p. 219The Birthday

The crown was very near, eighty-five years of the life of Alonso now had passed. Of these, fifty-four years had been spent in perfecting himself before God, “exulting like a giant, as he ran the way” to his Lord. For forty-six he had been ascending, with ever quickening steps, the narrow and steep path of religious holiness. Still the summit was not yet attained, the holocaust was not complete. The promise lately given by his Lord was to be fulfilled to the letter. In the beginning of 1617, a crowd of various diseases kept him in bed. When bidden by his Superior to tell what he suffered, he gave this sad catalogue—“pains in the stomach, in the kidneys and in the legs, cholic and stone.” There was no cure to be found for ills like these, and he had to bear the most terrible agony. He often had attacks of local fever, and if there were days on which he was free from them, he was never free from pain. The very doctors were puzzled, and confessed they could not understand his illness. Our Saint had been for many days without almost any sleep, owing to violent headache. The scholastics used to come to visit him; and while he was suffering from want of rest, one of them, who was very intimate with him, asked him if he had got any sleep. Our Saint replied, “I have slept for a quarter of an hour, but it was to my loss, because, for all that time, I have been unable to suffer.” Next day he was talking about the gain of suffering, and he added, “I know a certain person who, for some days back, had not been able to sleep, and who afterwards slept for a quarter of an hour, and it was revealed to him, that for that space of time he had failed to gain merit. Oh! my Brothers, what a great boon it would be for a man either never to sleep at all, or to suffer greatly while he slept, and yet to be so inflamed with the love of God as not to forfeit merit, such an incomparable good.” The scholastic happened to be present, to whom he had spoken the day before, and he saw clearly that the sick man referred to himself.

In spite of all that he had to endure, St. Alonso owned to Father Torrens that nothing gave him so much pain as to see the care they took of him, and to be served with special dishes; and he used to complain lovingly to Our Dear Lord that so much trouble should be lavished on a thing so vile as himself. At this time the holy Brother was so enfeebled that no care of him could be too great.

Hell knew that its time was short, and made a fresh effort to wring from the poor sufferer some failing in patience and in confidence. In the January of this year, 1617, St. Alonso was tortured by a temptation of want of trust in God, and this, more through the mere fear of falling into sin, than from any other cause. He endeavoured to rouse his hope in the infinite goodness of God, and he prayed ardently for help and for light. Our Lord dispelled the temptation by addressing to his persecutors these words: “What are you doing? He is Mine!”¹1Memor., Jan. 1617. With all his other woes, there was great darkness and desolation in his soul. It was very sad to see the old man so depressed and so silent, for he could scarcely recollect the Our Father. His loss of memory was a sore trial to him. Father Torrens tells us, “I said a few consoling words to him, to encourage him to endure this trial, and at once he begged me to write down for him, as for a poor ignorant child, what I had just said, so that he might remember it; for his memory was gone.”²2Memor., April 5th, 1617. From the beginning of 1617, our Saint was unable to write out his own Manifestations and they were noted down by Father Torrens. As our Saint, with the keenness of his spiritual vision, recognised in this sudden loss of memory, the work of the devil, he used against him his old and sure weapon of humility. He begged the scholastics to translate for him some verses of the Psalms, and the short soliloquies of St. Augustine, so that the infirmarian and those who visited him, might read them to him, over and over again, and so water his arid and parched soul.³3Marimon, lib. ii., § 22; cf. Memor.

Father Torrens deposed in the process of canonization, “that consolations kept pace with his trials and sufferings, and to such a degree that he could not raise his eyes in spirit to Jesus and Mary without Their being at once before him, and whenever he wished to think of Them or to speak to Them, he found Them ready to aid him.”

“One day, in April, as he was giving me an account of his conscience, and was speaking of the heavenly favours which he was so constantly receiving, especially from our Lady, all of a sudden he exclaimed with tears in his eyes, ‘Now, this very moment I feel her favours. She is coming! She is coming!’ And at once,” Father Torrens narrates, “I left his room, lest I should hinder that great visit, which I am sure my presence would have prevented.”

In the beginning of February, St. Alonso noticed that this Father, who was so frequent and so regular in his visits, had given up coming to see him, and that the infirmarian, Brother Mora, who had slept in the same room with the Father for some time, was evidently more than usually busy and anxious. “What has happened to Father Torrens,” asked our holy invalid, “for it is now several days since he has been to see me; and he used to do me this kindness so frequently?” The infirmarian answered, “The Father begs you to commend him to God, for he is very ill.” “He is very ill!” exclaimed our Saint. “So the doctor says, and if the symptoms continue to-morrow they will have to bleed him; and they were on the point of doing so to-night, so high was the fever, and so terrible his headache. Pray Our Lord God for him,” such was the Brother’s answer.

An additional motive for prayer was that it was close upon Lent, and Father Torrens had to give the exhortations on the Sunday and Holyday evenings of that holy season to the Community of Montesion.

He had already been forced to warn the Rector to find a substitute, as he felt sure from his previous experience, and from what the doctor had said, that he would be in bed till Easter.⁴4The Easter of 1617 fell on March 26th.

It was ten o’clock at night when St. Alonso learned of Father Torrens’ illness, and straightway he began to pray with his usual earnestness. He had but just commenced, when the sick Father fell into a quiet sleep; and when, some time after, he awoke, he found himself perfectly well, and passed the rest of the night without a shadow of his former illness, nor had he in fact enjoyed such health for many years back. Next morning the doctor came to apply the leeches, and was naturally amazed to find his patient entirely cured; nor could he divine the reason. However, he would not allow Father Torrens to get up that day, fearing lest the cold should cause a relapse. “But I,” to quote Father Torrens’ own words, “finding myself quite strong, and in high spirits, and knowing that my cure was supernatural, did not mind what the doctor said, got up at once, and said Mass.” A few days after, Father Torrens preached with great vigour on occasion of the solemn Exposition during Carnival time, besides hearing confessions and working very hard during the whole of that Lent. “In fact,” as he himself states, “it is many years since I have been so well, and for such a long time together.”⁵5V. Marimon, lib. vii., § 60. Cf. Memor., n. 8. 1617.

Owing to the promise which Our Lord had made him, St. Alonso felt sure that he would not die as long as he was immersed in the sea of spiritual bitterness. When, however, God’s sensible favours came back to him, during Easter time, Father Torrens, in his notes of that date, says: “Now I begin to fear that he will die, because our Lord has already fulfilled what He had promised should be before the end. However, I cannot be sure whether it will be soon, or not, because we do not know whether these consolations will last. My belief is that Our Lord, Who is so liberal, and Who favours his servant so much, will, after Alonso has suffered such pain, grant to him a great abundance of joy before his death, and that for many days. This is my belief. We shall soon see what God will do. If it so pleases His Divine Majesty, I think he will live through the summer, and then God will come to take him in the winter, because naturally, according to medical science, it is impossible for him to live through the cold weather.”⁶6Memor., ibid., n. 5. The sequel will show how perfectly the Father’s forecast was fulfilled.

As the year advanced, at times the illness of Brother Alonso became more serious, but in such a singular way that it was still a complete puzzle to all who attended upon him. One day he would be in a burning fever, the next day the fever would be almost gone, without any apparent reason for this sudden change. So five months of perfect resignation to the Will of God went by. At the last visit of Jesus and Mary St. Alonso had regained his memory and with it all his tender devotion; and he would say his prayers and make his meditation with just the same exactness as if he were in good health. He continued to go to Confession and Communion three times a week, and our Lord seemed to take care that during so long an illness, nothing should happen to interfere with this privilege. From April, owing to the intense pain St. Alonso was enduring in his thighs, his feet and legs, he had lost all power over his body, from the waist downwards. He still however could move his head and arms. And it was noticed, that even when, on account of his extreme suffering, he could not even bear to be turned in his bed—so that for the last three months he always lay on one side—yet at the moment of Communion, he always had strength and power enough to put himself into a becoming position to show reverence to his Sacramental Lord. Others observed that he never allowed a Superior or a priest to enter the room without taking off his nightcap, out of strict fidelity to his rule, which bade him to salute them. When he was left alone he used to speak to God with a loud voice, and his favourite prayer was, “More sufferings, O Lord! a great deal more; but more charity and patience along with them.”

In the May of this year, the Father Rector was down with an unusually severe attack of his constant enemy, the gout. Dr. Santendreu, who was attending him, attested to the extreme gravity of the case, and there seemed no chance of the patient getting better within a month. One day, St. Alonso was being carried in the Brothers’ arms from his room to the Lower Tribune of the Sacristy, which was but a short way from his cell, in order to hear Mass; and he had to pass by the Rector’s door, which was in his gallery.⁷7The Saint’s room is now a Sanctuary, and the next rooms, some four in number, including that which was the Rector’s, have been thrown into one to serve as the body of the chapel. On his way back, he begged to be taken to see his Superior. Father Julian was delighted at this visit from the holy Brother, and took heart that his prayers would restore him to health. He had a great devotion to the Immaculate Conception, and he conjured Alonso to obtain through our Lady, for the sake of that her glorious privilege, the favour which he sought.

No sooner had our Saint returned to his room, than he began to intercede for the Father Rector. The whole day long he prayed, and his fervour only grew the greater as the night closed in. When, suddenly, our Lady appeared to him and said: “You have nothing to fear, Alonso; I will take the matter into my own hands.”⁸8A most interesting memento of this miraculous recovery still exists in Montesion in the shape of an ex voto picture on panel. Father Julian is represented in bed, looking very pale and ill. Over his bed is a large wooden cross, and a formidable discipline; while at the other side of the painting St. Alonso, with a rosary in his clasped hands, is imploring our Lady. His eyes are bloodshot and full of tears. Our Lady is appearing as she is represented in the painting of John de Juanes, mentioned above at page 213, n. 44. The very next morning the Rector found himself perfectly well. The Community, who knew that less serious attacks of their Superior had lasted generally for some weeks, and even for two months, were not less surprised than the doctors themselves. For a whole year, the Father continued in robust health, without a single touch of the gout, and this in spite of the neglect of precautions as to diet, which almost amounted to rashness. Indeed, up to this time such diet would infallibly have entailed more than one attack every year, if not two or three each month. More than a twelvemonth afterwards, in the June of 1618, Father Julian had a return of his old illness; and many attributed this to his employment of the doctor’s art to stave off his old enemy. They ventured even to say to him, “Your Reverence has been, until now, quite well, thanks to the Brother’s prayers; and yet, now you are seeking for the doctor’s skill.”⁹9Marimon, lib. vii., § 59; cf. Memor., 1617.

Alonso’s last Account of Conscience which we possess, was noted down by Father Torrens on the 17th of August this year; it is the last confidence of our Saint, and we give it in the Father’s own words. “He told me that the moment he communicated, while making his thanksgiving, he fancied himself in heaven, in presence of the Holy Trinity, surrounded by multitudes of angels and archangels and saints, in a marvellous glory. Meanwhile he was expressing his gratitude to God for His infinite graces; because, though the Lord of such splendour and majesty, He deigned to come to visit so vile a creature; and was asking favours both for himself and for those who had commended themselves to him; and Our Lord deigned to hear him. He told me too, that in the past, nearly every day, both morning and evening, he fell into a rapture.”

“Once, among other times, after going to Communion on the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin took him in her arms and presented him to the Eternal Father and to the Blessed Trinity. Our Blessed Lady had on one side, the Brother’s Angel Guardian, and on the other the Saint of his name, and one thing he especially remarked was that he knew all the saints and angels just as if he had been with each of them all his life, with the saints as with the angels; and more than this, he saw each of them as perfectly as if he had been looking at one only; he saw each one as he saw all, and he saw all as if he saw each one, without looking at the others, and more than this, in each one he saw all the rest together.”

This, no doubt, is merely a description of the vision which he received in the Jesuit Church at Segovia;¹⁰10V. p. 10. but it is interesting as showing how deeply, among so many other spiritual favours, its memory was graven upon the heart of our Saint.

The year was drawing to a close. It had been, indeed, a year of crucifixion. Nearly all of it was passed by St. Alonso lying utterly helpless, as already told, in his bed, in agonies of physical as well as of mental suffering.

Somewhere about the 22nd of October it was thought time to prepare our Saint for the Last Sacraments. He was delighted when it was mentioned to him, and he fully agreed to the proposal; but he seemed to say by his looks that he would still live for some days. His Confessor, Father Marimon, administered Extreme Unction, and the sick man answered the prayers as calmly “as if he were merely going to change his room.”¹¹11The statements about the date of the Extreme Unction are exceedingly contradictory. Father Marimon, who anointed him, deposed that “ultimo loco Eucharistiam sumpsit, loco Viatici, et etiam recepit Extremam Unctionem, et obiit.” Brother Mora, who attended on him as infirmarian, says he went to Confession and Communion two days before he died, and afterwards was anointed. Father Julian says he died a week after Extreme Unction, and Father Nonell adopts this statement. Father Colin states that he received Viaticum three times after Extreme Unction. This seems the most probable.

St. Alonso received Holy Viaticum three times after he had been anointed. He got the Brothers to lift him in bed, being quite unable to raise himself up. He could, however, employ his arm, and used it to take off his nightcap; he recited the Confiteor, even at the last Communion he received. He stayed a long time making his thanksgiving alone, and without any of the Community being present, and, in fact, the whole day was spent with the angels and saints, pouring out his soul in gratitude for the immense mercy of God in coming to visit him.

Brother Mora was very curious to know if the sick Saint had any foreknowledge of the exact date of his death. So he read for the sick man some chapters of the life of the holy Nun, Blessed Catharine Tomas, an Augustinianess of the Convent of St. Mary Magdalen, in Palma, who had died some years before, in the odour of sanctity.¹²12She was beatified by Pius VI., and is the chief patron of the island. Her shrine is in the church of the Madalena in Palma. Her body had just been translated to a place of honour, and her life had recently been published. The time of her death had been revealed to her, and she asked for the Last Sacraments although the doctors did not believe that her end was near. She had been in a rapture from the Monday in Passion Week until Palm Sunday, and went to her God on Maundy Thursday, April 5th, 1574.¹³13Ristretto della Vita della B. Catarina Tomas. Roma, 1792, in the Oratory library; cf. Cardinal Despuig, Vida de la Beata Catalina Tomas Mallorca. 1816.

Leading up to his question by the passages he had selected, and trusting to his intimacy with the invalid, whom he had been nursing for the last two years, Brother Mora¹⁴14He was, perhaps, temporary nurse; v. p. 187. at last said: “Brother Alonso, this holy Nun foretold the hour of her death ever so long before she died. How then is it that you do not tell me when you are to die, though I am sure you know?” The only answer the Saint gave, and that very plainly and quietly, was, “This is a subject wherein there is little to be gained, and many a snare.” However, Brother Mora on another occasion tried again. St. Alonso, who was always a man of but few words, simply replied, “Brother, this is a temptation. Man’s life is in God’s hands, and He will send death when he chooses. May it please His Divine Majesty that I shall be ready when it comes. We should be on the look out, and always prepared whenever our Lord may wish to call us. This is true happiness. What good will it do me to know or to say when I am to die? To suffer, and to suffer much for God’s love, this is worth our while, and of the very first importance. We shall die when God wills; and Christ says, ‘Blessed the servant whom his Master shall find watching,’ when He shall come from the feast and nuptials of Heaven.” However, by dint of skilful cross-questioning, Brother Mora at last got from St. Alonso the acknowledgment that in a week he would be dead.

The Minister, Father Michael Redó, had to make his yearly Retreat of eight days, and the Rector proposed to him to spend that time at the country house of Our Lady del Monte. This gave Brother Mora a golden opportunity. “Brother Alonso,” he said to the sick man, “Father Minister is anxious to be present at your death, and he does not know whether he will have time to finish his Retreat at Rafal, our country house, where the Rector wishes him to go for that purpose.” St. Alonso’s answer was, “It will be well if he does not go.”¹⁵15Father Marimon narrates the facts a little differently. He says that Brother Mora told St. Alonso that the minister did not want to go away for fear of not being at home at his death. And our Saint replied, “Father Minister has acted very well. I thank him for his kindness, because he will pray for me to our Lord, and, by staying here, will be present at my death.” This happened about Thursday, the 26th.

At last God fulfilled His repeated promises to His faithful servant, that He would comfort him before his end. On Saturday, the 28th, towards evening, having been that day to Communion, all his sufferings suddenly ceased. His complexion, which had been pale, especially during his illness, grew much clearer and fresher than when in perfect health. His face became bright and beautiful, and his expression had a majesty about it such as it had never possessed before. The fire of love shone through his features. But however loudly he was spoken to he gave no sign of hearing, except when the infirmarian told him to take some food, when he opened his mouth and swallowed without difficulty the broth which was offered to him. There was now not a sign of bodily or mental distress, such as the agony he had up to this time endured had so often wrung from him. His pulse, far from sinking, grew the stronger.

All saw that the Saint was in an ecstasy of love, and was enjoying a foretaste of his eternal reward. Every now and then he opened his eyes, and with a look of marvellous peace and joy, pronounced the holy names of “Jesus and Mary.” The Community were delighted to come and gaze on this wonderful spectacle, and they felt in their hearts some share of the heavenly delights in which he was absorbed. An artist was brought into the room and painted our Saint’s portrait during this marvellous ecstasy.¹⁶16This portrait is preserved in the Residence of the Society near Montesion.

About midnight on the 31st of October, St. Alonso, as if awaking at the cry of “Behold! the Bridegroom cometh!” returned to consciousness, with the holy name of “Jesus,” upon his lips. At once all his old pains seized upon him; in his side, in his bowels, in his legs, and, in fact, through his whole frame. His face showed the intensity of his agony, and with a tone that filled all around with pity, he kept murmuring, “Jesus, Jesus, O Jesus! my Jesus!” Those who were present at once gave notice to the Father Rector and to some other Fathers, all anxious to be witnesses of his death, that his end seemed nigh. The noise they made in coming soon brought a number of others to the room; among these were Father Costurer¹⁷17Summ., p. 137. and Brother Escalas.¹⁸18Summ., p. 128.

The very oldest Fathers in the house thought it a privilege to assist at the Saint’s death, and soon all the Community were gathered round his bed. The sudden ceasing of the pulse and of the action of the heart told that he would not long be with them, and all endeavoured to pass their rosaries round his neck or round his arm, or to lay them on his bed, to serve hereafter as relics.¹⁹19There were thirty-three Fathers and Brothers in the House in 1617.

For half an hour the terrible death-struggle had lasted, and the dying Brother was hardly able to breathe, when the Fathers began the Recommendation of a Departing Soul. All of a sudden St. Alonso opened wide his eyes and looked round on the Community with a gaze full of brightness and affection. It was an expression quite new in one whose face usually told rather of sadness, owing to his continual tears, and whose looks had been always downcast, through his habitual modesty. Then he turned to the Crucifix which he held in his hand, and, making a sign of loving reverence towards it, as someone lifted it to his lips, he kissed its feet, and with a loud voice, and long-drawn, uttered “Jesus”²⁰20Or, as Father Marimon gives it, “Jes-u-u-us.” and so died.

It was a thought that came to the mind of many among those present, that St. Alonso had asked as a special favour, during his three days’ ecstasy, that he might imitate his Lord by dying on the cross of great suffering; as if he were unwilling to accept the favour of dying a joyful and painless death.

St. Alonso’s measure of earthly life was eighty-six years, three months, and five days. His portraits which have been preserved to us are numerous; and Father Marimon attests to the correctness of the likeness, although there are naturally differences between the various pictures, as they were taken at different times, some a few years before, some immediately before his death, and others after his decease. In those of the first category, his face is very dark, but his eyes, and the ducts of his eyes, are inflamed with his constant tears,²¹21This is very notable in the ex voto painting of Father Julian, described above. which had even traced lines of bright colour on his cheeks, and given a heightened hue to his ever lowered eyelids. The portraits of the second category show his face much more of a natural colour, white and pink, fuller too of animation, and yet so venerable as to excite to devotion, a reflex of the heavenly light which shone upon him. Those which were painted after his death resemble, in most respects, the second class.

The holy Brother was of a moderate height and of good proportions, but in his old age he was so bent as to appear very short. He was exceedingly thin, though wiry. His face was seamed with wrinkles, his forehead was finely shaped and his head was bald, his nose was arched and aquiline, and, though slightly drawn in his latter years, was never unsightly. His cheeks were sunken; his lips, as he was toothless, fell back; his upper lip and chin were covered with a slight beard. White as snow was the little hair which showed around the base of his bald head. His large eyes were always brimming with tears. His exquisite modesty gave a charm to his features such as few painters could hope to catch, and told at once of the close union of his soul with God, and of the peace which the closeness of that union produced. His manner of walking was always quiet and demure.²²22V. Boll., Janin, p. 617. E.F. Cf. Colin, and Marimon.