Three years after the election of Father Goschwin Nickel as Superior General a Portuguese Jesuit, Father Antonio Macedo, was instrumental in the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, who when a child had succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus. Father Macedo, a former missionary in Africa, was attached by John IV. of Portugal to the Portuguese embassy at Stockholm. Although he was obliged to conceal his priesthood under the employment of secretary, his real calling became known to the queen, whose mind had been favourably inclined towards the true faith by her intercourse with the famous philosopher, Descartes, a pupil of the Jesuits of La Fleche. After several conferences with Father Macedo she declared her intention to abdicate the throne, and to become a Catholic, a resolve which she executed some months later.In spite of her violent passions and wayward undisciplined character, Christina appears to have been sincere in this the great act of her life; and through all the vicissitudes of her strange career she remained stanch to the Catholic faith. Out of gratitude to her Jesuit instructor, she besought the Pope to make him a cardinal—a dignity that Father Macedo constantly declined, and to the end of his life his favourite occupation was teaching the poor children of Lisbon, where he died in 1693.
Link (here)
No comments:
Post a Comment