The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Christoph Genelli

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 1988
• ISBN:
  9781505103533
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

A thorough biography of the founder of the Jesuits and author of the famous Spiritual Exercises (which have formed saints and apostles for centuries). Does not skip his miracles. Describes the founding and structure of the Jesuits and how this remarkable order had an immediate and profound effect on the Christian world. One of the most influential men and one of the most influential orders in all of history. Impr.

THE LIFE

OF

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA.

The Second Part.

CHAPTER I.

IGNATIUS DRAWS UP THE CONSTITUTIONS. THEIR END, AND THE MEANS THEY PRESCRIBE TO ATTAIN IT. THE EXAMINATION AND APPROBATION OF THE RULES.

IN the first part of this history we have spoken of the innumerable sufferings and difficulties in the midst of which the Society of Jesus was founded. We have related how St. Ignatius was led to change the place in which he intended to establish it, and how, in consequence of this important change, by a particular dispensation of Providence and to the great good of the Catholic Church, he carried out his plan, not at Jerusalem, as he had first proposed, but at Rome.

We now proceed, in this second part, to look upon him as the legislator and ruler of the new Society, keeping exclusively to what concerns his personal history, and setting aside all that regards the Society itself as alien to our subject. The order of things, for the better understanding of the whole, obliges us to speak first of what St. Ignatius did for the development of the Society. At the same time, we will give a succinct idea of his Institute as it existed in his mind, and the original draft of it which he conceived. We shall thus refute the false and absurd opinion of those who pretend that he was not the originator and sole founder of the Society of Jesus.

Long before the existence of the Order and of the Constitutions which he gave to it, Ignatius lived according to the rules communicated to him in the Spiritual Exercises at Manresa, and in accordance with the idea of the Society of Jesus which was there imparted to him. We have seen him always acting as a Jesuit, except sacerdotal duties, while he was not yet a priest. He gave to his disciples the same form, so that the essential laws of the Society existed practically in them before the code was written, and the letter served only to establish what was already being done, and to give an embodiment to it. He undertook this work because the Pope had enjoined it in his Bull of 1540 upon the Society, and the Society gave the task of performing it to Ignatius. Now, it is certain on the one hand that it was he who drew up the Constitutions, and on the other that these Constitutions have never been altered. Every one may see this fact for himself by comparing the original Spanish manuscript with the printed Latin translation. It is equally certain that, although he well knew the rules of other Orders, he made no use of them for his own work. We have still in our possession the declaration of Father Annibal Codretti, who, in his early life, was attached to the person of St. Ignatius, while he was engaged upon the Constitutions, and this document is dated in the year 1599. In it we read as follows—"The whole time that the venerable Father Ignatius was composing the Constitutions, during the seven months that I waited on him, I never saw in his room any book but the Missal on the days when he was going to say Mass. After having recommended the subject he was thinking about to God during the night, he wrote in the morning what God had inspired. When the weather was fine, in order to be less disturbed, he went into the garden which a Roman gentleman had lent to him for his use. A table was set there, on which were placed ink and paper, and so he wrote what came to his mind." Ignatius gives his own account in Gonzalez—"This was the manner of his proceeding in the drawing up of the Constitutions. Every day at Mass he presented himself before God, and offered to Him the point he was considering." He treated on this important matter with God alone, employing on his part meditation and prayer as a means to draw down light from heaven.

But what is the principle and the kernel (if we may call it so), the fixed and indestructible portion of these Constitutions? It is clearly the formula which the Society proclaimed in its first assemblage as to the end of the new Order, which it presented to Paul III., and to which he gave his approbation. In this it is said that "whoever wishes to enter into the Society of Jesus, to fight under the standard of the Cross and God and Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to serve the Church, His Spouse, under His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff, must keep in mind that this Society has been established for the defense and propagation of the faith, for the promotion of the salvation of souls, by teaching Christian doctrine and Christian life, by explaining the Word of God, by giving the Spiritual Exercises, by teaching Catechism to the young and ignorant, by the administration of the Sacraments, and especially the Sacrament of Penance. He must keep also in mind that its object is to perform works of mercy, and more particularly for the sick and the imprisoned; and all this is to be done gratuitously and without any earthly recompense." It is first of all and above all things necessary for the attainment of this end, and for the salvation of souls, for the edification of the Church and the greater glory of God, to form and maintain the instruments adapted for this work, that is, the members of the Society.

We have now to examine how far the Society has answered to this project. I am not here speaking of facts, but am only setting forth the theory, and no one, I am sure, will deny that it is holy, and conformable to the end in view.*

The life and principle of the Institute, as we have seen above, spring from the Spiritual Exercises. It is, in fact, by them that each particular Religious receives the formation which the Society requires in all its members as suitable to its end. It is by them, in like manner, that it has received the end to which it tends, the means to attain it, and its whole form of government. This end is the sanctification of one's self, and of others, to the greater glory of God, and the means to arrive at it is self-abnegation, a virtue which is the foundation of all other virtues. The meditation of the "Foundation" in the Exercises sets forth the end of the Society, and the meditations of the first week form the novice to self-abnegation; those of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Two Standards, etc., show the degree of perfection to which the Religious should aspire in his fulfilment of the evangelical counsels, and all the Society should accomplish for the good of the Church and our neighbor. Lastly, everything that concerns the Religious in particular is regulated and typified in the meditations "on Election," and in the rules "for the Discernment of Spirits." This interior formation of his Religious is called by St. Ignatius the work of the Holy Ghost; and he attaches to it so great an importance that he prefers it to all exterior prescriptions, and to all his written rules,* and with good reason, because this spirit alone can give the freedom and the vigor which prove interior vitality, and prevent that spiritual death which easily creeps into the soul, so long as men are content with merely observing the outward letter of Christianity.

That we may give the reader a succinct and, at the same time, a tolerably sufficient idea of the Institute, we will consider it in its end, and we will consider the means which it prescribes for arriving at it. All the motives which the Society proposes to itself are concentrated in its ultimate object, which is the greater glory of God. Its members seek to procure this effectually by laboring for their own sanctification and the sanctification of others; and they do this, not by undertaking obligations of any particular kind, but by excluding nothing which is either good in itself or is conformable to the Gospel and to the end of the Society.† It follows from this that the Society embraces every practice of virtue conducing to its end, since, in everything that is done, the glory of God is proposed as its final object, and it is this which must be the measure of the efforts each individual is to make for his own sanctification and for the sanctification of others.* It is on this principle that the freedom of the Institute turns; it is the mobile part of it which is incessantly being renewed, and which derives its origin from the will of God. From this divine will it ever flows anew, according to the knowledge vouchsafed from Heaven that such or such a work can promote His glory. Hence it follows that the members of the Society of Jesus ought to seek the glory of God for its own sake alone,† not through fear of punishment or hope of reward, but out of pure love; and for this reason the Constitutions do not bind under pain of sin. ‡ He who can rise to this height of perfection is invulnerable. Safe himself so far as it is possible upon this earth, he is at the same time placed on the most advantageous stand-point for doing good to others. But this task is one of great difficulty. There are a thousand obstacles in the way of it, both from without and within. It is, in fact, a task which human weakness can never completely and fully accomplish.

The members of the Society ought always to have this supreme object alone before their minds—"the greater glory of God," and to wish for nothing else besides. On the contrary, they should be utterly indifferent as to the means which conduct to this end unless they be directed in the choice of them by obedience. If, for example, of these three acts of virtue, prayer, preaching, and hearing confessions, the last contributes most to the glory of God, the other two must be set aside. The same indifference should be maintained with regard to spiritual lights and consolations, § as also the greater or less degree of advancement or speed in the way of perfection, provided there be no culpable negligence of our own to retard its progress. The Society, therefore, prescribes very few fixed rules for the practice of virtues, in order that this end may be the better attained. The principle of the greater glory of God is the rule, and as this requires something more or less, the time, the place, or the person with whom dealing is to be had may require some particular line of conduct, and, consequently, circumstances, of a necessity, must be the guide. It is for this reason, also, that the life of the Religious of the Society of Jesus is an ordinary life. It is in no way distinguished as to the exterior from that of good and pious ecclesiastics, and, at the same time, it has the advantages of community and monastic life.* That no external impediment may hinder the Society from tending towards its end, it must never engage itself in things which would lower to a particular object the general end which it has in view, nor apply to a small number of persons the energy and service which it owes to all. Consequently, it must not, for example, undertake to serve foundations for certain private devotions, such as Masses for the dead, etc. Moreover, it is forbidden ever to receive money for the services it renders, and this forbiddance is an essential point of its Constitutions. In a word, the Society having in view the salvation of souls in general, its members ought to be animated by a spirit, not of a particular, but of a general character, which acts from love, and embraces all that is not contrary to its end. For the attainment of this end, their conduct must be under the constant guidance of the rules of wisdom and prudence.

Such is the end of the Society as laid down in its Constitutions, and it may be said to be identical with that of the Catholic Church, and that the two cannot be distinguished, except by the degree of perfection which they require. The Church, in fact, only demands of the faithful in general the fulfilment of the Commandments, while the members of the Society of Jesus bind themselves to the practice of the counsels, and seek in all things, not only the glory of God, but His greater glory; and it is distinguished from other religious orders precisely by this difference, that it does not propose or practise any virtue in particular as the object of perfection which its members are to aim at, but it considers them all, to the exclusion of none, as means to arrive at its end,—"the greater glory of God."

I have now to show in what manner and in what measure these virtues must be practised in order to arrive at the end of the Society. They must then, in the first place, have this end always fully in view—that is to say, whatever the member of the Society does must always be done with the persuasion that God will draw from thence His "greater glory;" at least, he must exclude from his intention all that can destroy the purity and sincerity of this idea; in other words, he must seek, as his ultimate object, not his own satisfaction, nor even his own sanctification, but the Kingdom of God and His greater glory, and then all the rest shall be added unto him. Each member ought, it is true, to endeavor to acquire every virtue in an eminent degree;* but the Constitutions do not fix for their exercise either positive rule, or time, or number. We may take, as an example, there are no definite or fixed practices of mortification,† and the reason for this liberty is as follows: If a fixed measure be prescribed for all, violence is done in a certain degree to the liberty of those who might do more, and to the weakness of those who cannot do as much. Moreover, prescribed acts of virtue lose something of the merit which each individual might gain by the sacrifice of himself in offering to God with generosity the specialty he has to give, and the more so, as in the Society there is gathered together an immense variety of nations, of ages, and of talents. ‡ Thus it is that dispensations from rule, which are almost inevitable in other Religious Orders, and which have ultimately been the ruin of them, are of no use in the Society; yet this liberty is no hindrance to the practice of mortification: on the contrary, it is thus that there is imparted to it a freshness and a healthy alacrity, because it springs from charity and is not enjoined by command. One of the principal reasons why the Institute does not prescribe any fixed and regular and exterior practice of penance is, that the members of the Society may have more free access to persons of every state and condition of life, and may be at greater liberty to serve their neighbor according to their vocation. There is no reason to fear, on the other hand, that its members should do too little, or be left entirely to their own individual choice, for the Constitutions have provided for this danger by the Exercises practised in the noviceship, by the customary usages of the Society, by the continual direction which each man receives from his superiors, and by the spirit of his vocation.

We have called attention to the general object and end of the Society; we must also add another distinctive feature in its character, which is, that it does not look to the exterior, accessory, and material part of virtue so much, as to what we may call the essential and constituent portion of it. It does not, therefore propose, as an end to which everything is to be referred, any particular virtue, such as singing office in choir, silence, the care of the sick, etc., upon which the whole life turns as on a pivot, and to which all other duties are subordinate. The Institute of the Jesuits demands the practice of all virtues, but only as means to an end. It raises none above the others, nor selects any one as of complete merit, but acknowledges in each the value it possesses as a means to attain the end. The practice of virtue is not, therefore, circumscribed by external acts enjoined by such and such a rule, as, for example, to take a discipline every day, to which each Religious is obliged to conform, and which may be said to represent the material part of virtue. The Society follows a more perfect way, for, in all acts of virtue, it considers only the object it has in view, performing or omitting them as reason finds it good. In this manner, the danger is avoided of doing either too much or too little; virtue retains that loveliness which reason justifies and the conscience approves, and is thus made pleasing to the heart. It is prescribed, like a wise doctor's dose, according to the wants of each individual. And thus, in the members of the Society, in these external and material practices of virtue, there are differences more or less; but in the formal and spiritual part of it there is the greatest unity among them, for all are tending to perfection, and performing those outward acts of virtue which are dictated by their conscience and allowed of by the direction of their superiors. St. Ignatius requires that his spiritual children should so progress in virtue as to cooperate faithfully with grace, and attribute the whole merit to it; whilst, on the other hand, they are to put forth all their energies as though the whole result depended upon their own exertions, and leave nothing undone which right reason dictates.*

The means recommended by the Society for the acquiring of virtue, both by its own members and by those under their direction, are gentle, and therefore the more efficacious; and in this way it follows the manner of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of His Apostles, who acted with gentleness and sweetness, just as divine grace also acts upon our souls. It rejects, as opposed to its mission, violent and indiscreet zeal; but it recommends and embraces the zeal which is as far removed from lukewarmness on the one side as it is from extravagance on the other.

To make what we have said in general still more clear, we will apply the doctrine in a more particular manner to some of the main virtues. First we will take penance, because it is the first step to be made in religious life, and we will examine in what way it is practised as a means to arrive at the end which the Society proposes. Penance, as a virtue and as a Sacrament, has for its object and effect the blotting out of our faults, the eradication of sin, and the purifying of the conscience, so that grace may reign and bring forth fruit in the soul from the pure motive of pleasing God.† Confession, therefore, is prescribed at least every eight days, because man ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Copyright Page
• LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
• TABLE OF CONTENTS.
• THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
• PREFACE OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATOR
• THE FIRST PART.
• THE SECOND PART.