r
from this source that we find him at a later period not merely rejecting
ladies, "_admodum illustres_," but bearding the Pope and the cardinals,
and glaringly contravening his own vow of unconditional obedience to the
Vicar of Christ, rather than give way to the solicitations of fair and
noble penitents.

Soon after the arrival of the three--_i.e._, Loyola, Faber, and
Lainez--at Rome, in the year 1537, they obtained an audience of the
Pope, who welcomed their return, and gave anew his sanction to their
endeavors. Faber and Lainez received appointments as theological
professors in the gymnasium; while Loyola addressed himself wholly to
the care of souls and to the reform of abuses. To several persons of
distinction and to some dignitaries of the Church he administered the
discipline of the _Spiritual Exercises_, they, for this purpose,
withdrawing to solitudes in the neighborhood of Rome, where they were
daily conversed with and instructed by himself. At the same time he
labored in hospitals, schools, and private houses to induce repentance
and to cherish the languishing piety of those who would listen to him.
Among such, who fully surrendered their souls to his guidance, were the
Spanish procurator Peter Ortiz and Cardinal Gaspar Contarini, both of
whom were led by him into a course of fervent devotion in which they
persisted, and they, moreover, continued to use their powerful influence
in favor of the infant society.

The pulpits of many of the churches in the several cities where the
fathers had stationed themselves, and some in Rome, had been opened to
their use, and the energy and the freshness of their eloquence affected
the popular mind in an extraordinary manner; sometimes, indeed, they
brought upon themselves violent opposition, but in more frequent
instances, their zeal and patient assiduity triumphing over prejudice,
jealousy, ecclesiastical inertness, and voluptuousness, the tide of
feeling set in with this new impulse, and a commencement was effectively
made of that Catholic revival which spread itself throughout Southern
Europe, turned back the Reformation wave, saved the papacy, and secured
for Christendom the still needed antagonist influence of the Romish and
of the reformed systems of doctrine, worship, and polity.

At Rome, Loyola, by his personal exertions, effected great reforms in
liturgical services--induced a more frequent and devout attention to the
sacraments of confession and the eucharis