fter her decease, the nuns of Gandia foretold many
things, which afterward the event confirmed; as, amongst others, the
unhappy success of the expedition to Algier; of which the Duke of Borgia,
viceroy of Catalonia, gave the advertisement from them to Charles V. when
he was making his preparations for that enterprize.

It was six years before the death of Magdalen, that Don Jasso, her
father, writ to her concerning Xavier. After she had received the letter,
she was illuminated from above; and, according to the dictates of that
divine light, she answered Don Jasso, that he should beware of recalling
her brother Francis, whatsoever it might cost him for his entertainment
in the university of Paris. That he was a chosen vessel, pre-ordained to
be the apostle of the Indies, and that one day he should become a great
pillar of the church.

These letters have been preserved for a long time afterwards, and have
been viewed by many persons, who have deposed the truth judicially in the
process of the canonization of the saint.

Don Jasso received this answer from his daughter as an oracle from
heaven; and no longer thought of recalling his son from his studies.

Xavier, thereupon, continued his philosophy; and succeeded so well in it,
that having maintained his thesis, at the end of his course, with a
general applause, and afterwards taking his degree of master of arts, he
was judged worthy to teach philosophy himself. His parts appeared more
than ever in this new employment; and he acquired an high reputation in
his public lectures on Aristotle. The praises, which universally were
given him, were extremely pleasing to his vanity. He was not a little
proud to have augmented the glory of his family by the way of learning,
while his brothers were continually adorning it by that of arms; and he
flattered himself, that the way which he had taken, would lead him onward
to somewhat of greater consequence.

But God Almighty had far other thoughts than those of Xavier; and it was
not for these fading honours that the Divine Providence had conducted him
to Paris.

At the same time, when this young master of philosophy began his course,
Ignatius Loyola, who had renounced the world, and cast the model of a
learned society, wholly devoted to the salvation of souls, came into
France to finish his studies, which the obstacles he found in Spain,
after his conversion, had constrained him to interrupt.

He had not continued long in the uni