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Article THE LIFE OF XIMENES, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO. ← Page 10 of 12 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life Of Ximenes, Archbishop Of Toledo.
him , always travelled on foot . Both of them asked charity ; and if by chance Ximenes found himself fatigued , the brother desired him to repose himself , and to leave to him the care of supplicating , especially as he badly understood the trade : and scarcely ever bringing any thing back , after having begged all the day from door to door , they were constrained to feed on roots , which they gathered at last in the evening . When Ximenes persisted in asking the almsbrother
, Ruyz said , with a smile , ' your Reverence will kill us with hunger ; this trade does not belong to you . God hath given to every one his talents : meditate and pray for me ; and let me solicit for you . ' At another time he said , ' I believe yourReverence is ma le for giving ; but as for requesting , I see well that you are not made for that . '
It was in tins manner tliat tne Provincial visited all tiie nouses or his order , reforming tha abuses that he foundin them : leaving every where behind him examples more capable of maintaining regularity , than his own laws . He at last arrived at Gibraltar , and finding himself near the borders of Africa , into which he once had an intention of passing to convert the infidels ; and recollefting the voyage that St . Francis had made to that country with the same designhe resolved
, to pass the Streight , and to seek martyrdom . Near that p lace resided one of those religious devotees , whom the Spaniards call Beates , famed for her revelations and visions , of whom extraordinary things were related . Her consulters came from all parts ; and as she paid particular respect to the order of St . Francis , his brethren engaged
him to call upon her , either to put her conduct to the proof , or add a testimony to the favours that God conferred upon her . The Provincial went , and seeing in her all the marks of a solid piety , he discovered to her his design of passing into Africa , and intreated her to inform him , the next morning , with what God might inspire her on that subject . The holy Daughter dissuaded him from the voyage , and gave him to understandas ba prophetic spiritthat God
re-, y , served him for great things in his service ; and that in his own country he should meet with sufficient sufferings , without seeking them in a country of barbarians . Upon this advice , and the Queen ' s orders , which were pressing , he returned to Castilie ; and , in a little time after , began the reformation of all the religious orders .
This undertaking had already instigated the Catholic Kings to enter into a resolution of restoring discip line to their monasteries in their respective kingdoms : they had named commissaries , to examine into the abuses that had crept into the different institutions , and to revive , by some means , the spirit of their founders . But the difficulties opposing the execution of this design , and the wars which followed , interrupted the enquhy . Ximenes took up the project again . The
Qu ' een , entering with chearfulness into every enterprize of piety , consents to this : and because her confessor ' s counsels were indispensably necessary , ' she felt a pleasure in retaining him near her person : that being absolutely necessary , from the continual recourse he must have to her authority , which must enable him to correct abuses , rendered almost incorrigible by tolerance and custom . Some historians have attributed this total derangement of religious life to a plague , that had some time before desolated all Europe , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life Of Ximenes, Archbishop Of Toledo.
him , always travelled on foot . Both of them asked charity ; and if by chance Ximenes found himself fatigued , the brother desired him to repose himself , and to leave to him the care of supplicating , especially as he badly understood the trade : and scarcely ever bringing any thing back , after having begged all the day from door to door , they were constrained to feed on roots , which they gathered at last in the evening . When Ximenes persisted in asking the almsbrother
, Ruyz said , with a smile , ' your Reverence will kill us with hunger ; this trade does not belong to you . God hath given to every one his talents : meditate and pray for me ; and let me solicit for you . ' At another time he said , ' I believe yourReverence is ma le for giving ; but as for requesting , I see well that you are not made for that . '
It was in tins manner tliat tne Provincial visited all tiie nouses or his order , reforming tha abuses that he foundin them : leaving every where behind him examples more capable of maintaining regularity , than his own laws . He at last arrived at Gibraltar , and finding himself near the borders of Africa , into which he once had an intention of passing to convert the infidels ; and recollefting the voyage that St . Francis had made to that country with the same designhe resolved
, to pass the Streight , and to seek martyrdom . Near that p lace resided one of those religious devotees , whom the Spaniards call Beates , famed for her revelations and visions , of whom extraordinary things were related . Her consulters came from all parts ; and as she paid particular respect to the order of St . Francis , his brethren engaged
him to call upon her , either to put her conduct to the proof , or add a testimony to the favours that God conferred upon her . The Provincial went , and seeing in her all the marks of a solid piety , he discovered to her his design of passing into Africa , and intreated her to inform him , the next morning , with what God might inspire her on that subject . The holy Daughter dissuaded him from the voyage , and gave him to understandas ba prophetic spiritthat God
re-, y , served him for great things in his service ; and that in his own country he should meet with sufficient sufferings , without seeking them in a country of barbarians . Upon this advice , and the Queen ' s orders , which were pressing , he returned to Castilie ; and , in a little time after , began the reformation of all the religious orders .
This undertaking had already instigated the Catholic Kings to enter into a resolution of restoring discip line to their monasteries in their respective kingdoms : they had named commissaries , to examine into the abuses that had crept into the different institutions , and to revive , by some means , the spirit of their founders . But the difficulties opposing the execution of this design , and the wars which followed , interrupted the enquhy . Ximenes took up the project again . The
Qu ' een , entering with chearfulness into every enterprize of piety , consents to this : and because her confessor ' s counsels were indispensably necessary , ' she felt a pleasure in retaining him near her person : that being absolutely necessary , from the continual recourse he must have to her authority , which must enable him to correct abuses , rendered almost incorrigible by tolerance and custom . Some historians have attributed this total derangement of religious life to a plague , that had some time before desolated all Europe , and