Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, delivered the following remarks, over three days, to open the Jesuits’ 34th General Congregation. Kolvenbach reminds the delegates that their gathering had its “source and origins in the spiritual experience of Ignatius and his first companions,” that, in the words of Ignatius, theirs was “a […]
At the Mass opening the 33rd General Congregation, Pope John Paul II offered the following homily. The pontiff declares a special interest in the Jesuits’ gathering, as the “General Congregation is an event that is destined also to have some important repercussions in the life of the Church.” He remained at the Jesuits’ Curia (or
John Paul II’s Homily to the Members of the 33rd General Congregation (1983) Read More »
Pope Paul VI, in addressing Pedro Arrupe and Arrupe’s general assistants near the close of the 32nd General Congregation, reminds the delegates, “Be loyal!” He encourages “all the companions of Ignatius to continue with renewed zeal to carry out all the works and endeavors upon which they have so eagerly embarked in the service of
Pope Paul VI to Father General and the General Assistants (1975) Read More »
Francis Borgia, in this letter to the Jesuits in Aquitania, in the southwest of France, provides advice on how best to preserve the spirit of the Society of Jesus. The order’s “rapid growth” reminded Borgia of how “the little grain of mustard,” once “fixing its roots” and “sending forth its branch and steam,” could become
On the Means of Preserving the Spirit of the Society and of Our Vocation (1569) Read More »
A college in Padua was insufficiently supported by its founder, Andrea Lippomani. Lippomani had hosted Jesuit scholastics in Padua as early as 1542. The Venetian government, though, stalled negotiations to transfer Lippomani’s bequest to the Society intended to support a college in the city, doing so despite a bull by Pope Paul III in support
Ignatius on Poverty (1547) Read More »
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
The Deliberations of Our First Fathers (1539) Read More »
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A free service provided by the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, the Portal offers informed direction to some of the richest materials associated with the Society of Jesus located at a variety of websites. The Portal grants online access to a curated and fully searchable collection of important primary sources and some of the latest
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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 »
Claudio Ferlan, a researcher at the Bruno Kessler Foundation’s Italian-German Historical Institute in Trento, has published a one-volume history of the Jesuits, I gesuiti. According to the publisher, il Mulino, Ferlan’s book “offers a detailed history of the Societas Jesu, chronicling its entire development, from the life and works of its founder, Ignatius of Loyola,
March 2015: New One-Volume History of the Jesuits in Italian Read More »
