1. Iñigo changed his name to Ignatius during his time of studies in Paris. Scholars have advanced various theories as to why he made this change, none of which, in my opinion, is conclusive. For the sake of convenience, I will use the name “Ignatius” throughout this book. [back]
2. Printed for the first time in Castilian in Saragossa in 1508, Amadis of Gaul was soon compulsory reading at court and remained universally popular until its place was taken in the seventeenth century by Don Quixote. Every hidalgo was familiar with its details. The work set out the patterns for the perfect knight, loyal, courageous and courteous, the constant lover, considerate of inferiors and at the service of his master. Amadis never lets up on his attachment to his lady love, Oriana. Amadis was later condemned by the clergy as an incentive to sins of the flesh. [back]
3. Ignatius reluctantly dictated The Autobiography intermittently to a young Portuguese Jesuit, Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, between 1553 and 1555. It is not an autobiography as we understand the term but is rather an account of Ignatius’s spiritual journey between 1521 and 1538. The title Autobiography only came into the English-speaking world in 1900. Jerónimo Nadal (1507–80), one of the second-generation Jesuits, called it the Acta Patris Ignatii (The Acts of Father Ignatius), perhaps echoing the title The Acts of the Apostles. The book has also been known as The Confessions, The Memoirs, The Story, and The Testament. [back]
4. Joseph A. Munitiz and Philip Endean, trans. Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 13. Hereafter, I will refer to this as simply The Autobiography. Note that Ignatius mistook his age at the time of his conversion: he was, in fact, thirty years old in 1521. [back]
5. Quoted in Cándido de Dalmases, SJ, Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits: His Life and Work (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1985), 33. [back]
6. For a description of this incident, see José Tellechea Idígoras, Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 69–70. [back]
7. Ignatius may have been “a tonsured cleric.” This meant that a part of his hair was cut off on top and left his scalp bare. Ignatius’s disputed status as a cleric may have entitled him to be judged by Church authorities. [back]
8. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014). Ribadeneira was the last of the early Jesuits to die. He died in September 1611, thirty-five years after the death of Ignatius. Ribadeneira composed his biography of Ignatius between 1567 and 1569. The definitive Latin edition appeared in 1586. [back]
9. The letter is dated 20 December 1518. [back]
10. In 1512, King Ferdinand of Aragon usurped the title of King of Navarre. In 1517, Henri d’Albret was proclaimed King of Navarre, his hereditary kingdom. King Charles V of Spain, Ferdinand’s grandson, also claimed the kingdom of Navarre. Henri enjoyed the protection of King Francis I of France. In 1521, an effort was made to establish Henri as de facto sovereign in Pamplona. This is why the battle took place. [back]
11. The Autobiography, 13. [back]
12. Ignatius would have read the 1511 edition of the Lives of the Saints, for St. Honofrio—a saint he came to revere—is not found in the two earlier Castilian editions. [back]
13. The Autobiography, 14–15. [back]
14. Ibid., 16. [back]
15. Joan Segarra Pijuan, SJ, Manresa and Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Manresa: Ajuntament de Manresa, 1992), 19. [back]
16. The Autobiography, 21. [back]
17. Ibid., 25. [back]
18. Ibid. [back]
19. Ibid., 27. [back]
20. Quoted in Joan Segarra Pijuan, SJ, Manresa and Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Manresa: Ajuntament de Manresa, 1992), 113. [back]
21. Ibid., 115. [back]
22. Ibid., 21. [back]
23. Ibid., 128. [back]
24. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 39, Number 60. [back]
25. David Fleming, SJ, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1978), 332. From now on, quotations from Spiritual Exercises will be numbered between brackets. The numbers refer to the paragraphs in the text. [back]
26. Quoted in José Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras, Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 233. [back]
27. Humanism was essentially a cultural programme, which appealed to classical antiquity as a model of eloquence. The important thing was to return ad fontes (back to the sources). This Latin slogan set out the vision of returning to the wellspring and source of modern Western culture in the ancient world, allowing its ideas and values to refresh and renew that culture. The classical period was to be both a source and a norm for the Renaissance. [back]
28. The alumbrados (illuminated ones) was a term used loosely to describe the practitioners of a mystical form of Christianity in Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They were firmly dealt with by the Spanish Inquisition. At their most extreme, the alumbrados held that the human soul can reach such a degree of perfection that even in this life it can contemplate the essence of God and comprehend the mystery of the Trinity. All external worship, they declared, is superfluous, and the reception of the sacraments useless. Sin is impossible in this state of complete union with God, and persons in this state of impeccability could indulge their sexual desires and commit other sinful acts freely without staining their souls. [back]
29. The Spanish Inquisition, a tribunal established in 1478 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to safeguard orthodox Christianity, was, unlike the Roman Inquisition, entirely operated by the Spanish crown. The popes, who controlled only the nomination of its head, regarded it as a usurpation of their authority and were never reconciled to it. [back]
30. Dominic Soto (1494–1560), Dominican theologian; St. Albert the Great, (1200–80), Dominican theologian; Peter Lombard (c.1100–60), theologian at Paris. The Autobiography (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 40. [back]
31. See reference in Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 265–67. [back]
32. The Imitation of Christ was a popular work in Spain, where it was printed at least five times between 1505 and 1520. Ignatius attributed The Imitation of Christ to Jean Gerson (1363–1429), Chancellor of the University of Paris. The work was attributed to various authors at the time. Finally, Thomas à Kempis was considered by the majority of scholars to be the authentic author. [back]
33. Alfonso de Fonseca held the Primatial See of Toledo from 1523 until his death in 1534. He was a generous patron of learning and a friend of Erasmus and the Spanish Erasmians, including the Alcalà printer, Miguel de Eguia. Ignatius had found him in Valladolid where de Fonseca had gone for the baptism of the newborn son of Charles V, the future Philip II. [back]
34. San Esteban was a famous Dominican priory in Salamanca. Among its members were some of the University of Salamanca’s greatest professors, including Francisco de Vitoria (1480–1546). Having recently returned from Paris, de Vitoria occupied the first chair of theology at Salamanca from 1526. [back]
35. The Autobiography (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 46. [back]
36. See Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 69–70, Numbers 98–9. [back]
37. See reference in Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 287–88. [back]
38. John Calvin (1509–64), French reformer and theologian. [back]
39. The Autobiography, 50. [back]
40. Pedro de Paralta, Juan de Castro, and Amador de Elduayen. [back]
41. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 70, Number 99. [back]
42. Pierre Favre came to Paris in 1525. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1529 and his licentiate in 1530. Francis Xavier began his studies in 1526 and received his bachelor’s and licentiate degrees at the same time as Favre. [back]
43. The Spiritual Writings of Pierre Favre: The Memoriale and Selected Letters and Instructions, the Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis, 1996, 65. [back]
44. Ignatius received a licence in arts on 13 March 1533. Although he referred to this licentiate as Magisterium, he formally received the title of Master of Arts on 14 March 1535 under the university rectorship of Florence Jacquart. [back]
45. A retreat usually lasting thirty days where one meets with one’s spiritual director once a day. [back]
46. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 79, Number 112. [back]
47. Ibid. [back]
48. Giam Pietro Carafa (1476–1559) was Bishop of Chiete (Theate) from 1504 to 1524. In 1520, he sat on a commission at Rome appointed to deal with the affair of Martin Luther. In 1524, he resigned his bishopric in order to found, along with St. Cajetan, the Theatine Order. In 1536, he became Archbishop of Naples and was made cardinal. Finally, in 1555, he was elected pope. [back]
49. Diego de Hoces died in Padua in 1538, the first of the group of companions who would form the Society of Jesus to die. [back]
50. Reserved sins were those that could be absolved only by a bishop or by certain clerics given the faculty to do so. [back]
51. The Autobiography, 59. [back]
52. The Spiritual Exercises, 147. [back]
53. Quoted in Hugo Rahner, The Vision of St. Ignatius in the Chapel of La Storta (Rome: 1975), 36–7. [back]
54. Reference to this in Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 98, Number 141. [back]
55. The Autobiography, 60. [back]
56. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 98, Number 140. [back]
57. Ibid. [back]
58. Ibid., 100, Number 143. [back]
59. In this letter to Isabel Roser, Ignatius also refers to some of the activities he and his companions undertook when they first came to Rome—opening a centre for the religious instruction of Jewish converts, founding a house of refuge for former prostitutes, and establishing an orphanage. [back]
60. Paul III had been at Nice earlier in 1538 presiding over peace negotiations between Charles V and Francis I. [back]
61. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, eds. Martin E. Palmer, SJ, John W. Padberg, SJ, John McCarthy, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006), 35–9. [back]
62. The Confraternity of Grace enrolled more than 100 prominent Roman men and women. [back]
63. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 156, Number 220. [back]
64. Ibid., 157, Number 221. [back]
65. Philip Neri was canonised on the same day as Ignatius, 12 March 1622. [back]
66. Quoted in John O’Malley, The First Jesuits (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 35. [back]
67. Quoted in Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 165. “The finger of God is here” (after Ex 8:19) is the form found in the Spanish edition of Ribadeniera’s Life of Ignatius, 115, Number 165. [back]
68. Ibid., 152, Number 212. [back]
69. O’Malley, The First Jesuits, 190. [back]
70. Margarita of Austria (1522–86) was the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor Charles V. She was the wife of Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma. [back]
71. The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and their Complementary Norms (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996), 67. [back]
72. Quoted from José Ignacio Tellecha Idigoras, Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 466. [back]
73. Ibid., 465. [back]
74. Ibid. [back]
75. Ibid., 468–69. [back]
76. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters & Instructions (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006), 35. [back]
77. Letter, Rome, early September 1541, to Alfonso Salmerón and Paschase Broët, in Ignatius of Loyola: Letters & Instructions (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006), 64. [back]
78. Quoted in Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 487. [back]
79. Ibid., 488. [back]
80. Year by Year with the Early Jesuits: Selections from the Chronicon of Juan de Polanco, trans. John Patrick Donnelly, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2004), 4. [back]
81. Francis Borgia (1510–72) succeeded to his title in 1543. King Charles V of Spain appointed him Viceroy of Catalonia, but on the death of his wife, Leonora de Castro, in 1546, Francis secretly joined the Jesuits and in 1551 was ordained priest and disposed of his estates. He was responsible for the establishment of many schools and colleges and helped especially with the foundation of the Roman College. On the death of Diego Laínez in 1565, Francis was elected the third superior general of the Society of Jesus. He died in 1572. [back]
82. See chapter 6 of John O’Malley’s The First Jesuits for some facts about the schools. [back]
83. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, 329–30. [back]
84. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 280, Number 389. [back]
85. Jean Codure (1508–41) was born in Provence, France, and received his licentiate and master’s degree from the University of Paris. Codure was a favourite of Pope Paul III, who named him as confessor to Margaret of Austria. Codure acted as the first secretary of the Society and worked with Ignatius on an early draft of the Jesuit Constitutions. He was the first of the early companions to die, in 1541. [back]
86. Juan Alfonso de Polanco (1517–76) was born in Burgos, Spain. He entered the Society in 1541 and from 1547 was secretary to Ignatius and became his right-hand man until Ignatius’s death in 1556. Polanco continued as secretary to two successive generals, Diego Laínez and Francis Borgia, and was himself a key figure in the early history of the Society. [back]
87. The “noviceship” is the first two years of the young Jesuit’s training. [back]
88. “Scholastics” is the term used for young Jesuits who are in study after the noviceship and prior to their final vows, which follow ordination. [back]
89. The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, trans. George E. Ganss, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1970), 287, 553, and 816. [back]
90. Ibid., 547. [back]
91. Ibid., 245–46. [back]
92. Born on the island of Majorca in 1507, Nadal first met Ignatius in Paris in 1536 and reacted against him. Only in 1545 did he undergo a change of heart and enter the Society. He became a key player in its expansion. He was rector of the first college in Messina and was official promulgator of the new Constitutions all over Europe. He became vicar general of the Society when Ignatius was seriously ill and was the holder of important posts after Ignatius’s death. [back]
93. At the end of a two-year probationary period called “noviceship,” Jesuit novices pronounce simple, perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and promise to enter the Society fully in the future. Those intending to study for the priesthood are called “scholastics.” A scholastic may be released from these simple vows for personal reasons or at the discretion of those entrusted with his formation. Princess Juana did not pronounce final, solemn vows. [back]
94. Quoted in Lisa Fullam, “Juana SJ: Status of Women in the Society,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, 31/5 November 1999, 28. [back]
95. Inigo: Discernment Log-Book: The Spiritual Diary of Saint Ignatius Loyola, ed. and trans. Joseph A. Munitiz, SJ (London: Inigo Enterprises, 1987), 47. [back]
96. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, 154–55. [back]
97. Ibid., 294–95. [back]
98. Quoted in Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 327, Number 477. [back]
99. Quoted in José Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras, Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, trans. Cornelius Michael Buckley, SJ (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1994), 606. [back]
100. Fr. Cristóbal de Madrid was a friend and advisor to Ignatius before entering the Society of Jesus in 1555; he was, even while a novice, given charge of certain works and indeed appointed, along with Fr. Nadal. to take charge of the Society when Ignatius became gravely ill in 1556. Fr. de Madrid went on to become assistant to the second superior general (Fr. Laínez) and superior of the Roman residence. He died in 1573. [back]
101. Quoted from Cándido de Dalmases, SJ, Ignatius of Loyola: Founder of the Jesuits (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1985), 289. [back]
102. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 338, Number 496. [back]
103. Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531–88) was a famous Portuguese portraitist of the Spanish Renaissance. [back]
104. Pedro de Ribadeneira, The Life of Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Claude Pavur, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2014), 330, Number 483. [back]
105. See Hubert Becher, “Ignatius as Seen by His Contemporaries,” in Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality and Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 89. [back]
106. Ibid., 77. [back]
107. Luís Gonçalves da Câmara (c.1519–75) was born in Portugal. He studied in Paris and in Coimbra in Portugal. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1545. After pastoral work in Portugal and North Africa and a spell at the royal court, he left for Rome in 1553, where he lived with Ignatius for two years, during which time he composed his famous Memoriale. He left Rome in 1555 and returned to Portugal. He was tutor to the boy-king Sebastian I. Eventually he was able to retire from the court and lived at the Jesuit college at Evora. [back]
108. Remembering Iñigo—Glimpse of the Life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: The Memoriale of Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, trans. Alexander Eaglestone and Joseph A. Munitiz, SJ (Leominster, UK: Gracewing, 2004). [back]
109. Quoted in Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality and Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 87. [back]
110. Ibid. [back]
111. Nicolás Alonso Bobadilla was born in the village of Bobadilla del Camino in the diocese of Palencia in Old Castile, Spain. He studied rhetoric and logic at Valladolid, then philosophy at Alcalà and theology at Valladolid. He came to Paris to study Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and there met Ignatius and the other first companions. He took vows with them at Montmartre in 1534 and was ordained in Venice in 1537. Bobadilla was something of an eccentric and a hypochondriac, yet was used by Pope Paul III in missions all over Europe. Later, Paul III was about to send Bobadilla and Rodrigues to India, but Bobadilla became ill and Francis Xavier went in his place. Bobadilla was always the odd man out. He preferred working alone. He was upset by what he saw as the over-regularisation of the Society under Ignatius. He provoked a crisis between Paul IV and the Society following Ignatius’s death. He contended that the first companions were all co-founders. This was, in fact, true, but it put Jerónimo Nadal into a rage against Bobadilla and placed the latter under somewhat of a cloud in the history of the Society. Bobadilla was the last of the first companions to die, on 23 September 1590, at the age of 81. [back]
112. Quoted in Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality and Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 84. [back]
113. Simâo Rodrigues de Azevedo was born of noble lineage in the north of Portugal in 1509. He was raised in Lisbon under the tutelage of the dean of the royal chapel. He came to study in Paris in June 1526, having received one of the scholarships offered by King John III of Portugal. Rodrigues joined the other first companions in Paris in 1533 and pronounced vows with them at Montmartre in 1534. He was ordained in Venice in 1537. Originally, it had been intended that he would go to the Far East, but circumstances dictated that he remain in Portugal. Ignatius appointed him as the first provincial of Portugal. Rodrigues had a laissez-faire style of government as provincial. He was flexible with formation and with permissions and, understandably, was therefore popular with certain members of the province. Ignatius decided to remove him from Portugal and appointed him instead as provincial of Castile, but Rodrigues did not want to go. Ignatius had to order him under his vow of obedience to go to Castile. Rodrigues was very unhappy with this situation. Subsequently, he retired to a hermitage in Northern Italy. Around 1573, he returned to Portugal with the permission of Father General Mercurian. As an old man in 1577, at the invitation of Mercurian, he wrote an account of his early days in Paris and Rome. He died in Lisbon on 15 July 1579. [back]
114. Quoted in Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality and Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 84. [back]
115. Ibid., 86. [back]
116. Simão Rodrigues, SJ, A Brief and Exact Account: The Recollections of Simão Rodrigues on the Origin and Progress of the Society of Jesus, trans. Joseph F. Conwell, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2004), 1. [back]
117. Ibid. [back]
118. Ibid., 8. [back]
119. See Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality & Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 85. [back]
120. Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes (40 vols, 1891–1953), XIV, 69–70. Quoted in Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality & Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 85. [back]
121. Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality & Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 85. [back]
122. Pierre Favre, Francis Xavier, and Francis Borgia are now canonised saints. [back]
123. Ignatius of Loyola, His Personality & Spiritual Heritage, 1556–1956 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1977), 95. [back]
124. In references to the Spiritual Exercises, the normal convention for numbering the text is used. [back]
125. It is to be noted that Ignatius never uses the term “spiritual director” but always “the one who gives the Exercises.” For Ignatius, the real director is the Holy Spirit. For the sake of convenience, I will use the term “director,” even though Ignatius might not be too happy with it. [back]
126. David Fleming, SJ, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading, 2nd ed. (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1978), 5. [back]
127. A very helpful article to read on this whole question of God’s desires and my desires is Edward Kinerk, “Eliciting Great Desires: Their Place in the Spirituality of the Society of Jesus” in Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, November 1984. [back]
128. The fifth-century Athanasian Creed says, “They that have done evil [will go] into everlasting fire.” The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) speaks of “perpetual punishment with the devil.” The Second Council of Lyons (1270) asserts that those who die in mortal and original sin “go down immediately to hell to be punished, however, with different punishments.” It is interesting that Vatican Council II does not mention hell explicitly. [back]
129. Megan Fincher, “Pope Francis extols ‘gift of tears,’” National Catholic Reporter, September 2013. [back]
130. The Anima Christi has wrongly been attributed to Ignatius himself. Its provenance is disputed, but it is often ascribed to Pope John XXII, who reigned in Avignon from 1316 to 1334. A prayer book, belonging to Cardinal Peter de Luxembourg (†1387), containing the Anima Christi prayer, is to be found in the library at Avignon. Ignatius mentions the prayer as if the retreatant would already know it, though he does place the text itself at the very beginning of The Spiritual Exercises. [back]
131. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. M. L. del Mastro (New York: Image Books, 1977), 227. [back]
132. Ibid., 226. [back]
133. Decree 2 of General Congregation 34, (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1975). [back]
134. The motto is taken from the writings of the Venerable Bede (673–735), when Bede is reflecting on Jesus’ call of Matthew [Levi], the tax-collector (Mt 9:9–13). [back]
135. The prayer is as follows: “Eternal Lord of all things, I make my offering, with your favour and help. I make it in the presence of your infinite Goodness, and of your glorious Mother, and of all the holy men and women in your heavenly court. I wish and desire, and it is my deliberate decision, provided only that it is for your greater service and praise to imitate you in bearing all injuries and affronts, and any poverty, actual as well as spiritual, if your Most Holy Majesty desires to choose and receive me into such a life and state” (98). [back]
136. This prayer was set to music for the popular musical Godspell. [back]
137. It was Francis of Assisi who devised the first living crib in Greccio, Italy, in 1223. This was an attempt to discourage pilgrims from going to Bethlehem since the Holy Land was in the power of the Turks at the time. [back]
138. Karl Rahner has an interesting comment on the idea of the “two standards”: “St. Ignatius presents us with the image of the two standards that are battling one another. This image has a pre-historical origin. It is constantly used in Scripture and tradition (for example Jerusalem—Babylon; the City of God and the City of Satan). But while tradition, at least since the time of St. Augustine, draws a clear line between the fronts of the two kingdoms—the Church here and the kingdom of Satan over there—Ignatius emphasises the mutual penetration of both kingdoms. According to St. Ignatius, there are no static front lines between the two, but only swift emissaries who are sent to all parts of the globe . . . The kingdoms of Christ and Satan as described by St. Ignatius both embrace the whole world. Lucifer also expands his power inside the Church, for there we find pride, greed for wealth, and power. The Church is also the Church of sinners and not just the Church of saints!” See Spiritual Exercises, trans. Kenneth Baker, SJ (New York: Herder and Herder, 1965), 170–71. [back]
139. Karl Rahner, Spiritual Exercises, trans. Kenneth Baker, SJ (New York: Herder and Herder, 1965), 177. [back]
140. “Magis” means “greater” and in the Ignatian context means “that which gives greater glory and service to God.” [back]
141. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. M. L. del Mastro (New York: Image Books, 1977), 130. [back]
142. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer (London: Sheed & Ward, 1961), 235. [back]
143. In The Way of Ignatius Loyola: Contemporary Approaches to the Spiritual Exercises, ed. Philip Sheldrake (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1999), 103–14. [back]
144. Karl Rahner, Spiritual Exercises, trans. Kenneth Baker, SJ (New York: Herder and Herder, 1965), 218–22. [back]
145. Joseph P. Cassidy, SJ, “Directing the Third Week,” Review for Religious, March–April 1990, 265–82. [back]
146. Quoted in Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, ed. Michael Harter, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1993), 73. [back]
147. In Review of Ignatian Spirituality, XXX, 11/1999, 48. [back]
148. Ibid., 44. [back]
149. See Michael Buckley, SJ, “The Contemplation to Attain Love,” The Way Supplement 24 (1975), 92–104. [back]
150. “The heart is more devious than any other thing, perverse too: who can pierce its secrets?” (Jer 17:9). [back]
151. “What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:23). [back]
152. “An unspiritual person is one who does not accept anything of the Spirit of God: he sees it all as nonsense; it is beyond his understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit. A spiritual man, on the other hand, is able to judge the value of everything, and his own value is not to be judged by other men” (1 Cor 2:14–15). [back]
153. “It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God . . . You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which does not say this of Jesus is not from God” (1 Jn 4:1–3). [back]
154. A very helpful article on group discernment is “Communal Discernment: Reflections on Experience,” by John Carroll Futrell, SJ, in Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, November, 1972. Futrell suggests the following elements as being essential for authentic communal discernment: (1) communion; (2) communication [common commitment]; (3) trust; (4) ability to listen; (5) ability to recognise communal desolation. [back]
155. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, eds. Martin E. Palmer, SJ, John W. Padberg, SJ, John McCarthy, SJ (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2006), 72. [back]
156. Ibid., 8. [back]
157. Ibid., 19. [back]
158. Michael Paul Gallagher, Dive Deeper: The Human Poetry of Faith, (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2001), 78–93. [back]
159. This meeting took place in Rome in October/November 2016. The meeting was composed of over 200 Jesuits from all over the world, gathered primarily to elect a new superior general. [back]
160. Pope Francis is referring here to how Ignatius described himself in a letter from Rome, sent at the end of 1545 to Francis Borgia. Borgia was then Duke of Gandia but was shortly to enter the Society of Jesus, in 1546. In this letter, Ignatius writes of himself, “I am personally convinced regarding myself that before and after I am total obstacle. Because of this I feel spiritual happiness and joy in the Lord, inasmuch as I cannot attribute to myself even a semblance of good.” [back]