the Seminary, but the solitude of Issy was not solitary enough; he sought a more entire solitude and a more complete isolation from the world in the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Montrouge. What were the motives which led the young Seminarian to the religious life we are not clearly told; but we find him visiting every week the Jesuit novitiate, to which he became more and more attached, and the grace of God calling him to this new life, seems to have acted gradually through his affections, until one evening, while reading the life of his patron, St. Francis Xavier, he suddenly announced his determination. Persuaded from this moment that God had called him, he hastened to obey, without any doubt or hesitancy, and never afterwards ceased to feel more and more this conviction of his duty, and to love more and more the Society through whose means he was to arrive at his own and others' sanctification.

Years afterwards Father de Ravignan looked back with regret to the two years of probation spent at Montrouge, which he regarded as the happiest of his life. Here he had at last found the repose he had long desired. Forgetting the world and forgotten by it, he gave himself entirely to the study and practice of the virtues suited to the state of life he had embraced, and if at times his thoughts bore him back to the scenes of past amusements and ambitious struggles, it was only to regret the time so spent, and to renew his heart-felt gratitude to his Creator who had rescued him from the storms and dangers of a life where so many are daily perishing, to bring him into the safe and tranquil haven of religion. How different the calm happiness he now felt from the noisier yet more hollow joys he had once pursued! How unlike the candid criticisms of his fellownovices, and the flattering congratulations which attended his every effort at the bar! He who had aimed to be distinguished now sought simplicity, and atoned by his excessive poverty and mortification for the worldly advantages he had formerly enjoyed. None now so humble as he, none so ready to perform the most painful and abject services in the community. Dressed in an old threadbare cassock he waits on the others in the refectory, or washes the dishes in the kitchen, blacks his own shoes, makes his own bed, and is his own servant. He arises at four in the morning, and girds an iron chain with long sharp points next his naked body; a cuirass of the same metal passes

round his arms and across his chest, where it marks in letters of blood the name of "Jesus." Thus accoutred he wrestles with his passions in prayer, from one to two hours, in a room where no fire is yet kindled, whatever may be the severity of the weather. Then, having assisted at the Holy Mass, he returns to his room to study the Sacred Scriptures. But soon the signal is given, and two by two the novices walk with downcast eyes and uplifted hearts along the stone-paved corridors to their frugal breakfast. No luxury is there: coarse bread and coffee made of sweet acorns; that is all, save when, four times a year, a slow returning festival shall bring the luxury of a small piece of butter to flavor the last mouthful of bread. Each hurriedly consumes so much as may stay his sharp appetite until another meal. Then with a long apron covering his poor but clean soutane, the once gay frequenter of the salons of Paris, who was unrivalled in the skill with which he tied his white cravat, with an almost worn-out broom sweeps from every corner the daily-accumulating dirt; now on his knees in his endeavor to brush away the dust under a bed, now stretching on tiptoe to reach a statue of St. Joseph or an engraving of the Sacred Heart. The bell rings, and you see him now, his apron laid aside and no trace of his late employment about him, march with rapid strides along the garden walk, his half-frozen hands scarce able to hold the book in which his whole attention is absorbed. 'Tis the treatise of Alphonsus Rodriguez on Christian perfection. He began its study at Montrouge, and thirty-five years afterwards he found much in it yet unlearned. Soon the bell sounds again. The novices betake themselves to the hall, where Father Gury, the Master of Novices, instructs them in the rules and spirit of the Society. At times this instruction is eminently practical, and we see the ex-magistrate kneeling with calm humility on the floor, while the novices rise around and name over the breaches of discipline they have remarked in their brother. One accuses him of raising too often his eyes, another that he does not take sufficient notice of what is passing around him; one thinks he assumes too great a part in conversation, another that he is too silent and reserved. The Superior reprimands him, and he kisses the floor and returns to his place, glad that he has been humbled. At dinner he lays aside, in a spirit of selfdenial, that portion of his humble fare which seems the least removed from luxury, and listens attentively to some

instructive book which one of the community reads aloud. Then follows a short recreation after a visit to the domestic chapel. Divided into bands of three or four, not as their own choice may direct them, but according as they are named by the one in authority, the novices converse of the subjects of their meditation or their reading. From every rank of society, of almost every age, they are all equals, and Brother de Ravignan, as he is now called, sees only brothers in his companions. The late Deputy Procureur du Roi listens respectfully to the opinions of an uneducated lay-brother, or patiently hears himself contradicted by some youth of sixteen. The recreation done, we see him again. in the garden with his Rodriguez in his hand, and again with his long blue apron sweeping a corridor; and thus pass the days at Montrouge, in prayer and pious reading, intermingled with a little recreation and manual labor. We can well imagine that Father de Ravignan in later years looked back on this as the happiest period of his life. Just separated from the world, solitude was all the dearer to him. With calm and leisure he now applied himself to the study of the science of perfection, and the correction of every inordinate inclination. He now had time to study. himself, to examine what were the dangerous tendencies of his character, and from what source they sprang. He here overcame the rudeness and severity of his manner, and, without losing any thing of his natural firmness, substituted in their stead a spirit of mildness based on the solid virtues of humility and charity. He believed that there are two qualities necessary in order to please God or be useful to others, a sound judgment and a strong will. He therefore carefully freed himself from all exaggeration of thought and illusion of mind which have rendered so many holy men incapable of right action. He sought to look at things as they are, regardless of the colors cast around them by opinion and prejudice, and acquired a habit of throwing himself entirely out of the question and of judging from a higher and impartial point of view. To this correctness of judgment he joined an extraordinary strength of will, founded on the idea of duty. He was slow in deliberation, sought light from prayer and the advice of others, but once resolved and convinced that it was his duty to act, he was prompt and immovable.

After two years of novitiate followed four years of the study of theology, at the end of which time Father de RaVOL. II.-No. II.

15

vignan was ordained priest and appointed to teach theology to the younger Jesuits, at first in France and afterward in Switzerland. It was in the latter country that at the end of this time he made the third year of probation prescribed by St. Ignatius previous to the solemn profession in the Society, in order that those who have been occupied in the school of the intellect may complete their studies in what he calls the "school of the heart." Father de Ravignan himself will explain to us the nature and object of this third probation :

"It is the masterpiece of St. Ignatius. The man whom he destines for the Apostolic ministry has passed as a novice two years of silence and meditation; then came nine years of study, and five or six years of teaching: he has just been ordained a priest, and has not yet exercised the functions of the priesthood; the most often he is thirty-three years of age, and fifteen or sixteen years have been passed in religion. The religious, the priest returns to the novitiate. He is going again to renounce for the length of one year all study and all intercourse with those without. Great labor has been taken to cultivate his mind; now, as the last trial, as the last preparation, he must exercise himself, according to the remarkable expression of the Constitutions, in the school of the heart, in schola affectus. The word is hard to comprehend; I required a whole year to realize its meaning, and I shall not here attempt to explain it. I will merely say this, the religious, the priest may have acquired extensive and varied knowledge; he may already have given proof of his self-devotion and of his zeal; in the bosom of solitude, in a life of silence and retreat, in the presence of God and of his own soul, before he is delivered over to others, he must carefully apply himself in the school of the heart, to all that can strengthen and advance him in a sincere humility, in a generous denial of his will, and even of his judgment, in a stripping off of the lower propensities of nature, and in a more profound knowledge and a more ardent love of God in this way, having promoted the growth in his soul of a truly spiritual life, he can the better assist others to advance in the same path, for the glory of God and of our Lord.'*

"This is what is termed in the Society the third year of probation, the last year of preparation and trial. This time of holy repose passes quick away, and returns no more. I have enjoyed it, and can never enjoy it again till death; whatever may be the number of years that God still reserves for me on this sad earth, the year of repose can never return for me.

"The spiritual exercises are again performed during thirty days;

*Const., P. v., c. ii., §1; Ex. Gen., iv., § 16; Instit. Soc. J., i., pp. 403 and $48.

prayer and meditation are lengthened; the spirit of the Institute, the conditions of the Apostleship, poverty, suffering, and obedience, and all that constitutes the duty of a religious, are studied anew and examined to the bottom. Catechetical instructions to little children and a few missions in the country alone interrupt the solitude, and serve as preludes to the ministry dearest to the Apostolic heart. I look back with delight, I confess, to that time when I preached the Gospel to the poor people in the mountains. Often have I since regretted those days: often has the preaching in large cities saddened my mind and wearied my heart; and the young men, whom I have the happiness of seeing frequently gathered around the sacred pulpit, will pardon me this memory and this regret, when I assure them, in all the sincerity of my soul, that from them I have always received consolation.

"At the close of the year, the Superiors carefully inquire into the progress made in virtue and learning, and the Father General decides, on the information they send, the degree (gradus) of the subject. This degree consists simply in being admitted to pronounce the last vows of Spiritual Coadjutors, or those of the Professed; for there are only these two classes of religious among us. Both are equal in all things, and there are no privileges or prerogatives pertaining to any one in the Society; the position of Superior is even conferred by preference on the Spiritual Coadjutors, to whom the Professed are usually subject. Still there are some employments, though very few in number, which are reserved especially for the Professed. They alone, with the exception of certain Superiors named in the Rule, have the right to take part in the Provincial or General Congregations of the Order. These assemblies are, however, very rare, and confined to few emergencies.

"Such, then, is the regular gradation after the two years of the first novitiate come the three vows of religion, simple, but perpetual; after fifteen or seventeen years of trial and of study, and after a third year of novitiate, come the solemn vows of the Professed, or the last vows of the Coadjutor.*

"If any one would take the trouble seriously to reflect on this religious economy of preparatory, trials and labors, and consider this legislation, so strong, so prudent, and so worthy of the Apostolic genius of St. Ignatius, he would picture to himself the holy founder like a workman bending with ardor over his work to shape and perfect it, then trying it, and again returning to give it still further the form and shape he wants, and sending it to its destination only when he has exhausted all the resources of his patient and persevering art.

"The religious of the Society of Jesus is slowly prepared in this way; he is first formed and tried, and then taken and carried back to the source of active force of mind in the workshop of silence

* Exam. i., §§ 7, 8, 9; Const., P. v., c. 1, 1. A.; Inst. S. J., i., pp. 340 and 402.