Life of Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist (The Hon. & Rev. George Spencer).

[Transcriber's notes]
This text is derived from http://www.archive.org.

Although square brackets [] usually designate footnotes or transcriber's notes, they do appear in the original text.

Lengthy quotation have been indented.
[End Transcriber's notes]

Life of Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist.

Picture and Autograph of Fr. Ignatius

LIFE OF
Father Ignatius of St. Paul,

PASSIONIST

(The Hon. & Rev. George Spencer).

Compiled chiefly from his
Autobiography, Journal, & Letters.
BY
The Rev. Father Pius A Sp. Sancto,
Passionist.

DUBLIN:
James Duffy, 15, Wellington Quay;
And 22, Paternoster Row, London.

1866.

[The right of translation is reserved.]

Cox And Wyman,

Classical and General Printers, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.

To the Very Reverend
Father Ignatius Of The Infant Jesus,
Passionist,
Long The Director Of Father Ignatius Of St. Paul,
For Nine Years The Faithful Steward Of The Anglo-Hibernian
Province, Which He Found A Handful And Made A Host,
This Volume,
Written By His Order And Published With His Blessing,
Is Dedicated,
To Testify The Gratitude All His Subjects Feel, And The Most Unworthy Of Them Tries To Express,
By His Paternity's
Devoted And Affectionate Child,

The Author.

Preface.

Great servants of God have seldom been understood in their lifetime. Persecution has assailed them often, from quarters where help would be expected in their defence. Even holy souls are sometimes mistaken about the particular line of virtue which distinguishes their contemporaries from themselves. St. John of the Cross, St. Joseph Calasanctius, and St. Alphonsus Liguori, have had the close of their lives embittered, as we might call it, by domestic persecution; and it was some time before their splendour, as they vanished from the horizon of life, rose again to its zenith, and outshone its former glory. If the impartial eye, with which we read their actions, fails to find a plea for the manner they have been dealt with, let us remember that we have no interests at stake—no false colouring of passion to blind us. Death, indeed, does not always mow down mistaken notions with the life of him about whom they are taken up. We must, however, be thankful that it slays so many wrong impressions, and attribute the residue to other causes.

Justice to the dead is an impulse of nature; and those who would qualify praise of the living by the mention of unworthy actions or inferior motives, will qualify blame of the dead by a contrary proceeding. This instinct has its golden mean as well as every other. If an ancient Greek ostracised a man because he was praised by every one, many moderns will defend a man because he is similarly blamed.

Whenever there exists a difference of opinion about a man during life, it requires some length of time after he has departed, for prejudice to settle to the bottom, and allow his genuine character to be seen through clearly.

These facts, and the experience of history, lead us to conclude that a man's life cannot be impartially written when his memory is yet fresh in people's minds. Thousands have had opportunities of judging, and bring their impressions to compare them with the page that records the actions from which they were taken; and if they be different from the idea the biographer intends to convey, it is not probable that, in every case, their possessors will be content to lay them aside. It is supposed, moreover, that a biographer owes a kind of vassalage to his subject— that he is obliged to defend him through thick and thin—in good and evil report. He is obliged, according to traditionary, though arbitrary laws, to suppress whatever will not tell in his favour, to put the very best face upon what he is compelled to relate, and to make the most of excellencies. His opinion, therefore, must be received with caution, for it is his duty to be partial, in the most odious sense of that word, and it would be a capital sin to deviate from this long-established rule.

These difficulties do not beset the life that is here presented to the public. Father Ignatius had his alternations of praise and blame during life; but those who thought least of him were forced to admit his great sanctity. If this latter quality be conceded, apology has no room. An admitted saint does not require to be defended; for the aureola of his own brow will shed the light through which his actions are to be viewed. We see, therefore, no wrong impressions that require to be removed—no calumnies that have to be cleared away—nothing, in fact, to be done, except to give a faithful history of his life. For this reason, we venture to publish this work before the second anniversary of his death; and it would have been published sooner, if the materials from which it is composed could have been arranged and digested.

Again, he was heedless of the praise or blame of men himself, and it would be an injustice to his memory to wait for a favourable moment for giving his thoughts publicity.

Those who expect to find nothing in the lives of holy people but goodness and traits of high spirituality, will be disappointed when they read this. Those who are accustomed to read that some saints indeed have lived rather irregularly in their youth, but find themselves left in blessed ignorance of what those irregularities were, will also be disappointed. They shall find here recorded that young Spencer was not a saint, and they shall be given data whereon to form their own opinion too. They shall see him pass through various phases of religious views, and shall find themselves left to draw their own conclusions about his conduct throughout.

And now, perhaps, it is better to give some reasons why this course was adopted in writing his life, rather than the usual one. Besides that already given, there are two others.

In the first place, ordinary, well-meaning Christians feel disheartened when they find saints ready to be canonized from their infancy, and cannot think of the Magdalenes when they find the calendar full of Marys, and Agneses, and Teresas. Neither will they reflect much on an Augustin, when the majority are Sebastians and Aloysiuses. Here is an example to help these people on; and they are the greater number. We have therefore shown Father Ignatius's weak points as well as his strong ones; we have brought him out in his written life precisely as he was in reality.

He comes before us with a mind full of worldly notions, he traces his own steps away from rectitude, he makes his confession to the whole world. How many will see in the youth he passed, far away from God and grazing the edge of the bottomless precipice, a perfect illustration of their own youth. Let them then follow him through life. They shall find him a prey to the worst passions, anger, pride, and their kindred tendencies. They shall see him put his hand to the plough, and, according to the measure of his grace and light, subduing first one, and then another of his inclinations. They can trace his passage through life, and see that he has so far overcome his passions that an equivocal warmth of temper is a thing to be wondered at in him. There is a servant of God that gives us courage, we need not despond when he leads the way for us. Occasional imperfections are mentioned towards the latter part of his life. These only show that he was a man and not an angel, and that a defect now and again is not at all incompatible with great holiness.

There was a reality about the man that can never leave the minds of those who knew him. He hated shams. He would have the brightest consequences of faith realized. He would not have the Gospel laws be mere matter of sentimental platitudes, but great realities pervading life and producing their legitimate effects. He went into them, heart and soul; and the few points in which he seemed to go this side or that of the mean of virtue in their observance, we have recorded, that others may see how he observed them. Exceptions show the beauty of a rule; and this is the second reason why we have written as a historian and not as a panegyrist.

And now for an account of the materials from which the memoir has been compiled. He wrote an account of his life about the year 1836. He was then on a bed of sickness from which he scarcely expected to rise; but we shall give his own reasons for writing what he has written. The autobiography begins thus:—

"When a man comes before the world as an author, there is much danger of his being actuated by motives of which he does not like to acknowledge the influence, and people are so naturally disposed to suspect the motive to be something different from that which ought to be the leading one of all our important actions, and especially of those which are possessed by our religious actions; namely, the honour of God, and our own neighbour's good; that the common preface to such works is, to guard the author against the imputation of vanity or of self-love, in some one or other of the contemptible forms in which it rules so widely in this poor world of ours. Such introductory apologies, on the part of an author, will not, I believe, meet with full credit with those who know the world. Those who are most obviously the slaves of self-will, will, generally, be loudest in their protestations of the purity and excellence of their motives; so that my advice to those who wish to establish in the minds of others a good opinion of their sincerity, would generally be, to say nothing about it, and let their conduct speak for itself. Yet this is not what I intend to do in the commencement of my present work. What I have undertaken is, to give to the public a history of my own mind. I shall make it my study to recollect with accuracy and to state with truth the motives, the impressions, and the feelings by which I have been guided in the important passages of my past life; and therefore there seems to be some peculiar reason, from the nature of the work itself, why I should commence by stating why I have undertaken it. Yet I will not venture to say positively what are my motives. I rather shall state, in the sight of God and of my brethren, what are the motives which I allow myself to entertain in deliberately presenting a history of my thoughts to the public. My readers are at liberty to judge me in their own way, and suppose that I deceive myself in the view I take of my own intentions as much or as little as to them shall seem probable. Of this which, have obliged me to leave my flock to the care of others, while my proper business is to be, for a time, to recover my health by rest and relaxation. Here then is an opportunity for undertaking something in the way of writing; and I am about to make what I conceive is the most valuable contribution in my power to the works already existing for the defence of our Holy Faith.

"I have not the knowledge requisite for producing a learned work, nor am I ever likely to acquire it. A work of fancy or invention is, perhaps, yet further out of my line. I never had any talent for compositions in which imagination is required. I hardly ever wrote a line of poetry except when obliged to it at school or college. But it requires neither learning nor imagination to give a simple statement of facts, and there is a charm in truth which will give to a composition, which bears its stamp, an interest more lively, perhaps, than what the beauties of poetry and fiction are employed to adorn.

"I believe the history of the human mind must always be interesting. If the most insignificant of men could but be taught to write a correct account of what has passed within his soul, in any period of his existence, the history would be full of wonders and instruction; and if, with God's help, I am able to fulfil my present undertaking, and to give a picture of my own mind and heart, and recount, with truth and perspicuity, the revolutions which have taken place within me, I have no doubt the narrative will be interesting. The minds and hearts of men are wonderfully alike one to another. They are also wonderfully various. Read the history of my mind and you will find it interesting, as you know a book of travels is, through countries which you have visited. You will see your own heart represented to you, and be, perhaps, pleasingly reminded of the feelings, the projects, the disappointments, the weaknesses of days gone by. But I have a greater object before me than your amusement. I desire your instruction. I may, perchance, throw on some passage of your history, on some points of the great picture which a retrospect of your past life presents to you, a more correct light. I may show you where your views of things might have often been more true than they were at the time, when your steps might have been more prudently, more happily taken, and by the consideration of mistakes and errors which I have afterwards acknowledged, though once blind to them, and from which I have recovered through the goodness of God, you may be assisted to take some steps forwards in the path of truth and happiness.

"I do not, however, propose to myself the benefit of others only in this composition. The noblest and the most useful study of mankind is man; but, certainly, this study is in no way so important as when it is in the contemplation of ourselves that we follow it up. It is a high point of wisdom to know and understand other men; but we know nothing that will indeed avail us if we know not ourselves. Hence, while I am undertaking a history of myself for the instruction of others, I purpose, at the same time, and in the first place, to gain from my researches instruction for myself. In now recollecting and declaring the doings of God towards me, and my doings towards Him, I most earnestly desire an advancement in myself of love and humility; would that it might be an advancement in perfection! I began this work with fervent prayer that I may be preserved from the snares with which it may be accompanied; above all, that I may not make it an occasion of vain-glory, and so turn what ought to be done for God's service and for others' good into an offence of God and my own exceeding loss; but that, being delivered from the danger, I may find it the occasion of exceeding spiritual benefit to myself, if it be not to any others."

The reader must take what Father Ignatius writes of himself with some qualifications. He seems to have had an invincible propensity to put his worst side out in whatever he wrote about himself. He did not see his own perfections, he underrated his knowledge, his mind, his virtues. He saw good in every one except himself. But it is needless to speak much on this point, as his candour and simplicity are sure to make every reader favourable.

It is to be regretted that the autobiography does not reach farther into his life than his ordination as a minister. How gratifying it would have been if we could read his interior conflicts, his exterior difficulties, his alternations of joy and sadness, in the sweet, affectionate style which tells us his early life. But the reason must have been:—He had little to charge himself with; he had no faults serious enough to lower him in the esteem of men from that time forward, and therefore he did not write.

The next source of information is his journal. He began to keep a journal in 1818, when he first went to Cambridge, and continued it uninterruptedly down to 1829, a short time before his conversion. We have found nothing in the shape of a diary among his papers, from that time until the year 1846, a few months before he became a Passionist, except a journal of a tour he made on the Continent in 1844, and that is given entire in the third book. The journal from 1846, until a few days before his death, is a mere record of dates and places in which he has been and persons he spoke to. It is so closely written that it is scarcely readable by the naked eye, and he gives in one page the incidents of six months. This journal was of great use to him. It helped his memory and prevented his making mistakes in the multitude of scenes through which, he passed. It is also a valuable contribution to the annals of our Order.

Besides these two sources of information regarding his life, we have had access to a multitude of letters, running over the space of upwards of forty years. He preserved a great many of the important letters he received; and several of his friends, who preserved letters received from him as treasures, kindly lent us their stock for the preparation of this volume. His Eminence the late Cardinal Wiseman gave us what letters he possessed, and promised to contribute some recollections of his friend, but was prevented by death from fulfilling his promise. Our thanks are due to their Lordships, the Right Rev. Dr. Ullathorne, the Right Rev. Dr. Wareing, the Right Rev. Dr. Turner, the Right Rev. Dr. Grant, the Right Rev. Dr. Amherst, and to several clergymen and lay persons, for their kindness in sending us letters and furnishing us with anecdotes and pleasing recollections of Father Ignatius. Among the latter we are under special obligations to Mr. De Lisle and Mr. Monteith. In truth we have found all the friends of Father Ignatius most willing to assist us in our undertaking. Nor must we forget several religious who have helped us in every possible way. The information gathered from the correspondence has been the most valuable. His letters were written to dear friends to whom he laid the very inmost of his soul open,—fervent souls, who sympathized with his zealous exertions and profited by his advice in advancing themselves and others in the way of virtue.

The Dowager Lady Lyttelton has kindly furnished us with dates and accurate information about the members of the Spencer family, and as she is the only survivor of the children of John George, Earl Spencer, we hope the memory of her dear brother will serve to alleviate the weight of her advancing years, and prolong them considerably to her children and grandchildren. We beg to express our sincere thanks for her ladyship's kindness.

A fourth and not a less interesting source of information has been our own memory. Father Ignatius was most communicative to his brethren; indeed he might be said to be transparent. We all knew him so well. He related the anecdotes that are given in his memoir to us all; and when each Father and Brother gave in his contribution, the quantity furnished would have made a very entertaining life of itself. Their thanks must be the consciousness of having helped to keep him yet amongst us as far as was possible.

These, then, are the sources from which the following pages have been compiled. The facts related may therefore be relied upon as perfectly authentic. We possess the originals of the matter quoted—vouchers for every opinion advanced, and the anecdotes can be corroborated by half a dozen of witnesses.

Seeing that his life had been so diverse, and that the changes of thought which influenced the early portion of it were so various, it was thought best to divide it into four distinct books. The first book takes him to the threshold of the Anglican ministry; the second into the fold of the Church; the third into the Passionist novitiate; and the fourth follows him to the grave.

We shall let the details speak for themselves, and only remark that there is an identity in the character as well as in the countenance of a man which underlies all the phases of opinion through which he may have passed. It will be seen that, from childhood to old age, Father Ignatius was remarkable for earnestness and reverence. Whatever he thought to be his duty he pursued with indomitable perseverance. He was not one to cloak over a weak point, or soothe a doubt with a trumped-up answer. He candidly admitted every difficulty, and went with unflagging zeal into clearing it up. This was the key to his conversion. He had, besides, even in his greatest vagaries, a reverential spirit with regard to his Creator, which formed an atmosphere of duty around him, outside which he could not step without being stung by conscience. A sting he never deadened. These were the centripetal and centrifugal forces that kept his life balanced on an axis that remained steady in the centre during his every evolution.

We have endeavoured to be faithful to his memory. We have tried, as far as we could, to let himself tell his life; we have only arranged the materials and supplied the cement that would keep them together. Whether the work has suffered in our hands or not is immaterial to us. We have tried to do our best, and no one can do more. If any expressions have escaped us that may appear offensive, we are ready to make the most ample apology, but not at the sacrifice of a particle of truth. If, through ignorance or inadvertence, errors have been committed, we hold ourselves ready to retract them; and retract, beforehand, anything that may, in the slightest degree, be injurious, not to say contrary, to Catholic doctrine, and submit ourselves unreservedly in this point to the judgment of ecclesiastical authority.

St. Joseph's Retreat, Highgate, London, N., Feast of the Epiphany, 1866.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.
Father Ignatius, a Young Noble.

Clyx.com

Life of Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist.

LIFE OF Father Ignatius of St. Paul, PASSIONIST

Preface.

CONTENTS. BOOK I. Father Ignatius, a Young Noble.

LIFE OF
Father Ignatius of St. Paul,

PASSIONIST

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.
Father Ignatius, a Young Noble.