ully the Spiritual Exercises, we should know something
of the man who wrote them. In this life of St. Ignatius, told in his
own words, we acquire an intimate knowledge of the author of the
Exercises. We discern the Saint's natural disposition, which was the
foundation of his spiritual character. We learn of his conversion, his
trials, the obstacles in his way, the heroism with which he
accomplished his great mission.

This autobiography of St. Ignatius is the groundwork of all the great
lives of him that have been written.

Bartoli draws from it, Genelli develops it, the recent magnificent
works of Father Clair, S.J., and of Stewart Rose are amplifications of
this simple story of the life of St. Ignatius.

The Saint in his narrative always refers to himself in the third
person, and this mode of speech has here been retained. Many persons
who have neither the time, nor, perhaps, the inclination, to read
larger works, will read, we trust, with pleasure and profit this
autobiography.

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of
the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What
St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will
do." May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with
the desire of imitating St. Ignatius.

THE EDITOR.

EASTER, 1900.
COLLEGE OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER,
NEW YORK.

_Preface of Father Louis Gonzalez, S.J., to the "Acts of St.
Ignatius," received from the lips of the Saint and translated into
Latin by Father Hannibal Codretto, S.J._

Preface of the Writer

Jesus, Mary. In the year 1553, one Friday morning, August 4, the eve
of the feast of Our Lady of the Snows, while St. Ignatius was in the
garden, I began to give him an account of my soul, and, among other
things, I spoke to him of how I was tempted by vain glory. The
spiritual advice he gave me was this: "Refer everything that you do to
God; strive to offer Him all the good you find in yourself,
acknowledging that this comes from God, and thank Him for it." The
advice given to me on this occasion was so consoling to me that I
could not refrain from tears. St. Ignatius then related to me that for
two years he had struggled against vain glory; so much so, indeed,
that when he was about to embark for Jerusalem at Barcelona he did not
dare to tell any one where he was going. He told me, moreover