Ximenes
: War.At the siege of Oran, in Africa, Cardinal Ximenes led the Spanish
troops to the breach, mounted on a charger, dressed in his pontifical
robes, and preceded by a monk on horseback, who bore his archiepiscopal
cross. "Go on, go on, my children," exclaimed he to the soldiers, "I am at
your head. A priest should think it an honour to expose his life for his
religion. I have an example in my predecessors, in the archbishopric of
Toledo. Go on to victory." When his victorious troops took possession of
the town, he burst into tears on seeing the number of the dead that were
lying on the ground; and was heard to say to himself, "They were indeed
infidels, but they might have become Christians. By their death, they have
deprived us of the principal advantage of the victory we have gained over
them."
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At the siege of Oran, in Africa, Cardinal Ximenes led the Spanish troops to the breach, mounted on a charger, dressed in his pontifical robes, and preceded by a monk on horseback, who bore his archiepiscopal cross. "Go on, go on, my children," exclaimed...