[668] The proceedings of the conference are given in full in the Acta Ratisbonensia. By far the most succinct account is to be found in Calvin’s letter to Farel of date 11th May 1541. He says of the discussion about the sacraments: In sacramentis rixati sunt nonnihil: sed quum nostri suas illis cæremonias, ut res medias, permitterent, usque ad cænam progressi sunt. Illic fuit insuperabilis scopulus. Repudiata transubstantiatio, repositio, circumgestatio, et reliqui superstitiosi cultus. Hæc adversariis nequaquam tolerabilia. Collega meus (Bucer), qui totus ardet studio concordiæ, fremere et indignari, quod intempestive fuissent motæ eiusmodi quæstiones, Philippus (Melanchthon) in adversam partem magis tendere, ut rebus exulceratis omnem pacificationis spem præcideret. Nostri habita consultatione, nos convocarunt. Jussi sumus omnes ordine dicere sententias: fuit una omnium vox, transubstantiationem rem esse fictitiam, repositionem superstitiosam, idololatricam esse adorationem, vel saltem periculosam, quum fiat sine verbo Dei. Me quoque exponere latine oportuit quid sentirem. Tametsi neminem ex aliis intellexeram (because they spoke in German), libere tamen sine timore offensionis, illam localem præsentiam damnari: adorationem asserui mihi esse intolerabilem. Crede mihi, in eiusmodi actionibus opus est fortibus animis, qui alios confirment.... Scriptum deinde a Philippo compositum, quod ubi Granvellano oblatum est, asperis verbis repudiavit, quod illi tres delecti ad nos retulissent. Hæc quum fiant in ipso limine, cogita quantum adhuc supersit difficultatis, in missa privata, sacrificio, in communicatione calicis. Quid si ad apertam præsentiæ confessionem veniretur? quanti tumultus effervescerent? (Corpus Reformatorum, xxxix. 215, 216)
[669] Sources: Monumenta historica Societatis Jesu, nunc primum edita a Patribus ejusdem Societatis (Madrid, 1894, etc.); Cartas de San Ignacio de Loyola, fundador de la Compañía de Jesús (Madrid, 1874, etc.); G. P Maffei, De vita et moribus Ignatii Loyolæ, qui Societatem Jesu fundavit (Cologne, 1585); Ribadeneyra, Vida del P. Ignacio de Loyola (Madrid, 1594); Orlandino, Historia Societatis Jesu, pars prima sive Ignatius, etc. (Rome, 1615); Braunsberger, Petri Canisii Epistolæ et Acta (Freiburg i. B. 1896); Decreta, etc., Societatis Jesu (Avignon, 1827); Constitutiones Societatis Jesu (Rome, 1558).
Later Books: Huber, Der Jesuit-Orden nach seiner Verfassung und Doctrin, Wirksamkeit und Geschichte characterisirt (Berlin, 1873); Gothein, Ignatius von Loyola und die Gegenreformation (Halle, 1895); Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, The Catholic Reaction (London, 1886); Cretinau-Joly, Histoire religieuse politique et littéraire de la Compagnie de Jésus (Paris, 1845-46); Maurice Martel, Ignace de Loyola, Essai de psychologie religieuse (Paris).
[670] “The residence of Ignatius Loyola in the College of Ste. Barbe is connected with au incident which is at once illustrative of his own spirit and of the manners of the time. He had come to Paris for the purpose of study; but he could not resist the temptation to make converts to his great mission. Among these converts was a Spaniard named Amador, a promising student in philosophy in Ste. Barbe. This Amador, Loyola had transformed from a diligent student into a visionary as wild as himself, to the intense indignation of the University, and especially of his own countrymen. About the same time Loyola craved permission to attend Ste. Barbe as a student of philosophy. He was admitted on the express condition that he should make no attempt on the consciences of his fellows. Loyola kept his word as far as Amador was concerned, but he could not resist the temptation to communicate his visions to others. The Regent thrice warned him of what would be the result, and at length made his complaint to the Principal (Jacques de Gouvéa). Gouvéa was furious, and gave orders that next day Loyola should be subjected to the most disgraceful punishment the College could inflict. This running of the gauntlet, known as la salle, was administered in the following manner. After dinner, when all the scholars were present, the masters, each with his ferule in his hand, ranged themselves in a double row. The delinquent, stripped to the waist, was then made to pass between them, receiving a blow across the shoulders from each. This was the ignominious punishment to which Loyola, then in his fortieth year, as a member of the College, was bound to submit. The tidings of what was in store for him reached his ears, and in a private interview he contrived to turn away Gouvéa’s wrath.... This was in 1529, the year of Buchanan’s entrance into Ste, Barbe” (P. Hume Brown, George Buchanan, Humanist and Reformer, Edinburgh, 1890, pp. 62 f.).
[671] Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de Protestantisme Français, xii. 129.
[672] One of Loyola’s earliest biographers, Ribadeneyra, dwells on the eagerness with which Ignatius welcomed the slightest details of the life of his disciples in the Indies, and how he one day said: “I would assuredly like to know, if it were possible, how many fleas bit them each night.”
[673] Loyola had long abandoned the vow of poverty; his faithful disciples, the circle of Barcelona ladies, sent him supplies of money, and e received sums from Spanish merchants in France and the Low Countries.
[674] The Exercitia Spiritualia S. P. Ignatii Loyola, Fundatoris Ordinis Societatis Jesu, and their indispensable companion the Directorium in Exercitia Spiritualia B. P. N. Ignatii, are to be found in vol. iv. of the Insti. Soc. Jesu. The editions used here are, of the Exercises, that of Antwerp, 1676, and of the Directory, that of Rome, 1615.
[675] A careful study of the Exercises, of the Directory, of Loyola’s correspondence, and of his sayings recorded by early and contemporary biographers, has convinced me that the book was mainly constructed out of the abundant notes which Loyola took of his own inward experiences at Manresa, and that the only book he used in compiling it was the De Imitatione Christi of Thomas à Kempis—a book which Ignatius believed to have been written by Gerson. We know otherwise how highly Ignatius prized the De Imitatione. When he visited the Abbey of Monte Cassino he took with him as many copies as there were monks in the monastery; it was the one volume which he kept on the small table at his bedside; and it was the only book which the neophyte was permitted to read during the first week of the Exercises: “si tamen instructori videbitur, posset in prima hebdomada legere librum Gersonis de Imitatione Christi” (Directory, iii. 2).
[676] Cf. Directory, i. ii. v.