correct to style him a "religious enthusiast." This appellation could, at the most, be applied to him only for the first few years after his conversion. During that period, in a few instances, as in the famous meeting with the Saracen, Ignatius displays indeed a conduct singularly contrasting with his conduct in after-life and with those wonderfully wise rules which he laid down on the discernment of the good spirit from the evil one. In his Autobiography the Saint insists particularly on the mistakes into which he had fallen on the road to mature judgment in spiritual matters.[1] During these first few years following his conversion, Ignatius gave manifestation of the chivalrous spirit which he had imbibed from his early military training, when, for instance, in the Monastery of the Montserrat he hung up his sword beside our Lady's image, in token that henceforth his life was to be one of spiritual warfare and spiritual knighthood.
The Society, however, was not founded in this period of the Saint's life, but when the youthful fervor was completely mastered by the calmest discretion. At the time when he drew up the Constitutions of the Society, all his actions and sentiments were so entirely under his control that, although by nature of an ardent temper, he was commonly thought cold and phlegmatic. In framing the Constitutions he proceeded with the utmost care and circumspection. On points which might appear unimportant, he deliberated for days, nay for weeks and months. It was a common
- ↑ See The Testament of St. Ignatius. Introduction by Father Tyrrell, S. J., p. 7; and notes on pp. 60-61, 79-82, 197 foll.
