The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

JUAN DE AVILA. 237
numbered that simple priest who, before the time of Pius V.,
had for forty years travelled about in voluntary poverty,
preaching from one city to another, and by his eloquence
working miracles of moral regeneration ; this was Juan de
Avila. His original intention had been to go as a missionary
to America, but at Seville, whence he was preparing to set
sail, the archbishop persuaded him to devote himself to his
archdiocese. Avila's eloquence sprang from his very soul.
His only preparation for his sermons consisted in spending
the preceding night in meditation and prayer ;
him that he studied on his knees ;
it was said of
when he was asked how to
become a good preacher, his answer was that it was only
necessary really to love God. His own discourses, to quote
an eye-witness, kindled a fire in the hearts of his hearers ;
not only did the common people flock to him, but noble lords
and ladies gave up lives of sin, or dedicated themselves to
lives of high perfection. In many ways his ideas coincided
with those of Ignatius Loyola, whom he greatly venerated.
Avila, too, realized that the true foundation for a lasting
renewal of the Church was to be sought specially in the
instruction of the young, and the training of good priests.
The Apostle of Andalusia died at Montilla at the age of
seventy, on May loth, 1569.^
That thing which was so often manifested in the work of
Avila, namely that a small impulse is sufficient to call into being
a deep religious life, even in a community that is to all appear-
ances quite depraved, was also proved by another great
popular missionary, Alessandro Sauli, the Apostle of Corsica,
in a much more neglected field of missionary labour. ^ Born
(died 1556), Peter of Alcantara (died 1562), Francis Borgia (died
1572), Louis Bertrand (died 1581), Teresa of Jesus (died 1582),
John of the Cross (died 1591), Paschal Baylon (died 1592).
^ Beatified by Leo XIII. in 1894. Louis of Granada wrote his
life (Opere, VI., Madrid, 1787, 611 scqq.). Other special hterature
in Kirchenlexikon of Freiburg, P, 1766.
-Life by Gabutius in Acta SancL, October, V., 806-831. Cf.
S. Alessandro Sauli, Note e documenti, Milan, 1905. His corres-
pondence with Bascape was edited by Premoli in Riv. di science
storiche, igoy and 1908.