The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-01

| You set out with three stout horses
| harnessed abreast, and their bells make
merry jingling as they dash at full
| speed round the Bay and up the hills.
FARTHER up the mountain the roadway
! has been cut into their steep sides, or
| built out on artifcially supported en-
bankments; but all the way is so hard
and smooth that the horses trot at a
brisk pace and you have full enjoyment
| of the changing views-noW looking
| down into deep valleys among the hills
and anon a wide sweep Of Biscay Bay.
! Four hours drive brings you to Appel
| tia, a village with one long street. at
the end of which rises majestic pile,
worthy Of the name it bears, and to
| perpetuate to all ages the fame of Ig-
natiua Yoyola. In the open plaza be-
fore it stands the statue of q SANTA
sublime figure, which is an object of
special homage at the time of year
when this place is thronged with pill
grims. AS we approached the great
building and assembled the steps, we
found them thronged, not with pious
pilgrims, but with beggars of the true
Spanish sort, squalid and importunate,
who swarm about the stranger with
piteous means. The massive structure
serves the double purpose of church and
monastery. 1t is round in shape, fol-
lowing the model of the Pantheon at
Rome. Its lofty dome rests on enor-
NOUS pillars of many-colored marbles,
with chapels on every side, in which
masses are hourly said. The chief in
terest of Azpeitia is in the Santa Casa,
or "holy house, in which Loyola was
born, and which remains intact, too
precious to be destroyed or altered, 1t
is therefore preserved with religious
care, like the holy places in Jerusalem
the monastery having been built over
and around it to protect it with its
mighty walls. Passing down a long
vestibule and ringing a bell, you are
answered by the opening of an aperture
no larger than a pane of glass; and to
your modest request for admission,
voice replies that the fathers of the
convent do not admit visitors except at
a certain hour However, as in all the
show-places of Spain, a little dinero
(money) judciously rendered proves a
ready open sesame. 1t is something
over four hundred years since Ignatius
was born, yet his house remains exact
ly the same. 1t is the typical baronical
mansion of the middle ages, and its d.
mansions show that it was built for a
Spanish grandee. The family of Logo
la was one of highest rank in Spain,
and this house of his father was not
only a home, but castle, with walls
five feet thick, loop-holed for the firing
of cross-bows or musketry, so that in 4
case of need its lord might gather his
retainers within the walls and with
stand a siege Whatever military \
purpose it may once have served is now
entirely superseded by its sacred char +.
acter, as appears by the inscription
Spanish, reads:
Family house of Loyola. Here |
Saint Ignatus was born in 1891. Here, 7
having been visited in person by st. |
Peter and by the Most Holy Virgin, he |
gave himself to God in 1921"
Mounting the great oaken staircase,
you come at the first landing to wide
hall which is furnished with confession
al boxes, where, at the time of the an
nual pilgrimages a multitude of priests
hear confessions and give absolutions.
Doors open into several rooms, in one
of which is a bust of Loyola, which
shows as grand head as ever wore
crown of temporal or spiritual domin-
lon. Interest increases as you ascend
o the next story, where were the civ
ng rooms of the family In one of
hese Is an altar, screened from near
approach by an iron grating, which
marks the very spot on which the
founder Of the order of Jesuts was
BORN. You may enter the private chap
j of the Loyolas and kneel at the same
altar before which the child Ignatius
Snelt a thousand times with his father
md mother. You may see the couch
lpon which he lay after he was wound
ID in the siege Of Pampeuna, and the
which hung over him; and If
he priestly conductor is in good frame
igure, hidden behind the altar, of a
roung soldier stretched upon his bed of
vain, one leg bandaged and one hand
book from which he read
md read until his dreams of warrior
ambition faded away and he saw before
i'm a higher sphere 1gnatius Loyola
vas thirty years of age when he arose
o enter upon his marvellous career, or,
IS the inscription says, when he gave
himself to God"
FANNIE b. WARD.