From this time all his desires were directed to one great object, an entire devotion to the service of God. For this purpose, renouncing all worldly pursuits, he tore himself from the paternal home, from his kindred, and from his friends. Regardless of the kindly opposition of his eldest brother, become by the death of his father the head of the house of Loyola, he resolved upon retiring to a Benedictine monastery at Mount Serrat, in order to prepare himself fora pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He became acquainted in that monastery with one of the brothers named John Chanones, of high reputation for austere and self-denying piety, and ho was anxious to unfold to him the confession of his former sins and the confidence of his religious aspirations. While journeying towards Mount Scrrat, he arrived at a village at the base of the bill on which it is situated, and he was then struck with the reflection that, though a destined pilgrim for Jerusalem, ho was still clad in the garments of Babylon, and he exchanged his usual dress for the coarse raiment of a beggar.
The night of the 21th of March 1522, the vigil of the Annunciation, was a memorable period in the life of Loyola; he passed it in the exercise of the most austere devotions in the church of the Holy Virgin at Mount Serrat; on its altar he hung up his arms, the trophies of his worldly triumphs, and, in the spirit of chivalry, vowed constant obedience to the demands of God and of his church. The better to put. into execution his holy resolutions he determined to perform barefoot his intended pilgrimage, in order that this severe penance might excite in his mind a deeper remorse for sin. On leaving Mount Serrat, he directed his steps towards Manresa, a small town within three leagues of this monastery. There he repaired to the hospital of the Domiuican content, and, while attending upon the poor and sick, imposed upon himself a series of new and severe penances. His deeds of charity soon acquired for him celebrity iu that town, and, though clad in the rage of destitution, he was unable to walk the streets without attracting the importunate admiration of the multi tude. To avoid the temptation of vain 0:my, he retired to a cavern hollowed in a rock at a short distauce from Manresa, where he redoubled the severity of his penances, and was one day found in a state of inanimate exhaustion at the door of his cell, and was borne back to the Dominican hospital. On his recovery, his mind, weakened by mortificationa and fastings, fell into a state of spiritual despondency. Hie doubts and despair, his fears and temptations, are described with edifying minuteness in hia own writings and by his early historians. It does not appear that any particular doctrine had made an impression on the mind of Loyola. He lived, as it were, within himself, and his emotions were actuated by the alternate inspirations of good and evil; he has taught us in his Spiritual Exercises' the manner in which he distinguished their influences ; the soul being gladdened by the one and depressed by the other. One day, at length, he awakened as from a dream, his imagination had portrayed to his mind the visible representation of heavenly mysteries. With tears of joy, he
gratefully acknowledged the blessings vouchsafed to him, and, refreshed in spirit, he arose a new and a mightier man.
After residing ten menthe at Maureen, he left that town for Barce lona, from whence ho embarked for Rome. . In that city he remained a few days, in order to obtain the blessing of the Pope Adrian VI. upon his enterprise; he then resumed his journey, passing through Padua and Venice, travelling alone and on foot, fasting daily, and begging alms as he went. His voyage from Venice to Cyprus pre sented a fresh trial for his patience and constancy, his pious efforts for the conversion of the crew of the vessel in which he sailed being met by coarse insults and contumelies. From Cyprus he embarked with some pilgrims for the Holy Land, and reached Jerusalem on the 4th of September 1523. He there visited with holy veneration the hallowed spots which religious tradition has consecrated. To accom plish the objects of his journey, he was desirous not only of contributing to the edification of the believers, but also to the conversion of the infidels. His projects however were defeated by the refusal of a per mission of residence from the primate of the Church of Rome at Jerusalem. He then re-embarked for Europe, and arrived at Venice in January 1524, and from thence he returned to Barcelona. In this town he determined upon making some stay, in order to acquire by study a greater influence in the conversion of souls. He addressed himself for that purpose to Jerome Ardebala, while a pious lady, Isabella Rosel, uudertook to provide him with the necessary means. Hia early education had been greatly neglected, and the dissipations of a camp had obliterated from his mind the little he had learnt. At the age of thirty-three he began with zealmis industry to apply him self to the rudiments of grammar. But his active mind found extreme difficulty in applying, itself to its tedious minutiae ; and, absorbed in religious contemplation, each word he met with excited a train of pious thoughts. Still by constant application he appears to have made some progress in learning. He continued at Barcelona till the zealous attempts on his part to reform some irregularities which existed iu a convent of nuns exposed him to the vengeance of those who had partaken in their disorders. He then retired to tho University of Meals, which had lately been founded by Cardinal Ximenes, in order to prosecute his studies. A religious address which he delivered to the students was the occasion of his dismissal from that university, and the obligation to study theology during four years, before he oould again be permitted to teach in public, was imposed upon him. In 1527 he retired to Salamanca, where, having imprudently resumed his public teaching, ho fell under the displeasure of the Inquisition, who punished him by a severe confinement, and dismissed him from their city with a similar injunction.