Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/403

379 I MONASTIC REFORMS. 379 hours which glided so peacefully in the hermitage chapter of Castanar.^^ '- —. gu Salzeda. Fortunately, his superiors choosing to change his He is made •^ ' i- o o guardian ol place of residence according to custom, transferred him at the end of three years to the convent of Salzeda. Here he practised, indeed, similar aus- terities, but it was not long before his high repu- tation raised him to the post of guardian of the convent. This situation necessarily imposed on him the management of the institution ; and thus the powers of his mind, so long wasted in unprof- itable reverie, were again called into exercise for the benefit of others. An event which occurred some years later, in 1492, opened to him a still wider sphere of action. By the elevation of Talavera to the metropoli- tan see of Granada, the office of queen's confessor became vacant. Cardinal Mendoza, who was con- sulted on the choice of a successor, well knew the importance of selecting a man of the highest integ- rity and talent; since the queen's tenderness of- conscience led her to take counsel of her confessor, not merely in regard to her own spiritual concerns, but all the great measures of her administration. He at once fixed his eye on Ximenes, of whom he had never lost sight, indeed, since his first acquaintance with him at Siguenza. He was far from approving his adoption of the monastic life, and had been heard to say, that '^ parts so extraor- 16 Fl^chier, Hist, de Ximenes, Gestis, fol. 4. — Suma de la Vida p. 14. — Quintanilla, Archetypo, de Cisneros, MS. — Oviedo, Quin- pp. 13, 14. — Gomez, De Rebus cuagenas, MS.