p. 128Captives in Algiers

For five years Father Blaise Bailo had been professor of philosophy at Majorca. His course was now completed, and his former pupils were to go to Valencia to begin their Divinity studies in the Jesuit College of that city. The defeat before Algiers of the Christian expedition had given the Crescent almost complete sway over the seas. A number of inhabitants of Majorca had, within the last forty years, fallen into the hands of the Algerines, and several of them had been killed by renegades with frightful accompaniments of cruelty.¹1Dameto, Hist. de Mallorca, Tom. III., p. 663. A Franciscan Father, Antony Macnamara, after a long imprisonment, was being taken to Algiers to be sold for a slave, when he was rescued by a Majorcan corsair and brought to Palma in 1557. He died in the Franciscan house in that city, and was buried in the Chapel of S. Onofrio in the Church of San Francisco, where a portrait of him used to hang at the principal entrance. Furio y Sastre, Memorias, &c. Palma, 1820, T. I., p. 191. Two years before the events about to be described, in the July of 1605, St. Vincent de Paul was captured off the French coast, and carried off to be sold as a slave in Tunis. V. Maynard, Histoire de St. Vincent de Paul, Paris, 1860, T. I., p. 33. Two of them, St. Peter Claver and John Humanes, as we have seen, had sailed from Soller, and, in spite of fears to the contrary, had reached the mainland in safety. The remainder promised themselves a more secure journey.

A ship, bound for Alicante, had arrived in the port of Palma from Palermo. This vessel, the Velina, carried a son of the Marquis of Villena, then Viceroy of Sicily, and a large portion of the Marquis’ property was on board: there was also a company of musketeers as a guard. The Rector, Father Torrens, considered this an excellent opportunity for sending the remainder of the Fathers and Brothers, who were waiting to cross to the mainland. He laid his project before the Consultors of the House; but they were of opinion that not more than four should sail by one ship. The Rector was sorry to let slip so good an opportunity, as the vessel was a large one and well armed.

So he sent for Brother Alonso, told him of his plans and of the objections raised by the Consultors, and bade him lay the matter before God in prayer. Our Saint obeyed, and returned to the Rector with the answer, which he believed to have received from on High, that if the party went by that ship they would have a “golden voyage.” The Rector very naturally concluded from the Brother’s words, that the voyage would be a most prosperous one, and so confident was he of this, that he said publicly, “I wish all of ours who have to sail for the mainland for the next twenty years, could take ship on this vessel.” He called his Consultors together a second time, and, without giving his reasons, told them that he had made up his mind to send the whole party by the Velina. He merely discussed with them whether he should admit three postulants to the Society before starting, a question which had been already debated in the former consultation; and it was decided in the affirmative.

Accordingly, on the evening of December 7th, 1608, Father Bailo, with Father Peter Planes, who had just been ordained priest, and five scholastics, who had finished their course of philosophy, went on board the Velina. The names of the five are given in the order of their entry into the Society: Joseph Fuentes, Humphrey Serra, Antony Marqués,²2These three entered the Society on February 12th, 1603. Gabriel Alegre and Jerome Lopez. There were, in addition, the three novices who had just been admitted: Raymund Gual,³3The family O’Neil y Gual—descended from the O’Neils of Ulster—was, in 1850, a family of note in Majorca. John Alcove and Raymund Anglada. A young man of good family, an old student of Montesion, Michael Sanceloni, who was going to Spain to seek admission into the Society from the Provincial, joined the party.

Lopez, who had entered the Society when young, had been a very unsatisfactory Novice; but as he took corrections in good part, it was hoped that he would grow graver as he grew older, and he was admitted to his vows at the Noviciate of Tarragona, in 1606. After a brilliant course of second rhetoric,⁴4The course of literary studies made by the young religious after taking their first vows. he had been sent to Majorca to study philosophy in the June of 1608. During the few months, however, which he spent at Montesion, his carelessness and laxity were so marked that the Father Provincial ordered the Rector, Father Torrens, to send him to Spain by the first opportunity.

The Rector did his best to make his Superior change his mind; but the Provincial insisted, as he had, in fact, determined to dismiss Lopez from the Society. The Brother accepted the order, which took him from his studies—no small trial—very bravely. He was sent to Soller to take his passage or board a brig in that port. But God revealed to St. Alonso that the vessel would be taken by Algerine corsairs, and on his telling this to his Superiors, Lopez had been summoned back to Palma. Thus he found himself one of the party which was to go by the Velina. As a contrary wind prevented this vessel from sailing on the 7th, the travellers passed the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the College. However, on the following day, the 9th, the Velina left the port.

Night came down upon her before she was fairly out of the bay; and she was just rounding one of the headlands, when another ship sailed past her. The raw recruits on board the Sicilian vessel, out of mere bravado, fired on the stranger. She did not reply at the moment, but then gave a broadside and passed on. The report and the flash of the guns roused the good people of Majorca. The Viceroy, John de Villaragut y Sans, at once caused the alarm to be sounded, and sent a number of cavalry by land, and some frigates by sea, to the aid of the Velina; but all was quiet on their arrival. The rumour, however, quickly spread through the city that the good ship had been captured. One can imagine the pain this report caused in the little Community of Montesion, and especially to the Rector and Brother Alonso.

Our Saint turned to God in prayer; and Heaven showed to him the travellers, in high spirits and in perfect safety, until they passed the rocky Island of Ibiza, and then he saw them no more, and this filled him with grave fears. The Velina reached the coast of Spain, off the town of Denia, some 60 miles north of Alicante, on the 14th of December; but for want of a favourable wind, she could not enter the port. Suddenly the vessel was surrounded by three Turkish men-of-war. Their commander was a Calvinist, Simon Dancer,⁵5P. Dan, in his Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires, Paris, 1694, L. III., c. 4, calls the pirate Dancer; but Père Coton always spells the name, Danza. V. Père Prat, La Compagnie de Jésus en France du temps du P. Coton, Lyons, 1876, T. III., pp. 49, seq. Dutch by birth, but a naturalised French subject. He had been outlawed, and had entered the Turkish service, then the open enemy of the Cross, and had been sent to prey upon the vessels of the Christian states. He had under his orders three men-of-war, with a hundred guns, five hundred Moslem soldiers, and besides two merchant vessels which he had taken as prizes. At the first discharge of the enemy’s guns, the rigging of the Velina was so damaged that all flight became impossible. Though she was merely a merchant vessel, with only 130 men on board, counting soldiers, sailors and passengers, their strength was sadly weakened by dissensions amongst the officers.

No choice was left for them but slavery or death. So for six hours the Spaniards bravely maintained the unequal contest. The two Fathers, ever in the thick of the fight, gave the consolations of religion to the wounded and to the dying, while the rest of the religious carried food and ammunition to the combatants. Three times the Spaniards beat back the boarding parties, but the struggle was far too unequal; and when the greater part of the musketeers and many of the passengers had been killed, the Velina was forced to surrender. Dancer, who was infuriated at the loss of so many of his men, put to the sword all whom he found with arms in their hands. The rest of the passengers, with the Fathers and Brothers, had taken refuge in the hold. A gentleman urged the religious to lay aside their habits, as he was sure that Dancer would have no mercy on Jesuits, and, at the very least, would demand a larger ransom than usual for them. They all refused to put off the symbol of their calling.

The Turks at once bound the arms of their captives behind their backs, and for four days they got no other food than black bread and fetid water, save now and again, as a great favour, a morsel of raw salt fish. When the Turkish fleet had reached Algiers, the captives remained a whole week longer in the hold of the vessel. So terribly did they suffer in that fetid prison-hole, that young Michael Sanceloni sank under the privations. The memory of the First Christmas was the sole consolation of the captives, the anniversary of which day was passed by them in their floating dungeon. At last they were taken on shore, only to be sold by auction to the highest bidder. On landing, they were met by a brave Catalan priest, who, though ransomed from slavery, had elected to stay in the land of bondage for the sake of the Christians in captivity. It does not come within the compass of this work to narrate the terrible sufferings and the still more terrible temptations to which the Jesuits were subjected.⁶6The “Narrative of the Twelve Students” (V. Month, Dec., 1879, seq.) is almost a counterpart of what these young men had to endure. p. 132Many days passed before the full and fearful news of the fate of the Velina and its crew reached Majorca. It fell like a thunderbolt upon the Community of Montesion. The blow was, perhaps, felt most keenly by the Father Rector, as with him lay the responsibility of the whole disaster. Nor was our Saint safe from blame. As was his wont, he turned lovingly to God, and he said complainingly: “Why, O God, didst Thou ordain that, thanks to this journey, so many are now in Algiers, in such trouble and affliction?” The answer came that it was, and that it would be, a golden voyage, because it would purify the sufferers and try them with fire. There was the dross of certain faults and imperfections which needed to be burnt away in the crucible of suffering.

“For the sake of your prayers,” continued the revelation, “I will watch over them all, and in My good time will I bring them back from Algiers, without loss either to themselves or to your Order. Nay, more, their captivity will be to many a source of great spiritual profit, and to not a few, the means even of salvation. They themselves will be the gainers as to their souls; nor will the health of their bodies suffer harm.” As we shall see, this promise was completely verified. For Sanceloni, the only one who died in Algiers, had not been received into the Society, and, therefore, did not come under the exemption.

These words were a source of comfort to St. Alonso. Nor was he less pleased to see that he had at last obtained what he had so often prayed for—to be regarded as a deluded visionary. For as soon as it got abroad that Father Torrens had been induced to send all the religious together in the Velina, owing to a revelation made to the venerable old man, many began to doubt the source of his inspiration. Nor did they spare the Rector for having followed, in so grave a matter, the advice of an aged and decrepit lay-Brother, rather than that of his official consultors. Naturally enough, St. Alonso himself was more than ordinarily alarmed lest he really should have been under some delusion. As he was praying to God for light and guidance, there came “suddenly upon him an illumination, like a beam of the sun, like a lightning flash, and, with this light, a ray of the fear of God, which struck his heart, and left there a deeply-seated and lasting impression; and that instant his soul received an assurance that neither then, nor hereafter, would he be deceived, because God, by the way of fear, would free him from all delusions.”⁷7Memor., n. 124.

Thanks to this conviction he was saved from all further fear about these heavenly favours, and from any of that timidity which, heretofore, owing to his humility, he had always felt in the presence of such graces. “And from the time of this visitation, though he always went forward with diffidence and with a great yearning to please God, he was delivered from all timidity, and his heart was filled with gratitude and joy for the almost infinite debt which he owed to God.”⁸8Memor., n. 125. While the captives were suffering such terrible hardships in their captivity, St. Alonso, like another Moses, was ever lifting up his hands for these heroic confessors of faith and of virtue. To his prayers he joined corporal austerities; and he wrote more than one letter of affectionate encouragement to the poor captives, of which the first bears the date of the 2nd of April, 1609.

About this time, God consoled St. Alonso by a vision during his prayer, of the ten Fathers and Brothers in Algiers, bright and resplendent as the sun, and centres of light in the midst of the dark shadows of Mahomedanism. He showed him also the Fathers and older Scholastics among them in the act of renewing their vows, as is the custom in the Society. Then there came over Alonso a burning desire that his Brethren in Africa might shed abroad the light of the true faith throughout the entire population of that land, and he begged God most earnestly to soften the hearts of the inhabitants, and to bring them into the fold of Christ. The wonderful conversions which, during the stay of the Jesuit captives, were wrought in favour of souls which had seemed utterly lost to all sense of religion, were surely owing to the intercession of our Saint.

One, among many, was that of an Italian woman, who, for forty years, had abandoned her faith, and had been married to a Turk. Her husband had been killed, and she had fallen into such poverty, that she was forced to seek service in the houses of the native merchants. At the time of which we speak, though seventy years old, she was a servant in the house of a renegade Spaniard, named Mamí. Brothers Jerome Lopez and Humphrey Serra were slaves in his house. It was the old woman’s duty to distribute the rations of barley bread to the slaves.

When Brother Jerome came to her each evening for his share, she used to slip into his hand an extra loaf of wheaten bread. One night, at dusk, the Brother found her on her knees. “Fatima! Fatima!” he exclaimed; “what are you doing on your knees?” “Is not this,” she answered, “in Christian lands the hour of the Angelus?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well,” she went on, “I too recite my Hail Mary, and pay honour to Our Lady;” so saying, she took a rosary from her bosom, and she added: “In the midst of all my misfortunes I have never let a day go by without telling my beads; I have kept all the fasts of the Church, and I have never eaten meat on Friday, spite of all the difficulties which the Moors put in my way.”

Brother Lopez praised her for what she had done, and encouraged her to persevere; “but mind, Fatima,” he said; “all this is not enough unless you confess Jesus Christ, whom you have publicly denied.” “Were I to do that,” she replied, “they would burn me alive. Pray God to help me in my trouble!” The Brother told Father Bailo what he had learnt, and the good priest, by virtue of the faculties which he held from Rome, heard her confession and gave her Communion, but under the profoundest secresy.

In Brother Lopez himself there was wrought almost as wondrous a change. Thanks to the trials through which he had gone, from being a careless Religious, he became a man of such extraordinary holiness, and in after life, a missioner of such renown, that more than one life of him has been written.⁹9Vid. La Naja, El Misionero Perfecto—Vida del V.P. Jeronimo Lopez. Saragossa, 1671, fol. For thirty-nine long years he was continually travelling backwards and forwards through Spain, and he preached in thirteen hundred of its towns and villages. If it had been for Lopez alone so great a source of grace, did not the journey to Algiers fully verify the prophecy made to St. Alonso?

Neither night nor day did Alonso rest from his efforts to bring comfort and release to the poor captives; for even when asleep his soul was busy in their behalf. One night, for example, on awaking, he discovered that for four whole hours, in his sleep he had, in a continuous act of love, been treating with God about the rescue of the captives. He wrestled with the Lord in entreaty, imploring Him to turn this calamity to His greater honour and glory. And he besought our Lady to intercede with her Blessed Son, that He would protect the virtue of the young novices in the perils of their slavery, and that she would bring joy to the whole Society by restoring its children to freedom.

The sad news of the capture of the ten Jesuits had reached the ears of Father Acquaviva, who was then General of the Society. As there was such a great diversity of opinion among the Fathers of Majorca, and in fact of the whole Province of Aragon, about the action of the Rector of Montesion, in preferring the dictum of a lay-Brother to the opinion of his consultors, Father Torrens considered it his duty, both towards his Superior and towards himself, to order St. Alonso to write to his Paternity a clear statement of what was his view about the whole affair. For to our Saint it was manifest, that what seemed to most people a mistake and a misfortune, had been in reality ruled by God for the good of many souls.

Accordingly, the humble Brother wrote the following letter. Its straightforwardness is as characteristic of the writer as are its repetitions, its long-drawn and involved diction.

“Pax Christi,—My very dear Father, so great is my lowliness that I should not have ventured to write this, unworthy as I am to speak to your Paternity. However, as holy obedience has ordered me to do so, I do so. It seems to me a piece of boldness for a poor old broken-down Brother like myself to address your Paternity. However, as God has, by obedience, ordered me to do so, and as it is His holy will, I affirm that the captivity of our Fathers and Brothers is not to be looked upon as a misfortune, but as good fortune; not as adversity, but as prosperity; not as trouble, but as comfort and repose; and they themselves will hereafter recognise this better, from the great good that they will have drawn from this tribulation, and they will see what a favour God has done them in allowing them to be carried away prisoners to Algiers, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls who are living there, and for their own, with the grace of God. In the Missions hereabouts there is no danger of denying one’s Faith; while in Algiers there is. And thus it is a great act of charity to aid them (the Algerines) with the help of ours and the grace of God. Therefore we ought to look upon this trouble as a piece of good fortune, which has come from the hand of God, and not as a misfortune. And this, merely on account of the great good which has come from it, and will still come from it, as is already known from the letters of one of the Fathers. Fortunate mission! sent forth, not by the hands of men, but by God Himself; and if for no other reason, to encourage those souls who are in danger of denying their Faith and of so being lost. It is a great treasure for them, and for those too who aid them, because this is the way that God wishes that they should be aided and saved. Besides, at what price can we value this immense good and treasure of salvation, and the share of grace and glory which will come to ours from this (suffering for God)? Who can tell how great is this treasure which ours have there obtained?”

“This will prove a source not only of increase to the Society, but will add to its esteem, and will further it in its charity and love both of God and of its neighbour. The Society has gone to India, and will leave it enriched with the treasures of God, both for itself and for many; and so too these adversities, as they are called by a deluded world, are nevertheless, in the eyes of the servants of God, who are enlightened with His light, a real good fortune, gifts of God, and great favours.”

“At the outset of this affair I felt some grief according to the flesh, because I did not catch what was the end which God had in this trial. Afterwards, however, when I came to understand by a special light what had happened to ours, I was consoled and pacified, for I saw that men cannot perceive whither tend the actions of God; for if we did, we should console ourselves, and whatever might come from His hands, we should bear it for His sake. For, with the wonderful love with which He loves us, He ever guards us and turns all that concerns us to His greater glory and to the good of our souls.”

“It is one thing to see our troubles with the eyes of the world and of the flesh; but far different to see them in the spiritual light according to God, and not according to the flesh, accepting everything as from the hands of God, and not as from those of His creatures or of the devils; rejoicing at everything, and blessing and thanking God for the favours bestowed, and saying in all that happens, whether for us or against us, ‘Non mea, sed Tua voluntas fiat;’ or, with St. Paul, prostrate at the feet of Christ: ‘Domine, quid me vis facere?—Behold me here at Thy bidding.’ God willed that Jonas should preach to the city of Ninive in order that it might do penance for its sins; but Jonas did not wish to go there, and God placed him in Ninive, though much against his will. So, too, ours did not wish to go to Algiers; but God wished that they should go there to aid those souls which were in need of aid. And so He sent them to Algiers, as another Jonas to Ninive, where they are reaping great fruit for souls with God’s grace.”

“The way of the cross by trials suffered for God is the way to Heaven, and there is a greater difference between adversity suffered for God and prosperity, even in holy things, than there is between a piece of lead and all the gold in the world. And yet for all this, to suffer for Christ, spite of its great price, is not loved by all; while what the world calls prosperity, that is of the body, is esteemed and loved and sought after at the cost of great toil. Prosperity, according to the flesh, blinds us with self love and puffs us up. Adversity rouses us to go to God and to look to ourselves. By means of adversities and tribulations, through the grace of God, a man becomes spiritual and holy; he is made an imitator of Christ our Lord, for it is by their means that he attains sanctity. Through adversities and trials suffered for God, he merits before God great degrees of grace and glory, and his soul can say: ‘Then I am best when I am worst;’ that is to say, when I have most troubles; and thus, ‘per multas tribulationes oportet intrare in regnum Dei.’”

“I commend myself earnestly to your Paternity’s holy sacrifices and prayers.”

“Majorca, April 23rd, 1609.”

As usual, the never-resting enemy of God laid fresh snares for the faithful servant. The revelation already recorded, with its promise of security from delusion, made to our Saint, suggested to the tempter a new means of attack. He painted in the brightest colours the honours which our Saint was to receive after death, the wonders which were to be wrought at his tomb, and through his intercession; he represented the books which were to be written, telling of the wonders of his holiness. And, that his strategy might succeed the better, he cast over all this the specious veil of God’s honour and the good of souls. p. 137But the well-laid scheme failed utterly before the profound humility of Alonso, or, to quote Father Marimon’s quaint words: “He took refuge in the deep abyss of his own self-knowledge, vileness; and the fire and balls of the devil flew wide of their mark, and beat only against the wind.”¹⁰10Marimon, lib. iii., § 13. Still the tempter did not give up. He knew that the most dangerous form of pride is that which springs from the soil of humility. He urged that it was God’s way to honour and glorify the humble, and that this was only fair, because the word of Truth infallible had again and again promised this reward to the lowly. The demon pressed his advantage so hotly that our Saint, as was his wont, had recourse to Jesus and to Mary, and, prostrate before them, he exposed to them his perplexity and asked for their help. His petition was heard, and in an instant his request was granted. And thus he was at once freed from the temptation, not for that time only, but for ever afterwards.

One day, during the Octave of Corpus Christi, which was being kept this year (1609) with its usual splendour in the College Church, as St. Alonso was kneeling at the high altar for Holy Communion, the devil told him that he was in sin and unfit to receive. He turned immediately to Jesus and to His Blessed Mother; and Mary assured him that the sin about which he was troubled had been long ago forgiven, both as to its guilt and its punishment. Our Blessed Lord bent over him, embraced him and kissed him lovingly.¹¹11Memor., n. 143. Jan., 1610. The scruple passed away, and our Saint received the Blessed Sacrament. God had, in fact, granted to our Saint a light and knowledge, “sensible, visible, intellectual,” as he called it, which showed him clearly, by two comparisons, the state of a soul when by mortal sin it has lost sanctifying grace.

Just as a human body when deprived of life is utterly incapable of any human action, and turns into such a mass of corruption that it must be hidden away because of the horror that it causes in everyone, so too, a soul deprived of grace is utterly unable to do anything in the supernatural order, and becomes loathsome and abominable in the sight of God. Again, just as a blast of poisoned air would strike down a man who was before in the full vigour of health, and would kill him on the spot, so is sin death-bearing and slays the soul. It was this keen sense of the ruin caused by sin which urged our holy Brother to pray with redoubled effort for the poor captives of Algiers. God could not let such supplications go long unheard.

The French Jesuit, Père Coton, the well-known confessor of Henry IV. of France, used his great influence to obtain the rescue of the captives. An agent of the outlaw Dancer was at Paris at the very time, making every effort to obtain the pardon of the pirate, and permission for him to return to France. The king, who had learnt from Père Coton the whole history of the capture of the Jesuits, gave orders that a free pardon should be offered to Dancer on the condition that the ten religious should be set at liberty. He even went so far as to write a letter to the corsair himself, as well as one to the French consul at Algiers. Though Dancer was most anxious to accept the terms of Henri Quatre, and so to obtain his own pardon and the power to return to Marseilles, his home, he found it impossible to comply with the conditions, as the prisoners had passed out of his hands, and he did not possess the money which was required to ransom them from their masters.

Still, the royal missive was not without fruit, for the French consul, who had always shown every possible kindness to the captive religious, now redoubled his efforts. Dancer himself was not less anxious to earn the gratitude of those in whom his Sovereign showed such a lively interest, or at all events to propitiate them. The Queen of Spain, Margaret of Austria, the wife of Philip III., a staunch friend of the Society, used her powerful influence in favour of the release of the Jesuits. Through her generosity, and that of the Duke of Lerma, the favourite of the king, and by the efforts of the various Superiors of the province of Aragon, the sum of more than 10,000 crowns was at last raised, which was the ransom agreed upon between the French consul and Father Bailo on the one part, and the various owners of the captives on the other.

The full price of Brother Alcover’s freedom had been already paid by the Trinitarian Fathers;¹²12Of the Order of the Redemption of Captives. but the authorities at Algiers refused to allow him to go till the daughter of one of the chief men of the city, who was at that time in Corsica, should be restored to her father. As it was impossible for the Trinitarians to persuade the girl, who wished to become a Catholic, to return to her parents, Father Bailo heroically resolved to send away the other eight, while he himself remained to comfort and protect the young novice. Accordingly, after nearly eleven months of slavery, Father Planes and his companions sailed for Valencia, in a French vessel, accompanied by their kind friend the French consul. A contrary wind, however, drove them, when within sight of the coast of Catalonia, towards the island of Majorca. In vain the pilot strove to alter their course; he was borne along just in sight of the coast of the island. At last, one evening, leaving Majorca to their right, they sailed all night with a fair wind, and fully expected on the morrow to reach the port of Catalonia, at which they had been aiming. What was their surprise to find themselves, at dawn, once again off Majorca! They naturally determined to land, and comfort the Community with their presence.

One may well believe that, just as St. Scholastica unchained by her prayers the storm, which kept her brother, St. Benedict, longer with her,¹³13V. Dialogues of St. Gregory, Quarterly Series, 1874, p. 109. so it was at the petition of St. Alonso that the wind brought his brethren to Majorca. In fact, when the holy Brother was welcoming one of the party, before ever a word had been uttered as to how they had come to the island, he said, with his face beaming with joy: “How was it that you wanted to pass us by, without giving us the pleasure of embracing you and of conversing with you?” And Father Marimon, too, tells us that p. 139“this visit was no surprise to St. Alonso, for he had already seen the travellers coming under the shelter and in the arms of Our Lady; he had even beheld the vessel on which they were sailing, and had helped to free them by his prayers from the dangers of the deep.”

It was on the 3rd of November, 1609, that the Fathers and Brothers from Algiers embarked at Palma, dressed in the same clothes which they had worn as slaves at Algiers. For they could not change them until they had arrived at their final destination, as their passports gave a description, not only of their persons, but also of their costume, and any such change would have exposed them to the risk of being taken captives a second time. Great was the commotion in the city, and greater still in the College of Montesion, at their unexpected arrival, as the anxiety and sorrow at their captivity had been the greater. A crowd of gentlemen, of the first families of the island, came out to meet them. A man who had specially befriended the prisoners while he was in Algiers, had just been arrested in Majorca as a spy. He had been condemned to death, and was expecting his execution. Their arrival saved his life, and, by their evidence, he was restored at once to liberty.¹⁴14Litt. Ann., 1609. Above all the rest, Brother Alonso showed, in his every action, his delight at their return, and he joined with all his heart in the Te Deum which was sung by the whole Community in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

But a fresh trouble called forth anew the prayers of our Saint. The wind which had brought Brother Anglada¹⁵15Or Zanglada. Three of the family represented, apparently in succession, the nobility of Majorca among the magistracy of Palma. V. Bover, Nobiliario Mallorquino, p. 441. to Majorca had only exposed him to fresh dangers. He was a Majorcan by birth, and his family resided in the island. Very naturally, his relatives, after the long anguish of the last twelve months, and the possible perils of the future, were more than ever loth to part with him; and his father and mother employed tears, caresses, entreaties, and every means that their affection could suggest, to induce the novice to abandon his religious vocation. The danger had already been made known to St. Alonso, even before the arrival of Brother Anglada, nor did the warnings of peril cease on his coming. The constant prayer on the lips of our Saint was, “Jesus and Mary, be mindful of me and of these little angels (angelitos). To Thee I commend myself and them, and especially Brother Anglada. I entrust them to Thy sacred hands that they may be entirely Thine, and in no way their own; that Thou mayest do with them and with me according to Thy good pleasure. This is my only joy.”

A motive of fresh anxiety to our Saint was that in his prayers he seemed to see our Lady, with Anglada standing before her. An expression of unusual severity and sadness was on her face. The novice’s head was bowed and a cloud of melancholy was over him; nor did Mary seem to have her old affection for him. And when St. Alonso turned to her in prayer, his soul was dry, and without fervour. He felt as if his intercession would meet with a rebuff; but this only made him redouble his prayers “that our Lady would open wide the gates of God’s mercy and power.” Instantly he felt that all was changed, and he saw, as it were, the dawning of a bright and sunny day. He noticed a change too come over the face of the Queen of Angels, and her whole person became joyful and resplendent with light divine. Gladly she accepted the offer from the hands of Brother Alonso, and freely she granted him all that he had asked. She promised her aid and protection to Raymund Anglada, so that with her help he might battle successfully with a whole legion of evil spirits leagued against him, and, with God’s grace, gain a glorious victory over them all. At the same moment Alonso beheld the novice entirely changed into another man, and like a joyous angel, full of courage, ready for the contest with hell. This vision was not impressed upon the imagination of our Saint, but took place entirely in his understanding.¹⁶16Marimon, lib. vii., § 35. Cf. Memor., n. 152.

What all this meant was explained by what took place. Anglada’s farewell visit to his parents had been a terrible struggle. However, he had gone on board the ship which was to take him to the mainland, and was only waiting for it to sail. Suddenly his father arrived with the servants and some police to carry him off. St. Alonso was in his cell, but he could see the port filled with furious demons rushing to the final attack. He had no fear; for he beheld Anglada in the arms of Mary. Still he cried out to God: “Show now, O Lord, who Thou art! Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.¹⁷17Ps. lxvii., 2. Take, O, Lord, under thy protection, this little angel, for Mary’s sake. Terrify with a look, these hellish monsters; as smoke vanisheth so let them vanish away.”¹⁸18Idem, v. 3. That instant the army of demons took flight, and as they went, unable to touch the young Anglada, they precipitated his father into the water, “at grave peril of being drowned, had not our Lady,” says Father Marimon, with grave humour, “prevented the devil’s intent, for the sake of the poor man’s soul. She allowed them, however, to throw him in, that the coldness of the waves might cool his anger, and wake him from the sleep of his passion and obstinacy.”¹⁹19Marimon, ut supra, § 36.

The night, which had been dark and stormy, cleared up suddenly, and became light and calm. While St. Alonso, with his soul full of God, was praying for the young man, he suddenly found himself in Heaven, and there, two or three times in succession, heard the songs of triumph and rejoicing of the angels, and he understood that this joy in Heaven was because of the three-fold victory of the novice Raymund—over himself, over his parents, and over the devil. “There is nothing now for him but to persevere and to love, serve, and thank Jesus and Mary for this grace.”²⁰20Memor., n. 152. Such are the words with which our Saint concludes his description of this scene in the drama.

The same night on which the struggle just recorded had taken place, the late captives had all gone on board the vessel which was to take them to Denia. Father Torrens, who as Rector, had been to see the Brothers off, came back to the College about eleven o’clock. He had noticed the arrival on board of the father of Anglada, and suspected some mischief. Accordingly he went to Brother Alonso, who was in bed. “Brother,” he said, “now is the time to pray for Brother Anglada; this very moment he is combating with his father, who wants to carry him away from the ship by force.” St. Alonso replied, “Be quite at your ease and sleep in peace. Brother Raymund, your reverence, is in the arms of Our Lady. She has taken him under her protection; she it is, who can conquer the whole of hell. Your Reverence may be as sure of the victory, as if you saw it with your own eyes.” When the bell rang in the morning to call the Community, Father Ignatius Blanch, who had heard from the Father who had accompanied the Rector to the port on the evening preceding the coming of Anglada’s father, and had assumed the worst as a fact, went to our Saint’s room, to break the bad news to him. “Brother, all our toil, and all our happiness is lost, for they have carried off Brother Anglada from the ship, and taken him by main force to his home. Father Planes and the other Brothers are gone, and he is left behind.”

“No, it is not so,” said Brother Alonso, “he has not lost anything; on the contrary, he is much the gainer. Let us thank God and Our Blessed Lady, who have won for Brother Anglada so wonderful a victory. The devil and his followers have fled away, confounded and defeated. The Brother is with the others on board ship, firm and constant as a rock. Very shortly your Reverence will see him here, so that we may celebrate his triumph before the brig sails, which, with God’s help, is to take him to Spain.” When the Brother said this, no one in the College knew whether the ship had left or no, as it was still too dark to see from the azotea whether it were still in port.

Not long after, however, day broke, and from the College the vessel could be perceived still in the harbour; and in a very short time a sailor came and told all that passed, and he was followed by the eight novices, who came back once more to Montesion, and there fervently gave thanks to God for the favour he had shown to Brother Anglada. They stayed for some days waiting for a favourable wind, and at last sailed for Spain, much to the pleasure of all, even of the relations of the novices. The health of the whole party was excellent, and Brother Alegre, who had been very ill before his captivity, and who had not benefited by the prescriptions of his physicians, had been perfectly well in Africa, and continued to be so at the college of Valencia, until he again lost his health, and died within a year after his return from Algiers. Father Blaise Bailo and Brother John Alcover were still in Algiers, but they at length returned some time later, though with no small difficulty. Thus the whole party came back, as God had promised to Brother Alonso, very much the better as to their souls, strengthened in their vocation, purified by trials, and even greatly improved in their health.

Anglada’s after life was one of change. In spite of all his struggles and victories he left the Society, apparently when a priest, and joined the Franciscans in Barcelona; and in turn he left the Order of St. Francis, and put on the habit of Mount Carmel, with the Carmelites in Palma. Several of the Community of Montesion were present at the ceremony.