Page:History of the Thirty Years' War - Gindely - Volume 1.djvu/65

 failed, therefore, to win the qualities desirable in a ruler, and on account of his defective education was never able to understand the affairs of war and peace.

After closing his studies at Ingolstadt, Ferdinand, not yet seventeen years of age, assumed the reins of government, which he should not have done before the completion of his eighteenth year. Soon after, and as if by way of preparation, he travelled to Italy, where he was treated with marked distinction by Pope Clement VIII. He then visited Loretto, the renowned resort of pilgrims, where, as his confessor, Lamormain, testifies, he took a vow that he would, though this should be at the peril of life, extinguish all sects and heresy in his hereditary lands. Then he visited at Florence his sister, the Grand-Duchess there, and returned to Gratz. At this time and during the ensuing years he grew still more devout. He dedicated to prayer and religious contemplation at least from two to three hours daily. After an extended morning prayer, he attended mass twice in immediate succession; he was present also at the afternoon service, devoted during the day a stated time to self-examination, and closed these spiritual exercises with an evening prayer. On Sundays and holidays he regularly heard two sermons, and the reading of religious books was perhaps the only additional literary occupation to which he turned his attention. He often declared to his confessor that he would on no account damage the interests of the Church, and that he would go a-begging rather than act in violation of duty. In all matters of importance he sought the counsel of his confessor and some prominent theologians of the Jesuit order.

Ferdinand demeaned himself as a ruler in a manger answering to his education and his religious devotion.