been expelled from the heretical towns until better times should arrive. This, like the other large cities of the Netherlands, had had its civil war, and it paid the usual penalty-the plague-which so generally follows such unnatural bloodshed. As heretofore, with that devotedness and self-denial which ever marked the conduct of the Jesuits, they hastened to the assistance of the plaguestricken people. Fathers Usmar Boysson, John of Harlem, Anthony Salazar, and Elisha Heivod fell victims to the pestilence while in the discharge of Christian charity. Their deaths did but strengthen the zeal and animate the ardor of their brethren, and, soon after, Fathers Nicholas Minutier, Baudouin Hangart, James d'Ast, Arnold Hasius, Andrew Boccaci, Reinier, Rector of the College of Louvain, and Brother Louis, in like manner, became victims of the same visitation, either at Louvain or Douay, Liege or Brussels. The Protestants did not expose themselves to a like glorious death, but had, from prudential motives, removed from the scene of danger. The rich filed; the ministers imitated their example.

On the 1st of October, in the same year, Don Juan of Austria breathed his last, at a village near Namur, in the thirty-third year of his age. Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, succeeded him in the government of the Netherlands, and was equally favorable to the society. Scarcely a year had elapsed, when the Jesuits were reinstated in the colleges and houses which they had been compelled to abandon by the heretics.

The Chancellor of the University of Louvain, Michael Bay, who, as was common in those days, had Latinized his name, by calling himself Baius, had published a work, portions of which had been condemned, not only at Rome, but also at Paris, by the Sorbonne. The author apparently acknowledged his errors, but, at the same time, the doctrines which he continued to inculcate were identical

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with those published propositions which had called forth the condemnation of the Church. Father Robert Bellarmine was, consequently, sent to Louvain, for the purpose of refuting these erroneous teachings. The Jesuit, not wishing to irritate his adversary by an open attack, contented himself with sedulously inculcating the truth. Baius had created for himself a considerable party, which was able to appreciate the considerate method of refutation adopted by Bellarmine, and the Chancellor himself, silenced by the delicacy of his adversary, felt himself constrained to desist from his dangerous teachings. This was a real triumph of truth over error; but, Father Bellarmine having been recalled to Rome, Baius resumed the promulgation of his false and erroneous doctrines. was immediately courted by the Protestants, who flattered, applauded, and encouraged him. The Court of Rome was advised of the danger which threatened the faith from the Chancellor's teachings, and Father Tolet went to Louvain, by the directions of the Pope and the King of Spain, who was also sovereign of the Netherlands. Being vested with. full authority, he could at pleasure excommunicate this already half-corrupted member, but he preferred to undertake the eradication of the disease. He set about his important work with so much zeal and delicate charity, that the erring Chancellor, touched by the grace which the inspired eloquence of the Jesuit had infused into his soul, openly acknowledged his defeat, and, on the 24th March, 1580, in presence of the faculties assembled at the house of Father Tolet, retracted and condemned all the propositions put forth in his works which had been censured by the Holy See. Those professors and students who had adopted these erroneous doctrines, in like manner, signed their retraction, which Father Tolet lost no time in laying at the feet of the Holy Father.

The Society of Jesus had achieved a victory which its

enemies would never forgive. Shortly afterward the Duke of Parma, Alexander Farnese, thus wrote to Philip II:

"SIRE: Your Majesty desired that I should cause a fortress to be built at Maestricht; but I thought that a college of the Jesuits would be a more suitable defense for the inhabitants against the enemies of the altar and the throne. I have, therefore, built it."

In France, where the Parliament and the University ever opposed their powerful influence to it, the society again won a triumph, which the Protestants could neither forget nor pardon. In 1577 the plague made its appearance once more in the southern provinces-a sad result of civil war. The Jesuits, after losing twelve of their number, while devoting themselves with the most admirable self-devotion to the alleviation of the sufferers, only became the more zealous in their devotion to the assistance of the plague-stricken people. At Toulouse, among the other victims, a celebrated apostate was attacked by the scourge, and was about to appear before his Eternal Judge. His name was John de Montluc, a Dominican, once Bishop of Valence, who had turned Huguenot. Sixteen times had he served his sovereign in the capacity of ambassador. He was now dying, and had no thought of becoming reconciled to God and to the Church which he had abandoned. This was a great triumph for heresy, and already was hell rejoicing in anticipation of the victim it was about to claim for all eternity. But the Jesuits prayed for that apostate soul, who, during life, had been their enemy. Father Grandjean went to the death-bed of the unhappy man, over whom he tenderly bent, called him his brother, addressed to him such gentle and tender words that, to the dying apostate, they seemed a message. of hope descending from heaven itself, and which, touching his heart, caused him to shed tears. The Father pressed him to his heart, again breathing into his ear words of hope

and forgiveness, till, at length, the apostate acknowledged his great guilt, and, with tears of repentance and hope, sincerely implored the Divine mercy. The Jesuit received his recantation, reconciled him to the Church, and continued by his side, affording him spiritual consolation up to the last moment, and only left him after he had seen him depart this world a holy penitent. So many and such admirable virtues could not but command respect and veneration, and call forth feelings of gratitude and a desire to see the society spread every-where.

In spite of the efforts of the Parliament, which was opposed to it, in consequence of its submission to all legitimate authority, and notwithstanding the hostility of the University, which rejected it on account of its learning, and the purity of its doctrines, the Jesuit Order was eagerly invited to found houses in all the towns of France, and Lorraine even offered to furnish it with the necessary establishments. Throughout Spain it prospered unmolested, as it did likewise in Portugal, notwithstanding the petty intrigues of the courtiers.

In Lombardy, where Charles Borromeo had caused the Jesuits to settle, they obtained the most satisfactory success. It had been the desire of the holy Archbishop to have in his diocese colleges, a novitiate, and a professed house of the society. His confessor, Father Adorno, was a Jesuit, and, in his pastoral visitations, he was always accompanied by Father Leonti. He loved the Jesuits as his spiritual fathers, and, before his death, gave them a touching proof of his affection. He desired to celebrate the holy mysteries for the last time in his native city, Arona. His nephew, Count Renato Borromeo, occupied the family mansion in that town, and he entreated the Cardinal to sanctify, by his presence, the dwelling which had been the cradle of his childhood.

"No, my dear Renato," replied the saint, "I am in

too much need of spiritual consolation not to go where I am sure of finding it in abundance;" and he proceeded direct to the house of the Jesuits, and there, in their church, he offered up the holy sacrifice for the last time as he had said his first mass in the church of the Jesuits, the Gesu, at Rome. Returning to Milan, he died in the arms of Father Adorno, on the 1st November, 1584.

III.

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AMONG the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth of England was the youthful Thomas Pound. By his grace and elegance, he had attracted the especial attention of the Queen, and he consequently enjoyed more than an ordinary share of the royal favor, in the possession of which he was happy and proud. Toward the end of the year 1573, at one of the court balls, Pound, making a false step, slipped down in the presence of Her Majesty. A sarcastic remark, uttered by the royal lips, wounded the vanity of the young courtier. In that moment he perceived the cruelty that lurked in the bosom of the woman whose smile had such a strong attraction for many. recalled to mind all the martyrs she had made of those of her subjects who remained faithful to the religion of their fathers, and his soul was enlightened. He had gone to the ball a Protestant; he left it at heart a Catholic. From that very day he undertook to defend the unhappy victims of the Queen, before his near relative, the Earl of Southampton, and he rendered all the assistance and consolation in his power to the Catholic prisoners, and the more he discharged this duty, the more was he suspected by the spies of Elizabeth. He was aware of this; but he had renounced the Anglican Reformation, professed the Roman Catholic religion, and was prepared to submit to the consequences of his belief. Nor had he long to wait, for, in his turn, he, too, was imprisoned.