Letter XXI. To Bartholomew Ferronius

Ex- Com. to the Society at Coimbra. 36

Rome, August 8, 154.6.

May the highest grace and eternal love of Christ Our Lord ever favour us continuously and help us.

Seeing that the greater the good the more it must be chosen before all others; and seeing that, once it has been chosen, the greater should be our joy in its possession; and seeing that where there is joy and gladness, if they be spiritual and eternal, there cannot be, nor should there even be imagined, any sadness or perturbation whatsoever, whether in regard to oneself, or in regard to one’s neighbour; and seeing that the union of the creature with its Creator is the greatest good of all, in this life by will, yet more in the next without end by vision and eternal fruition; it follows that above all things else this must be specially our choice, preferred, desired, accepted, seeing it is offered by the Giver of all things good. For it is finis malorum, et pleni- tudo interminata gratiarum, et gloriae atque ultimae voluntatis divinae. a And the Giver of all good, as He is the supreme Provider of all things, stands in need of none, except of those whom He has desired to choose for His ministry; what He desires above all is to take to Himself all those that shall be just, this being the end for which He has created them.

And seeing that the Supreme Good is both able and knows how to dispose all things in accordance with His will, putting no restraint on His omnipotence, it behoves man to long for this fulfilment. For we can do little else but offend — cum adhuc septies in die cadat justus b — while He keeps us and gives us grace; hence it was that Saint Martin, with this knowledge in his mind, would make use of the condition in his prayer: Domine, si adhuc populo tuo sum necessarius, e etc.

Seeing then that the greater glory of His Divine Majesty in these times requires that the Father Master Ignatius should still be needed by those dear to God our Lord, it seems we must be patient, he to remain, we not to go hence; at the same time we cannot but rejoice that while such a guide should remain to us here on earth, another should go hence, a second forerunner and faithful intercessor of the Society, the Rev.

Master Peter Faber 87 of happy memory, who on his own day of St. Peter, the first of August, jubente Domino, solutus est a vinculo mortis hujus, feliciter obiens in Domino! 1 just as Master John Codure, our first forerunner, died also on his own feast day, that of the Beheading of St. John. The souls are together in heaven, their bodies side by side in Santa Maria della Strada, and so they abide with us in Rome. And thus, with the permission of the Divine Goodness, after an absence from Rome of so much as eight years, and after having travelled so very far under holy obedience, he arrived here sound and in good health on the 1 7th of July, much to our own great joy and that of his devout followers in the Lord. But eight days after he was visited with double tertian fever for a week, and at last, on the first of August, as I have said, on the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, after Confession on the Saturday night, and Mass, Communion, and Extreme Unction on the Sunday morning, between None and Vespers, in presence of all of us that were in the house, and many of the devout faithful in Our Lord, with many signs of sorrow for his life past, and of hope for the eternal life before him, he gave up his soul to his Creator and Lord.

As we have everywhere need of friends and saints to intercede for us we all trust in the Divine Majesty that he who has accomplished His holy will may help us no less in heaven than he might have done on earth. May the divine and supreme

Goodness be praised and glorified for all things eternally. Amen, Amen, Amen.

From Rome, August 8, 154.6.

By commission of the Father Master Ignatius.

Your least and unworthy brother in Our Lord.

BartolomS Ferron. XXII.

Notes on the text

• a " The end of all evils, and the endless fulness of grace and glory and the final will of God.”

• b Prov. xxiv. 16: “Since the just man falleth seven times a day.”

• c “Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people I do not refuse the burthen.” a “Was at the bidding of the Lord, loosed from the bonds of this death, passing away happily in the Lord.”