The following text is the “Formula of the Institute” composed by St. Ignatius and his first companions in 1539 as a kind of charter or mission statement for the new Society of Jesus. It was inserted with minor revisions into the 1540 bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae, in which Pope Paul III formally approved the foundation […]
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Subsequent to their initial deliberations during Lent in 1539, the eleven men determined their religious order would include a vow of obedience. They offered their shared intentions to enter that organization by signing the following vow of obedience, if, the vow notes, the group “will be confirmed by the pope.” Papal approval for the Society
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Just before Easter in the spring of 1539, Ignatius and his companions gathered to determine whether or not they should continue to informally collaborate with one another, as they had for some five years. Their deliberations took the form of group discernment, consisting of several days of prayer and discussions. Jean Codure or Pierre Favre later
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This document, a chapter from the Part IX of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, articulates the desired qualities in the Jesuits’ superior general. Though the Constitutions were not approved until the first General Congregation of 1558, the first Jesuits elected Ignatius as their superior general in April 1541. Ignatius collaborated with Juan Alfonso
The Kind of Person the Superior General Ought to Be (1558) Read More »
The Society of Jesus—much like “all well-organized communities or congregations”—appoints a person “whose proper duty,” according to the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, “is to attend to the universal good.” For the Jesuits in particular, the superior general’s “duty is the good government, preservation, and growth of the whole body of the Society.” (Rather
The Portal’s editors welcome collaborative partners to provide free online access to the some of the richest content associated with the history, spirituality, educational heritage, and pedagogical approach of the Society of Jesus. The Portal’s editors are very pleased to acknowledge the collaborative assistance they receive from the following institutions: Archivum Romanum Societatis
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Brill has published Jesuit Image Theory, edited by Wietse de Boer, Karl A.E. Enenkel and Walter S. Melion. The volume (including 97 color images) looks at “Jesuit investment in images, whether verbal or visual, virtual or actual, pictorial or poetic, rhetorical or exegetical.” Contributions to the volume include: The Jesuit Engagement with the Status and Functions
June 2016: Published Volume on Jesuit Imagery Read More »
The first volume based the International Symposia on Jesuit Studies has been published as part of Brill’s Jesuit Studies book series. Exploring Jesuit Distinctiveness: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ways of Proceeding within the Society of Jesus offers an introductory essay and 12 chapters. According to the publisher, “The volume theme is the distinctiveness of Jesuits and
May 2016: Selected Symposium Presentations in Open Access Read More »
John O’Malley’s Art, Controversy, and the Jesuits: The Imago Primi Saeculi, available through St. Joseph’s University Press. The Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu, a 952 folio-sized volume of poetry, prose with 127 exquisite copperplate engravings, celebrated the Society’s centenary in 1640. The publisher calls O’Malley’s text, “the most comprehensive study of the important book ever to
July 2015: New Book on Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesui, by John O’Malley Read More »
