Note 13 — Chapter I · 1500-40. ORIGIN OF THE ORDER.

Once for all, I promise my readers that I am not going to trouble them with the narrative of all the miraculous legends related concerning Loyola. They are in most instances so absurd as to be beneath the dignity of history. Let the two following suffice as specimens. It is said that the devil, determined to prevent his learning Latin, so confused his intellect that he found it impossible to remember the conjugation of the verb amo; whereupon he scourged himself unmercifully every day, until by that means the evil spirit was overcome, after which the saint was soon able to repeat amo in all its tenses. Again, when Ignatius was in Venice on his way to the Holy Land, it is said that a wealthy senator of that city, Travisini by name, whilst luxuriously reclining on his bed of down, was informed by an angel that the servant of God was lying upon the hard stones under the portico of his palace. Whereupon the senator immediately arose, and went to the door, where he found Ignatius.