In the following letter, Ignatius writes to Stefano Casanova, an ailing young Jesuit who was teaching in the college at Tivoli. Ignatius instructs Casanova to systematically repress only his sinful sensual cravings, adding, however, that for health’s sake it can sometimes be more meritorious to indulge harmless craving than to mortify them. Whether the young man followed Ignatius’s advice is not known, but his health continued to fail, and he died in 1559. At the time Ignatius wrote this letter, he himself was also seriously ill and in great pain. He had only eleven days to live.
For more sources from Ignatius, please visit the Letters of Ignatius of Loyola.
Jesus
The peace of Christ.
Dear Master Stefano:
I received your letter, in which you assert as a certainty that it is the repressing of your sensuality which takes away your strength, and that you are therefore determined to concentrate on the main business of your soul. First, although it could well be that this weakness of yours comes partly from such repression, I do not think it is the whole cause; on the contrary, mental exercises, particularly immoderate and unseasonable ones, must also play a part. So continue following my previous directions until you write again and permission is given you to change that regimen.
Moreover, this repressing can be of two sorts. One is when through reason and light from God you become aware of a movement of sensuality or of the sensitive faculty which is against God’s will and would be sinful, and you repress this out of the fear and love of God. This is the right thing to do even if weakness or any other bodily ill ensues, since we may never commit any sin for this or any other consideration. But there is another kind of repressing one’s sensuality, when you feel a desire for some recreation or anything else that is lawful and entirely without sin, but out of a desire for mortification or love of the cross you deny yourself what you long for. This second sort of repression is not appropriate for everyone, nor at all times. In fact, there are times when in order to sustain one’s strength over the long haul in God’s service, it is more meritorious to take some honest recreation for the senses than to repress them. And so you can see that the first sort of repression is good for you, but not the second—even when you aim at proceeding by the way that is most perfect and pleasing to God.
For further particulars I refer you to your confessor, to whom you will show this letter, and I commend myself to your prayers.
Rome, July 20, 1556
Original Source (English translation):
Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, ed. John W. Padberg, et al. St. Louis, Mo.: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996, “To Stefano Casanova, Rome, July 20, 1556,” pg. 696–697.