant tears through the death of His divine Son ; and some times he would even go and eat and drink in their company to win them the more easily ; and so with his usual charity and dexterity he converted many to the Lord in a short time. But he avoided, especially at that 24 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. time of his life, any attempt to convert vicious women ; though afterwards God made him the means of bringing many even of them to penance, and to the religious state. Among the conversions which he made, one of the roost remarkable was that of Prospero Crivelli, a Milanese, and cashier of the principal banks of Rome. His soul was in such evil plight, as well because of illicit gains as of carnal sins, that his confessor, F. Giovanni Polanco, a Jesuit, refused him absolution. Horrified and disconsolate, he went to Philip, and telling him all that had happened, recommended himself most earnestly to his prayers, and begged of him with much importunity to obtain from God for him the grace to obey his confessor implicitly in everything, so that he might be able to receive absolution. Philip with his usual benignity and sweetness, first set about consoling him. After much conversation on spiritual matters, he saw that the cashier was moved to com punction, but had not the heart to abandon entirely his sinful habits. At length he dismissed him, saying, " Go, and I will pray for you, and I will pray so that without any further difficulty you shall separate your self from this occasion of sin." And so it proved ; for Prospero soon after gave up his sinful intimacy, confessed to F. Polanco, and received absolution; and then putting himself entirely under the care of Philip, became a spiritual man, and gave the most excellent example to those whom he had scandalized by his former immoral life. A great many who were converted by him to a good life, even before he was a priest and confessor, he sent into different religious orders ; so that S. Ignatius, the founder of the Company of Jesus, who was at that time at Rome, used to call him " The Bell," meaning that as the bell calls people into Church, but stayr THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 25 itself in the belfry, so Philip sent others into religion, but stayed in the world himself. And in fact, S. Ignatius tried several times to draw him into the Society ; but God had destined him to work in His vineyard with different means, and therefore he remained in the world. It is said, however, that he was the first who persuaded Italians to enter into the Company of Jesus. It was commonly observed that those who did not profit by Philip's admonitions and reproofs came to an unfortunate end. Among others there was a certain philosopher, who led a bad life, and being reproved by the Saint for some grave sin, paid no heed to the correction ; but the unhappy man had hardly left the Saint when he was assassinated. Another, who in spite of many entreaties from Philip, remained obsti nate, was arrested and condemned to death about a week afterwards ; though his punishment was subse quently, through favour, commuted to the galleys. To this zeal which Philip had for the conversion of souls, he always joined the exercise of corporal works of mercy. He visited the sick in the hospitals more than ever; he served them in all their necessities, made their beds, swept the floor round them, gave them their meals, and procured them different kinds of food to refresh and cheer them. Above all, he exhorted them to patience ; and when they were dying he made the commendation of their souls, continuing in attendance upon them entire days and nights; indeed he generally remained until they died, or some favourable change occurred in their disease. This holy and praiseworthy exercise was not very common in those times ; and it not only excited admiration in the spectators, but provoked others to imitate him. Many, not only ecclesiastics, but laymen 26 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERL and nobles, began to frequent the hospitals, and to serve the sick in all their necessities. Some time after the excellent and holy order of the Ministers of the Sick was founded for the same object by S. Camillus of Lellis, one of the Saint's spiritual children. Philip desiring one day to animate some of the fathers of that order to persevere in this holy work, said that he had himself, on one occasion, seen angels suggesting words to two of them who were commending the soul of a dying person, which circumstance is noted in the book of their chronicles ; and Marcello de Mansis, a priest of that order, has made use of it in his book on assisting the dying, as a motive to incite the faith ful to so pious a work. CHAPTER VIII. PHILIP, WITH SOME OTHERS, BEGINS THE CONFRA TERNITY OF THE SANTISSIMA TRINITA DE' PEL LEGRINI E DE' CON VALE SCENTI. With the same purpose of assisting his neighbours, on the 16th of August, 1548, Philip, together with his confessor F. Persiano Rosa, a priest of holy life, who lived at S. Girolamo della Carita, began the Confraternity of the Santissima Tvinita de' Pelle grini e de' Convalescenti in the Church of S. Salvatore in Campo. In this place Philip had united together about fifteen companions, simple persons and poor, but full of fervour and devotion. Besides frequenting the sacraments, they had different spiritual exercises, and in particular familiar conversations one with another about the things of God, inflaming one another by words and example with the desire of Christian perfection. Ou the THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 27 the first Sunday of every month, and during Holy Week, they exposed the Blessed Sacrament for the forty hours' prayer, when Philip (sometimes at every hour, whether of the day or night) delivered discourses so full of unction, that besides exciting the hearers to works of mercy, they often recalled numbers of sinners to a good life. There was no heart so hard that it was not softened by his words. On one occasion he converted thirty dissolute youths by a single sermon ; and many of his auditors said that to hear him was enough to convince any one of his sanc tity, and of his earnest desire to gain souls to Christ. Indeed, some who went to hear him for the very purpose of making game of him, when they witnessed the strange sight of a layman preaching (which was a thing not commonly seen in those days) were capti vated by his words and happily converted. Ordinarily, Philip never went away during the whole time the devotion lasted, but watched for the most part through the whole night, ealling one after the other those whose turn it was to assist, and when the hour was finished, giving them notice that it was time to give place to the others. For this purpose he kept a little bell near him, with which he gave the signal, saying, "Now, my brothers, away : the hour is finished ; but the time to do good is not finished yet." The object of this confraternity was then, as now, to receive for a few days the poor pilgrims who come daily to Rome, to visit the holy places. The institution of it took place in 1550, on occasion of the jubilee of Julius III. In the year of the jubilee an immense number of pilgrims are accustomed to flock to Rome ; and as there was no particular place destined to receive them, Philip and his companions were moved 29 THE LIFE OF SI'. PHILIP NERI. with charity, and hired a small house, to which they con ducted those who were poor among them, and provided them with all they stood in need of. But as the num ber augmented, and the charitable work went on, they were obliged to hire a larger house, where they could lodge all who came to them with greater convenience. It was a most edifying thing to see the great affection with which Philip and his companions served this great multitude night and. day, providing them with food, making their beds, washing their feet, con soling them with kind words, and showing to all the most perfect charity. In consequence of this the con fraternity got a great name that year, and the good odour of it was spread through all Christendom. Many were importunate to be admitted into the company, and a house was now taken and set apart on purpose for a hospital for poor pilgrims. The first brethren of the company, who all revered Philip as their father, were men poor as this world counts poverty, but rich in virtues. The cook even, who was the lowest among them, arrived at such perfection that he often went out at night, when it was clear, and fixing his eyes on the heavens, was sweetly absorbed in the contemplation of divine things ; and another of the same house was so illuminated, that he foresaw the day and hour of his death ; and calling to him his sister, who was named Margaret, he said, " On Friday at such a hour I shall die," which proved true in the event. The brothers, however, were not content with this work of charity. They knew the extreme necessity of the poor convalescents when they first came out of the hospitals, and that from the weakness of their recent infirmity, they very often had relapses more dangerous than the original sickness. On this account they THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 29 arranged that the same house, which served for the reception of poor pilgrims, should be used also for the assistance of the convalescents, who should be supported there and taken care of for a few days. But the confraternity increased so much in both the de partments of its charity, that it was ultimately trans ferred from S. Salvatore in Campo to the church of S. Benedict, which was also in the Rione della Regola, where the Santissima Trinita di Ponte Sisto is at present. To what an extent this work finally reached, was seen clearly in the subsequent jubilees of the year 1575 under Gregory XIII. aud 1600 under Clement VIII., at which last the number of pilgrims received amounted to 270,000. The lords and chief prelates ol the court, and high-born ladies devoted themselves with the greatest charity, the former to the men and the latter to the women, and the Sovereign Pontiff himself, Clement VIII., frequently went there to wash their feet, say grace for them, serve them at table, and per form for them other offices of charity to the marvel and edification of all Christendom. The same was seen under Urban VIII. in 1625, under Innocent X. in 1650, and in all the subsequent jubilees, the work having been continued and even increased in later times under the patronage of Philip. It also became the occasion of many striking conversions of heretics, who having been entertained in the house in the charactei of pilgrims, were moved by the examples of charity and humility which they saw practised in it, abjured their errors and returned into the oommunion Of the holy Church. SO THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. CHAPTER IX. IN OBJffiDIENCE TO HIS CONFESSOR HE IS ORDAINED PRIEST, AND UNDERTAKES THE CHARGE OF HEAR ING CONFESSIONS. God had destined Philip for the conversion of souls ; but it was impossible that he should accomplish this effectually, so long as he remained a layman. The Almighty, therefore, put it into the heart of F. Persiano Rosa, Philip's confessor, to persuade him to be ordained priest, and to undertake the charge of hearing confessions, that he might be the better able to win souls. When Philip first heard the proposal, he brought forward all manner of reasons to excuse himself from it, trying his best to prove to his confessor his inability and unfitness, and especially urging the strong desire he had to serve God as a layman. But F. Persiano approved of his humility without ad mitting the validity of his excuses, and desired him to submit the matter entirely to his judgment ; and Philip, who always thought the judgment of others better than his own, resigned himself entirely to the will of his confessor. In the year 1551, while the Council of Trent was yet unfinished, Philip, who was then thirty-six years old, received on different days of the month of March the tonsure, the four minor orders, and the subdiaconate, in the church of S. Tommaso in Parione. In the same year, on Holy Saturday, he was ordained deacon in the usual church of S. John Lateran.' His ordination as priest took place on the 23rd of May in the same year, in the same church of S. Tommaso in Parione, where he had received minor orders and the subdiaconate. He received all his orders from Giovanni Lunelli, bishop of THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. SI Sebaste ; the Vicar General of the Pope, at that time Julius III., being Philip Archinto, Bishop of Saluzzo. When he was made priest he went to live at S. Giro lamo della Carita, where a few priests of holy life were living together. These were Bonsignor Cacciaguerra of Sienna, a man of repute, Persiano Rosa, whom we have already mentioned as Philip's confessor, Francesco Marsuppini of Arezzo, a man of great purity and sim plicity of life, who was Philip's confessor after the death of Persiano, another Francesco no less virtuous, who was surnamed the Spaniard, and Pietro Spadari, also of Arezzo, who died in the odour of sanctity, and was the last of the priests of S. Girolamo who heard Philip's confessions. For after the death of the three we have named Philip confessed for a long time to F. John Baptist Perusco, of the Company of Jesus; and then till the end of his life to Cesare Baronius, who, as we shall see, commended his departing soul when it went to Paradise. These servants of God lived in that house with great charity, without any kind of par ticular rule, their only rule being their love and rever ence for one another. They had no superior,' but observed only the order of seniority; and so they lived a tranquil and almost a heavenly life, rivalling each other in the service of the Church, and in assisting their neighbour. They did not take their meals in common, but each one by himself in his room ; uniting in prayer and the frequentation of the Sacraments. This institute is still observed in that house to the great edification of all Rome. Here then Philip, having in the same year undertaken out of obedience the burden of hearing confessions, set himself more than ever to win souls and to convert sinners, with the greatest fruit both to himself and others. 34 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. CHAPTER X. THE BEGINNING OF THE SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS IN HIS ROOM. In those times men lived very remissly in matters of devotion ; most men thought it enough to confess once or twice a year. Philip, regarding this as the cause of perdition to a great number of souls, applied himself industriously to induce people to frequent the Sacraments, and other spiritual exercises, but, above all, confession. He was one of the first, aided by the holy men already mentioned, who revived in Rome the practice of frequent confession and communion. In order to obtain this object of his desire more easily, he abandoned every other care, and gave himself entirely to hearing confessions. He got a number of peni tents together; arid seeing the fruit which he ob tained by this means, he was not content to employ the day in the confessional, but gave up a considerable part of the night to it as well. Before sunrise in the morn ing he had generally confessed some forty persons in his own room ; and for their convenience he used to leave the key under the door of his apartments, that they might get in whenever they pleased. It was not only when in the retirement of his room that he was ready to confess all who came to him, but even if he was at prayer he broke off instantly, as we shall see later, and he would even rise from table and leave his meal, if he knew that any one sought him for confession. When the church was opened at daybreak, he went down there and entered the confessional, and never left it except to say mass, which he usually did about mid- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 33 day, or for some other cogent reason, always leaving word whither he was gone. If it happened that no penitents came, he remained near the confessional, read ing, or saying the rosary, or reciting office ; and some times he would wait for them walking up and down outside the door of the church, that he might be the more readily seen ; so that any one could find him with the greatest ease at any hour. He had such a spiritual relish in hearing confessions, that he said him self, " It is the greatest pleasure to me merely to sit in the confessional," so that he never gave up hearing con fessions for any infirmity which befel him, unless his physicians positively ordered it, and if any one through pity said to him : " Father, why do you fatigue your self so ?" he answered, " It is not fatigue, but rather a relief and recreation." This he did to keep up the devotion of his penitents, and not to expose them to the danger of growing tepid, or of falling back through the difficulty of finding him. He was not content with having thus won a number of penitents, but, desiring to preserve them, he took care, like a good father, to invent spiritual exercises, by which they should not only maintain, but keep continually increasing tlieir fervour, and advancing in spiritual things. For this end he arranged that every day after dinner, that being generally the most danger ous time, they should come to him in his room, and there, leaning or sitting on his little bed, he gathered them around him, and proposed to them after the man ner of a conference, some moral subject, such as the beauty of virtue, or the deformity of vice, or some consideration on the lives of the saints. At the con clusion he took up the discourse himself, and spoke with so much fervour that the usual palpitation of his heart 34 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. came on, and made not only the bed, but sometimes the whole room shake, and many times his whole body was seen lifted up into the air. — — In these conversations he made great use of the works of John Cassian, as being full of moral and use ful instruction, and when a sufficient time had been spent in this sweet and fruitful conversation, they all went out together, either for a walk or to some church, and specially to the Minerva, where they assisted in choir at compline, and in summer at matins, which are then said in the evening, and in particular during the octave of Corpus Christi; indeed they not unfrequently went to the same church at night for matins, and assisted at them with much fervour and spiritual sweetness. Many gentlemen used to accompany him, and this practice lasted until the exercises of the Oratory began to take a regular form, first at S. Girolamo, then in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and lastly in the Vallicella. There were at first about seven or eight persons who frequented these exercises, among whom were Simone Grazzini, a Florentine, Monte Zazzera, of the same place, Michele of Prato, two young goldsmiths, and one of the house of Massimi. But the number increased so much afterwards, that the room would not hold them, and the Saint took some others close by, and made, at his own expense, a place which would con veniently contain them all. CHAPTER XI. OF SOME OF HIS PENITENTS, WHO LED HOLY LIVES. Philip attracted by this work many of the principal gentlemen of the court, who became afterwards men of THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 35 wonderful virtue. Among these was Giovanni Battista Salviati, brother of Cardinal Antonio Maria Salviati, a person of great distinction, both from the nobility of his own family, and his near relationship to Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France ; but much more estimable for the goodness of his life, and the rare example of humility which he gave. He was assiduous in prayer, in works of mercy, and in the continual practice of mortification, in which the Saint exercised him daily. He was constant in attending the hospitals, where he served the sick in all their needs, however lowly and menial. One day he went to the hospital della Con- solazione, and found there a sick man who had formerly been his servant. He wished, according to his custom, to make his bed for him, and asked him to get up that he might be able to do so ; the sick man asked him why ? " Why !" replied Giovanni Battista, " because I want to make your bed for you." The servant knew nothing of his master's change of life, and thinking he was making game of him, said, "O Signor Giovanni Battista, this is not the time to make game of poor servants ; I pray you let me alone." Giovanni Battista answered : " I tell you I want to make your bed for you, and what I am doing is in earnest, and not to make game of you." The servant however persisted in thinking that he was being made game of; and partly also moved by the respect he felt for his old master, obstinately refused to let him make his bed. The contest between them lasted for a long time, but at length the charity and humility of the master got the better of the pertinacious obstinacy of the servant. This gentleman attained at last such a degree of mor tification that whereas before he dressed very showily, and was attended by a great number of servants, 36 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. after he had become acquainted with the Saint, and had some experience of a spiritual life, he not only dressed plainly, but would not have any servants to follow him. Philip however bade him, out of con sideration for others, dress as his equals did, though modestly, and be attended as men of his rank usually were. God rewarded these and his other virtues in the peace and happiness of his death; for when he had with exceeding devotion received the last Sacraments, and was told that the hour of his passage was come, full of joy, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and began singing, "Lsetatus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi; in domum Domini ibimus," and shortly after breathed his last in Philip's arms. The Saint had a long while before drawn Giovanni Battista's wife, Porzia de? Massimi, to a spiritual life, and had already led her to a high degree of perfection, when with her assistance he at last made the conquest of her husband. After his death she entered the monastery of Santa Lucia at Florence, that she might be the better able to serve God; but finding the air injurious to her; she returned to Rome, and shut her self up in the monastery of St. Catherine of Siena in Monte Magnanapoli, built by herself, where she died as holily as she had lived. Together with Giovanni Battista Salviati was Fran cesco Maria Tarugi, of Montepulciano, a relative of Popes Julius III. and Marcellus II. , a man of brilliant talents, in high favour with the great because of his engaging manners, and considered one of the most dis tinguished men of the Court, He went one day to S. Girolamo della Carita to confess, on the occasion of a jubilee published by Paul IV. When he had finished his confession, Philip took him into his room, and THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 37 talked with him upon various topics. After this he induced him to make an hour of prayer with him, during which Tarugi, although he had never practised mental prayer before, felt such spiritual sweetness, that the hour passed away without his knowing how, so ex cessive was the interior delight which he experienced. He came again at different times ; and seeing the Saint sometimes raised from the ground at prayer, he formed a still higher opinion of him, and was inflamed with an earnest desire to change his life. There were, however, some impediments at the time, which seemed to make. it necessary for him to defer the change he wished, and he made a minute statement of them to Philip. The Saint answered, " Do not be afraid ; the hindrances will cease before a month is over;" and so it proved. Tarugi therefore returned to him at. the end of that time, and made a general confession, during which Philip discovered to him his sins and secret thoughts. This circumstance kindled in him such an affection for the Saint, that he cared no longer for court or world, and gave himself up completely into Philip's hands, and that with such ready obedience, that the Saint did what he pleased with him, and afterwards made great use of him in winning souls. So great was the fervour of Tarugi, that he soon had more need of the bit than of the spur. He had such resignation to the will of God, that for the fifty years or more that he lived after his conversion, he never in good or evil, as he himself often declared, lost the interior peace he then acquired. He was most obedient to the Saint in all things, and such was the respect he felt for him, -and the opinion he had of his sanctity, that after he was made cardinal, he boasted of having been Philip's novice for fifty years, implying that from 38 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. his twenty-ninth year, when he gave himself into the Saint's hands, until the age of eighty- three to which he lived, he had no other idea of himself than that he was Philip's novice. He had an eminent gift of prayer and of tears ; and his success as a preacher was such, that he was the admiration of the most eloquent men of his day and was called by Baronius in his Annals 'dux verbi.' Clement VIII. made him Archbishop of Avignon, and afterwards Cardinal of holy Church. In his extreme old age he begged of the fathers to let him return to die in the Congregation ; and a few months afterwards he surrendered his holy soul to God in the year 1608, at the age of eighty-three years and eight months, and was buried in our church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Costanzo Tassone was another of the Saint's first spiritual children. He was nephew of Cardinal Pietro Bertani, of Fano, and Majordomo of Cardinal Santa Fiora. He was so given up to the court, that it seemed quite impossible for him to break away from it. Nevertheless he applied himself to works of piety, and at length there was no exercise, however lowly or diffi cult, in which he did not more than willingly engage. He confessed and communicated several times in the week, and often daily. He went continually to the hospitals to serve the sick, and accepted every kind of mortification which the holy father put upon him. In obedience to Philip he was ordained priest, and said mass every morning. He was so completely detached from the good things and honours of the world, that he refused a rich benefice which was offered him. At length his piety gained him admission to the service of St. Charles at Milan ; and there he persevered in his holy life until the end. He died at Rome, his death THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 39 having been foreseen by the Saint, as we shall relate elsewhere. One of the earliest of the Saint's children, and one of those most in his confidence, was Giovanni Battista Modio, of Santa Severina, in Calabria, a physician, and a man of great learning and piety. He was the author of some annotations on the poems of the B. Giacopone, and of an Italian treatise on the waters of the Tiber. On one occasion, when he was suffering dreadfully from the stone without any prospect of relief, and every one considered him in the last ex tremity, Philip went to visit him according to his cus tom ; and after having exhorted him to bear his cross manfully for the love of Christ, went out of the house and retired into a neighbouring church to pray for him, which he did with most earnest vehemence. At the first tear which Philip shed, Modio began to pass the stone, and in a short time recovered entirely ; and at tributing his recovery to the Saint's intercession, he gave himself completely into his hands. He was a very tender-hearted man, and singularly compassionate to the poor. He had also considerable talent in preaching, so that, although he was a layman, Philip made him relate the lives of the Saints in the Oratory, which he did to the great delight and profit of the hearers. After his death Philip appointed Antonio Fucci of Citta di Cas- tello to succeed him in this office of relating the lives of the Saints. He also was a physician and very learned, and what is of more importance, a very spiritual man, and he was one of those who wished to accompany the Saint to the Indies to shed his blood for the holy faith, as we shall see later. Marcio Altieri, a Roman noble, was also one of his spiritual children. Under the discipline of the Saint 40 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. he arrived at such perfection and enjoyed such a savour of the greatness of God, that the holy Father used to say of him that, like another Moses, he could not talk of God for the abundance of his devotion. He had such tenderness towards the poor, that he hesitated not to strip himself in order to clothe others, and gave in alms even the coverlet of his bed, expecting from the Lord the promised reward. To these may be added Matteo Stendardi, nephew of Paul IV., Bernardino Valle-, of Como, maestro di casa to Cardinal Montepulciano-, Fulvio Amodei, Giacomo Marmita, of whom we shall speak afterwards, Giovanni Antonio of Santa Severina, and Ludovico Parisi, who served the Saint out of devotion for more than thirty years ; with others of the principal families of Italy, who were all his penitents^ and mirrors of perfection in the court of Rome. Besides these he had others 'of humbler condition, who were also men of most saintly lives'. Among them was Stefano; a shoemaker of Rimini, who had been a soldier for a long time, and was full of enmities, and altogether given up to the things of this world. Stefano came to Rome, and by some good inspiration went one day to St. Girolamo to hear the sermons. Through reverence and respect for others he took one of the back seats ; but Philip, without ever having seen or known him before-, went to him and led him to the front. When the prayer was finished he showed him great affection, and so captivated him by his manner, that from that day Stefano went continually to the sermons and began to frequent the Sacraments. By this means he was delivered from his most obstinate and inveterate passions, and became a man of wonderful virtues. He was so given to works of charity, that although he was THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 41 very poor, he took nothing from his weekly earnings but what was absolutely necessary, and gave the rest away for the love of God. He thought constantly of death and kept himself prepared for it as if each day he was to die; but for all that he was never out ot spirits or downcast, but always gay and cheerful. He was remarkable also for his obedience, and for his as siduity in prayer, in which he was greatly favoured by God, and he was seen one day in the chureh of the San- tissima Trinita di Ponte Sisto, suddenly surrounded by a resplendent light. Stefano persevered in these exer cises twenty- three years, living in a small house by himself. His friends told him that he would die some day suddenly, without any one to assist him ; but he answered that he put his confidence in the most holy Madonna, and was quite sure that she would not aban don him : and so it proved, for being assailed one night all on a sudden by his mortal sickness, he went out of his house and called his neighbours to assist him and to go for the parish priest, and then returning took to his bed, where he received the last Sacraments, and1. gave up his soul to God. Francesco Maria, commonly called il Ferrarese, was another of Philip's spiritual children. He was a man of the greatest simplicity, and of such goodness and purity of life, that he sometimes heard the angels sing ing, and was physically sensible of the noisome odour of sin. He had also a most eminent gift of tears, and when he communicated, which was ordinarily every day, or heard any one speak of the things of God, and particularly of Paradise, he wept immoderately. He was so enamoured of suffering, that being one day in excessive agony from the stone, he prayed God to send hiin a still heavier infirmity ; and he had no sooner said. 42 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. this than he recovered. He had a burning zeal for the salvation of others ; and seeing a Jew one day, he was smitten with such compassion for his soul, that he prayed every day for him for three years continuously, beseeching the Divine Majesty to give him the grace of conversion. His prayers were not in vain, for being one morning at St. Peter's, he saw most unexpectedly that very Jew go to receive holy baptism, and his heart so melted within him at the sight, that he immediately began to shed most abundant floods of tears. Another time Francesco Maria Tarugi found him weeping bitterly, and being very urgent with him to tell him the cause, the good man (although an entirely uneducated person) answered, that he was thinking of those words which Christ'said to His disciples, " When you have done all these things, say, we are unprofitable servants ;" — " For," said he, " if the Apostles, after having done so many miracles and converted the world, were for all that to say, ' We are unprofitable servants,' what am I to say, who have done nothing ? This is why I weep, and cannot restrain my tears." Another time, Tarugi found him in prayer, standing, and every now and then drawing back a little, making gestures of surprise. This having lasted some time, Tarugi asked him why he did so : He answered, " I am con sidering the greatness of God, and the more I consider it, the more it seems to grow before me, and its very immensity forces me to step backward, even cor porally." Philip had also for his penitent another servant of God, named Tommaso, a Sicilian, whom he led to such a height of perfection, that he came to look forward as an immense privilege to becoming some day sweeper of St. Peter's. This post he obtained THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 43 according to his desire, and continued to sweep the church for many years with the greatest diligence and delight. Indeed he never left it except when he went to the holy father to confession. At night he slept in his clothes, on the predella of one of the Seven Altars. The devil, always the enemy of humility and perse verance, endeavoured one night to terrify him into, giving up his undertaking. While Tommaso was asleep, the malignant spirit made such a disturbance, that it seemed to the good man as if all the benches in the church were being thrown up into the air, and were falling down on the floor, broken in pieces. Jumping up, he ran to the lamp and lit a candle, but found all the benches quiet in their places. He then searched tlie church diligently, thinking- there might be a robber lurking in it; and in his search beheld the demon be hind one of the columns, under the appearance of a negro; he immediately went up to him boldly, and raised his hand to give him a blow, upon which the enemy disappeared, and the intrepid Tommaso went back to his place as if nothing had happened, and fell quietly asl :ep. Another of Philip's penitents was Fra Ludovico of Spoleto. He was not really a friar, but was so called because he wore the habit of St. Francis. This servant of God was most poor in earthly goods, but richly endowed with every virtue, and of a life most singularly pure, in consequence of which the Saint set him to take charge of the girls of Santa Caterina de' Funari, and knowing his goodness, would never let him abandon the employment. Pietro Molinaro was also one of those who were most in Philip's confidence. Through the abundance of his tears he lost his sight, but God restored it to him again by miracle. There 44 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. were very many others of different trades and profes sions, who lived under the care and discipline of Philip, and died in the odour of sanctity; but for brevity's sake we must omit particular account of them, except as our narrative may from time to time lead us to make mention of them. CHAPTER XII. OF THE GREATNESS OF PHILIP'S ZEAL FOR THE HOLY FAITH. Philip had thus created round about him a goodly school of spiritual men. In the beginning of the con ferences and conversations in his room, they sometimes read the letters which came at that time to the Jesuit Fathers from the Indies. The Saint, considering how great the harvest in those countries was, and how few the labourers, began to think of going himself into those parts, to sow the seed of the holy faith, and to shed, if needs be, his blood for the love of Christ. He communicated this thought to some of his penitents, and among the rest to Francesco Maria Tarugi, Giovan Battista Modio, Antonio Fucci, and others, to the number of twenty. Some of them he caused to be ordained priests, so that they might be ready to start as soon as they had received the Pope's blessing. Philip, however, was not a man to come to any grave decision without prayer, counsel, and time. First of all, therefore, he prayed about it for a long while, and then consulted a Benedictine monk who lived at St. Paul's, a man of great weight both for his learning and for his spirituality. This monk referred him to Agostino Ghettini, a Cistercian father, who was then THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 45 prior of the convent of SS. Vincent and Anastasius, at the Three Fountains. Ghettini was a man eminent both for learning and sanctity, and had been dedicated to the religious state by his father and mother before he was born ; it being their pious custom to confess and communicate and offer each of their children to the service of God before they came into the world. He had the spirit of prophecy, and an ardent devotion to St. John the Evangelist, from whom he received many favours ; so that he once said in the presence of the monks, " My St. Giovanni has told me that I am to die on his feast, but he has not told me the year." A long while after wards St. John appeared to him again while he was saying mass on Christmas day, and said to him, " you shall die on this feast of mine, which is at hand;" and so it proved, for on the morning of St. John's day, when he bad said mass, he betook himself to his bed, received extreme unction, and expired the same day. To this holy man Philip confided his project, and begged for his advice. The good servant of God took time and told him to come again for his answer. After some days Philip returned, and the monk, according to his promise, told him that St. John the Evangelist had appeared to him, and had said that " his Indies were to be in Rome, and that God wished to make use of him there." He added also that he had seen the waters of the Three Fountains of a blood colour, which the apostle had revealed to him signified a great tribulation coming upon Rome. Philip implicitly believed the words of the monk, and with complete tranquillity of mind resolved to attend to the gaining of souls in the city of Rome. This did not, however, in any way cool the great 46 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. zeal which he had for the propagation of the holy faith, and what he could not do in the Indies, he did not fail to do to the utmost of his power in Rome. Whenever he saw a Jew, he felt so strong a desire for his conver sion that at the mere sight he often broke forth into tears and sighs, and left no means untried for his conver sion. He went one day to St. John Lateran with Pros pero Crivelli, a Milanese gentleman, who took with him a Jew. When they entered the church and knelt down before tbe Blessed Sacrament, the Jew alone stood with his head covered and his back turned to the altar. Philip seeing this, said: "Listen to me, my good man: join me in this prayer : ' If Thou, Christ, art really God, inspire me to become a Christian.' " He answered that he could not make such a prayer as that, because it would be to doubt of his faith. Philip then turned to the bystanders, and said: "Pray to God for this man, for without doubt he will become a Christian ;" and not long afterwards, through the prayers and assistance of the Saint, he was baptized. On the vigil of St. Peter and St. Paul, Marcello Ferro, a priest, and one of his first spiritual children, found two young Jews under the portico of St. Peter's, and began to talk to them about the faith, and in par ticular about the glory of those holy apostles who had themselves been Jews. Prolonging the conversation, he at last got them to promise that they would go some day and speak to Philip at St. Girolamo. When they came to perform this promise, as soon as ever the Saint saw them he showed them so much affection, that for several months they came to him nearly every day. Some time, however, having elapsed without any visit from them, the Saint desired Marcello to find the youths out. Mar cello went to their house, and asked their mother what THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 47 had become of her sons. She answered that one of them was lying very ill, almost at the point of death. Marcello expressed a great desire to see him, and God so disposing the mother's heart, she allowed him to go up stairs. There he found the Jew indeed in the greatest danger of death, and as he would not take any food, the mother begged Marcello to try to per suade him to eat something, as he might perhaps take it from his hands. Marcello readily assented, and the Jew as readily took all that he gave him ; Marcello then watching for an occasion, whispered into his ear : " Father Philip desires to be remembered to you." At these words the invalid was full of joy, and Marcello at parting said : " Remember you have promised Father Philip that you will be a Christian." He answered : " I do remember it, and I intend to do so, if God spares my life." Marcello related the whole to the Saint, who said : " Do not be afraid ; we will help him with our prayers, and he will be converted." The Jew got well, and returned to Philip together with his brother, and under the Saint's care they both became Christians. He also converted to the faith a Jew, who belonged to one of the chief and wealthiest families among them. He was baptized at St. Peter's, but as his father, who remained a Jew, had frequent intercourse with him, Pope Gregory XIII. was afraid lest his faith should suffer injury, and told Philip that this intercourse was not pleasing to him. Philip told his holiness that his reason for allowing it to go on was that he felt confident the father would be converted through the son. This happy event did actually take place, for the Christian son induced his father to go to Philip, whose efficacious words soon overcame his objections, so that he became 48 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. a Christian himself in a very short time. Many years afterwards, this man got away from the Jews his four young nephews, whose father was dead, and caused them to be catechized that they might embrace the holy faith. One day, after Philip had left S. Girolamo and was gone to the Vallicella, he took these nephews to the holy father. Philip, according to his custom, showed them great affection, but did not enter into any conversation about the faith. One evening, however, many days after, he begged them to recommend them selves to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would inspire them with a knowledge of the "truth. He added that he had already made the same prayer, and that the next morning at mass he would pray for them, and do holy violence to God. Then he said to the bystanders : " To-morrow morning, at my mass, they will say, ' yes ;' " and one of them afterwards confessed, when he was examined in the process, that in the morning he was constrained to say yes, because he seemed to hear a spirit saying, " Say yes." When the morning came they were more obstinate than ever; they argued with different people for several hours, and remained still more fixed in their own opinion. But it was observed that at the very time the holy father was saying mass, a sudden change came over them, and they consented to become Christians. Then those who were present remembered the words which the Saint had said the evening before, that he would pray for them in his mass and do violence to God. So firm did they remain in their determination, that neither the prayers and caresses of their mother, nor the threats of their relations were able to shake them. While these four youths were living in our Congrega tion with the fathers, in order to be catechized, one of THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 49 them the second in age fell ill, and on the sixth day was so much worse that the fathers, fearing for his life, thought of baptizing him. But Philip went that same evening to visit him, and sending everybody out of the room, touched him on the forehead and breast, and all trembling with inward devotion as was his wont in prayer, prayed for him a long time, and then said : "I do not want you to die, lest the Jews should say that the Christians had killed you; and there fore, tomorrow morning, send to remind me to pray for you in my mass." Father Pietro Consolini who was present, hearing this, said to the youth : " There is no doubt of your getting well now, for this holy old man has done things of this kind before." During the night he was extremely ill, and Girolamo Cordelia, the physician, having visited him in the morn ing, told the uncle to go and see his nephew, for that he was at the point of death. When the hour came at which the holy father was accustomed to say mass, Father Consolini went to ask the invalid if he wished him to go to Father Philip to remind him of what he had said the night before : he replied that he did, and the father went accordingly. As soon as ever the Saint had finished his mass, the sick man sat up in his bed as if he had never been ill at all, and his uncle coming in at the time found him without fever. After dinner the medical man returned, and feeling his pulse, crossed himself and said: "You have physicians at home I see, and yet you send out for others." In the street, as he was going away, he met Giovan Battista Martelli, his fellow-countryman, and said to him : " A wonderful thing has befallen me today. This morning I visited a patient at the Vallicella, who was in danger of death ; and I have just been there again and found i 50 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. him without fever, so that at first I doubted whether the fathers had not played me a trick, and put some one else into the sick man's bed." Martelli answered him : " O you may be sure Father Philip has cured him," The medical man rejoined, " This is a great miracle, and Philip is a great Saint." In the evening the holy father went to visit the invalid, and whispered to him; "My son, you certainly would have died, but I did not want it to be so, lest your mother should say we had caused your death." Two months after his recovery, he and his brothers were baptized on the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, in St. John Lateran, by Pope Clement VIII,, to the great joy and contentment of the Saint as well as of themselves. The eldest took the name of Alessandro, the next Agostino, the third Ippolito, and the last Clemente. As soon as they were baptised, they began to be anxious for the conversion of their mother, and found means to have her placed in the house of Giulia Orsini, the Marchesa Rangona. They then asked the Saint what hopes he had of the success of this experiment ; he replied, " That she would not be converted, and that it would not even be well for them if she embraced the faith then, but that she would do so at another time with greater fruit to herself and to them." So it proved in the event ; for she was converted about five or six years after, and brought over with her twenty-four relations, which she would not have done had she been converted at the time her sons desired it. Philip also converted many heretics, whose names we cannot mention for grave reasons. We shall only relate the conversion of one of them named Paleologus, as being among the most remarkable. This man had been imprisoned by order of the Holy Inquisition, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 5l as well for being an heresiarch, as for other offences of which he had been accused. Every possible means was used to convert him ; but he continued obstinate, and nothing could induce him to abjure. At last he was condemned to death, and as an obstinate heretic, to be burnt alive. The Saint had already visited him, and tried to win him by gentle words and arguments, and had laboured with great affection for his conversion, when one morning he was told that they were leading him to punishment in the Campo di Fiore. Philip was then at S. Girolamo, and, as usual, in the confessional. He was moved with compassion at the news, and felt a burning desire for the salvation of a soul in so perilous a plight, and so near to certain repro bation. He immediately left the confessional, and went to meet the criminal in the Strada del Pellegrino. He threw himself into the crowd, boldly passed the guards, and full of zeal for the soul of the unhappy man, went up to him and embraced him, and with the greatest tenderness began in words most calculated to excite compunction, and full of devotion, to speak to him of the salvation of his soul, and to exhort him with greater charity and fervour than he had ever done before, to be converted. When they were near the place of execution, but before they had reached the stake, Philip, with the authority which God gave him at the moment, commanded the officers to stop, and not to proceed with the execution. The respect and reverence which they had for him was such that they stopped immedi ately; and Philip, having in that short time turned the heart of the miserable man, induced him to mount a bench on the spot, and to make a public recantation of his error, to the great astonishment of the crowd who were assembled to witness the execution. He then im- 52 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. mediately succeeded in getting him reconducted to prison, where, the more to soften his heart, he got very large alms assigned to him by Gregory XIII. in addition to the daily allowance of the Holy Office. He himself went almost every day to visit him, and to keep him to his good resolution. He always conversed with him on matters of devotion, such as were likely to breed com punction of heart. With the desire of overcoming the pride and self-sufficiency generally found in such persons, he gave him the lives of the Blessed John Colombini, and the Blessed Giacopone to read ; saying that men of that sort are more often converted by simple things, and by the examples of the saints, than by much disputing on doctrinal questions. Paleolbgus himself said that he wished he had known Philip sooner, because he seemed to him to speak with Christian sin cerity and according to the teaching of the Gospel. He did not however persevere long in his good dispositions, but began to waver again, and then returned in part to his old false opinions. Indeed the holy father had often said to his own people : " I never was overpleased with that man's conversion." Nevertheless by the spiritual helps which the Saint continually afforded him, and in particular by the prayers he made and the tears he shed to gain his soul, he brought him once more to repent ance. About two years after this second conversion, he was beheaded as a. relapsed heretic, but with good signs of contrition, Cesare Baronius and Giovan Fran cesco Bordini assisting him in his last moments by order of the Saint. THE LIFE i0F ST- PHIUP NEEI- 53 CH 4PTER XIII. FOE THE SAME ENDa 0P INVERTING UNBELIEVERS HE COMMANDS CE3,SAEE BAK0NroS T0 C0MP0SE HIS ECCLESIASTICAL Jf1NNALS' Philip's great zea'1 for the P^P^011 °f the faith was not confined to #>me' He ^P**"*** ™th *• travails of Holy Chufrch! and 8eeinS W much hereti" cal sects multiplied >!evel7 da^ in the northera Part8 of Europe, he took co.'arage to °PP0Se them to the utm08fc of his power, trusting in that Lord who uses weak thing8 to confound the ¦taf,n* ^ a sinSular ">»P"*t«»» of God, he thought of a nf ethod by vhich he could attack them from a distance./ HavinS instituted (a8 we sha11 mo tion in its placed an 0ratol7> *here several spiritual discourses were.) delivered every day> h» heretics might be*\ exP08ed> and *hus the simPle raigh* not be so easily m^sled' and fhe better infoi-med mlSht at least be inexcusa\ * For this work he ^hose Cesare Baronills of So™> a man of immense zeal>and a doctor of clvil and canon law, who besides his leSF^K was 80 fuU of ohajnt* and the bowels of mercy, &1at he not only gave, to th* ., ,..., , iV' but even his clothes and poor the little money he haay. ,. _ . .t , •'d a verv rich reliquary linen. During a scarcity he sow J • j of silver, and bought corn with th? Prlce of lt'j ln order , ,, .,, , , xTe was so detached to supply the poor with bread. Jti . r 11 j • * _ i„„„« „„^ 1.0S so little affection from all desire of greatness, and hacfc^ for the things which the world esteen18' that he even 54 THE LIFE ^)F ST. PHILIP NERI. tore up the certificate of his doctor's degree. On him then, Philip imposed the task of publishing the history of the Church, after he had several times over related and during many years carefully arranged and revised it ; and that principally to oppose the Centuries pub lished by the enemies of the Holy Faith, and the opponents of the Holy Catholic Rf>man Church. This huge work Baronius after many! vigils and labours happily accomplished. He himself;, in the preface to the eighth volume of his Annals, assurers us that we may rather attribute his work to Philip tljjian to himself, de claring at great length that the holy father was the author of the Annals, and attributing! the whole to the prayers of the Saint rather than to tiis own labours. This preface we have determined to V give here, that every one may be able to read it, anld see the truth of what we have stated. { t A THANKSGIVING j TO THE BLESSED PHILIP NERI, j FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION Q]T THE ORATORY, FOR THE ECCLESIASTICAL ANNALS OF CES ARE BARONIUS, CARDINAL PRIEST OF THE HOL^ ROMAN CHURCH, TITULAR OF SAINTS NEREUS/ AND ACHILLEUS, AND APOSTOLICAL LIBRARIAN. " Up to this time it has mot been possible for me to touch upon the first origin, and progress of the Ecclesias tical Annals, except in fSuch a way as to shed obscurity rather than light upofii the subject. This was because he of whom I had tfj speak was alive, and was a deter mined enemy of hiia own praises. But now that he has gone to heaven, miy pen can run more freely in recount- THE LIFE by the hands of the mighty one of Jacobs thence he15 came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel.' Seeing tlhen that Holy Scripture attributes all the prosperity \of Joseph to the powerful hand of Jacob his father, who? was not only far away from him, but had already bewailed him as dead ; what shall I say of that father who, e\ver present with me and aiding me in everything, has so n\iany times begotten me with the apostolic spirit, and wi&h the same spirit has from my boyhood up kept me in Vheck, and preserved me from the slipperiness of those (parly years, so prone to evil, and brought into subjection tfo the divine laws the untamed colt of my youth, and set'. Jesus Christ to sit ^hereon ? !. 56 THE LIFE OF ST. iflLIP NERI. " Being, therefore, hinder so rfmy obligations to him, I wish, as far as thescl Annals » concerned, that this my thanksgiving shoiild always^ and always speak, and I offer it to him, the authd of every one of my undertakings, as a sign of eternd remembrance. For it is right, and a mark of a huiPle mind, to acknow ledge that we have received ex& thing from him by whom we have been benefited, asvn the other hand it would be unfair to attribute it tl our own exertions. For he who attributed to himself fi,ore tnan he ought, and said, ' I have done this in the i&rength of my own hand, and in my wisdom I have plan]ed **>' soon heard the answer of God, ' Shall the axe bW itself against him that cutteth with it, or the saw eValt iteelf against him by whom it is drawn ?' And closf uPon tne threat the vengeance came; and the unhappy raan was f°r this very reason cast down from his roW throne, and sent to dwell among the beasts. " I therefore ingenuously confess of th[ blessed Father Philip that which Christ our Redeen]er> the Eternal Wisdom, taught us mortals when ^e 8a,id t0 tne apostle Philip, 'My Father, who isfin Me> does the works.' Not that I glory in men rat^el' than God, but to show that he from whom I have received so much, , was cooperating with God ; so that ^ mav tnu8 testify my gratitude to God and man at tne same time. For it was the blessed Philip who by divine inspiration commanded me to perform this work, like another Moses committing to the Turkmen the building of the Tabernacle, according to • She model which he had seen on the Mount. " I set myself theiv to this great undertaking, after repeated orders fror-i him, very much against my own will, objecting a^d entirely distrusting my ability THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 57 for such a work, I undertook it out of obedience to the will of God, and on this ground also he constantly urged me forward whenever, overpowered by my burden, I interrupted the work for a short time, and with sharp rebukes compelled me to resume my task immediately. " Burning then with zeal, oh my Father (for it is to thee I would speak) burning, I say, with zeal for the cause of Holy Church, no sooner did thy mind, illuminated by God,' and full, if I may so speak, of the prophetic spirit, behold those Centuries of Satan issue out of the gates of hell to the detriment of the Church, than thou didst rise up to go forth and combat in behalf of the people of God. But thou didst not set thyself to levy a multitude of troops, greater or even equal to the number of the enemy. Thou knewest that God chooseth the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and so thou didst select one of thine own sons, the least among his brethren, and of the meanest ability, to send alone and unarmed to do battle against the numerous and well armed ranks of the enemy. Then, feigning a far other project, thou didst not at once send him into the spacious field, but to make trial of his strength, thou didst choose a narrow room, the Oratory of St. Girolamo, commanding me to relate in the daily discourses the history of the Church. This I began in obedience to thee, and persevering happily for thirty years, I went through the entire history of the Church seven times. " Thou wert continually by me, spurring me on with thy presence, and urging me forward with thy words, always a stern exactor (pardon me for saying so) of the daily task thou didst require of me, so that it seemed as if I had committed a sacrilege, if ever from time to time I turned aside to something else ; for thou 58 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Couldst not endure than I should swerve one hair's breadth from the undertaking. Often, I confess, I was half scandalized* and it seemed to me that thou wert dealing tyrannically with me; for I was taking the measure only of my own strength, and did not perceive that thou wert first treating of the whole matter silently with God. Not only was no companion given to me to help me* but, as it happened to the children of Israel in Egypt, the labour was increased and no straw given' Many other things were required of me ; to the weighty task of the Annals were added' the burdens of the cure of souls, preaching, the government of the house* and of many other occupations which were daily imposed upon me now by one and now by another. And so it seemed as if, in thus treating me or in letting others do so* thou wert desiring almost anything, of me rather than the one thing which beyond all else thou wert aiming at. " It seemed as if in this thou didst imitate Elias* who when he wished to overcome the priests of Baal by calling down fire from heaven to consume the victim, made them first of all drench it thrice with four vessels of water* that the power of God might be more manifest But on the other hand, while thou wert by the aid of thy prayers stretching out thy hand over the work, it seemed that thou didst imitate Eliseus, who laid his hand upon the hand of the king, and then made him by the shooting of the arrow the conqueror of all Syria. Thus didst thou act ; thou didst join thy strong hand to my weak one* and change my blunt pen into an arrow of the Lord against the heretics. As I know this to be true* it is a pleasure to me to make public acknow ledgment of it. " Thou wert then in truth the combatant, although, according to thy custom, by the hand of another; for THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 59 thou wert ever working wonders, yet striving not to appear wonderful thyself, ever taking care above all things not to be made much of, often covering thy wisdom with the mantle of folly, bearing always in mind the paradox of the apostle, • Whoso wisheth to be wise, let him become a fool.' Even so thou wert not possessed with the vain rejoicing of the world, but like David*- who feigned himself mad, thou wert con tinually hiding the gifts of the Holy Ghost with out ward demonstrations of the contrary*- knowing, as the apostle says* how both to abound and to suffer need. Thus mightest thou say with' him, "If we exalt our selves* we do it for the honour of God* and if we abase ourselves* 'we do it for your profit;' and so, like Philip the Deacon* whose name thou bearest, thou wert, according as the season required* one while attending to the salvation of others* and another while, carried away by the vehemence of the Spirit* lifted on high in the contemplation of heavenly things. " But this glory*" which whilst alive thou didst hide in the treasury of Christ* He Himself did after thy death most abundantly restore to thee ; and when the vessel of clay was broken, the lamp which was concealed within presently appeared ; and the hidden light once placed upon the candlestick of eternity, displayed itself by miracles to all the world. For then were made manifest the marvellous things which in thy lifetime thou didst hide, and countless wonders wrought by thee after death appeared as well. Thy sepulchre shines, though not yet adorned as it shall be — still, I say, it shines with tablets and silver votive offerings, bright testimonies of thy miracles, by which it glitters more splendidly than if it were encrusted with precious stones, and adorned with pyramids and obelisks from. 60 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Egypt ; and from day to day it becomes more glorious with the offerings brought by those who have received benefits from thee, " Give me a place then, 0 my brothers, for to you I turn, you who form so pious and noble a crown about his sepulchre, give me a place, that this my offering of thanks, though most unworthy of the benefits I have received from him, may yet remain for ever hung upon his tomb, hung there, yet, with the Annals, traversing the wide world as well. Let it be a column able to move and speak, and to proclaim in great characters who was the true inventor and architect of the Annals, in order that if men shall reap any fruit from reading them, they may give the principal thanks to him. Let this my protest, I say, be fixed upon his sepulchre, as an epitaph which never can be effaced ; and would that I could abide there myself as a living tablet, for the pencil of his prayers to trace upon, until I become a perfect portrait of his sanctity] " Come then, O Father— rfor I speak to thee as if thou wert present, because thou seest Him who is omni present — rcome and protect this work of thine,; and that the victory may be attributed to thee, come, as Joab wrote to David, come and finish what remains of the battle, and by means of thy prayers send an army from heaven, and utterly discomfit the enemy, that we may sing with Debbora, ' Heaven has fought for us, and the stars, standing still in their order, have warred against Sisera.' And now look down on me thy son, to whom while on earth thou wert ever a protector, whom thou didst guard by thy vigilance, whom thou didst govern with thy counsel, with whom thou didst bear in thy patience ; now from heaven where thou dwellest give me still stronger aid, and let thy perfect and consum- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 61 mate charity succour me still more. And grant me further, only in a greater degree as more needing it, what Gregory Nazianzen declared that he received from St. Basil, that is, to have him for his monitor and cor rector even after death ; so that still holding the reins of my life, thou mayest guide what remains of my totter ing old age, that it stumble not ; that thus when my labours are finished, I may attain at length to that blessed rest which thou enjoyest now in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to Whom in perfect unity be glory, praise, and honour, for evermore. Amen." Such are the words of Baronius : and we may see from them how he himself attributes the Annals to Philip. Indeed the saint himself, a little before he died, called Baronius to him and said, " O Cesare, know that you ought to humble yourself, and acknowledge that your writings have not been composed by your own wisdom, but have all been the most evident gift of God." This he repeated several times over, Baronius always replying that he acknowledged himself to owe all to his prayers. Baronius had a proof of this in a vision. When he first began to preach in the Oratory, he almost always discoursed on terrifying subjects, such as death, hell, and judgment. When he had done this for some time, the Saint saw in spirit that he would discourse on Church History with much more fruit both to himself and others, and especially that he would thus establish a firm foundation on which to erect a barrier against heresy. He exhorted him therefore to give up those other subjects, and to begin relating the history of holy Church, in chronological order, year by year. As Baro nius did not put this design in execution very readily, because of the great repugnance he felt for it, the Saint 62 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. kept from time to time reminding him of it, until at last one day he gave him an express obedience to do it. This obedience appeared to Baronius excessively hard and repugnant to his natural turn of ,mind ; yet on the other hand he did not like to resist it ; so that he was in great distress of mind. But the Lord, to relieve him of this distress, and also the more to excite him to exe cute Philip's obedience, signified His will to him in the following manner. He seemed one night in a dream to be talking with Onofrio Panvino, who himself was at that time compiling a history of the Church ; and speaking to him about the obedience which Philip had laid upon him, he besought Onofrio with the greatest earnestness to finish the work he had begun, While Baronius anxiously uttered these words, Onofrio seemed as if he did not wish to listen, and turned the other way. Baronius wishing to follow up the conversation, began to prove to him how it was best in every respect that he should compose the Annals; upon which he heard the voice ofthe holy father quite sensibly and distinctly saying, "Quiet yourself, Baronius, and do not weary yourself any longer with this discussion, for it is you, and not Onofrio, who has to write the history of the Church." When he heard this he felt clear about the will of God, and set himself to discourse upon ecclesias tical history; and having gone through it all once, from the birth of Christ to his own times, the Saint ordered him to begin afresh, and for the space of thirty years, as he himself affirms in the preface just mentioned, he narrated the whole seven times through in the Oratory, before he published the first volume of the Annals. With what success his undertaking was crowned the whole world is sufficiently aware. On the 5th of June, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 63 1596, Baronius was made cardinal, under the title of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, by Clement VIII. This dignity, as he himself affirms in several places of his Annals, and as appears in his life already printed, he only accepted through obedience, having done all he could to avoid it, and having long before refused three of the best bishoprics of Italy. This good cardinal died worn out with labours, on the last day of June, 1607, at the age of sixty- nine, as had been revealed to him several years before. He was seized with his last illness at Frascati, and as the medical men said that there was some prospect of its terminating fatally, he cried out, full of the ecclesias tical spirit, " Let us go to Rome ; a Cardinal ought not to die out of the City ; — non decet Cardinalem mori in agro." He was buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, with an extraordinary concourse and devotion of the people. It was for the same end of opposing the heretics, who deny the intercession of the saints, and the wor ship of images, that Philip ordered Baronius to make his Annotations on the Roman Martyrology ; and the same motive induced Tommaso Bozio to write his " De Signis Ecclesiae Dei," and Antonio Gallonio the Lives of the Saints, both of them being priests of our Congregation. CHAPTER XIV. of philip's spiritual exercises at s. girolamo della carita. Philip being now fixed in Rome, as we have already seen, and the number of his spiritual children constantly increasing, their former place of meeting, in spite of its 64 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. having been enlarged, became too small to hold all those who flocked to the exercises. In the year 1558 there fore, the Saint obtained from the deputies of S. Girolamo della Carita one side of the church above the nave, on the right hand, and there fitted up an Oratory, and transferred to it the spiritual exercises which used to take place in his room, adding also the practice of an hour of prayer before daybreak on all great feasts. This Oratory still exists, although it is better furnished and more carefully kept than it was ; and the fathers at S. Girolamo keep up there with great fruit men tal prayer every day, and discourses on feast days. Here, then, every day after dinner, Philip and the others used to assemble to discourse on spiritual mat ters in the fashion of a conference. When the exer cises were finished he used to take them to some open place for recreation ; or if it was a feast day he would lead them, now to one church and now to another, to hear vespers, or compline, or a sermon, and in par ticular to hear Fra Vincenzo Erculano, afterwards Bishop of Perugia, a most learned man, who was ex pounding the Miserere in the church of the Minerva to a great multitude of people. In this Oratory, after a little time, Philip began those familiar discourses, which are still given every day in our church, and also the mental prayer every evening ; and he was the first who introduced into Rome the daily Word of God. But to give the reader a more exact idea of the way and of the order in which they used to preach at that time, I will insert here what Baronius writes in the first volume of his Annals, when speaking of the re unions of the primitive Christians according to the form given by the Apostle in his Epistles to the Corinthians. He says as follows: "It is certainly by the Divine THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 65 disposition that we have seen, in great part, renewed in our day in the city of Rome what the Apostle com manded to be done of old for the profit of the Church, in the method of discoursing of the things of God to the edification of the hearers. This has been the work of the Reverend Father Philip Neri of Florence, who like a skilful architect laid the foundation of it, and of the Reverend Father Francesco Maria Tarugi of Montepul ciano, his scholar, who for the excellence of his preach ing might well be called the captain of the Word of God. To the pains and industry of these two was primarily owing the arrangement, that every day those who were desirous of Christian perfection should come to the Ora tory of S. Girolamo, from which the Congregation of the Oratory afterwards took its name, and there hold a pious and devout meeting in the following manner: after some time spent in mental prayer, one of the brothers read a spiritual book, and in the middle of the reading, the father who superintended the whole discoursed upon what was read, explaining it with greater accuracy, enlarging upon it, and insinuating it into the hearts of the hearers. Sometimes he desired one of the brothers to give his opinion on the subject, and then the discourse proceeded in the form of a dialogue; and this exercise lasted an hour, to the great consolation of the audience. After this one of his own people, at his command, mounted to a seat raised a few steps above the rest, and without any adornment of language discoursed upon some approved lives of the saints, illus trating what he said by passages of Scripture, or sen tences of the fathers. He was succeeded by another, in the same style, but on a different subject; and lastly came a third, who discoursed upon ecclesiastical history. Each of them was allowed only half an hour. When 5 66 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. all this was finished,, to the wonderful contentment as well as profit of the hearers,, they sang some spiritual canticle, prayed again for a short time*, and so the exer cise finished^ Things being arranged in this manner,. and approved by the Pope's authority, it seemed as if the ancient apostolical and beautiful method of Christian assemblies was renewed.. Good! people applauded the practice, and did their best to propagate, these pious, exercises in different places." Such is the account which Baronius gives of the- foundation and beginning of the Oratory.. Besides these exercises which the Saint introduced for ordinary days, he- originated others for Feasts. In the morning after confession,, they made their prayer until the time for mass. After mass they communicated,. and he then sent them to different hospitals,, whither they went in edifying silence. He generally divided them into three companies,, one of which he sent to St. John Lateran, another to the Madonna della Con- solazione, and the third to Santo Spirito. Here they assisted the poor patients with deeds as well as words, both spiritually and bodily, taking them different things to comfort them. He sent there from thirty to forty of the most fervent every day,, to the great edification of all who saw them. He used to say to those who went to serve the sick in the hospitals, or to do any other similar work of mercy, that it was not enough to render the service simply to the patient they were visiting, but that they must imagine the person they served to be Christ, and hold it for certain, that what they did for the sufferer they did for Christ Himself; and thus they would do it with more charity, and with greater profit to their souls. Besides this, some of them on Saturday nights and THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 67 the vigils of the principal feasts, used to return to the holy father at San Girolamo, and then go with him either to the church of the Minerva, belonging to the Dominican friars, or to St. Bonaventura the church ofthe Capuchins, where they assisted at matins in choir with the friars, and spent the night in preparation for the holy communion of the morning, so that the choir of the friars was often full of seculars, his spiritual chil dren. He often took there Animuccia, master of the choir at St. Peter's, with other singers, and when they came to lauds they began singing. Philip himself for a long time went there every night, so that the sacristan of the Minerva knew his knock at the church door, and used to go immediately to let him in. Such was the love which those servants of God bore to the Saint that they gave him keys of the convent, so that he could enter when he pleased ; and besides this con fidence and familiarity, both the Dominicans and Capuchins affiliated him to their orders. Philip was not however contented with all this ; but the more effectually to withdraw his penitents from the dangers, into which the greater number of men and particularly young men are wont to fall, he used several times in the year, and especially at certain more dangerous seasons, to go with them to the Seven Churches. This he did particularly during the Car nival and the days after Easter; but in his latter years he only went during the Carnival. At first he had but' few companions, five and twenty or thirty at most ; but very soon the number increased so much that even during his lifetime there were upwards of two thousand persons. All sorts of people were ad mitted except women; a great number of religious joined; very often twenty, or five and twenty Capu- 68 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. chins went at a time ; but most of all the Dominicans, who sometimes sent all their novices. The order they observed in going, and which with some trifling variations is still in force, was this : the day being fixed, they went early in the morning to St. Peter's, and then to St. Paul's, in which latter place they united themselves altogether, and went in regular order to the other churches. The time of their walk was spent partly in meditating upon some spiritual consideration assigned them by the father who led them, — for they were divided into many classes, and to each class was assigned a leader to guide and instruct them, — partly in singing in two choirs some psalm, hymn, or spiritual canticle, and sometimes the litanies, and they had musicians with them the whole way. If any time was left after this, they talked one with another upon the things of God, doing their best to avoid all vain and useless conversation. In each church except the two already mentioned, there was a short sermon either by Philip, or one of his people, or some religious. When they came to St. Sebastian's, for which St. Stefano Rotondo was after wards substituted as being more convenient, mass was sung, and at its conclusion the greater part of them communicated, as is done at present in the church of Saints Nereus and Achilleus. They then went to the vineyard of the Massimi or the Crescenzi, or to the garden of the Mattei on the Celian, to which last place they have always gone from the death of the Saint to this day, the family having with great kindness per mitted them to do so. Here they sat down in order, and to each was given bread and wine in sufficient quantity, with an egg, a little cheese, and some fruit. While they were eating, there was either THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 69 singing or instrumental music, partly for recreation and partly to keep the mind occupied in the divine praises. When dinner was over they pursued their journey to the other churches, and then returned home with great joy and spiritual fruit to their souls. Many who came at first out of curiosity, were so moved to compunction, that they were thoroughly converted, and gave themselves up to the frequentation of the Sacra ments and to a spiritual life, taking for their guide the holy father, and obeying him in everything. At first the Saint always joined in this devotion, and was so anxious that all should turn out well and edifyingly, that the excessive fatigue he went through sometimes brought on a fever. In the latter years of his life, as well on account of his age as because the exercise was well understood and established, he remained at home, leaving the management of it to others. God was pleased to show, if not by miracles, at least by graces and particular favours, how accept able this devotion was to Him. One year, Philip went with the usual crowd to make the pilgrimage ; while they were between St. Paul's and St. Sebastian's there arose a tremendous storm, and those who were in the Skint's company, fearing lest they should get wet, wished to seek shelter ; but he told them not to fear, for that they would not get wet. Some believed the Saint's words, whilst others, who did not, took to flight; and so it was, that those who followed him, although they were not very far from the others, did not catch a single drop of rain, whilst those who ran away got wet through. Philip had not long established these holy and pious exercises with the design of maintaining the fervour of his spiritual children, and also of exciting devotion in 70 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERt. those who witnessed the frequentation of the Sacra ments, the visiting of the hospitals, the abundant preaching of the word of God, the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches, and other edifying things which were practised* when his institute began to give such plea sure, that many persons of learning and influence gave it the highest praise both by word of mouth and in their writings ; so that Giovanni de' Rossi* in a book which he wrote at that time* and dedicated to the Saint* addressed him in the following words : " Amongst all the wonderful things which I saw in Rome last year, (1568) I took especial pleasure in beholding such a great multitude of devout and spiritual persons frequent ing the church and Oratory of St. Girolamo della Carita. Amidst the monuments of antiquity* the superb palaces, and the courts of so many illustrious lords, it appeared to me that this exemplary exercise far surpassed the glory and the fame of all the remarkable things which were presented to my view. I was tbe more as» tonished, and at the same time consoled, to see con tinually the great concourse of men of the highest rank and of different nations, who came with such relish to hear the sermons and the word of the Lord God ex pounded to them by your Reverence, with a pure zeal for the Christian faith, for the salvation of their souls. From this exercise frequently springs up in many of your spiritual children the desire of abandoning the world, and serving our Lord Jesus Christ, as is seen in the conversion of numbers who are at this very time in cloistered monasteries, or in other religious congrega tions." THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 71 CHAPTER XV. v SHE FLORENTINES DESIRE PHILIP TO UNDERTAKE THE CHARGE OF THEIR CHURCH OF ST. GIOVANNI AT ROME. The Florentines, considering the great fruit which Philip obtained through these exercises, and with what prudence and dexterity he governed those who placed themselves under his direction, and knowing the integrity and sanctity of his life, determined to use every endeavour to induce him to undertake the charge ©f their church of St. Giovanni. They had obtained from Leo X. in the year 1519, authority to establish in it a confraternity of ten priests, to attend to the good of souls and employ themselves in hearing con fessions, preaching, teaching Christian doctrine, and other religious exercises, under the direction of one 'appointed by them as head over the rest, and whose "duty it was to see that all was carried out with exact ness and spiritual profit. In the year 1564, they fixed their eyes on Philip, desiring to impose this office on him, and accordingly sent a deputation to pray him, in the name. of their countrymen, to accept the charge, ¦offering to provide him with a habitation and every thing else that he might need. The Saint replied that he should like to think it over and pray about it, and if he understood it to be the will of God, he would not fail to comply with their wish. Some days afterwards they returned for his answer ; he said that he felt the greatest repugnance and difficulty about "it, for that he could not bring himself in any way to leave St. Girolamo. On receiving this answer, Mgr. Cirillo, Commendatore of Santo Spirito, Giovanni Battista Altoviti, and Pier Antonio Bandini, Florentine gentle- 72 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. men of the highest rank, who had the management of the business, adopted the expedient of going to the Pope, at that time Pius IV., of happy memory, and getting him to interpose his authority. They obtained their request, and then returning to Philip, said that it was the will of his Holiness that he should undertake the government of their church. Philip then imme diately accepted the charge with all submission, on condition, however, that he should not be obliged to leave St. Girolamo. To this condition they agreed and he accordingly took charge of St. Giovanni, whilst continuing at the same time to direct the exercises at St. Girolamo. When he took St. Giovanni, he had three of his subjects ordained priests ; one of them was Cesare Baronius, the second Giovan Francesco Bordino, a Roman, a man of great talent for preaching, who was first made Bishop of Caviglione, and afterwards Arch bishop of Avignon, where he died; and the third Alessandro Fedeli, of Ripa Transona, a man of great goodness and purity of life. These three he sent to live together in community at St. Giovanni de' Fioren tini, where Alessandro took with him his nephew, Germanico Fedeli, then a youth about sixteen years old. With these Philip joined, not as priests depend ing on the Oratory, but as two of the ten maintained there, as we have explained, by the Florentines, Giacomo Salorti of Majorca, and Giovanni Rausico, both ex cellent priests, to the latter of whom he committed the care of the parish. Not long after, he added to the number Francesco Maria Tarugi, of whom we have already spoken, and Angelo Velli, of Palestrina, a man of truly angelic life and singular purity of conscience. He was the second successor of the Saint in the govern- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 73 ment of the Congregation, and ended his days in peace on the 10th of December, 1622, at the age of eighty-five. One of Philip's chief thoughts on undertaking the government of the church and the priests attached to it, was to introduce among them an ecclesiastical commu nity life. He saw the immense advantages which they might derive from such a manner of living, and drew up accordingly a few constitutions, which they immediately began to observe with universal satisfaction. They now applied themselves, with great fervour to labour in their little vineyard. They went to St. Girolamo every morning to confess to Philip, and returned there again during the day to the sermons, either to hear them or to preach them, according to their turns. In the evening they went there a third time to the mental prayer, never failing, winter or summer, either on account of rain or any other outward hindrance, to appear at the accustomed exercises at St. Girolamo. As to the service of the house, they waited at table each in turn on his day, and for some time acted as cook week by week, and that with such readiness and good humour, that Cesare Baronius left written over the chimney-piece, "Caesar Baronius coquus perpetuus." It very often happened that when some dignified person age went to confer with him on spiritual or other matters, he found him with his apron on, washing the porringers. For a long time Germanico Fedeli and Ottavio Paravicini, a pupil of Baronius and afterwards Cardinal, youths of the same age, took it in turns to read at table week and week about. The reading, which was from Holy Scripture and from some spiritual book in the vernacular, lasted about two-thirds of the meal ; the other third was spent in proposing some moral doubt or case of conscience, whichever they pleased. 74 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. The questions were proposed both in the morning and •evening, and each answered according to his own opinion-. Afterwards, when the Congregation was founded at the Vallicella, they began to read three books* and to pro pose two doubts, as we shall explain more fully in its place. As to the service of the churchy they all took part in sweeping it every Saturday ; and this was the origin of the custom that on Saturdays, for the con venience of the church, the usual discourses are not held. On festivals some assisted at the confessional* and others gave communion, Besides this> mass was Bung^ and as there were so few-, it very often happened that some of them had to leave the confessional to attend to the functions of the altar. For some years Baronius and Bordino preached in cotta from the pulpit on festivals, taking it in turns '; the Saint making this ¦concession to give satisfaction to the Florentines, who made a great point of it. After dinner they sang Vespers, and then Went to meet the Saint either at the Minerva or the Rotonda, or some other place where he had told them beforehand that he intended to go > and there, sometimes to the number of three hundred, they had a spiritual conference, Philip or some one whom he named proposing the points* and calling first on one and then on another for answers. From this arose the practice of going after Easter to the hill of Sant* Onofrio, an open place with a most beautiful view over the whole city of Rome, and during the great heats of summer, to some ¦church within the inhabited part of the city; there, after singing some devout hymn, a short sermon is recited by % boy who has learned it by heart ; after which some of the fathers deliver short discourses, interspersed and concluded with music In winter, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 75 that is, from the 1st of November till Easter, in the evening after the usual mental prayer in the Oratory* the litanies are sung with the antiphon of our Lady proper to the season, then comes the sermon recited by a boy, and after that half an houi^s discourse-, with music before and after, these exercises being attended by a great number of people. Such was the life which these first priests led at St. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, It lasted for ten years, and •we have been anxious to give this minute account of it, that it may be seen with what a spirit of humility those good priests lived together, although they were so eminent both for birth and learning that their merit raised them to the distinguished positions which they afterwards occupied in the Chnrch of God. By the Saint's desire many young clerics, who were his peni tents* and by degrees other ecclesiastics* were received into the house as boarders, and he placed them under the same rules as the rest, so far as the. circumstances of each admitted-, in order to make them more and more fervent in the service of God. When the ten years were over* the Florentines, considering the great inconvenience suf fered by the fathers in going three times a day to St. Girolamo through the heat, the wet and the mud, urged the Saint most earnestly to transfer the exercises from St. Girolamo to St. Giovanni* Accordingly in 1574, the 2nd year of Gregory XHIth's pontificate, and the 59th of Philip's age, on the 15th of April, in the Octave ©f Easter, the fathers left the Oratory of St. Giro lamo, and began to give the sermons at St. Giovanni, in a more spacious Oratory built for the purpose by the Florentines. The multitude that assembled to hear the word of God increased very much, to the great edification of those who went there. Father Giovenale 76 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Ancina, priest of our Congregation, and afterwards bishop of Saluzzo, who died in the odour of sanctity and was declared Venerable, and whose life has been published, went to the exercises at the Oratory of St. Giovanni before he entered our Congregation ; and he was so deeply impressed both by the institute and by Philip's sanctity, that in a letter written from Rome on the 28th of May, 1576, to F. Giovanni Matteo, his brother, who was in Piedmont, he speaks as follows : " For some time past I have been going to the Ora tory of St. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, where they deliver every day most beautiful spiritual discourses on the Gospel, or on the virtues and vioes, or ecclesiastical history, or the lives of the Saints. There are four or five who preach every day, and bishops, prelates, and other persons of distinction go to hear them. At the conclusion there is a little music to console and recreate the mind, which is fatigued by the preceding discourses. They have gone through the life of the glorious St. Francis and those of some of his first disciples, and of St. Antony of Padua. I assure you it is a most delightful exercise, and a most consoling and edifying thing; and I regret very much that neither you nor I knew of this noble and holy practice last year. You must know too that those who deliver the discourses are men of distinction, in holy orders, and of most exemplary and spiritual lives. Their superior is a certain Reverend Father Philip, an old man of sixty, but wonderful in many respects, and especially for holiness of life, and for his astonishing prudence and skill in inventing and" promoting spiritual exercises; he was the author of that great work of charity which was done at the Trinita de' Pellegrini during the last jubilee. Father Toledo, Possevino, and others report wonderful things of THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 77 him. In fact, they say he is an oracle not only in Rome, but in the distant parts of Italy, and in France and Spain, so that many come to him for counsel ; in a word, he is another Ruysbroeck or Thomas a Kempis, or Tauler." Such are the words of Father Giovenale, from which we may gather how the fruit of the exercises went on increasing daily. CHAPTER XVI. PHILIP ENDURES MANY PERSECUTIONS BECAUSE OF THE EXERCISES. These laudable exercises, which caused nothing but love and good feeling in pious men, excited the envy of some malicious men, and became a very hotbed of calumnies. At the very outset, when Philip introduced the conferences and -spiritual discourses in his own room, which was about 1552, ill-natured persons in the same way began at first secretly, and then openly to speak against the work and say all the evil against it that came into their heads. The chief of these was Vin cenzo Teccosi, of Fabriano, a physician, and one of the deputies of St. Girolamo della Carita ; he was joined by two apostate monks, who under the clerical habit lived in that house without being recognized, and at the instigation of Vincenzo, did all they could to make Philip leave St. Girolamo. They had the care of the sacristy, and sometimes when Philip went to say mass they would shut the door in his face; at other times they refused to give him vestments, or they gave him such as were old and torn, with insulting words. Sometimes they took the chalice or missal out of his hands, or hid 78 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERL them from him ; at other time's when he was ready they told him to unvest, or made him leave one altar just when he was about to begin, and go to another, or even return into the sacristy, trusting by these and similar insults to drive him from St. Girolamo ; nay, they sometimes went so far as to push him about; so that he said once to Marcello Ferro, "See what these men do to me; but let us pray to God for them." Philip went on charitably dissembling all these in juries and affronts, not allowing himself to be in the least disturbed by them, often indeed making light of them and laughing about them, praying for their authors with continually increasing zeal, and behaving to them with the greatest kindness and humility. He never let any occasion slip of doing them a service, or speaking well of them ; indeed when his. own people begged him to leave that church and go to live else where, he answered that he would not on any account fly from the cross which God sent him in that place. Whilst however he was doing his best to subdue their ignorant insolence by his patience, they were so fer from being softened, that their ill-treatment increased in proportion to his gentleness. The good father, seeing that his efforts availed nothing, betook himself for comfort to that Lord who never fails His servants in their greatest needs. One morning when he was saying mass, he fixed his eyes upon the crucifix, and said, " 0 my good Jesus, why dost Thou not hear me? So long and with such importunity I have asked patience of Thee, why hast Thou not heard me ?" Immediately he heard an interior voice saying to him, "Didst thou not ask patience of Me? Know then that I will give it thee; but it is My Will that thou shouldst gain it by this means." THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI'.. 79 Philip, strengthened by this voice, endured from that time every kind of injury which they offered him with more joyful mien and greater contentment ; so that the malice of his persecutors was tired out sooner than his patience. Indeed he came at last not only to have no sensible feeling of these insults,, but even to desire them; and when they or others ill-treated him, he either made no account of it, or- did his best, to excuse them. The Saint used to. relate the story to his spirit tual children by way of animating them to perseverance in prayer, saying that if they did not obtain what they- asked at once, they should not on that account desists from their petitions. About two years afterwards it happened that one of his persecutors met him in one of the passages of the house, and immediately began to load him, with oppro brious epithets, and to put himself into such a passion with him, that the other apostate, who was present* considering the great and long-continued patience of Philip, was so completely overcome by his virtue, that, touched with compassion, he suddenly from his enemy became his defender, threw himself impetuously upon his companion, and seizing him by the throat, would have strangled him, but for the interference of the holy father. The result was that the other also began to reflect on the great wrong which he had done the servant of God, and calling to mind the religious order which he had left, he took Philip into his confidence, and by his advice returned to his order, publishing everywhere the sanctity of the holy father, and becoming his most devoted friend. Even Vincenzo Teccosi was at last overcome by Philip's meekness, and repenting of his fault, went to him, and in the presence of several others, prostrated 80 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI, himself before him and humbly begged his pardon. He also became one of his spiritual children, giving himself up entirely into his hands, and following him continually ; indeed he hardly ever allowed a day to pass without visiting him. Philip's persecutions did not however end here. A still worse storm arose in 1559 against the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches. Some imputed this action of his to pride, and said it was hardly becoming in a man who made a profession of despising the world, to be drawing the eyes of all Rome upon himself. Others of lower condition, who saw that some expense was gone to in providing refreshments, and did not consider the number of persons nor the simplicity of the provisions, set the pilgrimage down as an idle merry-making. Others of a more subtle turn attacked it on political grounds, as though such a company of people might give rise to tumults and seditions, and some even added that Philip was spreading novel opinions and forming a party, and thus becoming a cause of scandal and sowing tares, and that the matter ought to be remedied forth with. All this was related to Philip, who listened to it with the greatest tranquillity. He was not in the least disturbed by it, but left all to Providence. Some of the objectors were persons of consideration and led spiritual lives; and when he heard his people speaking ill of them, he excused them as much as he could, in order that his own spiritual children might not lose their esteem for them. Indeed, all detraction was so displeasing to the Saint, that he told F. Gallonio whenever he heard it, to throw himself on his knees before the detractors and say, " I accuse myself of speaking ill of such and such a person," as if he himself had done it; and by this THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 81 means those who were really guilty would more readily perceive their fault. These rumours however increased, and at last came to the ear of the Pope's Vicar, who being misled by ill- natured information, summoned Philip before him, and rebuked him with great severity. " Are you not ashamed," said he, "you who make profession of de spising the world, to collect together such a multitude of persons in order to court popular repute, and thus under pretence of sanctity to hunt for preferment ?" And after bitterly reproving him with these and similar words, he commanded him to abstain from hearing con fessions for a fortnight, not to continue the exercises without fresh leave, and not to go about with any com pany of persons, threatening him with imprisonment if he should disobey, and furthermore obliging him to give security for his appearance at the first summons. Philip very modestly replied, that as he had begun these exercises for the glory of God, so for His glory he would leave them off; that he should always pre fer the injunctions of his superiors to his own plans ; and that his only object in introducing the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches had been to recreate the minds of his penitents, and to keep them out of the way of the sins so commonly committed during Carnival time. The Vicar replied, "You are an ambitious man, and what you do, you do not for the glory of God, but to make yourself head of a party." When Philip heard this, he turned to a crucifix which was there, and said, " Lord, Thou knowest if what I do is to make myself head of a party, or for Thy service ;" and then went away. But Philip had always esteemed obedience above everything else, especially obedience to ecclesiastical 6 82 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERT. superiors, and therefore he forbade his disciples to' accompany him. He told them to have patience, for that the world would find out the truth in time, and that meanwhile they were to pray; and to hinder them as much as he could from following him, on going out of the house, he told some to go to one place, and others to another, though his children, who could not bear to be away from him, used to step aside and wait, and when he had passed, follow him at a distance, and the more he forbade them, the more their desire to be with him increased. Philip having thus commended his cause to the Lord, and obtained the prayers of many servants of God, was in the Oratory one day with some of his people, when a priest appeared amongst them, whom they had never seen before and never saw afterwards. He was clothed in a coarse habit and girt with a cord, and said he had come on the part of some religious who had had a revelation about the opposition to the exer cises of the Oratory, and that the fathers were to have the Forty-hours' prayer, from which great fruit would follow. Then going close to Francesco Maria Tarugi, lie whispered secretly in his ear, " The persecu tion will soon end in the establishment and increase of the work:" and added, that those who were now opposed to it would soon become its supporters ; that whoever persevered in attacking it would be severely punished by God; and that the prelate who was most forward in the persecution would be dead within fifteen days. And so it happened, for he perished miserably by a sudden death after he had been to the Pope to give him a statement of the matter. It was necessary, however, for Philip to give an account to his superiors of the accusations brought against him, though in doing so, he would not call to THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 83 his aid any worldly means, but only his innocence and prayer. He was continually saying to his followers, " This persecution is not for you but for me; God wishes to make me humble and patient ; and be sure that as soon as I have gained from it the fruit which God in tends, and am thoroughly mortified, the persecution will cease." He would not allow a single word to be spoken against the prelate who had been his principal opponent, and when one of his penitents went one day to confes sion, and wanted to remark upon the judgments of God with reference to his sudden death, the Saint instantly took the words out of his mouth, and said, " hold your peace." After some time Paul IV., who was then Pope, having heard the whole affair, and ascertained the inno cence of Philip, and seeing that it was God who guided him in his actions, sent him, as a mark of his good will, two of the gilded candles which are burnt before his Holiness on the feast of the Purification, with a message to the effect that he gave him full leave to have the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches, to resume his exercises, and in all respects to go on as before. His Holiness further added, that he was sorry he could not go there in person, but begged Philip to pray for him. When those who were present heard this message delivered, they returned thanks to God ; and soon after the fathers made the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches accompanied by an immense multitude, praising the Divine Goodness for the happy termination of so serious a persecution, and for the consolation of being able once more to enjoy freely this spiritual recreation. A few years later, in 1570, a still more vehement persecution arose. Some persons, under pretence of zeal, informed the Pope, St. Pius V., that in the dia- 84 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. courses at St. Girolamo, there were a great many fri volities, and that many examples were related without sufficient foundation, a fact which showed either great imprudence or great ignorance, and which might give scandal as well as do mischief to the hearers. The Pope had no sooner heard this, than, like a zealous pastor, he gave orders to two Dominican theologians, Father Master Paolini, and Father Master Alessandro Franceschi, afterwards Bishop of Forll, to go separately, the one not knowing that the other was going, to hear the discourses, and observe minutely everything that was said and done at St. Girolamo, and if there was anything contrary to faith or sound morals, to report it to him. While these fathers were fulfilling their commission, Alessandro de' Medici, afterwards Leo XL, and at that time ambassador of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, went to have an audience of the Pope. After they had dis cussed some matters of business, the Pope, knowing that Alessandro often went to hear the discourses at St. Girolamo, said he had understood that in the sermons delivered there due caution was not observed ; that, for instance, the example of St. Apollonia throwing herself into the fire had been related, without its being added that her conduct was directed by a particular inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Immediately after the audience, the ambassador went to the sermon at the Minerva, where he saw immediately in front of him Germanico Fedeli, one of Philip's penitents. Germanico requested him, on the part of the Saint, to go to St. Girolamo as soon as he could, for that Philip particularly wished to speak to him, and begged him to excuse his not rather going to visit him, as he ought, because he was lame and confined to his bed. In the afternoon Alessandro went to St. Girolamo, but before going up to Philip, he THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 85 determined to hear the discourses, and amongst others he heard Francesco Maria Tarugi, who by the Saint's command handled the very matter which had been the subject of conversation between the Pope and his Excellency in the morning, and in particular related the story of St. Apollonia with proper caution, which greatly astonished the ambassador. After the discourses he went up to the Saint's room, and the very first words that Philip said to him were; "I pray you tell me, Signor Alessandro, what the Pope said about us this morning," Alessandro, seeing in so many ways that it was all known, freely related the whole, marvelling how Philip could have become acquainted with a thing which he had not spoken of to any one, and which the Saint could not have known except by divine revelation. The religious commissioned by the Pope having, during some time, narrowly observed all that was said and done, made their report to his Holiness, and declared that they had heard nothing in the sermons at S. Girolamo that was not accompanied by the greatest piety and learning, and that they were astonished to hear in tbe preaching such a union of fervour and secu rity. The Pope was delighted with this good report, and rejoiced at having in his time men who took such pains to plant fervour and devotion in the hearts of the faithful. From that time he had so great an esteem for Philip and his subjects, that when Cardinal Alessan- drino, his nephew, went as legate into Spain, France, and Portugal, he desired Francesco Maria Tarugi to go with him, making him acquainted with all the affairs which were to be treated about in those countries. The fathers also whom the Pope had deputed, conceived such an affection to the institute, that for many years 86 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. they went almost every day to hear the sermons, and often preached themselves; as did Father Franceschino of Ferrara the Conventualist, a man of holy life and a famous preacher, and many other religious of different orders. Another persecution arose against Philip and his disciples at S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, which threatened the most disastrous consequences. An ecclesiastic had been received into the little community, who was soon found out to be a turbulent spirit. Unable to endure the suggestions and exhortations of the Saint, who desired to lead him into the way of perfection, he began to set himself against him and the other fathers, and at length Philip, finding him incorrigible^ came to the , determination, together with his children, to send him 1 away from the community, which was done. Bent, however, on revenging himself for his expulsion from the house, he set to work to try and drive out Philip and his people, endeavouring. by slanders and calumnies to bring him into bad odour with the Florentines, and leaving no stone unturned to succeed in his wicked purpose. He managed to give such a skilful colouring to his false representations, and concealed his fraud so successfully, that the Florentines actually held several meetings for the purpose of taking from Philip the charge which, after such repeated entreaties, and through the interposition of the Pope's authority, they had laid upon him, and, at the same time, of dismissing from the house all whom the Saint had placed there. But God disposed otherwise ; for one of the Florentines themselves urged such solid and efficacious reasons in favour of the Saint and his children, that no resolu tion was come to against them. Indeed this attack resulted in the more steady prosecution of the work THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 87 which had been so well begun, and in such an establish ment of the new institute as to insure its perpetuation. CHAPTER XVII. FOUNDATION OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE ORATORY IN THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA IN VALLICELLA. Philip now, considering the serious danger which had menaced his people, of finding themselves without either house or church in which to carry On the ex ercises he had instituted, and seeing the fruit which they went on producing daily, began to listen to the earnest persuasions of some of his own dearest disci ples and other persons of consideration, to make pro vision for the perpetuation of the institute. The persecutions we have described had ceased, and he saw his plans becoming more and more firmly established. He had too humble an opinion of himself ever to have the boldness, as he himself said, to found a congregation; yet, influenced by the motives we have explained, he judged it well to secure a place which should be his own, and where he could carry out the work he had begun. While he was deliberating about this matter, two churches were proposed to him ; Santa Maria in Monticelli, near the Strada della Regola, which was the easier to obtain, and Santa Maria in Vallicella, in the Contrada di Parione, at that time a parish church. Being in doubt which of the two to take, he thought it would be well in a matter of such importance, on which the fruit of the institute depended, to have a conference with the Pope, at that 88 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. time Gregory XIIL, considering this the best way to ascertain the will of God. The Pope recommended him to take the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, as being in a more frequented part of the town than the other, and therefore best suited for the exercises. Philip received this answer as the expression of the will of God, and without any further delay took means to obtain the church. No sooner had he obtained it than he erected in it, by apostolic authority, as appears by the Bull of the same Pope, dated July 15th, 1575, a Congregation of secular Priests, which he named the Congregation of the Oratory, with power to make decrees and constitu tions for its good government, on the condition that, after they had been drawn up and put in force, they were to have the approbation and confirmation of the Holy See. When Philip had got possession of the church, he sent two of his disciples to live there, namely, Germanico Fedeli, and Giovanni Antonio Lucci of Bagnarea, a very virtuous priest and one of the Saint's earliest spiritual children. They were to perform the functions of the church, to take charge of the surrounding parish, which its former Rector, Antonio Adjuti of Messina, had given up to them, reserving to himself the revenue, and to superintend the small building which Philip designed to erect there. But the fathers, seeing the church small and in bad repair, began to discuss how they could im prove it. They would have wished to build it afresh from the foundations, but as they had no money, they could not venture on such a determination. While they were hesitating about it, Philip, who had always an unlimited confidence in God, one morning, inspired by Him, gave an order to throw the old church down THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 89 and to build a new one, which should be spacious enough for the exercises of the Congregation, and such as is seen at this day. The old church then being dismantled, and the order for the new one given, Matteo di Castello, the architect, drew the line to mark out the length of the building. Philip was then at St. Girolamo ; and as he was going out of the sacristy to say mass, he sent a messenger to Matteo to tell him not to draw the line till he came, for that he wished to be present himself. As soon as mass was over he went to the Vallicella, and when the architect had drawn the line as far as he thought the building ought to go, Philip told him to draw it further. Matteo did so; Philip cried out, "Draw it further still;" the ar chitect obeyed a second time, but still the space seemed scanty to the Saint, and a third time he bade him draw it further. At last they came to the spot which God had shown him in spirit, and he cried out, " Stop there, and dig." In digging they came to an old wall, ten palms , wide, and longer than the whole church, of which no one knew before. Upon this they built all the wall on the gospel side, and found a quantity of solid materials, which sufficed for the greater part of the foundations and for a good portion of the walls, and on that side the fabric has never suffered as it has on the other. Thus the building of the new church was begun on the 17th of September, 1575, and Alessandro de' Medici, then Archbishop of Florence, laid the first stone with the usual solemnities. As the building went on, opposition did not fail to arise,' as is generally the case with every work of God. Some of those who dwelt near began to speak ill of the fathers, and some of the more evil-disposed tried to wound Father Giovanni Antonio Lucci, who superin- 90 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. tended the work, with cross-bows and stones : but God always preserved him from injury; and it was observed, that all those who had most actively opposed the work died within two years. The building was finished in 1577 ; and on the 3rd of February, which was Septua- gesima Sunday, the fathers began to celebrate the divine offices there. In order to give greater solemnity to the opening, the Pope granted a plenary indulgence to all who visited the new church on that day. An immense number of people flocked to it* and the Arch bishop of Florence celebrated the first Mass solemnly. In the month of April in the same year, the Saint having given up all superintendence over the church and its community, in which however the rules he- had introduced continued to be observed, the fathers left the Oratory of St. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and began the discourses in the new church of the Vallicella, though the holy Father would not himself leave San Girolamo della Carita. The following year, the new church was declared, by a special privilege of the Pope, exempt from the jurisdiction of the- Church of San Lo renzo in Damaso, and from that of the titular Cardinal. The number of the fathers and brothers increased so rapidly that, although all who asked to enter the Com munity were not admitted, they soon amounted to one hundred and thirty, and there was not room enough to lodge them. There stood however close to their buildings a little monastery of St. Elizabeth, in which were a few poor Clares, whose superiors had ordered them to remove to another house, commonly called Delle Murate, belonging to the same order; and this monastery the fathers thought of buying. When the plan was proposed to Philip, he would not on any account agree to such an expense, as it THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 91 would load the house with debt, and he had such confidence in God that he felt sure a dwelling would be provided for them in some other way. As if for the very purpose of showing that Philip's judgment on the matter was according to God, and that he foresaw events before they took place, the Lord permitted that some of the fathers should try to 'obtain the monastery contrary to the Saint's wish. They actually carried their project into effect, but when it came to the exe cution of the deed, Mario Marzio, the Prelate charged with the government of the monastery, would not ac cept the bank bill which the fathers offered him, and insisted upon having ready money, which is by no means usual in such purchases. Upon this, Pompeo Pateri, a priest of the Congregation, set off to S. Girolamo to relate the whole affair to Philip; but as he Was starting he met the Saint who was just going up the steps into our ehurch, and before Pompeo could utter a Word Philip said, " Did I not tell you that this monas tery was not to be bought?" and then he added, "Give me that bill; for although we shall not buy the monas tery, God will provide for us in another way ;" and indeed five months afterwards Cardinal Cesi bought the monastery together with some other houses, and gave them to the Congregation. In all this work Philip showed a remarkable trust in Divine Providence. He began building with scarcely any funds* and yet no sooner was the work started than aid came from all quarters, so that in two years the fabric was completed; and though he was often in want of money, he never lost courage, but always said, "God will help me." Nor was his reliance vain ; for in this building, as indeed on every other occasion when he had need, money came to him in such a way, that 92 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NEBI. many, seeing him spend so muoh and never ask for any, believed that he obtained it miraculously, Some maintained that his undertaking at the Vallicella could not be carried out, and that he was making the build ing far too large ; but he answered, " I can assure you tliat my confidence in God is such that I could find it in my heart to pull down this building, and build another larger and more sumptuous ;" and talking one day on this subject with the Countess Adriana, wife of Count Prospero della Genga, he replied to some remarks which that lady made, "I have made a bargain with the Madonna not to die until the church is covered in," which indeed was verified by the event. The first money with which the building was begun was a sum of two hundred crowns given by St, Charles Borromeo. Then Gregory XIH, gave eight thousand} Cardinal Cesi bequeathed another eight thousands Angelo his brother, bishop of Todi, spent more than thirty thousand on the facade, besides building the chapel of the Presentation; Cardinal Frederick Borro meo also gave four thousand; and all the rest, which far surpassed the sum already named, was given by different persons of their own accord, without the aged Saint ever asking money of any one. Indeed he often said himself, that without anything to begin upon, by the grace of God and for His honour, a hundred thousand crowns had been spent in the building of the church. It happened one day that a brother of the Congregation, who looked after the works,, told Philip there was no more money, and that the building had reached the cornices, and could not be carried up any further. The holy father told him not to be afraid, for that God would not fail to provide what was necessary. The brother suggested that there was a THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 93 certain very rich gentleman who gave away almost all his fortune for the love of God, and that he would be sure to give them a very large alms, if he were only asked. Philip replied, " My son, I have never yet asked anything* and God has always provided for me ; that gentleman knows our necessity very well, and if he wishes to give us an alms he will do it of his own accord." This answer, so full of confidence and detach ment from earthly things, was not long without its re ward. A few months afterwards an eminent advocate, who was very much attached to the Congregation, died and left more than four thousand crowns for the church; and six months later another died who left more than eight thousand. In this way did God seem to approve Philip's determination of never asking for anything. CHAPTER XVIII. PHILIP LEAVES ST. GIROLAMO, AND GOES TO LIVE WITH HIS DISCIPLES AT THE VALLICELLA. Though Philip had now brought the foundation of the Congregation to a successful issue, and though he himself governed it, and as originator of the whole work nothing was done without him, still he had never yet been willing to leave his dwelling at St. Girolamo della Carita, although the fathers had often begged him to do so, and used every means to induce him. This reluc tance appeared to his disciples a little hard ; but the real cause of it was his dislike to be called the founder of the Congregation, a title very uncongenial to his lowly opinion of himself. Besides which, he said that he did not wish to fly from the cross, or from the place 94 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. in which the Lord had given him so many opportunities of meriting ; and lastly, that having lived there- for three and thirty years, he could not bring himself to abandon the hope of keeping up to the end his long perseverance. But the fathers saw how necessary for the Con gregation was the presence of its head ; and as they had failed hitherto in persuading him to comply with their wishes, they had recourse to Cardinal Cesi, beseeching him to request the Pope to give Philip an obedience to live with them at the Vallicella. The Pope considered the petition of the fathers to be reasonable, and told the Cardinal to command Philip, in his name, by all means to go to live at the new church. The Saint, ever a lover of obedience above every other virtue, and es pecially of obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff, submitted instantly, and on St. Cecilia's day, 1583, left St. ' Girolamo and went to the Vallicella. The change ofv place, however, made no difference in his manner of living and his retired habits., At the Vallicella he chose one of the highest and most remote rooms of the house, that he might give himself the more easily to contemplation, as at St. Girolamo; and this manner of walking in the way of God, which he had undertaken when he was ordained priest, he persevered in to the very end of his life. On the day of his removal, he commanded his disci ples to carry in procession from St. Girolamo to the Vallicella all the few household goods he had, such as frying-pans, shovels, and other mean utensils, and while they passed by the Corte Savella, which was at that time a public gaol, the prisoners saw them and made game of them, and one of them cried out, "Father, fry us some good pancakes;" so that the THB LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 95 Saint, according to his usual custom, managed to earn a little mortification both'for himself and his followers. Such was the affection he bore to the church of S. Girolamo, that as' long as he lived he kept the keys of his rooms, sometimes going there himself for an hour or so, and often sending one or another of his children to look at them. He ever lived, however, in holy peace at the Vallicella, and his residence there gave the greatest satisfaction, not only to his Congregation, but to all Rome. CHAPTER XIX. OF THE INSTITUTE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE CONGREGATION. When Philip went to live at the Vallicella, he was, as the acknowledged head and founder of the Congre gation, elected by common consent its actual superior. He accepted this burden against his own will, but desiring to give an example in his own case of what was to be observed after his death, namely, that the superior was either to be elected or confirmed afresh every three years, he had this carried out in his own regard. In 1587, however, the fathers judged it expedient to except Philip from this rule, and on the 19th of June in that year, they declared him perpetual provost of the Congregation. At first he was deter mined not to accept the office, but he was at last over come by the unanimous entreaties of his subjects and consented. Thus confirmed as perpetual provost, he laid down as the basis of the Congregation, in accordance with its 96 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. first erection, that those who entered it were to live as secular priests and clerics, and in all outward things to be conformed to that state. They were by no means to be bound by vow or oath; for he said that if anyone was desirous of a more perfect state, and wished to take vows, there were plenty of religious orders in which they could fully satisfy their desire ; but that he wished his Congregation to be composed of persona who would serve God freely and without bond, devoting themselves to the salvation of their own souls and those of their neighbours, and to the observance of the Institute, which consisted chiefly in prayer, in the delivery of the word of God, in the frequentation of the Sacraments, and in mutual charity, which, he added, was to be the sole bond ' of his disciples. He protested that he had never had any idea of introducing a new order, but that he wished his children to try to imitate religious in their perfection, although they were not to imitate them in taking vows. Indeed, on one occasion, soon after the Congregation was established, when one of the members, who thought the fathers ought to renounce whatever they possessed, had actually drawn up a paper in support of his opinion, Philip, when he read it, scratched out the words " should not possess," and wrote above, " habeant, possideant." In fact, he wished the community life of the Congrega tion to be such that in this as well as in other respects it might offer a tempting refuge to those who durst not presume to enter any of the regular orders because of the austerity of the rule, and yet wished for a retirement where they could serve God more freely and perfectly than in the world. He also drew up some constitutions, with the consent and counsel of the fathers, which were unanimously received. They were THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 97 formed on the same idea as those which he had estab lished at S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and before in troducing them, he conferred with several persons of piety as well as of learning and prudence, and espe cially with Cardinal della Rovere, Archbishop of Turin, a man of much learning and singular judgment. These constitutions, after being carefully considered and acted upon for more than thirty years successively, were finally approved and confirmed in an apostolic brief of February 24, 1612, by Pope Paul V., from whom our Congregation gratefully acknowledges that it has re ceived very many favours. The government and manner of life of the Congrega tion are treated of fully in the constitutions, and there fore we shall not say much about them. It is enough to remark that by St. Philip's means the Divine Majesty has introduced into Rome a method of preaching the Word of God every day familiarly and profitably. For Philip having from the very beginning of the discourses at S. Girolamo had experience of the great fruit of this exercise, established as part of the Institute, the practice which had been previously observed, that every day, Saturdays excepted, after some time spent in spiritual reading, four discourses should be preached in succession, of half an hour each; after which some hymns should be sung to recreate the minds of the hearers ; and then that the exercise should con clude with a little prayer, and some Paters and Aves for the needs of Holy Church, and other particular intentions. He himself, for many years, was present at all the four sermons every day, as were also the greater number of his subjects ; and when the Oratory was at S. Girolamo he was not only present, but during some time always bore a part in the discourses. 98 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. He commanded those who delivered the discourses not to treat of scholastic matters, except when it was unavoidable ; for he said that the design of the Ora tory was not to cultivate scholastic knowledge, but to teach men how to acquire Christian virtues and to avoid sin ; and that if they wished for learning, there were many schools and lectures to which they could resort. He also instructed the preachers not to indulge in fine and far-fetched conceits, but to speak in a use ful and popular way. To some he assigned Lives of the Saints for their subject, to others Church History, to others again the Dialogues of St. Gregory, or other devout matters, by which they might move the hearers rather to compunction than to admiration. When he heard them touch upon subtle and curious questions, he made them come down from their seat, even if they were in the middle of their sermon. His general in structions to all were to use an easy and plain style, and to expatiate upon the beauty of virtue and the de formity of vice, and he laid particular stress on their relating some life or example of a Saint in their dis course, as he himself always did, so as to impress the doctrine more upon the minds of the audience. In order that his children might not be drawn into giving up this manner of discoursing, he would not let them become absorbed in their studies or grow too much attached to them. Thus he would never allow Baronius to leave community duties, such as prayer, sermons, the confessional, and other ordinary functions, for the sake of study. He did not indeed forbid them to study, but he bade them give themselves to studies suitable to the institute, and not seek to have the name of being scholars, or to make a show of learning in the presence of others; the servant of God THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 99 ought, he said, to try to acquire knowledge, but not to display it ; nor again, to pursue it with excessive appli cation, for in that there might -even be sin; but he should do a little at a time, for this above other rea sons, that the mysteries of Holy Scripture are learned rather by prayer than by study. To the word of God Philip added the daily exercise of mental prayei;, and for this end he ordered the Oratory to be opened every evening on week-days, in the win ter at sunset, and in summer an hour before sunset, any one being at liberty to enter except women. The exercises began with half an hour's mental prayer, then they recited the litanies, and concluded with some Paters and Aves for such public or private necessities as were urgent at the time. On Mondays Wednesdays, and Fridays, in place of the litanies, after a short and devout compendium of our Lord's Passion, they took the discipline, which lasted through the Miserere, the De profundis, and some short prayers ; after which they sang the proper antiphon of our Lady, — the Salve Regina, or whatever it might be, accord- , ing to the season. As to the frequentation of the Sacraments, his wish was that the priests of the Congregation should ordi narily say mass every morning; and although he re fused to give some of them leave to celebrate every day, by way of mortifying them, yet he expected them to be prepared at any moment that he should give them the order to do so. He preferred mass to be rather short than long, yet not too short for the decorous perform ance of such an action; so that he exhorted those who felt an excessive abundance of sweetness during mass, to say to themselves, " I do not wish for you here, but in my room;" meaning, that while mass was 100 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. to be said with devotion, it was not to be tedious to those who were hearing it, but that in the retirement of his own room a man may give a loose rein to his devotion. He desired all the confessors to assist at the con fessionals on the mornings of feasts, and on Wednes days and Fridays; and one at least on the other days. He wished those who were not priests to confess at least three times a week, and to communicate according to the judgment of their confessor. He said that no one ought to communicate without such leave, because frequent communion at our own will increases our temptations, without our always getting strength to resist them. With regard to domestic matters, and the community life and dress, he wished everything to be free from singularity. At table two thirds of the time were spent in spiritual reading; the other third he ordered to be employed in proposing two questions, one moral or scriptural, and the other a case of conscience. The fathers proposed them by turns, morning and evening, and every one answered in succession as it seemed best to him. This is a sketch of the Congregation instituted by Philip, which has since been introduced into many cities of Italy, as well as of other countries, especially Spain, Portugal, and the Indies, and which still continues to spread, and always with great advantage to the places where it is established.* It was however the Saint's " * It may be well, while speaking of the spread of the Oratory, to warn the reader that the celebrated Congregation of the Oratory of France muat not be confounded with the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The French Oratory was founded by Cardinal de BeruUe; from whom it received a distinct form and statutes, and also a distinct name,— that of the Congregation of the Oratory of Jesus, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 101 desire, that the Congregations founded in other places on the model of that of Rome, should be indepen dent of it, and govern themselves, being subject to their ordinaries, and without any dependence one upon another. This was confirmed by Gregory XV. in a brief dated July 8, 1622. Paul V. had previously granted another, on March 3, 1612, in which he forbade all the Congregations out of Rome, which professed to be of the Oratory, and to live under the protection of St. Philip Neri, to make or promulgate any other constitu tions ; and ordered them to receive and obey those already mentioned, in their manner of life and observ ances, as far as local circumstances should permit. Moreover, he forbade any one to erect another Congre- tion, or to open fresh houses of the institute in Rome. Philip had such a firm confidence that God would preserve his Congregation, that if all the subjects in the house had determined to leave him he would not in the least have lost heart. He said that God had no need of men ; and when any one left the Congregation he used to cry out, "God is ablfe of these stones to raise up children to Abraham," and lie declared that God Him self had made the Congregation, and would maintain it. On one occasion it was mentioned that some religious had tried to adopt the practice of daily discourses, and one of the fathers of the house remarked to Philip that this was not right, and ought to be opposed; but the Saint corrected him, and said, " Quis det ut omnis pro- phetet ;" and he used to declare that he desired nothing but the honour of God, and that he was ready to go on with the Oratory or to give it up, to hear confessions or not ; and thus in things not only indifferent, but even good, he was always resigned to the will of God. Hence he was not \erj anxious about enlarging his Congrega- 102 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. tion, or increasing the number of its members. He had continual opportunities, if he had chosen to avail himself of them, of getting the best subjects in Rome; yet con stantly, when he met with young men who to all out ward appearance were excellently sfitted for the insti tute, he either advised them to enter into different religious orders, or to persevere in piety in the condi tion of life in which they were, according as he judged most expedient for their souls. For the rest, Philip always governed the Congrega tion with the greatest judgment and prudence, and in such a way as to maintain all in holy peace and concord. He used to say of its government, " No one would be lieve how hard it is to keep together free subjects ; there is no easier way to do it than by being gentle and sparing in giving orders ;- he who wants to be well obeyed should give few commands." Once when St. Charles Borro meo asked him how it was that he was so promptly obeyed, he answered, " Because I command little^" Hence he used not to say, do this, or do the other ; but gave his orders rather in the shape of an exhorta tion than of a command ; " I should like you to do this,?' he would say, " but if it seems hard I will do it for you." " I should like to impose this charge upon you, what do you say to it ?" And by this means he obtained everything he wished. But, notwithstanding this gentleness, he knew how to use authority when it was needed/ Indeed his authority over many of his subjects was such, that with only a look he could guide them as he pleased. To fix his eye severely on a per son was his ordinary method of rebuking him. He had such a horror of disobedience, that when any one had shown a notable repugnance to any duty, it mat tered not what, he wished him immediately to leave THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 103 the Congregation. Upon this subject the following words may still be seen in a paper written by his own hand : " In case a man is sensible that he cannot go on without making a trouble either about meals, or the work that is wanted of him in the church, or elsewhere, let him ask permission to leave the Congregation as quickly as possible; for otherwise after the first or second offence, his dismissal will be given him; for I am fully resolved, my fathers, not to keep any in the house who are not observers of the few orders which are given them." On this account, in order to train them in the sub mission of their own judgment, when he gave an obe dience to any one, and saw that he had a great repug nance to it, or excused himself, he pressed it on him more than ever. He often sent his subjects to do things at hours and times which were contrary to the dictates of human prudence ; and all this was for the object of keeping his spiritual children in a humble opinion of themselves, and preventing them from occu pying themselves, as he used to say, in mirabilibus super se. It will be well to insert here a letter which Cardinal Baronius, when he was at Ferrara with Clement VIII., wrote to Father Pietro Consolini, who was at that time entrusted with the care of the novices. It will show what the Saint required of his subjects, and the lessons which Baronius himself had learned from him. " I ought to take shame to myself for not having written to you before, at least to thank you for the prayers you have offered up for me. I do so now, and give you most fer vent thanks for them, and I pray you to persevere in them for the future, together with all my dear sons, your novices, for whom I desire all possible increase of piety. 104 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Make, my father, make those young plants resemble the grand tree of which they are slips, and force yourself to govern others as you were governed yourself. You may be sure tliat our blessed Father still lives, and sees and rules his sons, and keeps the scourge in his hand for the disobedient. As to myself, I beg you to count me and treat me as one of your novices, and to correct me as you think well, without showing me any respect. O that it might please God thus to renew my youth in my old age, and that the words of the prophet might thus be truly fulfilled in me, Renova- bitur ut aquilce juvenilis tua ! This seems to me the proper spiritual sense of the sleep of Abisag with the aged David, namely, the union of spiritual fervour with old age. Truly did Abisag sleep with our holy father, as you well know; for so fervent was he in his old age, that he could be felt to be really on fire. It is neither the purple nor furred garments that warm the old, but only Abisag. O may my icy old age be worthy of such a companion ! That you should pray for this for me is the end for which I have written to you now. May God console you, and make a saint of you! From Ferrara, the 14th of August, 1598. Your Reverence's brother to command, Cesare Cardinal Baronius." Philip also held it to be a matter of great importance in the government of the Congregation, to spend the revenues very economically, calling them, as they really are, the property of the poor, and the patrimony of Christ. He was so sensitive upon this point that he could not endure any expenses in the Congregation, except such as were absolutely necessary, alleging the anecdote in Cassian, of the cook who was so sharply rebuked by his superiors for letting three lentils spoil ; and also that of St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 105 who went to study by the lamp in the church, that he might not diminish, as he said, the goods of the poor. If any one told him that this was running matters too fine, he used to say, " Remove this scruple of mine about their being the goods of the church, and then do what you will." CHAPTER XX. OF THE GREAT OBEDIENCE AND REVERENCE WHICH HIS SUBJECTS PAID TO HIM. When the Congregation was fairly established, one of the things Philip had most at heart was obedience. It was practised so perfectly, not only by the members of his Congregation, but even by his other penitents, that there was nothing, however difficult, which the majority of them would not readily have done at his command. Hence Cardinal Tarugi declares, that though his subjects were not bound to him by a vow of obedience, some of them almost equalled the old monks of Egypt in their submission; and on some other occasions when the Cardinal was speaking upon this subject, and exhorting some of our people to obedience, he said, that so far as he knew, no religious superior, not even of ancient times, was ever more perfectly obeyed than Philip was by some of his spiritual chil dren. Neither was this assertion unfounded ; for many declared with regard to themselves, that they had such faith in Philip, that if he had said to them, " Throw yourself out of the window," they would have done so without fail; and others declared, that if he had ordered them to throw themselves into the fire, they would 106 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. have done so without reasoning upon it, because they considered his words as inspired by God. And this will not appear exaggerated if the instances which we shall now proceed to relate are well considered. Philip was one day talking familiarly with some of his spiritual children on the virtue of obedience, and ex horting them to it, especially in arduous and difficult matters. It so happened that there was a fish-pond in the place, and in the course of the conversation he said, " Which of you would be so prompt in this virtue that he would throw himself into that fish-pond, if I ordered him ?" He had scarcely uttered the words, when one of the company, with great simplicity, and without stopping to reflect that this was not the Saint's inten tion, leapt into the pond, and ran some risk of bein» drowned, though fortunately some of the bystanders pulled him out uninjured. Another time, in order to try them, and to make them advanee in spirituality, he ordered three of his disciples to strip themselves and walk through the Banchi. They immediately set off to perform tlie obedience, and had even begun to strip themselves, when the Saint, satisfied with their promptitude, bade them put on their clothes again, saying, " That will do; there is nothing more needed." Another time as he was passing the Coliseum with some of his disciples on his way to visit the sick in the hospital of S. John Lateran, he found a poor man lying in the dirt, very ill, covered with wounds, and apparently dying. This spectacle moved his com passion, and he made a sign to one of them, named Francesco, to take him on his shoulders and carry him to the hospital. The Saint had scarcely made the sign before Francesco had taken him up; and he THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 107 carried him to the hospital, which is some distance from . the Coliseum, to the wonder and edification of all those who saw him. Baronius suffered from such a great weakness of stomach, that the least morsel of food gave him excru ciating pain ; and this was coupled with such a feebleness in his head, that the Saint had forbidden him to make mental prayer, or in any other way to fatigue his mind. One day, while he was in this condition, he went to the Saint in the afternoon as usual. In the room there was a large roll and a lemon. Philip said to him, " Cesare, take that roll and that lemon, and eat the whole of them in my presence." Although Baronius fully believed that such food would naturally cause serious injury to his health, and perhaps even endanger his life, nevertheless putting his trust in the virtue of obedience, he made the sign of the cross and ate the whole. Not only, however, did it do him no injury, but he was immediately freed from the weakness both of his head and stomach. He also declares, that having gone nine years successively to the hospital of Santo Spirito to serve the sick in obedience to the Saint, it sometimes happened that he went there with a fever on him, and when he had finished his work, returned home perfectly well. And indeed the examples of this sort which we might relate are almost numberless. It was likewise observed by many, that what his penitents did out of obedience to him always turned out well. Fabrizio de' Massimi, one of the Saint's first penitents and greatly beloved by him, had two sons who had been ill for a long while, and at last became so reduced, that one of them could take nothing but broth, and the other only ate reluctantly. Fabrizio wished to take them to a castle of his, called Arsoli, 108 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. about twenty-eight miles from Rome, hoping that by leaving Rome he might save their lives. He consulted the physicians, who told him that as it was July, and in the dog-days, he was on no account to move them ; in fact, they declared that if he took the children from Rome they would inevitably die. Fabrizio went to take the advice of the holy father, who said openly and before one of the physicians, that he was by all means to take them, and to have the litters ready for the following day, and not to have any fear about the matter. Fabrizio obeyed, and receiving the Saint's blessing, set off the next -day with his children, who did not suffer the least, either on the road or at Arsoli ; indeed, one of them, when only four miles from Rome, descended from the litter, mounted on horse back, and accomplished the rest of the journey as if he had been well. Vincenzo Crescenzi, brother of Cardinal Crescenzi, being one day in the Saint's room with some other young men, asked leave to go out for a walk with them as far as S. Francesco di Ripa, and all of them, after having obtained his blessing, left the room. It happened that as they were returning home in a carriage, Vincenzo unfortunately fell from the door upon a paved road, and one of the wheels passed over his legs. His com panions immediately cried out to heaven, thinking that his legs were both broken, and that he would be crip pled. Nevertheless he got up of himself without the slightest injury, and walked home on foot, saying, "Obe dience to our father saved me." When he returned to the Saint, Philip told him it was a miracle, and that he must be mindful of it, and thank God for it ; and this he repeated at different times. The young man after wards became a Barefooted Carmelite friar, and died THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 109 some years after provincial of his order, having by his devout life given great edification to all who knew him. Another young Roman noble relates of himself, that after his marriage, whenever for any just cause he was obliged to go out to any party, if he went with Philip's leave he was not molested by bad thoughts ; but when he went without his leave, he was always assailed by them. The Abate Marco Antonio Maffa, of whom we shall speak elsewhere, was most averse to preaching, and, as he himself declares, he had such a repugnance to it, that he would rather have been exposed to any danger than preach ; yet when Philip commanded him to deli ver a discourse, he mortified himself and obeyed, and became one of the best preachers in the Oratory. When the fathers wished on one occasion to send F. Pompeo Pateri to Milan upon some important business, he excused himself on the ground of unfitness. The Saint however ordered him to perform the obedience laid upon him, and as he left Rome, he said to him, " Go, and trust in God ; but beware of examining the command of your superiors, for everything will turn out happily and as you would wish." And so in fact it did, and that very shortly, not withstanding the vehement opposition of persons of influence, and the threats they uttered against him. In all his necessities and perils he never had recourse to any one, save only to the prayers of the Saint, recommending himself to him by letter, and being always mindful of his words. On the other hand, it was observed that those who disobeyed Philip generally got themselves into trouble. Francesco Maria Tarugi was mostly very obedient to the Saint; but he had a strong desire to rise during 110 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. the night to pray, and he asked leave to do so. Philip, knowing the delicacy of his constitution, refused ifc This did not satisfy Tarugi, who begged harder than ever, and at last put his thought into execution. But the very first night that he did so he injured his head so much that for twelve months he could make no mental prayer at all. Another of the Saint's penitents took the discipline every day without his leave, until at last, a scruple arising in his mind, he asked permission to do so. Philip, knowing that it was not good for him, said that he was so far from being pleased with his taking it every day, that he wished him never to take it at all. The penitent was not contented with this, and im portuned Philip so much that at last he said, " Well, I command you to take the discipline once a week," at the same time fixing the day. Strange to say, no long time elapsed before the penitent came and threw him self at his feet, and confessed that when the appointed day came, on which he was under obedience to take the discipline, he felt such a repugnance that he actually could not inflict it upon himself; although before he had received the obedience, he had the greatest pleasure in that penance, and inflicted it upon himself every day. The Saint had forbidden one of his penitents to go to Tivoli, and another to Naples ; both of them however went in spite of him; and the first fell from his horse and broke his thigh, and the other had a dangerous voyage by sea. A young man of Pisa, whose name is not mentioned, persisted in keeping company with another in disobedience to the Saint, who, when he beard of it, said, " This man will come to a bad end." Not long after he murdered his companion in the Cam- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Ill po di Fiore, and fled away, and was never heard of again. Not only in spiritual, but even in temporal matters, was it observed that obedience to Philip was blessed, and disobedience punished. Fabrizio de' Massimi, who has already been men tioned, had put out a great sum of money on the life of his daughter Elena: and when he was leaving Rome in the spring, as he usually did for his castle of Arsoli, he went to take leave of Philip, who said to him, " Before you go, take up that money which depends on your daughter's life." Fabrizio did not obey, for his daughter was young, strong, and healthy, so that it did not appear necessary. In September she fell ill, and died before there was time to get the money secure ; and thus by his disobedience to Philip, he lost the whole of it. A similar thing happened to Curzio Lodio of Aquila; the Saint told him not to lend a certain sum of money ; he persisted in doing so, and never could get it back again. On the other hand, several of his penitents, by following his counsel, escaped the loss of hundreds of crowns. A poor cow-herd, named Domenico, had placed in a bank three hundred crowns, which was his whole fortune ; one day, Philip said to him, " Go and take that money out directly." He obeyed, and shortly after the bank broke. The same thing happened in the case of much larger sums of money, to Ludovico Parisi and Fran cesco Fortini. Marc' Antonio Ubaldini in like manner by obeying the Saint escaped a great loss, which many others incurred. A noble family who were going to enter into an arrangement, involving many thousand crowns, with a relative to whose property they were to succeed, consulted Philip, who said, "Do not 112 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. do it," and a few days afterwards the relation, who was then quite well, and in the flower of his age, died suddenly, and they were at once masters and heirs of all. Philip taught the virtue of. obedience by example as well as by words. As he was a secular priest and nearly always superior of the Congregation, he had not the full opportunity of showing to what an ex tent he really possessed it; but he was most exact in practising it as far as he could. We have already seen what regard he paid to the slightest hint of his superiors in the institution of the Congregation ; and in the daily occurrences of community life, as well in the public service as in private, he was always most punctual in everything. When called to the door on business, or to the sacristy to say mass, or to the church to hear confessions, he left everything else and went down immediately, never requiring to be sum moned a second time, and going down for all sorts of people and at all hours. He said it was better for a man to obey the sacristan or porter who called him, than to remain in his room praying ; and if any one' said that at least time ought to be given to priests to prepare for saying mass, he answered, that certainly preparation was necessary, but that the true preparation of a good priest was to live so that he could, as far as his conscience was concerned, say mass or communicate at any hour. He was so obedient to his physicians that although he had such a repugnance to taking medicine that it almost made him sick, he always submitted and took whatever was ordered. If they said he was to leave off saying mass, or hearing confessions, or making mental prayer, he did so immediately without any reply. Angelo THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 11$ da Bagnarea once commanded him to desist from say ing office for forty days ; he obeyed without a word, although it was the keenest mortification to him. When he was ill at S. Girolamo from an infirmity which was altogether supernatural, the physicians ordered the draught from a window to be stopped, as if that would be of service to him. He consented, and behaved as if he quite agreed with them, and as if the indisposition arose from the causes they supposed. When the physicians were gone, Giovanni Antonio Lucci said to him, " I suspect this infirmity does not come from the cause they assign, and yet you agreed with all they said." The Saint answered, " Why, what would you have me do? one must yield to others sometimes." He also gave many instructions on this matter. He said that those who really desired to advance in the ways of God must give themselves up altogether into the hands of their superiors ; and that those who did not live under obedience ought to make a voluntary submission of themselves to a learned and discreet con fessor, whom they should obey in the place of God, dis covering to him all their affairs with the utmost freedom and simplicity, and determining nothing with out his counsel ; and he added that those who acted in this way were secured against having to give an account of their actions to God. He admonished persons to think well and to pray much before choosing a confessor; but when they had once chosen him, not to leave him except for most urgent reasons, and to put the greatest possible trust in him, and confer with him about the minutest points; for that God will never allow him to err in things. which substantially regard the sal vation of their souls. He used to say that it was a 8 ' 114 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. common artifice of the devil, when he could not make a man fall into great sins, to put forth all his skill to create distrust between him and his confessor, for by this means he contrives little by little to do great mischief. He added that obedience was a compen dious way of arriving at perfection ; and he very much preferred a man who lived an ordinary life under obedience, to one who practised great penances out of his own head ; and lastly, he said that obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our heart. He desired, moreover, that a man should force himself to obedience even in trivial things which appear of no moment, because it is the best practice for obedience in great things. I must not omit to relate an amusing incident bear ing on this subject which happened to Francesco della Molara, a Roman noble, and one of Philip's penitents. The Saint sent him one day to S. Girolamo della Carita, giving him the keys of his. rooms. When the youth got there, he tried to open the door, but though he made several attempts, he could not manage to get it open. At last, tired of trying, he turned to go back to the Val licella. But as he went downstairs he felt ashamed to go to the Saint without having opened the door ; so he went back to try once more ; and now he was not only unable to open the door, but he could not even turn the key. He wondered much at this, because he had so many times opened the door with the same key. He was obliged however to return to the Vallicella, very much ashamed of himself, and to tell the Saint what had happened to him. Philip replied, "Go away, you silly fellow, go back and open it." Francesco obeyed, and when he arrived there, put the key in, and opened the door with the greatest ease. Full of surprise, he THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 115 returned to Philip, who said, "Now learn from this the importance of obeying without reasoning." He exhorted the members of his Congregation to leave every thing else, even prayer, for community duties. He taught them also never to ask for any thing particular in the sacristy, whether a particular hour, or particular vestments, or any thing else particular, but to be entirely subject to the sacristan, and to say mass whenever they were called and wherever they were sent. He said that true obedience is something more than merely doing what we are told; it consists in doing it without reasoning. When, on the contrary, any one reasoned about an obedience, or made any sort of answer, whatever other estimable qualities he had, Philip made no account of him ; and although he was ordinarily full of sweetness, yet towards those who failed in community duties, — who, for instance, were not at meals with the rest, — he showed himself ex tremely stern, and rebuked them very sharply, as dis turbers of the public peace, and said that it ought to be considered as certain, that what is commanded us by those who hold the place of God towards us is in reality the best and most perfect thing we can find to do, what ever appearances there may be to the contrary. Whenever any of the numerous spiritual children whom he sent into various religious orders came to visit him, he used to give them this advice, that if they were doing good in any place, and actually converting souls, and obedience ordered them to quit that place for another, they were to leave everything willingly and without a word, even though the fruit were certain in the one place, and they were sure to do no good in the other, because the command was a sign that God did not wish to have that good by their means. For it 116 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. is not enough, as he used often to say, to see if God wishes to have the good at which we aim, but we must consider also if He wishes to have it through our in strumentality, in that way, and at that time ; and it is true obedience which enables us to discern all this. He used to teach also that to be perfect, it is not enough to obey and honour superiors, but we must honour our equals and inferiors also. He repeatedly told confes sors that they did very ill, when they had any oppor tunity of exercising their penitents in this virtue of obedience, and through negligence or human respect omitted to do so ; and he urged them rather to mortify the will and understanding of their spiritual children by obedience than to impose upon them a multitude of corporal penances; for he said that to mortify one passion, however small, was of more use than many abstinences, fasts and disciplines. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. BOOK II. OF HIS VIRTUES. CHAPTER I. Philip's love and devotion towards god. Hitherto we have related Philip's actions, and the holy life which he led, first as a layman and afterwards as a priest ; we have now to give the reader a more vivid and faithful pioture of his virtues in particular. It will be well to begin, therefore, with that virtue which is the root and foundation of all others, that is charity and the love of God, which so burned within him that the interior flame seemed to break forth even in his body ; so that sometimes, in saying office, or after mass, or in any other spiritual action, sparks as it were of fire were seen to dart from his eyes and from his face. This inward fire was such that it sometimes made him swoon, forcing him to throw himself on his bed, where he is said to have lain occasionally a whole day without any other sickness than that of divine love. On one occasion it so burned his throat that he was ill for several days. Sometimes, even when jin company with others, he was surprised by this fire, and would unwarily break out into the words of the japostle, " I desire" but immediately recollecting him self, he would, to conceal his devotion, suppress the 118 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. rest of the sentence, "to be dissolved and to be with Christ." Hence Father Ignazio Festini, the Domini can, who before he became a religious used to go to him every morning, declares that he used to find him in a sort of ecstasy, and that in Philip seemed to be realized what St. Paul said of himself : " I am filled with consolation ; I more than abound with joy." 0 thers said that Philip might truly cry out with St. Ephrem : "Lord, withhold the waters of Thy grace and depart from me, for I am not able to endure the magnitude of Thy sweetness." Indeed this actually did happen to him several times in his first fervours, as we have already mentioned. Sometimes when he entered a church, he felt himself so moved by this fervour, that he could scarcely kneel down before he was obliged to get up again, for fear of going into an ecstasy ; and at other times, when he was praying in public, he was so carried away, and remained with his eyes fixed on heaven so intently, that those who saw him could well imagine they beheld the glorious St. Martin in the act of prayer. Though Philip tasted such sweetnesses, and continu ally had a sublime sense of heavenly things in prayer, yet he wished to serve God, not for interest, as he called it, but for pure love ; and therefore he would have desired to love the Divine Majesty without any sensible sweetness, simply because It was the deserving object of his love. To pass on to the particular effects of this love, Philip's devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar was more tender than can be expressed. When he was a layman he generally communicated every morn ing, and when he was subdeacon and deacon he had the most sensible pleasure in touching the chalices, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 119 and it seemed as if he could never satiate himself with handling them. After he was ordained priest, he said mass every morning when he was well, and commu nicated when he was too unwell to celebrate ; and this he generally did in the night, as soon as the bells had rung for matins. In the latter years of his life, for his own convenience and that of others, he obtained leave from the Pope to reserve the Blessed Sacrament in a small chamber fitted up as an Oratory close to his room. His devotion and humility at communion were so great, that he sometimes covered his face to avoid observation, and remained thus for a long time* meditating and making his thanksgiving. If ever the fathers for any reason were late in coming to give him communion, the distress he felt was so great that he could not sleep till he had received it. In the year 1577, when he was so seriously ill that the physicians had given up all hope of his recovery, he heard the bell ring for matins one night, and as usual asked for communion. Francesco Maria Tarugi, who was waiting upon, him and saw that he had had no sleep that night, was afraid' that his devotion and the tears he used to shed on such occasions would destroy all chance of sleep and endanger his life; he therefore gave orders that he should not be communicated. But the long delay made Philip suspect the reason, and he sent for Tarugi and said to him: "Francesco Maria, I tell you I cannot sleep for the desire I have of the Blessed Sacrament ; make them bring me communion; I shall go to sleep as soon as I have received it." And in truth, no sooner had he communicated than he began to amend, and in a short time was perfectly well. Indeed what ordinarily prevented him from sleeping was either his continual application to prayer, or the 120 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. vehement desire he had of being united with his Lord in the most holy communion. One night, Father Antonio Gallonio, when he was communicating him, held the Blessed Sacrament in his hand for some time, and was slow in giving it to him ; but the aged Saint, unable to endure the delay, and overcome by hia desire, turned to him and said : "Antonio, why do you hold my Lord in your hand, and not give Him to me ?" Gallonio, perceiving the wonderful affection of the servant of God, could not contain his tears while he was giving him communion. This devotion to the Blessed Sacrament induced him to counsel all his penitents who were priests to adopt the holy and praiseworthy custom of saying mass every day, when not legitimately hindered. This was by no means common in those days; but he thought it a grave error to abstain from saying mass daily, under the pretext of rest or recreation, and not for any other sufficient reason : " For," said he, " the soul that seeks recreation out of the Creator, and consolation out of Christ, will never find them ;" and he used to add : " He who seeks consolation out of the proper place, seeks his own damnation, and he who would be wise without the true wisdom, or saved without the Saviour, is not well, but sick : is not wise, but a fool." It is true that he forbade several to say mass every day, as I have mentioned already ; but he did it in order to mortify them and to enable them to merit more ; and some others he would not allow to celebrate immediately after their ordination, but held them back for awhile, in order to kindle in them a greater desire and hunger for this most holy food. He was anxious also that laymen, as well as priests, should frequent this Sacrament; hence some of his THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 121 penitents communicated every week, many on every feast, some three times a week, and some, though they were but few, every day. Many by this means became men of holy lives and of great perfection. He wished however that confession should be even more frequent than communion ; so that very many confessed every morning, although they did not communicate so often. His devotion in saying mass was so great, that whilst others have to recollect themselves in order to celebrate devoutly, he was obliged to distract himself in order to get through his mass and not go into an ecstasy. Hence, before approaching the altar, he used generally to get Father Pietro Consolini to read to him some light or amusing book. Yet even then he could not altogether restrain himself, and was often obliged to pause till his strength, which divine love had taken from him, returned again. At other times he made such violent efforts to repress his fervour, that his whole body fluttered, and made the predella of the altar tremble ; and when he was saying mass in his private chapel, he sometimes made the whole room shake ; at other times again, he was so abstracted and absorbed in God, that the server was obliged to pull him by the chasuble, and remind him of the epistle, or the gospel. On this account when he said mass in public he allowed no one to serve him but those of his own sub jects who were most familiar with him and accustomed to him, so that as soon as they perceived anything of this kind coming on they might at once recall him. These movements of his were very quick, and not accompanied by anything ungainly; so that the bystanders easily perceived that it might be said, Agebatur potius quam ageret, and when they saw him thus abstracted, far 122 THE LIFE OF ST; PHILIP NER-I. from taking scandal or being disedified by it, only felt excited to devotion and reverence; In the course of mass, When he came to the offer tory* the joy and exultation which he felt we're so great that his hand repeatedly leaped in sueh a way that he Could not pour the wine into the chalice without lean ing his arm upon the altar, even when he was in the flower of his age, and though he never had anything like palsy about him. Yet however much he flut tered* though he was accustomed to put a good deal of wine into the chalice, and the chalice was a very small one,- he never spilled a single drop; Marcello Benci, who served his in"ass, says that he repeatedly saw the chalice* which Philip had filled with wine, full of pure blood after the consecration. In the memento he made extraordinary movements, even leaped, and was agitated all over; when he perceived it he would stamp with his foot, rub his forehead* or say to the server, " Turn those dogs out, send those beggars away," to endeavour to get rid of the trembling; sometimes, espe cially after the consecration, in the exaltation of his spirit, he would rise upon the tips of his toes, and seem as if he were dancing ; at others he was lifted a span or more from the ground. At the elevation of the Sacred Host, it often happened that his arms remained lifted up in the air without his being able to draw them back again for awhile ; and in order to avoid this, he was accustomed, as soon as he had raised the Host a little above his head, to lower it again immediately ; for if he paused ever so short a time he could not easily do so. The same happened to him at the Bomine non sum dignus, so that he used to communicate as quickly as possible. In receiving the Lord's Body he had an extraordinary THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 128 sensible sweetness, making all the gestures which people do who taste something very sweet ; for this reason he used to select the largest hosts he could find, that the most holy species might remain in him a longer time, and that he might taste the longer that delicious food^ in taking which he sometimes broke out, as they who served his mass attest, into the most unspeakable affections. In taking the Precious Blood, he licked and sucked the chalice with such tenderness, that it seemed as if he could not separate himself from it. He wore off the silver as well as the gilding on the lip of the chalice* and even left the marks of his teeth impressed upon it.- It was for this reason that he always wished the server not to look him in the face, but to remain at a little distance* telling him not to bring the ablution till he made a sign for it ; and if he said mass at any altar except the high altar, which he did very rarely, he would not allow those near to put themselves in any position where they could see his face, in order that he might be able to take the Precious Blood after his own fashion, without their being able to observe the gestures of that singular devotion which God communicated, to him. For the same cause he often said the last mass, because there were few people present to observe his tears." His mass, however, when he said it in public, was rather short than long, in order that he might not tire the devotion of the people, and in order to check the over powering sweetness which he felt ; yet he himself said it with so much devotion, that it continually caused tears in those who were present. After mass, he used to cover his face in order not to be observed during his thanks giving, and he would have liked to have passed hours alone in prayer. After his thanksgiving, he returned 124 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. to his room so abstracted, that he often passed people without perceiving them, and his face was as pale as death, so that he hardly looked like a living person. In the latter years of his life, by the advice of learned and spiritual men, he obtained leave from Gregory XIV. to celebrate in a little chapel close to his room, in order that he might be able to treat with his Lord with greater freedom of spirit. There when he came to the Agnus Dei, those who were assisting at his mass went out, and the server lighted a little lamp, and then put out the altar candles, fastened the shutters which were twice folded, and locked both the doors, so that neither the Saint's voice, nor any affection to which he might give vent during the time, could by any means be overheard. This being done, the server hung outside the chapel a little tablet on which was written, " Silence ! the Father is saying mass." In about two hours or sometimes more he returned and knocked at the door; if the Saint answer ed he entered, lighted the altar candles again, opened the shutters, and the Saint went on with the mass, sorrowing that the time had passed so quickly. If he gave no answer to the knock, the server waited awhile and then returned, and did so till the Saint gave the signal for him to go in. What passed between him and God during that time none can say; but those who served him, when they at last entered the chapel, found him in such a state that he seemed on the very point of expiring. In administering this Sacrament to others, he felt such fervour that his whole body bounded, to the great marvel of those who saw him. A Jewish convert, the wife of one of the neophytes mentioned before, went to ]St. Girolamo to receive communion from the holy THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 125 father. When he took the pyx into his hand, she saw him tremble so violently that the particles of the Blessed Sacrament were lifted up above it, and his face gleamed as if it were on fire, whilst after the com munion he was deadly pale, as if some grave accident had befallen him. All this proceeded from the ex traordinary devotion with which he communicated this woman, who had just become a convert to the faith with her husband. Almost the same thing happened to Nero del Nero, a Florentine gentleman and lord of Porcigliano, when receiving holy communion from him in company with Barsum, the Archdeacon of Alexandria in Egypt, who had been sent by the patriarch as ambassador to the Pope. The Saint began to tremble so much through the abundance of his devotion, that his right hand made a fluttering movement, and raised itself about a span, from the pyx. Nero, fearing lest some particles should fall, (though no such accident ever did occur to the Saint), reverently took hold of his arm, and held it steady until he had given communion. When he went afterwards to take his leave of him, as he always did, the holy old man drew him close to his breast and em bracing him, said, " You have excited me a little too much this morning :'' alluding to Nero's bringing with him the archdeacon, for whom he had made particular prayer in his mass, in doing which he had become more fervent than usual, both because the archdeacon was a stranger, and because Philip knew that he had come to the Pope on very important business. Another time when he was giving communion to the Marchioness Rangona, the particle with which he communicated her was seen in the air separated from his fingers, to the great admi ration of the beholders : and one morning in his little 126 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. chapel he himself was seen raised a span from the ground while he was communicating ; so great was the devotion with which he performed this action. Philip had also an excessive devotion to the most holy Passion of our Saviour, and meditated almost continually upon it. He always' kept about him a figure of our crucified Lord in bronze separate from the cross, that he might the more easily vent the affections of his heart upon it. From this devotion sprang his desire, of which we have already spoken, to go to the Indies and shed his blood for the love of Christ. As he was not able to carry this into effect, he managed at least to satisfy his desire in part after another fashion ; for when blood issued from his nose or from his mouth, he prayed the Lord that so much might flow as would correspond in some manner to the Blood shed for love of him. In this request our Lord gratified him, for one day there issued from him such a quantity, that he lost his sight for a time ; and at other times he was left as if dead, without any discernible pulse. Thus we read of St, Lutgarde, that when she longed for martyrdom, and God did not see fit to grant her request, He contented her by allow ing a large quantity of blood. to flow from her mouth: and then Christ appeared to her, and told her that for the great desire which He had seen in her to shed her blood for His sake, He had accorded her that grace. So it happened to Philip, whom the Lord allowed many times over to shed his blood very copiously; in fact his last infirmities were nothing else but discharges of blood. Hence arose the custom of painting him as a priest in red vestments, although red is properly the exclusive colour of martyrs, to denote the vehement desire he had to shed his blood for the love of Christ. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 127 This ardent thirst to offer himself as a holocaust to his crucified Lord, stimulated him to inflame the hearts of others with the same love; so that sometimes he would say, " May Saint Antony's fire burn you ;" meaning, may you burn with the same fire of divine love as Saint Antony. To others he said, «• May you be murdered,'" — meaning, for the faith, by means of holy martyrdom ; and once when he was in the ante-r chamber of Gregory XIV., he said the same of the Pope,. Lastly, he had so tender a devotion to the most holy Name of Jesus, that in pronouncing it, as he rer peatedly did, he felt an unspeakable sweetness. He had also an extraordinary relish in reciting the Credo, and said the Pater Noster with such attention, that when he once began it, it seemed as if he could neve? reach the end. CHAPTER II, of philip's devotion to our blessed lady, and to holt relics. Our Blessed Lady is, as St. Bernard teaches us, the neck by which all spiritual gifts descend from Christ the head, into the mystical body of the Holy Church. Philip therefore was so devoted to her that he had her name continually in his mouth, calling her his love and his consolation, and exalting her as the dispensatrix of all the graces which the goodness of God bestows upon the sons of Adam. His affection .towards her was so tender, that he used to speak of her as little children speak of their mother, calling her " Mamma mia." He frequently visited her images in the churches of Santa Maria del Popolo, St. Agnese in 128 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. the Piazza Navona, S. Maria in Trastevere, and elsewhere, remaining before them a long while, giving free vent to his devotion towards her. He often spent whole nights in prayer, indulging in the sweetest colloquies with her. He was once seriously ill at S. Girolamo della Carita, and the physicians had ordered that he should not be left alone at night, but that some one should always remain in the room with him. One night Father Giovanni Antonio Lucci sat up with him, and as it was summer, and the room extremely email, the heat was so intense that he did not think he could persevere at his post through the night, and therefore went to his duty with no great willingness. Nevertheless he spent the time with So much sweet ness and satisfaction, that when the Ave Maria rang in the morning, he thought it was the evening Ave, the night had passed so quickly ; for in fact, the Saint, not supposing that there was any one to hear him, did nothing but converse with our Blessed Lady in such affectionate terms -that it actually seemed as if she were present, and discoursing with him face to face. He had two ejaculations which he was continually making in her honour. The first was, " Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me," sometimes lengthened thus, "Pray to Jesus thy Son for me a sinner ;" the second was simply, " Virgin and Mother;" for he said that in these words all the possi ble praises of the Madonna were briefly comprised ; because, first of all, she was called by her name Mary, and those two great titles were given her of Virgin and Motlier, and then that other unspeakable one of Mother of God; and lastly, the most holy fruit of her womb was named, — Jesus, the bare mention of Whose Name has power to soften and melt the heart. Of THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 129 these two prayers he taught his penitents to make a chaplet, repeating one or other of them sixty-three times, with the Pater Noster, to the great profit of their souls. He himself almost always carried beads in his hand, in order to practise this devotion, which was so acceptable to the Divine Goodness, that many of those who tried it confessed that it was a singular aid to them in their temptations. A lay brother of our Congregation was very much molested by thoughts against our Blessed Lady; he mentioned his temptation to the Saint, who proposed this devotion to him as a remedy, and soon after he adopted it, he was entirely freed from the annoyance. Philip declared that he had received numberless favours from our Blessed Lady, and in particular that in praying before an image of her he was delivered from many horrible things with which the devil attempt ed to frighten him. He had a grateful remembrance of the benefits which he had.received from her; and when the altars were being erected in the new church, he ordered that a mystery of our Saviour should be painted on each of them, and that the Madonna should appear in the mystery. Hence, after the beatification of the Saint, when the fathers had to expose his picture in his chapel, they decided that our Blessed Lady should be introduced into it, because they remembered how, like another St. Bernardine of Siena, he .was, so to speak, enamoured of her. During the building of the church, Giovanni Antonio Lucci, who superintended the work, had left a piece of roof above a part of the old church, where there was an ancient and very devotional picture of our Blessed Lady, the same which is now at the high altar. He had done this in order that mass might be said l&O THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. under it, and the Blessed Sacrament reserved. One morning the holy father sent for him in great haste, and ordered him to have the roof taken off immediately, because that very night he had seen that it would have fallen if the glorious Virgin had not held it up with her own hands. Giovanni Antonio immediately went with some workmen to execute the obedience, and found that the principal beam had started from the wall, and was apparently self-supported in the air, so that all who saw it cried out, " A miracle ! a miracle !" Our Blessed Lady corresponded to the devotion of Philip, by giving him a church dedicated under her most holy name, that the son who was so devoted to her might not be removed from his mother ; and before he died she favoured him with that wonderful ap parition, of which we shall speak fully in its place, which left him so full of sweetness and of devotion towards her, that during the short time that he survived, he could never satiate himself with crying out over and over again: "O my children, be devout to the Madonna, be devotees of Mary !" He had so great a reverence and affection for all the Saints, both in general and in particular, that in his last years he had their lives read to him every day for several hours, and both heard and spoke of them with such relish, that he could hardly tear himself from this occupation. His particular patrons were St. Mary Magdalene, on whose vigil he was born, and the apostles St. Philip and St. James, on whose feast he used to give his children some particular recreation. On the more solemn feasts he was singularly favoured by God with sentiments of extraordinary devotion; and he was accustomed to say, that it was ordinarily a? bad sign not to have some particular feeling of devotion on THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 131 ench solemnities. He had also the very greatest reverence for holy relics. He did not generally carry them about his person, nor would he easily permit his penitents to do so, because it often happens that they are not treated with becoming respect, and also lest they should be injured in course of time by the neglect of those into whose hands they might fall afterwards. He was not, however, altogether opposed to their being kept in a room; for he himself had a reliquary in his room, which he treated with great reverence and care. After the Saint's death, this came into the hands of Baronius, and God vouchsafed to grant some special graces by means of it, Antonio Franchi, a clerk regular of the Minori at Rome, was so ill that the physicians looked upon him as a dead man, and he had already received the Viaticum, when Cesare Baronius went to visit him. He carried with him this reliquary, and touched him with it, and then for his greater consolation left it with him. When night came on, the invalid, fearing lest the reliquary should be broken, put it aside; but he presently began to feel such terrible distress that he took it again and said a Pater and Ave, praying the Lord by His mercy and the intercession of the blessed Philip, to whom he had a great devotion, to dispose of him as might be for His own greater glory. While saying these prayers he fell asleep, and when he awoke in the morning he had no feeling of illness, but in a short time left the house perfectly well. Philip gave evidence of this reverence for holy relics in a striking manner, in the translation of the bodies of the holy martyrs Papias and Maurus. When our church was completed, so far as the fabric was con cerned, Cardinal Cusano, one of Philip's spiritual children, and most tenderly beloved by him, wishing to 132 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. remove the high altar at St. Adriano in the Campo Vaccino, his titular church, in order to erect one more beautiful and magnificent, found beneath it the bodies of the holy Martyrs Flavia, Domitilla, Nereus, Achilleus, Marius, Martha, Papias, and Maurus, which had been translated to this Church of St. Adriano by Gregory IX. from the title of St. Equizio, that is, from the Church of St. Martino de' Monti, where they had been deposited in the time of Sergius. II. All these holy relics were enclosed in three marble coffers, on which their names were inscribed, and on that of Saints Papias and Maurus were the words, In hoe loco requiescunt corpora SS. Martyrum Papice et Mauri. Philip was present at the discovery of the relics, and occupied himself with the most eager devotion and sensible sweetness in opening the coffers, collecting and arranging the bones of the holy martyrs, kissing and contemplating them, and gathering the sacred dust, nor could he restrain himself from giving signs of the immense delight he felt in touching and handling the relics. As he showed a great desire to possess some of these holy bodies, the Cardinal, who loved him so much, determined to gratify him by translating at his own expense the bodies of the two holy martyrs Papias and Maurus, from St. Adriano to our Church of St. Maria and St. Gregorio in Vallicella, and obtained permission to do so from Sixtus V. On the 11th of February, 1590, the chest which contained the holy bodies was opened, and a portion of them left at St. Adriano. The heads were also taken out, the chest closed again, and sealed in due form, and then both the chest and the heads were brought in most solemn procession to our church of Santa Maria , in Vallicella, with a numerous attendance of clergy, and a vast concourse of people. Ten Cardinals went to the THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP HESI. 133 door of the church to meet the holy treasures : Cardinal Gesualdo, Bishop of Porto, Cardinal Paleotto, Bishop of Albano, Cardinal Pinello of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, Cardinal Aldobrandino, Grand Penitentiary, and after wards Clement VIII., Cardinal della Rovere of S. Pietro in Vincola, Cardinal Gonzaga of Santa Maria del Popolo, Cardinal di Camerino of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, afterwards Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Cusano of S. Adriano, and Cardinal Pepoli of Saints Cosmas and Damian. When the holy bier arrived at the church, Cardinal Cusano, by order of Sixtus V., consigned the relics of the martyrs to Philip, in the presence of the Cardinals. Philip received them with such joy and exultation that he could not contain himself. The usual flutter- ings of his heart came on, he leaped, and showed his, intense delight by extraordinary movements of his whole body. The relics were deposited on a richly adorned altar erected for the purpose in the middle of the church, where they remained for four days to satisfy the devotion of the people, They were then deposited in the sacristy ; and as a mark of reverence and venera tion, Philip commanded Antonio Gallonio to write the lives of these martyrs, fully and with great diligence, which he did. After the death of the Saint, the relics were placed under the high altar, on the 23rd of May, 1599, the anniversary of the consecration of the church ; the heads were enshrined in silver, and are preserved to this day with becoming reverence. 134 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. CHAPTER III. PHILIP COMMUNICATES DEVOTION TO THOSE WHO CONVERSE WITH HIM. It was one of Philip's admirable gifts* that he not only had devotion and the love of God himself, but by a singular privilege of heaven communicated them also to those who conversed with him. The most lukewarm of his penitents,- if they only went frequently to him* were filled little by little with holy fervour; those who went seldom became sensibly more lukewarm in the service of God, and some Who fell off from him lost all' devotion and spirituality whatsoever. Lavinia de' Rustiei, the first wife of Fabrizio de' Massimi, before she began to confess to the holy father, had no great opinion of him* and even laughed at him j indeed, by her husband's account, she could not endure to hear him mentioned ; but one day when she heard him speak of divine things, she felt such a movement of divine love in her heart, that she was all inflamed with a desire to serve Christ. She took Philip for her Spiritual father, began to confess and communicate three times a week, growing in contempt of herself, and giving herself up to prayer, in Which she was often favoured with divine raptures, and became a person of such piety, that the Saint said of her, that without doubt she was in heaven rejoicing with the angels. Costanza Draghi Crescenzi heard Philip's mass in our church with Eugenia her servant on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, and in a moment they were both of them seized with such a spirit of compunction and THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP Ni'RI. 135 such an abundance of tears, that Costanza said to Eugenia, " Do you feel this?" and she answered, " Yes indeed, I do feel it." When they came to reflect upon this circumstance afterwards, they Concluded that it was an effect of the devotion which the Saint had obtained for them in his mass. Nero del Nero, who has been already mentioned, suffered very much from distractions in prayer ; but he declares that the first time he heard Philip's mass, he experienced such a facility in medi tating on what he pleased, that he was quite astonished at himself; and the same happened to him every time that he heard him say mass. Once when the Saint Wished to console a person in distress, he said, " I will pray for you, and you shall feel it ;" and in fact the person felt himself moved with such an extraordinary fervour, that he came all trembling to acknowledge it as a gift of the Saint. He communicated such sweetness to those with whom he prayed, that entire hours of prayer seemed to them like moments, and some said they could have remained in prayer with him the whole night through. One day when Simone Grazzini of Florence and Alessan dro Salvio of Siena, two of his earliest spiritual children, Were praying with him, they felt their hearts filled with such sweetness, that although they prayed a whole hour, it seemed to them to be no time, and they declared that they would willingly have been always praying if they could always have felt what they did then. The same happened many times to others, and when they mentioned their feelings to the Saint, he would say, " This is the milk which our Lord gives to those who begin to serve Him." While he was hearing confessions, the fire which burned within his breast was so ardent, that many of 136 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. his penitents felt their hearts inflamed with the love of God during confession, and especially when he gave them absolution, as he was accustomed in doing so to press them to his breast, which used to impart to them an extraordinary consolation and inexpressible spiritual re freshment and sweetness. This is confirmed by Giovanni Azzina, of Marsico Nuovo, in the kingdom of Naples, who whilst at Rome kept up a familiar and continual intercourse with the holy father. He says, " When I entered his room I began to tremble, and this happened every time I went in; yet I took a delight in going into the presence of this holy old man and kneeling before him ; and when he laid his blessed hand upon my shoulder, or pulled my hair or ears, I felt many good desires kindled in my mind, in a way which made me think that a particular grace was descending upon me from heaven, and I immediately ran to the Blessed Sacra ment to pray." The Abate Marco Antonio Maffa, apostolic visitor, gives similar evidence. He says, " Ever since I knew Father Philip intimately, I have venerated him as a Saint, and I frequented his company as much as my duties allowed me. When I confessed to him, and espe cially whilst he gave me absolution, I felt as if he breathed forth sanctity, and my heart became inflamed as I have described ; and then at mass I had a par ticular devotion and tears ; and this never happened to me when I confessed to others. Numberless times I have told him about my temptations and tribula tions, and by his counsel and his prayers I have been tranqnillised immediately. Since he went to heaven, whenever I recommend myself with hearty affection to him in my troubles, I receive the remedy instantly, so that I have been many times astonished THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 137 at it. I have twice said mass in his chasuble, and both times I had a great abundance of tears." Such is Mafia's testimony ; and the greater number of those who were familiar with him affirm the same thing. CHAPTER IV. of Philip's gift of tears. Although in this second book we propose to treat only of the virtues of the Saint, reserving the relation of his gifts for the third, yet as the gift of tears is properly a fruit of devotion, it seems most natural to give some account here of the way in which God favoured him in this respect. The love which burned within him sometimes melted his heart so completely, that when any one spoke in his presence of things that bred com punction or tenderness, he immediately burst into tears. In like manner, when he met with a sinner, he con sidered the state of his soul, and much more the offence done to God by his sins, and straightway his pity was moved, and he would burst out- into the most vehement weeping, almost like a child when it is severely punished. Cardinal Frederick Borromeo attests that he witnessed this many times. Two years before his death, he said with tears to a person who he feared was in a delusion, " Old as I am, I will still take the discipline for you." The Saint once discovered that a young man of noble family did not accuse himself with sincerity in his confessions to his ordinary confessor, but concealed some sins through shame. This youth was one day in the Saint's room, where he often went out of devotion. There was no other person present, and Philip, fixing his eyes upon him, began to weep most i38 the Life oF St. philip neb.i. tenderly, and at the same time gained for the sinner Buch a softening of heart, that he too was constrained to shed tears, and both of them remained for a long time Unable to speak. Then the Saint exhorted him in the midst of his sobs to enter into himself, and make a sincere confession* and the young man, more and more moved, made up his mind to acknowledge to his con fessor all that he had hitherto kept back* recommending himself earnestly to the prayers of the Saint* who embraced him* and Consoled him with his usual sweetness and charity. But the tender heart of Philip had not yet had sufficient Vent ; he retired into a room alone, and there giving free course to his sighs and tears, wept abundantly*. The penitent then made a general confession to his ordinary confessor; after Which he returned to the Saint, and told him of the confession he had made, when Philip said, " My son* although you have not confessed your sins to me, I know them all* one by one, for God has revealed them to me." Then he added* "You have changed your look now, and have got a good countenance," an expres sion he often used when sinners returned from a state of sin to the grace of Godi The penitent recommended himself again to his prayers* and begged him to obtain for him more compunction and sorrow for his sins ; and at the very moment he made this request he felt such abundance of contrition and grief come into his heart, that he could not have wished for more ; yet before he had conversed with the Saint, he did not so much as know what compunction and devotion were. When Philip spoke of divine things, it was not long before the tears came into his eyes, and that in such abundance that he was often obliged to desist from speak ing, or to change the conversation ; so that sometimea THE LIFE OF" Sf. PHILIP Nftftl. 130 When he was preaching or speaking familiarly on spiri tual matters* he would insert some example* or some philosophical saying* a thing which otherwise he was not accustomed to do. He once went to the vineyard of Patrizio Patrizl with Cesare Baronius, Giovanni Fran cesco Bordino, Tommaso Bozzio, and some others of his penitents, and after dinner, at the hour at which the sermons were generally preached in our church, he commanded Tommaso Bozzio to make an extempore discourse* so that they might not altogether lose the fruit of the Word of God* When Tommaso had finished* the Saint wished to add a few words in con^ firmation of what he had said; But he had scarcely opened his mouth before he began to tremble from head to foot, and to weep so vehemently that he could not titter a word. Indeed this was so common with him When he wished to speak of the things of God* that if he wanted to continue his remarks, it was absolutely necessary for him to betake himself to some worldly illustration or cool philosophic argument* as it were to distract him and quench the excess of his fervour. In reading the Lives of the Saints* he sometimes shed tears at every word. A prelate one day found him weeping, and asked him why he did so. Philip* to hide the real cause, said as if in joke : " What ! may I not weep* who am left a poor orphan without father or mother V Another time, Angelo da Bagnarea, en tering his room unexpectedly, found him reading the Lives of the Holy Fathers* and shedding floods of tears. Angelo asked him why he was weeping ; he answered : " Because this Saint whose life I am reading left the world to serve God, and I have done no good, and every one is better than I am ;" and then he added : " O Angelo, if you were one day to see me scourged through 140 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Rome, you would say, ' Ah ! look at that fellow Philip,. who pretended to be so spiritual, give it him well.' " And saying this he wept again through the desire he had of such mortifications. When he spoke or read of our Saviour's Passion, and particularly at mass during Holy Week, he was melted like wax before the fire ; and this was the reason why, many years before his death, he left off discoursing in public. For one day when he was speaking of the Pas sion, he was surprised by such an extraordinary fervour, that he began weeping and sobbing ; he could hardly get his breath, he trembled all over, and the seat and the platform on which it stood, shook as if some one had rocked them with both hands. He made violent attempts to distract himself, and pulled his beard several times,; but not being able to repress the impetuosity of his feelings, he was obliged to come down from his seat and leave the church. As this occurred, to him several times, and he was unsuccessful in his endeavours to restrain himself, he determined not to discourse any more in public.; he often pretended however that he had left off because he had no talent for preaching ; and if any one objected that he used to preach when the Oratory began, he said that at the beginning there were but few to take part in it, and therefore God supplied him with ability for the time, but as the number had now increased, that assistance would not be given to him. At other times, when he was reading or meditating on the Passion, he was seen to turn as pale as ashes, and his eyes filled with tears, so that it moved every one to devotion merely to look at him. At length he was unable even to converse in private on this subject ; for often if he only heard the Passion named, he was so THE LIFE, OF ST. PHILIP NEEI. 141 overwhelmed with grief that he became motionless and speechless. He went one morning to dine with the Cardinal of Vercelli in the refectory of Santa Prassede, and when the repast was over, and they had retired into a large room, the Saint, at the request of the Cardinal, proposed a spiritual question, making those who were present give their opinions upon it in the form of a conference. At the end when, in summing up the opinions that had been given, he began to speak of the love with which Christ had suffered for us, he was so overcome with tears and sighs that he could not speak a word more ; and whilst he was making an effort to master himself, the Cardinal, seeing how much he suffered, intimated to him that be need not go on. Another time, when he was ill, they brought him some drink ; he took the glass in his hand, but before putting it to his mouth, began to weep most bitterly, and trembling all over, said aloud : " Thou, my Christ, Thou upon the cross wert thirsty, and they gave Thee nothing but vinegar and gall to drink, and I am in bed with so many conveniences, and served by so many gentlemen who stand around me ;" and repeating this, the tears streamed from his eyes, and he could not swallow the beverage in spite of his efforts to do so. One morning in Holy Week, when he was^reading the Passion in the church of St. Girolamo, he felt himself being carried away, and began to make violent efforts to distract his attention, stretching the altar-cloth and pulling out a watch and some keys. This was success ful for a time, but when he came to our Lord's death, he broke out into lamentations and tears, causing ad miration and tenderness in the bystanders : and he had the greatest difficulty in finishing the mass. When he gave communion to his spiritual children, 142 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. he sometimes wept so bitterly that he could hardly communicate them; and when he was giving the Blessed Sacrament to them, and they saw him with his face all bathed in tears, many confessed that they felt themselves made partakers of his spirit, so great was the devotion which they conceived by simply looking at him. The holy man took such delight in hearing the Divine Office sung, and listened with such sweet ness, that his heart melted within him, and his eyes Streamed with tears. He was often seen at compline or matins in the choir of the Dominicans, with his clothes wet with tears. Whenever he saw his persecutors he was instantly moved to compassion for the delusion un der which they laboured, and forthwith began to weep. In a word, his heart was so tender, that it laid hold of the slightest occasion in spiritual matters, and found in it an excuse for holy tears. His weeping was so con tinual that it passed for a miracle that he had not lost his sight, which nevertheless remained so good to the age of eighty years at which he died, that he hardly ever used spectacles, though he kept several pairs about him, for his amusement, as he used goodrhumouredly to say, rather than for any need he had of them. After his death it pleased God to use these spectacles as instruments of many miraculous favours. Sister Lucia Mazzani, a nun at Santa Lucia in Silice, was afflicted with a terrible headache, for which she could find no remedy. Overcome with pain, she flung her self upon her bed, and seeing a pair of the Saint's spectacles near her, she put them on with faith and devotion, and immediately the pain ceased. Although Philip had this gift of tears in such an eminent degree, his humility did not allow him to have any great esteem for it in his own case. He used to THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 143 say, " Why, even bad women weep easily for any little thing, and that does not make them saints." He often repeated that perfection does not consist in these out ward things, and that tears are no sign that a man is in the grace of God. CHAPTER V, OF PRATER, One of the principal means by which Philip acquired such love and charity towards God, was the exercise of prayer, for which he had so great an affection, that all the practices he instituted in his Congregation tended to this one end ; and the very name of the Congrega tion of the Oratory sprang from it. From his boy hood the servant of God gave himself up to prayer, and acquired such a habit of it, that wherever he was, stirring or still, his mind was continually lifted up to heavenly things, truly fulfilling the counsel of the apostle, Pray without ceasing. His heart, in short, was so used to prayer that it was easier for him to elevate his mind to God than for men of the world to take thought for earthly things. Thus it happened many a time that while his room was full of people, and different matters were being discussed, he could not refrain from lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, or breaking out into a sigh, although he was very watchful to avoid doing such things in the presence of others. If any one entered his room suddenly, he would most probably find him rapt in prayer, so that when spoken to, he would make some answer which was nothing to the purpose, and would then have to 144 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. shake himself or walk up and down the room before he came to himself. When he went out he was for the most part so abstracted, that it was necessary for some one to admonish him every time he was saluted, or had to salute any one. Sometimes it was necessary to pull him by his clothes, in order to bring him to himself, and then he would make a gesture as if just roused from a deep sleep. He quite did violence to himself in order to look like other men ; and in spite of his efforts, if he gave way to his habit of prayer in the most trifling degree, he immediately became totally immersed in contemplation. Once after an audience with Gregory XIIL, he said to Father Antonio Gallonio, and Francesco della Molara, who had been waiting outside for him, " I have committed a folly ; I was abstracted when I entered the chamber of his Holiness, and got close up to his seat without knowing he was there, or so much as taking off my beretta." In the afternoon it was necessary to distract him, lest the continual tension should be prejudicial to his health. Very often from the same cause he was unable to sleep; and then he used to call Father Antonio Gallonio, and say to him, " Antonio, if you wish me to go to sleep, you know what you must do ; give me some book that I do not like," meaning that he was to try by some means to divert him from his vehement application to prayer. Thus it was truly his own experience which he used to express in the third person; — that "a soul really enamoured of God, comes to such a pass as to be forced to cry out, Lord ! let me sleep," and again, that " he who could not pray just after dinner did not look as if he had the true spirit of prayer." THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 145 He always had recourse to prayer before transacting any business, especially if it was of importance ; and such was the confidence in God which he thus gained, that he would say, " As I have time to pray, I have an assured hope of obtaining from our Lord whatever favour I ask." Sometimes he conceived so great a confidence, that he would say, " I wish such a thing to turn out in this way, and such a thing in that way," and so it would turn out in the event. Notwithstanding that owing to this habit his whole life might be called one continuous prayer, Philip had certain fixed hours for this exercise. In the summer, every morning and evening, when he was not hindered by some important business or pious work, he retired for this purpose to the highest part of the house, whence he could see the sky and the open country. When he was at St. Girolamo he had a platform raised upon the roof, and when he came to the Vallicella he had a small gallery made high up in the house, where he secluded himself for prayer. In the latter years of his life, he used to go upon the roof of the church, and there spend many hours in spiritual exercises. If he was called during these times, he went down immedi ately to the person who had asked for him, saying that this was not really leaving prayer, but only leaving Christ for Christ, that is, as he explained, depriving ourselves of spiritual sweetnesses in order to gain souls to Christ. As soon as he had finished the business for which he had been called, he returned upstairs and went on with his meditation ; and he used to say that he found no distraction from the interruption, but on the contrary felt himself more inflamed with divine love, and more recollected, from having been engaged in works of charity. In winter he made his prayer a 10 146 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. little after the Ave Maria, and continued it for two or even three hours, with a little lamp before his crucifix, darkened on the side towards himself, so as to throw all its light on the figure. In order to be punctual at his morning prayer, before going to sleep he placed at the head of his bed a watch, on the face of which he could tell what o'clock it was by merely touching it, a figure of our Lord detached from the cross, and his beads, so that all was ready for him to begin praying as soon as he awoke; and he did not usually sleep more than four, or at the most five hours. Sometimes, if any one had seen him go to bed late, and yet found him risen early in the morning, he would say : " I slept very little last night ; — what do you mean, what do you mean?" Then if the other an swered} " Father, you have been praying," he would reply, " This is not the time to sleep, for Paradise is not for sluggards," or something of the kind. When he was hindered during the day, he subtracted the time from his rest, and doubled his vigils. He repeatedly said : " I did not sleep at all last night,' for I was hindered yesterday, and I had to make it up during the night ;" and if nature was sometimes weighed down by want of rest, he kept himself awake by knotting and unknotting a cord. At some seasons of the year, as at the more solemn feasts, and in urgent spiritual neces sities, public or private, he gave himself up more than ordinarily to prayer; but above all during Holy Week, when he was accustomed, for many years, to remain in prayer at the Sepulchre from after mass on Thursday morning until Good Friday, taking no food, and never stirring from the place. He recited the divine office with the greatest devo tion, and when he said it alone was almost immediately THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 147 absorbed in contemplation. On this account he re cited it for the most part in company, as he would scarcely ever have been able to finish it by himself. He generally said it with his eyes shut, and his face raised towards heaven, and never made the least move ment of his body; yet he wished to have the Breviary open, and took care that not the slightest error was made, even though it were only of a syllable. He warned others specially not to say the hours without reading them, particularly when saying office alone, because it is easy to make mistakes in them. When he was almost eighty years old, Gregory XIV., in con sideration of. his continual infirmities and habitual ab stractions, gave him leave to say, instead of the office, either a rosary or some other, prayer even shorter still ; yet he would never avail himself of this privi lege, but always said his office; and when he was so ill as to be unable to do so, he had it read to him, listening with great devotion, and with such attention, that if any one made a mistake he interrupted him immediately, correcting him either by a sign or a word, although, to any one who saw him so abstracted, it would have seemed that he was attending to any thing rather than to the office. To prayer Philip joined the reading of spiritual books, and particularly of the Lives of the Saints, say ing there was nothing so well fitted to excite devotion as this. The books with which he was most familiar were the Collations of John Cassian, — though he used to say they ought not to be read indiscriminately by all, — the Imitation of Christ, the Life of St. Catherine of Siena, and above all, that of the Blessed John Colom- bini, the works of Father Granata, and the Quiver of Divine Love by Serafino da Fermo. He generally read 148 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. every day a chapter of the Lives of the Holy Fathers, and of Lippoman's Lives of the Saints. Of the different books of Holy Scripture, he had a particular liking for the Epistles of St. Paul; but in order tb make his reading of them fruitful, he read slowly and pausingly, and when he felt himself moved by what he read, went no further, but stopped to ponder the text ; when the feeling subsided he resumed his reading, and thus went on with passage after passage. It was a general maxim of his, especially for the members of his own Congre gation, and for others who are called to minister the Word of God, that both for prayer and for study they should read chiefly the authors whose names begin with S., that is, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Ber nard, and other Saints. He was anxious that people should not go from prayer wearied and sickened, but rather with sweet ness and a desire to return to it ; and therefore he used to teach all, but especially those who could not make prolonged meditations, often to lift up their minds to God in ejaculatory prayers, a few of which we have thought it not out of place to subjoin, some in Latin and some in the vernacular. LATIN EJACULATIONS. Cor mundum crea in me Deus, et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis. Deus in adjutorium meum intende : Domine ad ad- juvandum me festina. Doce me facere voluntatem tuam. Domine, ne te abscondas mihi. Domine vim patior; responde pro me. Ego sum via, Veritas, et vita ; dixit Dominus. Fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo, et in terra. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 149 Jesu, sis mihi Jesus. Omnis vallis implebitur, et omnis mons, et collis humiliabitur. Verbum caro factum est, (to free me from the flesh.) Ne nos indueas in tentationem. Ne reminiscaris, Domine, iniquitatum mearum, (fpr Thy most holy Passion's sake.) Quando te diligam filiali amore ? Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus,, miserere nobis. Tui amoris in me ignem accende. Maria mater gratiae, mater misericordise, tu nos ab hoste protege, et hora mortis suscipe. Assumpta Maria in cesium, gaudent Angeli, ENGLISH EJACULATIONS. I know Thee not yet, my Jesus, because I do not seek Thee. My Jesus, what shall I do if Thou dost not aid me ? My Jesus, what can I do to please Thee ? My Jesus, what can I- do to fulfil Thy will ? My Jesus, give me grace to serve Thee, not for fear, but for love. My Jesus, I would fain love Thee. I distrust myself, but I trust in Thee, my Jesus. My Jesus, I can do no good without Thy help. My Jesus, I wish to do nothing but Thy most holy Will. My Jesus, I have never loved Thee yet, but I would fain love Thee now. I shall never love Thee if Thou dost not help me, my Jesus. I would fain love Thee, my Jesus, but I know not how. I seek Thee and do not find Thee, my Jesus. 150 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. My Jesus, if I did but know Thee, I should also know myself. If I should do all the good in the world, what would it be worth after all, O my Jesus ? I shall fall, my Jesus, if Thou uphold me not. My Jesus, if Thou wouldst have me, clear away all the hindrances which keep me from Thee. My Lord, I wish to learn the road to Heaven. My Jesus, without Thy help I know not what to say or do. My Jesus, if Thou help me not, I am ruined. O my Jesus, grant that I may never offend Thee. O my Blessed Lady, give me grace ever to remem ber thee. He used also to teach his children to say, Deus in adjutorium meum intende : Domine ad adjuvandum me festina, or any other of the above ejaculations, sixty- three times, in the fashion of a rosary, just as we have explained with regard to those to our Lady. Father Francesco Zazzera said that the Saint used to praise most highly these ejaculatory prayers, and used to teach them to him at different times of the year, making him say one at one time and another at another, and that he gained immense help from them. It is also said that he suggested to some of his peni tents to say forty-nine Pater Nosters and Ave Marias every day from Holy Saturday till Pentecost, declar ing that this was an excellent devotion for obtaining graces from God. Thus did Philip train himself and his disciples in the practice of prayer, to which indeed he exhorted all, according to their health and circumstances, persuad ing them to meet every evening for it in the Little THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 151 Oratory, as we have related at some length before. But not content with this, he introduced mental prayer in common into many of the principal houses of Rome, so that fathers and mothers of families retired into their Oratories every evening with their household and prayed after the order and method which is observed in our Oratory. Indeed there were some who not only adopted this custom of prayer, but also as much of community life as was possible in their circumstances. Philip's maxims on the subject of prayer were numerous ; and although they were common sayings, and were used by St. Bernard, Cassian, and others, yet as they were very familiar to him, and his penitents had them continually in their mouths, and quoted them as his, we shall likewise give them as his, as we pro pose to do in the case of his maxims relating to the other virtues of which we shall have occasion to speak in the course of his life. First of all then, he used to say that a most excellent means to learn how to pray, is to recognize ourselves as unworthy of so great a gift, and to throw ourselves entirely into the arms of the Lord, who will teach us how to pray ; also that the true preparation for prayer is to exercise ourselves in mortification ; for to desire to give ourselves to prayer without mortification is like a bird trying to fly before it is fledged. Hence, when one of his penitents asked him to teach him how to pray, he replied, " Be humble and obedient, and the Holy Ghost will teach you." He used also to say that no one could arrive at the contemplative life, who had not flrst diligently exercised himself in the active life. He instructed all, but especially those who were beginners in the spiritual life, that it is a great help to prayer, to read often devout books and the Lives of the Saints ; 152 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. adding however that they were not to read out of curiosity, or in a hurry, but with pauses, and a little at a time, stopping awhile whenever they found them selves moved to compunction or devotion. He said that we ought to obey the spirit which God gives in prayer; and when, for example, He draws us to medi tate on the Passion, we ought not to go on trying to meditate on some other mystery. Also that when we go to communion, we ought to follow the spirit we had in our prayer, and not cast about for new thoughts. He said that when we have begun to ask some favour from God, we ought not to leave off praying, simply because He delays to grant it, but still strive to obtain it by the same means. He used to add that when a spiritual person experiences great calmness in praying for any grace, it is a good sign that God either has granted, or will soon grant the petition. He exhorted his children to desire to do great things for God, and not to be content with ordinary good ness, but to wish to surpass, if it were possible, even St. Peter and St. Paul in sanctity and love ; for though it be not possible for man to attain this, it is at least well to effect in holy desires what we cannot accomplish in act. No one, moreover, ought to think he has done any good, or be contented with the degree of perfec tion to which he may have arrived, however high it be, because Christ has given us the form of our perfec tion in putting before us that of the Eternal Father, " Be ye perfect, even as your heavenly Father is per fect." He recommended his penitents, when engaged in prayer, not to fix their eyes too intently on pictures and images, or gaze at them for long together; for this, said he, not only hurts the head, but opens the way to THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 153 illusions, as well through the weakness of the sight, as through the machinations of the devil. In the time of spiritual dryness he advised as an excellent remedy that we should picture ourselves as beggars in the presence of God and of the Saints, and go as such from one Saint to another, to ask spiritual alms of them, with the same urgency as beggars in the streets. He said it was sometimes well to do this even in a bodily way, going first to the church of one Saint, and then to the church of another, to ask this holy alms. He recommended all, but particularly beginners, to meditate on the Four Last Things, and he used to say that he who does not go down into hell when he is alive, runs a great risk of going there when he is dead. He admonished his subjects never to aban don the evening prayer and discipline at the Oratory ; he exhorted all to recommend themselves to the prayers of others ; and when any one asked his prayers, he not only used to pray for him himself, but got others to do the same. To express the necessity of prayer, he said that a man without prayer was an animal without reason. His physicians once forbade his making mental prayer on account of his health, and though he strove to obey, yet as almost his whole time was given to it, he could not exist without it, and he said to Gallonio, who was with him, " Ah me ! Antonio, I seem to myself to have become a beast!" Lastly, he declared that there is nothing which the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder as prayer. In this matter Philip was so highly privileged and illuminated by God, that he knew when a man had made his prayer in the morning or not. By the help of these and other instructions, his peni tents and disciples made such progress in this exercise, that not religious only, but secular persons, artisans, 154 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. merchants, physicians, lawyers, and courtiers, reached a high degree of spirituality under his direction, and became such men of prayer, as to receive therein extra ordinary favours from God, leading, in the midst of their temporal occupations, a life as pure and devout as the most fervent religious in their monasteries. CHAPTER VI. of philip's charity concerning the salvation OF SOULS. From Philip's burning love of God there sprang up in his breast the most ardent longings of charity towards his neighbour ; so that in his desire to bring back sinners into the right path, he longed, even to extreme old age, to suffer and to take severe disciplines for them : and he looked upon the misdeeds of others and wept for them as if they were his own. His fervent zeal never grew weary of labouring for the con version of souls ; and he allured them to the service of God with such dexterity, and such a winning art, that they themselves were astonished at it ; for he en ticed them in such a way, that those who came to him once seemed as if they could never leave him. He ac commodated himself so well to the character of each one in particular, that the saying of the apostle was literally fulfilled in him : I became all things to all men, that I might save all. In order to keep them, and at the same time to gain others, he would sometimes with modest gaiety press them to sup with him at St. Girolamo, where his frugal table was seasoned with spiritual conversation. It was astonishing how this bound them together as if they were so many brothers. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 155 and increased more and more their affection and rever ence towards the Saint. If great sinners, and persons with inveterate habits of vice fell into his hands, at first he only required of them to abstain from mortal sins, and then little by little conducted them to that height of virtue which he had in view. A penitent went to confess to him, who was so deeply immersed in a particular sin that he fell almost every day. The Saint gave him no other penance than to come to confession immediately after each fall, and never to wait for a second misfortune. The penitent obeyed, and Philip always gave him absolution, simply renewing the same penance, and by this one means gave him such real assistance, that in a few months he was entirely free, not only from that sin, but from many others besides, and in a short time attained such perfection, that the holy Father himself declared he had become an angel. With similar sweetness he converted a dissolute youth, by only begging him to say the Salve Regina seven times a day, and then to kiss the ground, repeating, "To-morrow perhaps I may be dead." The youth obeyed him, and ia a short time began to lead a most excellent life, and fourteen years after died with signs of great devotion. Another, called Domenico'Saraceni, of Collescepoli, went to confession to the Saint; he had always been accustomed, at home, to give something to his confessor ; and when he had finished his confession, finding that he had no money about him he said, " Pardon me, father ; I have brought no money with me." Philip smiled and said, " Come now, instead of the money you were going to give me, promise that you will return to me next Saturday." The penitent 156 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. returned, and after a little time, became so taken with Philip's sweetness, that he put himself under his direc tion, and became a very pious man, going to confession and communion at least once a week. In the year 1562, a youth named Giovanni Tommaso Arena of Catanzaro went very often to the sermons at S. Girolamo. It was however more to make game of the exercises, than with any serious intention of turn ing to God. Some of the brothers of the Oratory per ceived this, and being indignant at his conduct, men tioned it to the holy father, in order that he might apply some remedy. " Have a little patience," he an swered, " and do not be afraid." Giovanni Tommaso still went on turning the frequenters of the Oratory into ridicule, without showing any signs of amendment. The Saint however would not allow a word to be said to him. The good father's patience was not in vain. Little by little the youth was softened by the word of God and Philip's incessant prayers. He began to reflect upon his misconduct, and conceived such contrition that he gave himself up entirely into Philip's hands, and grew so fervent, that by the holy father's counsel he entered into the order of St. Domi nic, and died a holy death during his noviciate. A young Neapolitan named Pietro Focile, a man of irregular life, and much given to unseasonable jesting and buffoonery, was brought one day to the exercises at S. Girolamo. When he entered, dressed in a whim sical fashion, he perceived that the Saint kept his eyes continually upon him ; every look seemed to go through him like a dart, and he felt that Philip was actually reading his secret sins. He heard the discourses and assisted at all the exercises of the Ora tory that day ; and they took such hold of him, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 157 that he seemed to have suddenly changed his nature, and become a different man. When he went out, his companions asked him what had happened to him, for he did not seem like the same person. A week passed, and the work was meanwhile going on in his heart, and at last he determined to make a good confession. He went to St. Girolamo, and placed him self near the Saint's confessional in order to confess ; but Philip pretended to take no account of him, and when he had finished confessing the others; told him to return another time, for that he could not hear him then. He treated him in this way every time he came, and went on putting him off, and bidding him return, for two whole months, always saying to him, " I cannot hear you ; come again." But the more the Saint mortified him, the more anxious was Pietro to return to him. At last, when Philip saw the time was come, he heard his confession to his great joy, and from that time Pietro became one of his most fervent penitents. He was once making the visit of the Seven Churches in company with the Saint, and when they were at St. Sebastian's, Pietro wished to kneel down to make his confession, but the Saint said to him, " Get up from here and go to Father Pompeo." He did so, whereupon Philip arose and said to Father Pompeo, " Do not confess this fellow." Pietro then went back to the Saint, who said, " I do not know you." At last however he heard his confession, but would not let him have communion. In the evening he sent for him and consoled him ; for what he had done was in order to refine him by means of mortification. Philip prophesied to him that he would die poor, and the prediction was verified. For although he was very well off at the time, he was reduced to such straits in his old age as to 158 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. be in actual want of bread. He died a holy death, be fitting the life which he had lived ever since he had put himself under the direction of the Saint. Philip also prophesied to him the birth of a son, two days before it took place, and, even while living, occasionally appeared to him in dreams to comfort him in his adversities. Marcello Ferro, a Roman cleric of noble family, who enjoyed a rich benefice in Rome, used to dress in coloured clothes like a layman, and with great vanity. He once met in the cloister of the Minerva, on the eve of St. Dominic, a young man who was one of Philip's penitents; this youth, entering into conver sation with him, said to him, "A Father from St. Girolamo named Philip is in the habit of coming here to Vespers and Compline ; Oh ! if you were but to speak to him, what a happy thing it would be for you !" The cleric, moved by God, believed the young man's words, and begged him. with great earnestness to introduce him to Philip. Meanwhile the Saint entered the church with Giovanni Battista Salviati, Costanzo Tassone, Giovanni Animuccia, and others of his own people. Marcello following them, saw that Philip, as soon as ever he knelt down, covered his face with his hands and began weeping, and that he trembled in his usual way during the whole of Compline, which made him wonder exceedingly. When Compline was over he had a long conversation with Philip, who received him with great cordiality, and invited him to St. Girolamo to hear the sermons. The cleric was touched and promised to go, and after continuing to assist at the exercises for four or five days, made a general confession, during which Philip kept his eyes fixed on heaven, and trembling in his usual manner, disclosed to the young man the secrets of his heart, and manifested to him his THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 159 sins. Before giving him absolution he fell upon his neck, and said, " O my son, do not resist the Holy Ghost; God wishes to save you." Marcello went on going to him every day, and though at first he did not leave off dressing in his usual way, Philip never said a word to him on the subject, but only took care by prayer and other means to excite him more and more to compunction. At length, after fifteen or sixteen days the cleric became ashamed of his dress, and abandoned it of his own accord, and then, giving him self up entirely to the holy father, became one of his most intimate and favourite penitents. By this method he brought back an almost infinite number of sinners to the paths of holiness. They acknowledged that under God they owed their salva tion to him, and many of them at the hour of death ex claimed, "Blessed be the day and hour in which I came to know Father Philip !" Others, astonished at the great conversions he effected, said, " Father Philip draws souls as the loadstone draws iron, and no sooner does any one go to confession to him, than he seems to be constrained to go again." On the other hand, Philip was greatly displeased with confessors who made the path of virtue too difficult,- especially to penitents recently converted. He could not endure that they should exasperate them with harsh rebukes, and by alarming them at the difficulties of returning to God make them abandon their confession and persevere in their sins. He would have them compassionate their penitents, seek to gain them by sweetness and love, condescend to them as far as ever they possibly could, and employ every device of charity to draw them to the love of God. For "the same reason he never inveighed in an 160 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. exaggerated way against certain vanities in clothes and head-dress, to which women not unfrequently give way. He dissembled as much as he could, so as to bring them the more readily later on to the end he had in view. He said that we must sometimes bear with these defects in others, just as we are obliged against our own will to bear with defects in ourselves ; he used to say, " Only let a little devotion gain admittance into their hearts, and then you may leave them to themselves; they will soon do all or morn than all you wish." Thus, a lady one day asked him if it was a sin to wear shoes with very high heels; the Saint only answered, " Take care you don't fall." One of his penitents used to wear a collar with an inordi nately large ruff: Philip, touching him lightly on the neck, said, " Ah ! I should caress you a good deal oftener than I do, if this collar did not hurt my hands." The lady left off her high shoes, and the gentleman rook the ruff off his collar. For the same purpose of drawing souls to the ser vice of God he kept the door of his room always open, so that he was at the service of every one who came ; and when any one would have retired through respect, he took him by the hand and drew him in. He re served neither time nor place which he could call his own, but wished every one to come in, even when he was unwell ; and in the evening, even though he had gone to bed to rest himself, he gave audience to all who came, and would not have any one go away without consolation. He thus attached people to him in such a way that there was nothing they would not most willingly have done for him. He would on no account allow any one to say, " Philip is resting," or, " he does not wish to be disturbed." One day Antonio Gallonio THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 161 prevented a person from entering, as the hour seemed unseasonable ; but when Philip heard of it, he rebuked him severely, and said : " Have I not told you that I wish to have no time or hour for my own ?" Another time Francesco Zazzera shut the Saint's room, that he might not be disturbed; Philip, perceiving that some one was waiting for him, called Francesco, and gave him a severe reprimand, in the presence of the person whom he had kept waiting.. At other times he would go unexpectedly into the room of some father, where he thought there might be some one waiting for him; and if it was so he would sharply rebuke those whose busi ness it was to have told him. Nothing gave him greater displeasure than to hear that any one had been incon venienced by having to wait for him. On one occasion some persons said to him, " Father, do not make your self so common.'' He answered, " I tell you, that those of my penitents who are now the most spiritual, are just those whom I have gained to the Lord by laying myself out even at night for their conversion ; and rest assured that nothing brings so much consolation and sweetness to souls that love God, as leaving Christ for Christ." But Philip was not content with staying in the church to hear confessions, and receiving in his room all who chose to come to him, though by these means he reaped an abundant harvest of souls. He never spared himself in any other kind of toil, whatever it might be, so long as it was in the service of souls. He thought nothing. of rain or wind, heat or cold, or risks of any sort, though they involved life or reputation, if he could but convert a sinner and draw a soul to Christ. He was once informed that a youth at court was in great danger of being assassinated because of a lady of 11 162 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. high rank in Rome, and that although several prelates had done all in their power, they could not turn the young man from his perverse intention. Philip sent for him, and with bis usual dexterity and patience, induced him to acknowledge his error so fully, that he not only gave up his enterprise, but even abstained from passing the lady's house for two years together. This resolu tion he kept so faithfully, that in accompanying a great prince in his carriage, which he did frequently, when they came near that street he asked leave to retire: so efficacious were Philip's words, or perhaps rather Philip's prayers. In fine, he was all things to all men. He suited himself to the high and the lowly, to the young and the old, subjects and prelates, learned and ignorant. He received those who were strangers to him as kindly as if they had been his own children, and embraced them with as much love and charity as if he had been long expecting them. When he was called upon to be merry, he was so; if there was a demand upon his sympathy, he was equally ready, He gave the same ' welcome to all, caressing the poor equally with the rich, and labouring in the service of all to the utmost limits of his power. In consequence of his being so accessible, and so ready to receive all comers, many went to him every day, and some continued for the space of thirty, nay forty years, to visit him very often both morning and evening ; so that his room went by the name of the School of Sanctity, and the Shelter of Christian Mirth. Although by these ways of his he reaped great fruit in the conversion and edification of souls, there were not wanting men who censured and severely reproved him, and that not only among the worldly, but among THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP" NERI. 163 those of excellent and even holy lives. Experience however showed that Philip reaped more fruit by his gentleness than they did by their severity and strict ness. Teseo Raspa, a priest and confessor at St. Giro lamo, a holy man* but somewhat rigid, did not approve of Philip's gentleness and easiness in the confessional, so unlike his- own practice. But although he had many penitents at first, nearly all of them soon abandoned him, whereas- Philip's number swelled daily; and it is a fact well worth recording, that some of his penitents, notwithstanding that he only allowed them to come to confession once a week, and very often less frequently still because of their studies or other duties, were more advanced, and better grounded in the spiritual life than the penitents of others. Yet Philip knew how to employ rigour and severity, when he saw that it was ¦ necessary, and acted with a firmness which showed that he was able to rule not only those of his Congregation or penitents of a yielding disposition, but even the most stubborn characters. He was once sent for by the company of the Misericordia to attend a criminal who was going to be executed, and who obstinately resisted all attempts to convert him, though many members of the company, as well as several religious, had used their utmost endeavours to do so. Philip arrived with Gallonio at the little chapel where the wretched man was screaming like one in despair; he sent out those who were present, and then, in the impetuosity of his spirit, seized the criminal by the collar, and laid him flat on the ground, saying, " Not a word ; hold your peace." He had scarcely finished the words, when the prisoner begged to go to confession ; and after having confessed twice, resigned himself to death. We have another instance in the 164 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. case of a young noble, who had unhappily become so entangled in vicious habits, that for a long time the various endeavours made to bring him to repentance were all in vain. One day Philip began to reprove him most sharply for his hardness of heart, threatening him with the pains of hell, and putting before him in a vivid picture, the justice of God irritated against him. At length he added, " Well then ! I see we must come to facts with you." He made him kneel down in front of him, and rest his head upon his knees. "Look now," said the holy father, " look with your own eyes at the pains which await you down there, in hell." The youth remained in that position for a short time; then lifting up his head all agitated and trembling, he repented of his sins, made a good confession, entirely changed his manner of living, and persevered in the service of God till his death. CHAPTER VII. Philip's wonderful way of keeping young people from vice. Philip knew very well that men mostly carry to the grave the sinful habits formed in youth. Hence although he was anxious to turn all kinds of people from sin, he laboured with a special zeal for the con version, and perseverance of young men, sedulously inventing ways of keeping them from offending God, and insinuating into their hearts the desire of virtue. Even when he had reached an advanced age, and his strength was nearly exhausted by his great labours, the holy man was still to be seen going about the streets of Rome with a train of young men, conversing with them THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 165 on all sorts of subjects according to their different pro fessions, making them affectionate one towards another, and winning their reverence and love towards himself. Sometimes he left his prayers and went down to sport and banter with the young men and others who flocked to him, as we learn from Cardinal Crescenzio, and by his sweetness and the allurements of his conversation, to keep them cheerful and win their souls. He very often took them to some open ground, and there set them playing together at mall or some similar game. He generally began the game himself, but afterwards retired to some thicket or hillock, either to read, or to meditate on some point of the Passion. For this pur pose he usually carried about with him a little book containing nothing but the ends of the four Gospels; although after he had read a little while he was unable to go on, but became motionless and absorbed in contemplation. He used also to appoint some of his tried and experienced penitents, especially at first, to watch over the younger ones, to bring them often to him, and to take care that they did not associate with others who might turn them aside from the good path. Whenever any of them left off coming to confession or assisting at the Oratory, the same affectionate charity moved him to send for them on some ingenious pretext ; and if they had unfortunately swerved from the path of virtue, he was indefatigable in bringing about their re turn to the service of God, even employing some of his people to seek them out under one excuse or another, and to try every means to win them back to their former good habits, so that sometimes they entered again upon the practice of a devout life with even greater fervour than before. 166 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. So well known throughout Rome, and particularly amongst the religious orders, was Philip's wonderful gift of exciting young men to the love of virtue andthe desire of perfection, that the Father Superior of the Domini cans at the convent of the Minerva frequently sent him his novices that he might take them out where he pleased for recreation^ feeling confident of the fruit they would reap from his conversation. Sometimes he took them to the Seven Churches, particularly at the time of the Carnival, and then they all received Commu nion, and called that their Carnival ; at other times he went with them to some agreeable spot, where they would stop all day, and dine together. The holy old man took great pleasure in seeing them eat and enjoy themselves ; he used to say, "Eat, my children* and do not have any- scruple about it, for it makes me fat to watch you." When dinner was over' he made them sit down on the ground in a ring round him, and gave them many counsels, telling them the secrets of their hearts, and exhorting them to the practice of all virtues, but especially of perse verance, assuring them that the Divine Majesty had conferred on them one of His greatest benefits in having called them to religion ; " and this," he added, " this I say with all my heart," and as he spoke, the novices felt their hearts burn with fervour and with the desire to profit by their vocation, and used to return happy and light-hearted to their convent. The patience which Philip had with young men, when he was trying to keep them from sin, was some thing indescribable. He let them make what noise they pleased, even close to his room, and when some of the Fathers complained of their want of discretion, and the youths told Philip of it, he answered, " Let THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 167 them talk ; go you on with your play, and be merry ; all I want of you is to keep out of the way of sin." He even made them play at ball in front of his room, that they might not have any occasion to go elsewhere. A certain Roman gentleman, who often went to visit the Saint, wondering at the uproar the young men made, asked him how he could possibly bear it. Philip answered, " So long as they do not sin they may chop firewood upon my back." Long afterwards, a gentle man of high position in the court, who had been intimate with the Saint in his boyhood, said to a friend, with tears in his eyes, " When I was a youth, and confessed to Father Philip, I never committed a mortal sin ; but as soon as I left him I gave myself up, wretch that I am ! to this licentious life which I am now living." He could not bear to see any of his children in low spirits, and directly he perceived a want of cheerfulness in any of them, he instantly asked him why he was in such a mood as that, and would perhaps give him a box on the ear and say, " Be merry." He said that his long ex perience in the direction of souls had taught him that in spiritual matters cheerful men were much more easy to guide than the melancholy. Hence it was that he had a particular and marked leaning to cheerful persons. The following anecdote is an instance in point. Two Capuchins came to see him, the one an old, the other a young man. Philip looked both of them in the face, and as it appeared to him that the young one was more spiritual than his elder companion, he deter mined to try if it were so by his usual method of mor tification. It happened that the young Capuchin was guilty of a breach of good manners in spitting in Philip's presence, and the Saint took occasion from it to give him a biting reprimand. He exaggerated the offence, 168 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. pretended to be in a great passion, and said, " What sort of manners is this I get out of my presence ;" after which he took off one of his shoes, and made as though he were going to hit him on the head with it. But notwithstanding all Philip's words and gestures, the young religious remained as merry and cheerful as before, and did not show the slightest sign of displea sure, whereas his companion showed by his looks how deeply he felt the mortification, though it had not fallen on him personally. The Saint, not contented with all this, bade the young monk take off his cloak, telling him he was not worthy to wear it ; to which the young man replied, "Your Reverence is master; I can go very willingly without my cloak, not only because I am not worthy to wear it, but because I am not cold ; and above all, because I have had a very good meal this morn ing." The Saint then played several other tricks with him, but nothing could disturb his good humour, or tire out his instant obedience. At last Philip looking fiercely at him, sent him away, without testifying the least affection for him, but still the monk was as cheerful and patient as ever. The two religious left the room, but when they had got to the bottom of the stairs, Philip had them called back again, and as soon as ever he saw the younger one, he ran to him, em braced him with the greatest warmth, showed him ex traordinary affection, and gave him some blessed beads and other devout things ; and as he went away, he said to him, " My son, persevere in your cheerfulness, for this is the true way to advance in every virtue." " But much as he liked cheerfulness, he was far from sanctioning anything like dissipation. On the contrary, he said it was necessary to take great care not to be come dissipated, or to give way, as he used to say, to a THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 169 buffooning spirit; for buffoonery not only renders a man incapable of receiving any additional spirituality from God, but even roots up what little he may have previously acquired. He was anxious also to see the young men who were about him always occupied. Sometimes he would bid them sweep out the room, or make the bed over again, or move the table from one place to another. Sometimes he would set them to thread a rosary, or plait garlands of flowers, or read some book; in short he would give one employment to one, and another to another, simply to keep them from idleness, which he hated so much that no one ever found him unemployed. He wished young people to go to confession very frequently, but not to communicate so often. Not unfrequently he made them prepare for communion with the greatest diligence, bidding them offer up particular devotions for that purpose ; and then in the morning when they were going to communion, he would put them off to another time, giving them fresh devotions to perform ; and he would go on dealing with them in this way, until he judged it well for them to communicate. The reason he gave for acting thus was that on communion days the devil generally makes greater and more violent assaults than at other times ; and often young men do not resist them, and so come at last to do a great injury to the holy Sacrament. He was anxious moreover that they should approach the altar with a great desire for that heavenly food. When they asked his leave to go to communion, he used to answer, " No, no, — ' Sitientes, sitienties venite ad aquas,' " "Thirsting, thirsting, come ye to the waters." For the same reason he always liked them to give him four or five days' notice when they wished to receive 170 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. communion; and afterwards in order to make them gather greater fruit from the Sacrament, he gave them some extra devotions for a few days, such as saying five Paters and Aves with their arms extended, or reciting some of the chaplets he had taught them, or some thing of a similar nature. During the Carnival he used to set his young peni tents to act plays, in order to prevent their going to the Corso or to dangerous comedies. It was for the same purpose that he introduced the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches, and the spiritual conferences in open places, as at Montecavallo, or St. Onofrio, or in any other spot which he found convenient. In a word, in directing young men, and in keeping them from sin, Philip had a gift peculiarly his own, and one in which few of his time equalled him; and what was most of all to be admired was, that he bestowed such a special care upon each one in particular, that it seemed as if that one were the only penitent he had to guide. CHAPTER VIII. OF THE GREAT CARE WHICH PHILIP TOOK OF HIS PENITENTS WHEN THEY WERE ILL. Whenever any of his penitents were ill, he went to visit them continually, not only by day, but even during the night if1 there were occasion for it. As soon as he entered the room he began to pray for them, and made the bystanders do the same. When they were in ex treme danger, he generally stayed with them until they died, or until a favourable turn took place, not unfre quently spending whole nights beside them in prayer. THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 171 fie laboured also with wonderful success in consoling the sick, and in delivering them from the temptations with which the devil usually assails them. A musician named Sebastian, one of his penitents, and a very virtuous man, was lying at the point of death* when the devil appeared to him all black and frightful, and endeavoured by every possible means to make him despair of his salvation. Sebastian, panic- stricken, began to scream out like one in despair, " O wretched man that I am ! would that I had never been born! all hope is past, and I must now go into the burning flames of hell; woe is me ! what an unfortunate wretch am I !" He had been crying out in this way for two hours successively, without receiving any conso lation, when those who were about him sent for the rector of the parish ; but Sebastian would not look at him or listen to him*- turning his face the other way disdainfully* and saying that he had no faith in him, that he was lost, and past all hope of salvation. His friends did not know what to do, until at last they thought of sending for the holy father. Philip came, and as soon as he set foot on the threshold of the room, said in a loud voice so that everybody could hear, " What is this ?" one of his usual exclamations ; he then went up to the bed, laid his hand on the sick man's head, and said, "Do not be afraid." Sebastian was comforted instantly, and began to cry out, "Father Philip is driving the devils away: the devils are flying, Philip is driving them off; 0 wonderful power of Father Philip I Viva Cristo ! Viva Filippo, who has saved me from hell ! Viva l'Oratorio !" Then in an outburst of joy, he began to sing the hymns which were sung at the Oratory, and particularly the one which begins, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! let every one call on 172 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. Jesus !" He then raised his hands and eyes to heaven, and said, "Look at the angels, look at the archangels," and naming one by one all the choirs of the angels, (the very names of which he never knew before, for he was quite an ignorant man,) he gave up his soul to God in Philip's arms, in the month of September, the day before the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. When Persiano Rosa, Philip's director, was in his last illness, he had to sustain most tremendous assaults of the devil, during which he cried out loudly, " Tujudica me Deus, Tu discerne causam meam." Whilst he re peated these words he sat up in bed, made the sign of the cross, and threw himself first on one side and then on the other, in the utmost terror. Meanwhile Philip arrived, and Persiano, as soon as he saw him, said, " Sancte Philippe, ora pro me," for so he was accus tomed to call him ; and then added, " I beg of you to drive away that fierce black dog which is trying to tear me." When Philip heard this, he immediately betook himself to prayer, and exhorted the bystanders to say a Pater and Ave for the sick man. He had scarcely knelt down before Persiano began to cry out, " Thank God ! the dog is going, the dog is running away ; see, he has reached the door." Philip then got up, and sprinkled the sick man and the whole room with holy water, on which the devil disappeared altogether, and the following day Persiano passed happily and quietly to a better world. Gabriello Tana of Modena, a youth of about eighteen, in the service of Giovanni Ricci, Cardinal of Monte pulciano, was in his last illness. He was- one of Philip's first penitents, and for two years before his illness had given himself up entirely to devotion, con fessing and communicating at least twice a week. He THE 'LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 173 was most diligent in works of piety, and especially in visiting the hospitals. He had been confined to his bed for three weeks with a dangerous illness; no treatment seemed to do him the least good, and he was drawing towards the close, of his life, when there came upon him a temptation of the devil in the shape of a most anxious desire to get well, together with an inordinate fear and abhorrence of death. The holy father, who visited him continually, found him in this state, and asked him how he felt ; he answered, " I am in good spirits, be cause it seems to me that it is not God's Will that I should die this time." He then begged the Saint to pray for him in his mass, that God would give him time to do penance for his sins. The Saint replied, " Well, I will go to St. Pietro in Montorio, and say mass for you in the chapel where the holy apostle was crucified." Gabriello, full of his desire to recover, repeated several times, " Pray to God for me, to grant me time to do penance." The Saint then perceived that this was a temptation, for he had had a revelation of Gabriello's death ; he said therefore, " Gabriello, I want you to make me a present of your will,, and I will offer it to God at the offertory of the mass, so that if He should desire to call you to Himself, and the devil should want to molest you, you may be able to answer, ' I have no longer any will of my own, I have given it away to Christ.' " Gabriello agreed, and Philip told the bystanders to pray for him, whilst he went to say mass. When he returned to the sick man after mass, he found him entirely changed, and repeating over and over again with great fervour those words of the apostle, " I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ." He took his crucifix in his hand, pressed it to his heart, and with his eyes full of tears tenderly embraced and kissed it, 174 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. exhorting and encouraging the friends who stood round him to devote themselves to the service of God in good earnest, and to cast the vanities of the world behind them, and repeating again and again, " This life has become odious to me ; I wish to die that I may go to Paradise." Then turning to the Saint, he added, "Up to this time, Father, I have prayed with the greatest earnestness for my recovery ; but now I entreat of you to obtain from our Lord that I may depart out of this miserable life as soon as possible." He continued in these sentiments all the following day, and in the evening, when the Saint was leaving him to return to S. Girolamo where he was then living, the invalid said to him, " My father, I long to go to Paradise ; pray for me that my desire may be granted." Philip answered, " And if it should please God that you should suffer this sickness for a long time, would yon not submit to His Will ?" To which the youth replied, " What do I hear, my father ? Do you not know that I have told you many times how I long to go to Paradise to see God, and that I cannot bear to remain in this life ? Pray the Lord then that before the fifth hour of the Eight I may depart." " Well," said Philip, "do not be afraid ; you shall be consoled ; but meantime I warn you to prepare yourself to make a valiant fight of it, for the devil is going to make repeated assaults on you ; remember therefore that you have given your will to Christ, and fear nothing, for He will overcome every peril for you." He then told him, one by one, all the temptations with which the devil would assail him, after which he left him, in order to pray for him without interruption at home. He ordered however some of his own people, and among them Giovanni Battista Salviati, and Francesco Maria Tarugi, not to THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 175 leave him, but to give him all the assistance in their power, and if anything fresh took place, to let him know ; for he had already come four or five times that day to visit him, and comfort him with fervent little exhortations. An hour had scarcely passed before the devil came to tempt the youth to presumption, making it appear to him that he had merited greatly by his good works, and that his salvation was already secure. The sign of this temptation was, that when he heard the litanies which are usually recited at the commen dation of a departing soul, at the words, A morte mala libera eum, Domine, he smiled and shook his head, saying, " He who has Christ in his heart cannot die a bad death." But immediately perceiving the deceit of the enemy, he began to cry out, " Help me, I entreat you, my brothers, help me with your prayers; for what I have just said was a temptation of the devil." He had scarcely discovered and vanquished this temptation before the adversary assailed him with a second, trying to hinder him from pronouncing the name of Jesus, which he so ardently desired to utter, especially at the moment of death, that he had prayed his friends to re mind him at the last. Feeling himself hindered by an internal violence, he cried out, " Help, my brothers, help, for I cannot name It." They asked what it was that he could not name, adding, " Is it the most holy Name of Jesus which the devil will not let you pronounce ?" Then Gabriello showed by signs that it was so, and turning to Giacomo Marmita, the Cardinal's, secretary, and one of Philip's penitents, he said to him, "Alas! what temptation is this, that I cannot pro nounce the name. of Jesus?" and although he pro- Dounced it several times, he still fancied that he could not do so. The bystanders comforted him, and told 176 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. him to pronounce it in his heart, if he could not with his lips. He was harassed by this temptation for a long time, and a violent perspiration ensued, whereupon they sent immediately for the holy father. When he arrived, Gabriello became quite cheerful, and pronounced the Name of Jesus with Philip several times, very dis tinctly, repeating it affectionately, and just in the way he wished, whilst the Saint helped him by showing him the crucifix, and as it were putting the most holy Name into his mouth, with words full of tenderness. The devil however would not leave the field, but now tempted him in his faith, insinuating at the same time into his heart a hope that he would be sure to get well. Gabriello turned to Philip and said, "Help me, father, for I seem not to have faith, and likewise I fancy that I am not going to die." Philip replied, " Despise this fresh deceit, my child, and say with me, 'I believe, I be lieve !' " But although he pronounced these words with the Saint several times most distinctly, he thought that he could not pronounce them properly, or believe in the way he wished. Hereupon Philip ordered the by-standers to recite the Credo aloud, and told Gabri ello to do so in his heart. After this he knelt down and prayed for him, and immediately the temptation ceased; indeed the dying man, relieved somewhat of his fears, began to assume a holy boldness, and mocked and triumphed over his adversary, saying, " I will be lieve in spite of you ; whether you will or not, I will believe for all eternity." Thus this new temptation ceased, and through the grace of God Gabriello was left master of the field, though much exhausted. At last, the crafty serpent was driven to his final resource of despair. He appeared to Gabriello, and putting him self in front of him with a fierce and threatening aspect, THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 177 terrified him in such a manner that his whole coun tenance changed, and his eyes, full of terror, wandered here and there distractedly, but found no place on which they could light without horror. In this state of wretchedness he cried out, " Ah unhappy me ! how many sins ! how many sins ! ah me ! mercy, 0 my God ! Father drive away those black dogs that are all round me." Philip laid his hands upon the sufferer's head, and addressing the devil, said, " Hast thou power, thou wicked spirit, to strive against the grace of God ? These hands have touched Christ this morn ing ; I command thee therefore in His name to depart hence, and to leave this His creature at peace." No sooner had he said this than the temptation ceased. He then turned to Gabrielfo and said, " Be comforted, my son, and say, ' Depart from me, all ye that work iniquity, and do not be afraid, for if you have sinned, Christ also has suffered and paid for you : enter then, my son, into His Side, and into His most holy Wounds ; and fear not, but combat manfully, and you will soon be the conqueror." He then knelt down at the foot of the bed, and Gabriello full of joy and happiness cried out, " What joy, my brothers, what joy! the dogs are departing; Father Philip is driving them away ; see how furiously they fly !" and he pointed with his finger to the place where he saw them. At last he said, " We have won the fight, and you are gone in spite of /ourselves ; now I can freely pronounce the Name of Jesus!" and thus filled with comfort, Gabriello fixed his eyes steadfastly on a crucifix which one of those present held in his hand, and prayed with such fervour that there was not one in the room who did not shed tears. Presently, turning, to those who were beside him, he said to them, " O my 12 178 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. brothers, what things have I seen with these eyes of mine ! Now I know for a truth what our father has so often told us, that all the love we give to creatures is so much taken from the Creator; wherefore I entreat you to give all your love to God." Then turning again to Christ, and going on with his prayer, he said, " Let me have the crucifix in my own hands." No sooner had he received it than he began to embrace and kiss it with the greatest affection ; and with great fervour of spirit, he slightly raised his head, and lifting up his hand, said in a clearer voice than he had before, " Blessed be Jesus all the world over, blessed for evermore ! who shall be able to separate me from His love ?" Then repeating the words which Philip had suggested to him, he said in a strong voice, " Depart from me all ye that work iniquity," and began mocking the evil one with many words, until at last Philip, fearing lest by this ex citement he should hasten his death, said to him, "No more, my son, no more ; let the devil alone ; we do him too much honour by talking about him : put all your trust in Christ and in His Most Precious Blood, for He it is who has overcome the devil in you ; be at peace, and leave Him to act for you." At this command the youth was silent, and Philip made a little address to all who were present, on the love of God and on His good ness. Now that Gabriello had fought so manfully and all the illusions of the devil had disappeared, all present believed from his speaking so clearly and so long together, that he would live till the next day ; and this was the opinion of the medical men. The Saint however said, " It will not be so ; the instant he moves from his present position he will die." And so it was ; for scarcely half an hour afterwards Gabriello turned on his right side, where Philip stood, and pronouncing the THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 179 Name of Jesus, passed happily out of this life, such beauty remaining on his features that he looked like an angel of Paradise. Giacomo Marmita, who was mentioned above as secre tary of the Cardinal of Montepulciano-, was one of the Saint's spiritual children, a man of great learning and prudence, and above all, full of the fear of God. He was attacked by a very sharp fever, with pains in his body, and other sufferings, which brought him to the last ex tremity. As the moment of his departure drew near, the weakness of the flesh asserted itself, and he began to lament and seemed unable to find any comfort. The Saint who was there, said t6 him, " Courage, Messer Giacomo, call on the Lord, and say, ' Deus noster re- fugium et 'virtus, tidjutor 'in tribulationibus, " to which the sick man replied, " Quos inveneruht nos nimis." Philip began to pray for him, and then went on again consoling him', until in a short time he brought him to a state ofthe greatest tranquillity and resignation to the Divine Will, and not long afterwards', to the edification of all present, he quietly gave up his soul to God. Father NiccoU Gigli, a, priest of Our Congregation, fell grievously ill, and when his death drew near, was much harassed by the devil, but came out of the trial victorious through the prayers of Philip, in the following manner. The holy -father was saying mass in the chapel of which we have spoken above, and was praying most earnestly for the sick man, when some of the fathers heard tremendous noises in the house* as of rocks or great mill-stones being dragged over the pavementb While this noise was going on, Philip, who was alone in the little chapel praying, called out, and Father Pietro Consolini ran to him to see what he wanted. The Saint said to him, " Make 180 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. haste and let me know hqw Niccolo is." He hastened to the sick man and found him with his hands joined and looking up towards heaven, repeating with great fervour, " Let us, giye thanks to the Lord o,u» God ; he came, he ha? gone, he is conquered." Pietr.o, returned to the Saint* and told him what had passed, on«which Philip answered in his usual way, '.' That is, enough, that is enough, that will $0,." A little while later he went himself to the sick man;, as soon as Niccolo saw him, he cast on him a look full of affection, and said, " Ah ! my father, why have I not known you fong, long since? why sp late,. Q my father ?? He had expe rienced in his combat the efficacy of Philip's prayers* and obtained a vivid knowledge of his sanctity. NicQolei wag a Frenchman ; so free was he from all earthly attachments,. esspe^ially to his relations, that he would not read the letters which they sent him, but threw them, in, to the fire as sopn as they arrived. He was a great lover of obedience, and an enemy to idler ness ; he was also assiduous at the confessional, hearing all sorts of persons without ever growing we^ry. He was much givep to prayer and mortification, and greatly beloyed by the holy father, and before he fell ill, fore^ told the day of his death. He lived twenty years in the Congregation, and gave up his soul to God on the 14th of June, 1591, leaving such a reputation- for sanctity, that the holy father used to keep something of his sjbpyit him as avr,el}e. Carlo Mazzei, another, of Philip's penitents* a little before Jiis death had to sustain most violent assaults of the devil, who appeared to, him and endeavoured to drive h}m to despair, a,t the same time putting, before him all he had said or done in his life. The sick man's only answer was to repeat twice, " I appeal- to Philip," THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 18f at which words the devil immediately lost courage, and disappeared in confusion. The holy father afterwards said, that if the sick man had reasoned with the devil, he would most certainly have been deceived by him ; and he declared that the soul of Carlo Was gone into a place of safety, adding that he had been delivered from the hands of the evil one by those very words. This incident the Saint used to relate as a proof of the fear which the devil has of our spiritual father. It was Well known among his spiritual children, that when Philip entered a room he used to put the devils to flight by simply saying, " Who is here ?" and those present immediately felt themselves freed from their temptations. Many also in their agony saw the devils in visible shapes departing at the appearance of Philip. But to return to his charity to the sick. He ex ercised it not only towards his own friends, but towards all, whatever might be their state or condition, and even towards those who persecuted him. Many in stances of this will occur in the chapter on the holy father's patience ; at present I will only mention one case. A person who had done all the evil in his power to Philip and to one of his penitents, was danger ously ill. As Philip was returning to the sacristy one morning after saying mass, he said to some who were there, " I have prayed for such an one more than usual." They afterwards learned that the person had been obliged to take to his bed - at the very time the Saint was celebrating. So great was the affection which Philip always showed towards this man, that when he spoke of him, he wept through compassion ; and God was pleased to tell him of his sickness during his mass in order that he might pray for him. One of the maxims which Philip gave on the subject 182 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. of charity to the sick was, that those who visit the sick or dying should not speak much to them, but rather help them with their prayers. Another was, that peo ple should be very cautious in playing the prophet, and predicting that the invalid will die or recover ; because he had known some who, having prophesied that a sick man would die, actually took it amiss when he re covered, and were wicked enough to regret the failure of their prophecy. At times the saint himself re gretted that he had prayed for the recovery of some, who when they got well, fell away from the good path and began to lead sinful lives; and he declared that he never would pray again unconditionally for the life of any one. From this rule however he most readily excepted women in labour. CHAPTER IX. PHILIP FREES MANY FROM DIFFERENT TEMPTATIONS AND TROUBLES. Philip did not limit his care and solicitude to the bodily and spiritual needs of the sick. Scarcely any one, however tried and afflicted, had recourse to him, who was not freed from his temptations and consoled in his troubles. Marcello Benci, a gentleman of Montepulciano, and a relation of Cardinal Tarugi, was very much disturbed about a danger in which he was placed of falling into sin. He spoke about it several times to his confessor* Father Angelo Velli, who told him that if he wanted to be rid of it, he must seek a remedy from Father Philip. Marcello, in obedience to this advice, gave the Saint a THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP KEKI. 183 full account of the temptation, and of the danger in which he was, and recommending himself with much earnestness to his prayers, implored him for the love of God to free him from it. Even during the very time that he was speaking with him, he felt great interior consolation, and the conversation was hardly finished before he found himself entirely set free from the temptation, which never troubled him any more. Antonio Fantini, of Bagnacavallo, a poor huckster, went to confession to Philip for thirty years succes sively, during the last twenty of which he confessed daily, and then died, giving great edification to all who knew him. He was married to a very young wife, and perceiving that a gentleman's servant who used to pass under the window, was in the habit of behaving so as to give him cause for displeasure, warned him not to pass that way again or that he should repent of it. The servant however continuing to act as before, Antonio, in a fit of anger, inwardly resolved to assas sinate him. He persevered in this intention for three days, when a feast occurred on which he had always gone to confession and communion without faiL He forced himself therefore to go to the holy father, and kneeling down, told him all the behaviour of the servant and his own resolution to murder him. When the Saint had heard it all, he merely put his hand on Antonio's head, and said with a smile, " Go away ; God be with you, it is nothing !" No sooner had he said the words than Antonio, who had come distracted with trouble, felt himself all at once filled with joy and lightheartedness, and the temptation wholly gone. Nay, when he met the servant, he was not conscious of the slightest movement of anger towards him; and 184 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. what is even more strange, the servant never passed in front of his house again. A youth who had not long been under Philip's direc tion, could not be persuaded to forgive an injury which he had received. The Saint did all he could to induce him to do so, but his heart seemed only to get harder than ever. One day, finding no other means of any avail, he took up a crucifix, and said to him with great fervour, "Look at this, and think how much Blood our Lord has shed for the love of you ; and He not only pardoned His enemies, but prayed the Eternal Father to pardon them also. Do you hot see, my poor child, that every day when you say the Pater Noster, instead of asking pardon for your sins; you are calling down vengeance upon yourself?" He then ordered him to kneel down, and repeat . after him, at the foot of the crucifix which he held before him, a prayer in which the Saint magnified the hardness and obstinacy of his heart, and showed him what a. grievous sin he was committing. The youth knelt down at the Saint's bid ding and tried to repeat the prayer, but began to tremble all over and could not pronounce a Word. He remained a long time in this state, but at last getting up exclaimed, uHere I am, father, ready to obey you; I par don every injury I have ever received; your Reverence has only to tell me what you desire me to do, and I will comply with your wish;" and he kept his word. Pietro Focile, of whom we have already spoken, went one day to make his confession to the Saint, who had several times laid on him some commands which Pietro had never obeyed. On this occasion Philip gave him a severe reprimand, on which the penitent, very much out of humour, said to himself, " Why, what is this ? does he think there is no other confessor in Rome THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 185 but himself?" and went off to confession somewhere else ; but no sooner had he done so than there came upon him such a depression of spirits, and uneasiness of conscience that he could get no rest. Two days passed, and on the third the Saint, in his usual way, sent for him. Pietro recovered his spirits directly he heard that Philip had asked for him ; but when he saw him, his heart was so melted that he threw himself at his feet and wept bitterly. Philip took his head and pressed it to his bosom, and gave him a gentle reproof, to which Pietro replied, " Father, I will never disobey you again, and I promise most positively to perform in deed what I nOw pledge myself to by word," — and he went away full of consolation. Elisabetta Contessa of Citta di Castello had a most violent temptation which lasted three or four months, and her confessor, Father Angelo Velli, recommended her to speak to the Saint about it; Philip, as soon as he saw her, cried out, "Ah poor lady ! you have one of the greatest temptations which can beset a spiritual person ;" he then laid open to her all her secret temp tations one by one. She was overcome with astonish ment, for they were things which none but God and her confessor could know. At the end, the Saint laid his hand upon her head, and said to her, " Come now, do not be afraid ; I will say mass and pray to God for you ;" and trembling in his usual manner, he left the confessional, whilst Elisabetta instantly felt herself freed from the temptation, which never disturbed her again. The next morning while she was in the church, the Saint called her, and said, " Now have I not done you good service ?" to which she answered that he had, for that the temptation was already gone : the Saint then 186 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. added, " Whenever you have need of anything come to me again." Muzio Achillei, a priest of San Severino in the Marches, when young used to go to confession to the holy father at S. Girolamo della Carita, and had the greatest devotion towards him, because Philip had laid open to him at confession some of the secrets of his bpart. From that moment so great was his esteem for Philip, that even when he returned to San Severino, he did nothing of importance without consulting the Saint by letter, and he had such faith in him that he recom mended himself to him while still living as if he were a canonized Saint. Once, during a visit to Rome, he was on the point of falling from a rock into the Tiber, where no one would have seen him or would ever have known what had become of him ; he recommended himself with all his heart to Philip, who as we have said was still living, and in an instant he found himself rescued from his danger, he knew not how. This good priest also declared that whenever he was assailed by any temptation, he had only to recommend himself mentally to the holy father, and he was immediately freed from it, and recovered his peace of conscience. Francesco Maria Tarugi, having an almost irresistible temptation to idleness, disclosed it to the Saint, who was at that time confined to his bed. He prayed for him at once, and with such affectionate earnestness, that he was raised up from his bed about the height of a span ; after some time he said to him, " Francesco Maria, how do you feel now?" Francesco replied, " Very well, father; I never felt better." In like man ner, when Agostino Boncompagni, a youth of eighteen, was harassed by some temptations, the Saint told him to come to his mass and that he would com- THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 187 municate him. He served the Saint's mass, and com municated, and the temptations left him. Others say that every time the Saint heard their confessions, or laid his hands upon their heads, or they themselves made use of the remedies he had taught them, they were sure to have their troubles lightened, and to be comforted in their temptations. At times, in his playful way, he would give his peni tents a gentle slap on the cheek, saying, " It is not you I am beating, but the devil;" and whenever he did this, bad thoughts seemed to fly at his very touch. Indeed some confessed that by merely pronouncing his name they were delivered from temptations. Many were those also whom he delivered from the troubles which occur in the daily affairs ofthe world. Giulio Petrucci, a Sienese noble, whom the Saint after wards placed in the service of St. Charles, was harassed by some great anxiety; and as he had heard of the goodness and sanctity of Philip, he went to confess to him, with a confident hope that he would be delivered from his trouble. Nor was he disappointed, for no sooner had he related his grievance, than he found himself as completely relieved from anxiety as if it had never disquieted him. This occurrence inspired him with such an opinion of Philip, that he put himself en tirely under obedience to him, and never withdrew from it so long as the Saint lived ; moreover, from that day forth, even in the decrepitude of old age, he never failed to frequent the exercises of the Oratory, to the great edification of all who knew him. When Sixtus V. succeeded to the pontificate, two apothecaries, Bernardino Cotta and Gherardo Caracci, contended for the office of apothecary to the Pope, and so warm did they become in the contest, that one 188 THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. evening they were on the point of murdering each other. Antonia, the sister of Gherardo, immediately went to the holy father and told him the state of things. Philip pretended to pay hardly any attention to what she said, but simply replied : " That will do; go home and do not be afraid." He then said mass, at which she was present; and on her return home she found that her brother had got the office he was seek ing, and thus all contest was at an end. Giovan Battista Magnani, a gentleman of Bologna, one of Gregory XlII.'s attendants, had lost many hundred crowns at play, and had become half desperate in consequence. The holy father met him at Corte Savella, and although he did not know him, he took him by the hand, and said with much feeling : " Do not despair ; God will help you; do but go to confession, and you shall see the grace of God." He took him to S. Girolamo and heard his confession, and when he laid his hand upon his head, Giovan Battista immediately felt his heart lightened, and all his distress gone. He was filled with such wonder by this incident that he went about everywhere, saying that of a truth Father Philip was a great Saint. Boezio Giunta, a cleric of Sinigaglia, being also in great trouble, went to S. Girolamo della Carita to confess, and finding the Saint in the confessional, knelt down. No sooner had he made the sign of the cross than Philip, though he had never had any knowledge of him before, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said: " Lord ! this is a soul grievously distressed," and these words alone were sufficient to comfort Boezio and to free him from all anxiety. Another cleric, a Roman named Bartolomeo Mantica, corrector of the press to Cesare Baronius, received intelligence that his father had fallen THE LIFE OF ST. PHILIP NERI. 189 into the hands of bandits. In great affliction he went to Chiesa Nuova to let the fathers know, in order that they might pray for him, and found the Saint just taking off his vestments after mass. He told him the misfortune which had happened to his father, and the Saint bade him not; to be afraid, for that his father would not suffer any injury. The next day Bartolomeo returned to Philip, and told him he had fresh news; that the bandits had demanded a, ransom of 1,500 crowns, and that if it was not paid within a few days, they would murder his father.. When the Saint heard this he was greatly disturbed, and said to himself: "We must