and above all things recommended the acquisition of those social arts which find favor with princes and folk of high condition.  ’Prudence of an exquisite quality,’ he said, ’combined with average sanctity, is more valuable than eminent sanctity and less of prudence.’  Also he bade them keep their eyes open for neophytes ’less marked by pure goodness than by firmness of character and ability in conduct of affairs, since men who are not apt for public business do not suit the requirements of the Company.’  Orlandino tells us that though Ignatius felt drawn to men who showed eminent gifts for erudition, he preferred, in the difficulties of the Church, to choose such as knew the world well and were distinguished by their social station.  The fathers were to seek out youths ’of good natural parts, adapted to the acquisition of knowledge and to practical works of utility.’  Their pupils were, if possible, to have physical advantages and manners that should render them agreeable.  These points had more of practical value than a bare vocation for piety.  In their dealings with tender consciences, they were to act like ’good fishers of souls, passing over many things in silence as though these had not been observed, until the time came when the will was gained, and the character could be directed as they thought best.’[161] Loyola’s dislike for the common forms of monasticism appears in his choice of the ordinary secular priest’s cassock for their dress, and in his emancipation of the members from devotional exercises and attendance in the choir.  The aversion he felt for ascetic discipline is evinced in a letter he addressed to Francis Borgia in 1548.  It is better, he writes, to strengthen your stomach and other faculties, than to impair the body and enfeeble the intellect by fasting.  God needs both our physical and mental powers for his service; and every drop of blood you shed in flagellation is a loss.

[Footnote 161:  See Philippson, op. cit. pp. 61, 62.]

The end in view was to serve the Church by penetrating European society, taking possession of its leaders in rank and hereditary influence, directing education, assuming the control of the confessional, and preaching the faith in forms adapted to the foibles and the fancies of the age.  The interests of the Church were paramount:  ’If she teaches that what seems to us white is black, we must declare it to be black upon the spot.’  There were other precepts added.  These, for instance, seem worth commemoration:  ’The workers in the Lord’s vineyard should have but one foot on earth, the other should be raised to travel forward.’  ’The abnegation of our own will is of more value than if one should bring the dead to life again.’  ’No storm is so pernicious as a calm, and no enemy is so dangerous as having none.’  It will be seen that what is known as Jesuitry, in its mundane force and in its personal devotion to a cause, emerges from the precepts of Ignatius.  We may wonder