in Paris, that children illegitimately born, and orphans, were deserving of the protection of the public[1], they had found in Lima an asylum in which they were reared and supported. These data could not certainly have been in the possession of the historians who have since represented us as the negligent offspring of cruel parents.
In the year 1597, there dwelt in Lima a pious and philosophical man, according to the true acceptation of Christianity, named Luis Pecador[2]. The sole object of his desires was the establishment of a receptacle for the infants, who, having been abandoned from the earliest moments of their existence, were found lying before the doors of the dwellings, and were there exposed to the attacks of dogs, by whom they had, in many instances, been devoured. The innocence of these tender victims claiming his most earnest solicitude, he obtained the permission of the Sovereign Pontiff, to found, for the above benevolent purpose, an order of hospitallers, of which he himself became the prior. With the aid of liberal public subscriptions, a suitable edifice was erected, and likewise a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Atocha, who was chosen patroness of the institution. For the reception of the infants, a turning box, having a double communication with the street and the building, was provided.
- ↑ Until the year 1638 there was not in Paris a receptacle for orphans. At that time a rich and virtuous widow laid the foundation of an establishment of this nature, the maintenance of which required all her constancy and heroism. It was not until 1675 that it attracted the notice and consideration of the sovereign, who assigned to it a rent of twenty thousand livres.
- ↑ His real name was Oxeda, which he changed for that of Pecator (sinner), conformably to the spirit of humility by which devout persons were then influenced.
