Discouraged by the rude reception which his pious labours had met with in his native country, he repaired to Paris, at that time the most renowned seat of learning in Europe. He arrived in February 1528. The slender means which had been provided for him by the charitable generosity of his friends were purloined by the dishonesty of a fellow student, and ho was again compelled to have recourse to begging for his subsistence. He however zealously applied himself to the studies of the university : obliged to recommence his rules of grammar and the principles of philosophy before he could be admitted as a theological student, he humbly placed himself in the class of the youngest and least advanced scholars, and besought their teacher to treat him as ono of them. His time in Paris appears to have been spent partly in the laborious acquisition of knowledge, and partly in the endeavour to obtain a salutary influence over his companions. In the latter pursuit ho was eminently successful. Two students shared his rooms, Peter Faber, or Le Fevre, a native of Savoy, of humble origin and simple manners, and Francis Xavier of Navarre, of noble ancestry and aristo cratic demeanour. These young men, of such different dispositions and habits, were the first-fruits of Loyola's labours. From that time the three companions formed the closest intimacy, dividing their gains, and sharing each other's toils. Shortly after three more students, named Lainez, Bobadilla and Rodriguez, acknowledged the influence of Loyola, and joined his small society. On the 15th of August ]534 they assembled together at the church of Montmartre, in one of whose subterraneous chapels Faber, who was a priest, administered to them the Sacrament of the Eucharist. They then took the solemn vows of chastity, absolute poverty, devotion to the care of Christians, and to the conversion of infidels. They farther resolved on proceed ing to Jerusalem, but, in case impediments to the accomplishment of this object should be put in their way, they decided upon placing them selves under the guidance of the pope, and implicitly submitting to hie directions. Such was the humble origin of the famous Order of the Jesuits, so called because they placed themselves under the banners of Jesus, as soldiers under their chief. The history of the founder now becomes mingled with that of the Order itself, which for distinct ness we have placed apart at the end of this article. We here therefore only state the principal events in Loyola's life, which are of a more private character.
After revisiting his native country, where ho religiously repaired the effects of some early faults, be proceeded to Venice, in which city he was joined by his companions, and from thence proceeded to Rome. Their intended departure for Palestine was interrupted by the war which broke out, in /537, between the Venetians and the Turks; they therefore presented the offer of their services to the See of Rome. They were gratefully accepted by the reigning pontiff, who gladly availed himself of the support of a society of men full of zeal and enthusiasm, and bound together by the common tie of implicit obedience to his orders. "Deeply shaken by open schism and lurking disaffection, the Church of Rome found an unexpected source of strength in her owu bosom, a green shoot from the yet living trunk of the aged tree." (Hallam.) On the 27th of September 1540, Paul III. published a bull sanctioning, under some limitations, the establishment of the Order ; another was finally issued in 1543, which removed these limitations, and made the sanction unconditional. Meanwhile ea of the oldest members met together to elect a president subject to no control but that of the See of Rome ; their choice fell on Loyola. He remained at Rome as the centre from which lie was to control and direct the movements of the society. His time was spent there In revising its rules and constitutions, and in works of charity. He founded an asylum for the protection of Jews who had become proselytes to Christianity, and a penitentiary where the victims of sensual seductions might, without binding themselves by any religious vow, lament their sins and reform their lives. In the
year 1546 Francis Borgia, whom the Church of Rome honours as a saint, caused their first college to be founded at Gandia in Spain; the statutes were drawn up by Loyola, and the same privileges were accorded to it which belonged to the universities of Alcala and Salamanca. Not twenty years had elapsed aiuce from these very universities Loyola, then a poor and despised student, had been contumeliously expelled as a factious and illiterate pretender.
On the 31st of July 1556 this extraordinary man, worn down by infirmities and self-inflicted mortifications, left a world which for so many years he had looked upon only as the scene of charitable labours. It were a useless task to attempt a delineation of Loyola's character; It is best known by his works. Whatever difference of opinion may be entertained respecting the order of the Jesuits, there can be but little respecting their founder.
The memory of Ignatius was consecrated by a ceremony known in the Church of Rome by the name of Beatification in 1609, and he was canonised as a saint by Pope Gregory,XV. in 1622. His festival is celebrated on the 31st of July.
His Life has been written by Gonzales and Ribadenbira, two of his early companions, the latter his confessor ; also by Maffeus in Latin, Bartell and Bouhours in French, and by Mr. Isaac Taylor in English. His 'Spiritual Exercises' were published at Rome in 1548, and have been translated into French by Drouct do Maupertuis and Cldment. His 'Maxims ' translated were published at Paris in 1683.
The SOCIETAS JESU, or Order of the Jesuits as it is commonly called, was the result of the reflections of Loyola on the best means of reclaiming such of his fellow•creatures as had strayed either from the path of moral purity or the doctrines of his church. Musing on this subject, he conceived the plan of establishing a religious order, which should be entirely devoted to the four following objects: 1. Tho education of youth. 2. Preaching and otherwise instructing grown-up people. 3. Defending the Catholic faith against heretics and unbelievers 4. Propagating Christianity among the Heathens and other iofidele by means of missionaries. Loyola, led thereto no doubt by his military experience, based the rules of his intended order upou the principle of a strict subordination, carried through several gradations, terminating with the przepositua generalis, or general superior, who was to have absolute sway over the whole society, and from whose decisions there was to be no appeal. The general was to be subject to the popo only. Most of the o:d monastic orders had a considerable share of democracy in their institutions; they assembled in chapters and elected their local superiors, and decided upon other questions concerning their community by a majority of votes, and although they had also their respectivo generals residing at Rome, yet their authority over the distant convents of the various provinces was very limited. Their chapters occurrsd frequently, and their generals and provincials were mostly changed every three years. All this gave them something of a popular character; they bad their eanvaseiog for elections, their personal ambition, and intrigues. But Loyola's projected order was strictly monarchical, and therefore adapted to bo a more effective support to the Roman see, at a time when support was most wanted In consequence of the spreading of the Reformation. Besides this, the wealthier of the monastic orders, such as the Bene dictines, employed their leisure in scientific and speculative studies, living retired and knowing little of political affairs; and the mendi cant orders of friars, had degenerated from their first zeal, and had become obnoxious by the sale of Indulgences, and devised for their corruption, ignorance, and vulgarity. The prelates of the court of Remo, such as Bembo and Leo X. himself, spoke with open scorn of the friars, and called them hypocrites. Another advantage of the proposed constitution for the Jesuits was, that they were not bound to keep canonical hours in the choir like other monks, and therefore had more uninterrupted leisure for study or business.