Chapter III.
The Society of Jesus.—Religious as Educators.
It is not our task to give a detailed history of Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish nobleman who was wounded on the ramparts of Pampeluna, in 1521, nor of his subsequent conversion and life. This story has often been told and may be read in the numerous biographies of the Saint.[1] Nor need we enumerate all the different and contradictory estimates of his character, as given by various writers. Macaulay calls him a "visionary" and an '"enthusiast, naturally passionate and imaginative," possessed of a "morbid intensity and energy, a soldier and knight errant," who became "the soldier and knight errant of the spouse of Christ."[2] Canon Littledale, in spite of his hostility against the Society, cannot help admitting that Loyola possessed "powerful gifts of intellect and an unusual practical foresight."[3]
To see with Macaulay in Ignatius a "visionary," is an utter misconception of his character. Nor is it
- ↑ The best for English readers are: Saint Ignatius of Loyola, by Henri Joly (London, 1899). Life of St. Lenatius, by C. Genelli. Saint lenatius and the Early Jesuits, by Stewart Rose.
- ↑ Essays: "Ranke's History of the Popes."
- ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica (9th ed.), article "Jesuits." This article teems with gross misrepresentations of the Order, and it would take a volume to refute the calumnies and the ungrounded insinuations contained therein.
