A Fervent Desire

Ignatius passed from that house to the one which we now occupy; but whilst he still inhabited the former, he collected together as many bedsteads as he could procure, and covered them with heaps of straw, so as to place the poor people there with as little discomfort as possible. 

Several of the Fathers served them, as they were accustomed to wait on the patients in the hospitals; washed their feet, performed the most menial offices in their service, and lavished every care and attention upon them; happy to think that in their persons they served Jesus Christ himself. 

Others went through the town to beg alms for the poor patients, and it pleased God that they should be abundantly aided by the charity of many pious souls; so that they succeeded in feeding and clothing in their own house alone, more than four hundred persons. So new and touching a sight soon attracted the attention of a multitude of people; but those who were led there merely by curiosity, were so much affected by the frank joyousness with which the Fathers busied themselves in serving these poor creatures, that many were seen divesting themselves even of part of their clothing, to cover the half naked poor. 

The report of these good works spread abroad, and the principal nobles in Rome, thinking it too humiliating for them, that men who possessed nothing were providing for the wants of the indigent, whilst they with all their wealth had contributed nothing to their support, began to send in assistance of every kind, which helped to maintain during the winter, and to support till the following harvest, nearly three thousand persons. 

Moreover, the alleviation of their physical sufferings was not the most precious advantage which they found in the house of Ignatius ; but rather the infinite profit which they obtained for their souls. 

As soon as they arrived there, they were exhorted to confession, and instructed in the Christian doctrine, whilst religious discourses were frequently addressed to them. At certain fixed hours they all repeated prayers, which not only helped to pass the time when they were assembled together, in a profitable manner, but which gave rise in many a heart, to a fervent desire of leading a more Christian life for the future.

Whether it were these charitable examples or the conviction of the innocence of the Fathers, now so authentically recognized, which had increased the general esteem and good will towards them, certain it is that many persons began to take pleasure in the kind of life which they led, and asked to be admitted amongst them.
Link (here) to read the portion of the book entitled The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Jesuit Father Daniello Bartolli