Feeding upon bread and water, kneeling for seven hours together rapt in prayer, scourging his flesh thrice daily, and reducing sleep to the barest minimum, Ignatius sought by austerity to snatch that crown of sainthood which he felt to be his due.

Outraged nature soon warned him that he was upon a path which led to failure.
Despair took possession of his soul, sometimes prompting him to end his life by suicide, sometimes plaguing him with hideous visions.

At last he fell dangerously ill.

Enlightened by the expectation of early death, he then became convinced that his fanatical asceticism was a folly.

The despair, the dreadful phantoms which had haunted him, were ascribed immediately to the devil.