gin with two brethren
who have finished their course of life: Luis a Figueroa and Didacus de
Zarcuela. Luis was of noble birth, but of nobler nature. When he had
studied the humanities, he could not be persuaded that he might be
admitted to sacred orders; and when the fathers hesitated to admit
him into the Society because of a lack of strength in his feet,
"Receive me," he said, "I beg you, as a servant, to set fire to the
wood others have cut; and, when the work is done, to cover the fire
with ashes or put it out." Being admitted in so humble a frame of
mind, he took care for the most part of the wardrobe, being best
satisfied with the lot of Martha, which he praised wherever he had
the opportunity. So powerful and effective was he in persuasion and
dissuasion that one of his associates declared that he went to his work
more readily on account of Luis's words in conversation than through
the formal speech of any orator whatsoever. He exhibited the virtue
of charity in the highest degree; and although unable to tolerate the
slightest deficiency in himself, he strove with love and prudence to
effect the same perfection in others. Receiving from Rome at the end
of his illness letters by which he was formally enrolled among the
lay brethren, he was so penetrated with joy that he had strength to
offer his vows in the church--after which, his illness increasing
again, he soon died. Didacus also attained the same vows, having
been two and twenty years a servant of the Society; of this number
he devoted not a few to the seminary of St. Joseph. He was a man who
set a good example, and was of extraordinary diligence. So desirous
was he of the salvation of the Indian races that he said: "If Spain
were only two leguas away, I should not care to go thither. Nothing
would induce me to exchange my lot with any brother in Europe"--which
saying he repeated oftener as death approached. He died of a fever,
contrary to the expectation of the physicians, but not to his own;
for he declared that he should die when his illness attacked him,
and so he passed away. Some persons who took refuge from external
danger, under the protection of the Blessed, our fathers Ignatius
and Xavier, were preserved alive. To three women Ignatius granted
easy childbirth; and one Basque they relieved of toothache, when he
prayed to them. Xavier came to the aid of a Spanish commander of a
battalion of soldiers, who was near to death; and prolonged his life
in re