The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-02-09
Portrait Of IOyOIa

The renaissan e came. and was for the mid
die ages what Christianity was for antiquity
the beginning OF another age, the soul If
another world. From the abyss of heaven to
the abyss of the sen, from the abyss OF the sea
to that of conscience, all was enlightened and
illumined. The human body rose from the
breast of creation and breathed, and absorb
ed a new spirit. At this same moment
sprang forth two parties which we're o divide
modern society conservative or reaction
ary party, which is represented by Jesuitsm,
and the liberal or progressive party, which Is
represented by Masonry. And indeed lhe ref
orma.ion has all the historical accessories of
other religions. st. Francis, o fAssisi, is its
prophet. Savonarola is its ba rtist, and Lu-
ther its revealer, but Ignatius Loyola is the
entire reaction against this work. He was
born in Spain, in the country which was soon
to sacrifice itself for the preservation ,Of Cath
Ole orthodoxy. He was born in the Basque
province, in the province of the grand defles
and the treeless plains, at the foot of he Pyre-
n es, called the Mountains OF Fire by the au-
clients, near that untamed Cantabl ian sea
whose waves are continually inviting 10 mar
velous adventure. He was the con-
patroit OF the sailor Elcan,,; he
was the associate of Magellan, who
fist circumnavigated the globe. He WAS born
in the last days OF chivalry. and grew up in
the da n of modern times-the end OF the
fifteenth century. War wa, his occupation,
adventures were the employment of his youth.
But in the war of Navarro, sustained by the
Catholic king, he was wounded by bullet.
A long illness followed, and after the ~ound
and the illness miraculous exaltatiOrL. Ig-
natius was cavalier in war and cavalier in
aeiigion. He fought for his king in youth;
he was to fight for his God the rest OF his life.
The only lady of his thought was to be the
Virgin Mary. He was completely possessed
hv tbe national madness-love of the super
bnn,an and the miraculous, of all which is be-
vond the narrow limits of the possible.
:sAmadis of Gaul,"' was his favorite reading,
and inspired him no more nor less than Don
QIxote himself. He also watches his arms;
he also swears to redress all outrages and
wrongs done to the Catholic religion. Read
ing the PAGES of the life of the Cavalier of
G1ipuzoca YOU might imagine you were read
ing the pages of the life of the Cavalier La
Mapcba. Ignatius is also an ascetic. In
the cave of Montserrat, he gives himself up
10 fasting, to masceratiOn, to penitence,
like those early hermts OF Christianity,
excited by faith, dispersed in the immensity
of the desert. Thence he attempts to 60 to
the Holy Land to imbibe from TIE fountains
of Christianity faith like that Of the crusa-
ders. He returns from this journey to Mont
serrat to surrender himself anew to penances.
But he needs not only prayers and mort'fica-
tions to prepare for battle, but ideas as well.
How can he fight the battle of iGeas, know
ing nothing? He betakes himself to study in
Aicala. from Alcala to Salamanca, from Sala
manca to Paris, the universities which con-
tanned all the science of that time. In Faris
he gathers about hun various friends, VINO
are to be hereafter as famous as himsehI
Xarier' Salmeron-and with them he POUNDS
on Montmartre, at rhe base OF the fountain,
which is running still, after communion Ia
NOUS to all time, the new relglous society.