Pedro Arrupe, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, issued the following letter to every Jesuit in the world on April 14, 1968. Arrupe uses the letter to express concern about some of the problems as related to a Jesuit’s vow of poverty. He also references the Statutes on Poverty, released in September 1967. […]
“On Poverty, Work, and Common Life,” Pedro Arrupe (1968) Read More »
“In order to ‘feel’ [sentir] the anxieties and aspirations of the dispossessed in an Ignatian way,” the following decree from the 34th General Congregation declares that Jesuits “need direct personal experience” of poverty. The decree explains poverty’s “apostolic and prophetic dimension” (it serving as the “unequivocal condition of our credibility”), offers guidelines to “renew our
Decree 9: “Poverty,” General Congregation 34 (1995) Read More »
The Jesuits’ superior general, acting in accordance to the wishes of the 31st General Congregation, provided new statutes on poverty for experimental use in 1967. When the 32nd General Congregation convened nearly a decade later, its delegates revisited the topic and its spiritual as well as juridical elements. Their decree, appearing below, notes the need
Decree 12: “Poverty,” General Congregation 32 (1975) Read More »
The 29th and 30th General Congregations established commissions to study the topic of poverty within the Society of Jesus. The delegates at the 31st congregation, in the following document , provide extended thoughts on the purpose of poverty, especially by issuing directive norms in order to “bring about this renewal in our way of poverty.”
Decree 18: “Poverty,” General Congregation 31 (1966) Read More »
More commonly known by its Latin name (Exposcit Debitum), the papal approval of the Formula of 1550 has articulated the purposes of the Society of Jesus since it issuance by Pope Julius III. The formula was based on the Five Chapters of 1539 and of the Formula of 1540. For more on the history, content,
Exposcit Debitum (1550) Read More »
