ft destitute of the
means of instruction and of the benefit of the sacraments. To settle and
maintain discipline, he appointed diocesan synods to be held every two
years, and provincial synods every seven; and was vigilant and severe in
chastising the least scandal, especially of avarice, in the clergy.
Without respect of persons, he reproved injustice and vice, and made use
of all the means which his authority put into his hands, to check the
insolence of public sinners, and to protect the poor from oppression.
Many of the first conquerors and governors of Peru, before the arrival
of the most virtuous viceroy Francis of Toledo, were men who often
sacrificed every thing to their passions, and for their private ends.
From some of these saint suffered many persecutions, and was {647} often
thwarted by them in the discharge of his duty. But by the arms of
meekness and patience he overcame all affronts and injuries, and with an
invincible constancy he maintained the rights of justice and truth. He
showed that many sinners misconstrued the law of God to make it favor
their passions; but that, as Tertullian observes, "Christ calls himself
the truth, not custom," and will weigh our actions not in the false
balance of the world, but in the true scales of the sanctuary. Thus he
extirpated the most inveterate abuses,[1] and established with so great
fervor the pure maxims of the gospel, as to revive in many the primitive
spirit of Christianity. To extend and perpetuate the advantages of
religion, which by his zeal he had procured, he filled this country with
seminaries, churches, and many hospitals; but would never suffer his own
name to be recorded in any of his munificent charities or foundations.
When he was at Lima, he every day visited several hospitals, comforted
and exhorted the sick, and administered the sacraments. When a
pestilence, though that calamity is seldom known in Peru, raged in some
parts of his diocese, Turibius distributed his own necessaries in
relieving the afflicted: he preached penance, because sins are the cause
of chastisements, and infinitely the worst of evils. He walked in the
processions, bathed in tears, with his eyes always fixed on a crucifix,
and offering himself to God for his flock; fasted, watched, and prayed
for them, without intermission, till God was pleased to remove his
scourge.

Nothing gave the saint so much pleasure as the greatest labors and
dangers, to procure the least spiritual ad