Letter X. To the Citizens of Azpeitia

Rome, August-September, 154.0.

May the supreme grace and love of Christ Our Lord ever favour and assist us.

His divine Majesty well knows how much and how many times He has stirred in me the intense will and eager desire to be able in any way, even the least, to give all pleasure and do all spiritual service in His divine goodness to all inhabitants, men and women, of the land in which God Our Lord, with His wonted mercy, without any desert of mine, and without my being able to make Him any return, gave me my first beginning and my natural being. These same desires, received rather from Our Lord and universal Creator than through any creature, drew me from Paris to your town, now some five years ago, when my bodily health was not good; and on that occasion, as you saw, with His customary divine mercy, He Who sent me to you gave me also strength to carry out no small amount of work. What I then left undone must be attributed to my own shortcomings, which accompany me everywhere.

And even now I am animated by the same desires. I long that in all things your soul should be quiet and peaceful in this life, with the true peace of Our Lord, not merely with the peace of this world. For in this world many princes great and small conclude external truce and peace, but internal peace never enters into their hearts; rather there abides in them rancour, envy and evil desires against those with whom they have made external peace. But the peace of Our Lord which is interior brings in its train all the other gifts and graces that we need for salvation and eternal life. For that peace makes us love our neighbour for the love of his Creator and Lord; and if we love with that love all the commandments of the law are kept, according to the words of St. Paul: Qui dili git proximum legem implevit! * Such a man has complied with all the law because he loves his Creator and Lord, and his neighbour for His sake. Now I have been wondering whether in some way, though absent from you, for present I cannot be, I could satisfy these my desires. And as a great work presents itself, which God Our Lord has wrought through a Dominican friar, 19 a very great friend and acquaintance of ours of many years’ standing, to the honour and glory of the Blessed

Sacrament, I determined to console and visit your souls in Spiritu Sancto, with the bull which the Senor Bachelor 20 is taking with him, with the other indulgences which the bull contains; and these are so many and of so great value that I could not compute or overrate them. I can only exhort and pray you, for the love and reverence of God Our Lord, that you would all appreciate this work deeply, and foster it among yourselves, and as far as may be possible have it preached abroad, bringing the people together, and holding processions, or making use of any other means which may best promote devotion among them.

I well remember the time when I was with you, and the intention and resolve the people professed, of making and keeping certain praiseworthy and holy Constitutions. These were: that the bells should be rung for those who were in mortal sin; that no poor beggars should be suffered to remain in their poverty, but that all should be assisted; that card-playing should be forbidden, as well as all buying and selling of cards; and as for the wearing of ornaments by women" with bad intent and offence of God Our Lord, that such abuse should be extirpated. I remember that the care and observance of these holy constitutions was begun and continued all the time that I was with you, with no small grace and visitation of God as a result, enabling you all the more to carry on those good works. Since that time I have not heard whether you have been constant or remiss in these practices, in themselves so just, and so pleasing to the infinite and supreme Goodness. But whether you have persevered so as to rise yet higher, or whether you have faltered so as to return to your former state, that you may go further forward I do beg, beseech and implore you, for the love and reverence of God Our Lord, that with great strength and great affection you should endeavour exceedingly to honour, favour and serve His only begotten Son Christ Our Lord in this great work of the most Holy Sacrament, in which His Divine Majesty is present, in His Divinity and in His Humanity, as great, as entire, as mighty, and as infinite, as He is in heaven. I beg that rules be made and some kind of Confraternity formed, so that each member may go to Confession and Communion once in each month, but voluntarily, and not under penalty of sin in case he fail. For without any doubt I am persuaded and am sure that if you carry out this project you will derive incalculable spiritual advantage. It used to be the custom for all, men and women alike, to receive the Blessed Sacrament every day 'from the time they had reached a fitting age. Shortly after this, when devotion began to grow somewhat colder, it was usual to communicate every week. Later still, as men became more wanting in true charity, they adopted the custom of communicating on three principal feasts of the year, leaving the practice of more frequent Communion, whether every three days, or from week to week, or from month to month, to the liberty and devotion of each individual. And now, last of all, we have ended by no more than yearly Communion, so great is our coldness and weakness; for to judge from what one sees in the greater part of the world, if one reflects upon it in a quiet and holy spirit, it would seem that the only festival remaining is Christmas. Let it then be our business, for the love and spirit of such a Lord as ours, and to the great benefit of our souls, to revive and refresh in some measure the saintly customs of our fathers; and if we cannot do all, at least let us do something, confessing and communicating, as I said, once a month. And he that should desire to do more will, without any doubt,, be acting in conformity with the mind of our Creator and Lord, as St. Augustine, supported by all other doctors, testifies when he asserts: Quotidie contmumcare nec laudo nec vitupero: Singulis tamen diebus dominicis ad com - municandum hortor * And because I hope that God Our Lord, through His infinite goodness and His customary mercy will pour in abundance His most holy grace upon the souls of all men and women, for this service of Him that is so just, and of so clear and manifest advantage to others, I conclude, begging, praying, beseeching, for the love and reverence of God Our Lord, that you would ever give me a share in the fruit of your devotions, and maxima in those of the Blessed Sacrament, even as in mine, however poor and unworthy, you will always have an entire part.

Rome, 1541.

Ignatio de Loyola.

Notes on the text

• a “He who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law." Rom. xiii. 8. a “Daily Communion I neither praise nor blame; but I do approve of Communion every Sunday.”