DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31444#0168
i$6
ACCOUNT
the highest preferment. All these, however, he renounced
at once; and aster undergoing a very ievere noviciate, aiRuned
the habit os St. Francis in a monastery of observantine friars,
one os the moA rigid orders in the Romish church. There
he soon became eminent for his uncommon auAerity of man-
ners, and for those cxcesses of superAitious devotion, which
are the proper cbaracteriAics os the monaAic life. But not-
withAanding these extravagancies, to wich weak and enthu-
AaAic minds alone are utually prone, hisunderAanding, natu-
rally penetrating and decilive, retained its sull vigour, and
acquired him iuch great authority among his own order, as
raisedhimto be their provincial. His reputation for sanctity
soon procured him the ossice of father confessor to the queen
liabella, which he accepted with the utmoA reluctance. He
preserved in a court the same auAerity os manners, which had
diAinguished him in the cloiAer. He continued to make all
his journies on foot; he lubAAed only upon alms; his acts
of mortification were as Ievere as ever; andhispennancesas
rigorous. liabella, pleated with her choice, conferedon him,
not long after, the archbishoprick of Toledo, which, next to
the papacy, is the richest dignity in church os Rome.
This honour he declined with a Armneis, which nothing
but the authoritative injunction of the pope was able to over-
come. Nor did this height of promotion change his manners.
Though obliged to display in public that magnisicence which
became his Ration, he himsels retained his monastic severity.
Under his pontifical robes he constantly wore the coarse frock
of St. Francis, the rents in which he uled to patch with his
own hands. He at no time uled linen; but was commonly
clad in hair-cloth. He Aept always in his habit, molt fre-
quently on the ground, or on boards, rarely in a bed. He
did not taste any of the delicatiies which appeared at his table.
But iatisAed himsels with that Ample diet which the rule of
his order prescribed. Notwithitanding these peculiarities, A)
contrary to the manners of the world, he poReReda thorough
knowledge ofitsaAairs; and no soonerwas he called by his
Ration, and by the high opinion which Ferdinand and Iia-
bellx enterrained of him, to take a principal mare in the
adminiltration, than he dilplayed talents for buAneis, which
rendered the same of his wisdom equal to that of his ianctity.
Bold and originalin all his plans, his political conduct Rowed
from his real character, and partook both of its virtues and
its defeats. His extenRve genius suggcAed to him lchemes.
ACCOUNT
the highest preferment. All these, however, he renounced
at once; and aster undergoing a very ievere noviciate, aiRuned
the habit os St. Francis in a monastery of observantine friars,
one os the moA rigid orders in the Romish church. There
he soon became eminent for his uncommon auAerity of man-
ners, and for those cxcesses of superAitious devotion, which
are the proper cbaracteriAics os the monaAic life. But not-
withAanding these extravagancies, to wich weak and enthu-
AaAic minds alone are utually prone, hisunderAanding, natu-
rally penetrating and decilive, retained its sull vigour, and
acquired him iuch great authority among his own order, as
raisedhimto be their provincial. His reputation for sanctity
soon procured him the ossice of father confessor to the queen
liabella, which he accepted with the utmoA reluctance. He
preserved in a court the same auAerity os manners, which had
diAinguished him in the cloiAer. He continued to make all
his journies on foot; he lubAAed only upon alms; his acts
of mortification were as Ievere as ever; andhispennancesas
rigorous. liabella, pleated with her choice, conferedon him,
not long after, the archbishoprick of Toledo, which, next to
the papacy, is the richest dignity in church os Rome.
This honour he declined with a Armneis, which nothing
but the authoritative injunction of the pope was able to over-
come. Nor did this height of promotion change his manners.
Though obliged to display in public that magnisicence which
became his Ration, he himsels retained his monastic severity.
Under his pontifical robes he constantly wore the coarse frock
of St. Francis, the rents in which he uled to patch with his
own hands. He at no time uled linen; but was commonly
clad in hair-cloth. He Aept always in his habit, molt fre-
quently on the ground, or on boards, rarely in a bed. He
did not taste any of the delicatiies which appeared at his table.
But iatisAed himsels with that Ample diet which the rule of
his order prescribed. Notwithitanding these peculiarities, A)
contrary to the manners of the world, he poReReda thorough
knowledge ofitsaAairs; and no soonerwas he called by his
Ration, and by the high opinion which Ferdinand and Iia-
bellx enterrained of him, to take a principal mare in the
adminiltration, than he dilplayed talents for buAneis, which
rendered the same of his wisdom equal to that of his ianctity.
Bold and originalin all his plans, his political conduct Rowed
from his real character, and partook both of its virtues and
its defeats. His extenRve genius suggcAed to him lchemes.