The Testament of Ignatius Loyola

HIS MILITARY LIFE; HOW HE WAS WOUNDED AT THE DEFENCE OF PAMPELUNA; HIS RECOVERY; HIS SPIRITUAL READING; A VISION; THE GIFT OF chastity; his wish to make a pilgrimage TO JERUSALEM; AND TO LEAD A MORE PERFECT LIFE.

Until his twenty-sixth year he was given up to the vanities of this world, delighting chiefly in feats of arms, and engrossed with an inordinate desire of acquiring renown. And thus, at the defence of Pampeluna when the French were besieging the town, and one and all were agreed that they ought to yield on condition of being allowed to depart without injury, for indeed they could not possibly defend themselves; he gave the commander so many reasons to prove that the town could hold out a little longer, that his words prevailed over the opinion of all the other nobles. Indeed, his courage was so great, that his compeers changed their own minds, and were inspired with his confidence. When the expected day of battle was fully come, he made his confession to one of the nobles, who had often fought by his side, who in turn also confessed to him. He went on fighting courageously, even when the walls were down, until a shot from a cannon shattered one of his legs. And as the ball passed between his legs, the other leg was also badly wounded. When this happened and he fell, the others who were with him in the fight, yielded to the French at once, who, when they had taken possession of the city, kept him and treated him kindly and well. And about twelve or fifteen days after this, they carried him on a litter from Pampeluna to his home at Loyola. When he was there and at his worst, the physicians and surgeons who had been summoned from many places, were of opinion that the leg ought to be broken again in order that the ill-joined bones might be replaced in their right positions. They declared that whether the bones had been badly set at first, or whether they had been jolted on the journey, they were now so displaced, that it was otherwise impossible to right them. He accordingly! suflFered this renewed dilaceration of hisbody,l and neither for this, nor for an3rthing else which he had endured or was to endure did he utter a single word, nor was any sign of pain wrung from him, beyond the vehement clenching his fists.