Search Results for: Ferrer

In July 1940, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of Jesus, Pope Pius XII issued the following apostolic letter to Wlodimir (Włodzimierz) Ledóchowski. Pius notes to the superior general how the Catholic Church “is deeply indebted to your religious society for its glorious record of service.” The letter chronicles some […]

Fluvio Androzzi was already a priest when he made the Spiritual Exercises under the direction of Diego Laínez and entered the Society. Almost immediately, he embarked upon a life of successful ministries. Androzzi was one of the Society’s earliest spiritual writers, and his works, published posthumously, appeared in many editions and translations. In this letter,

Ignatius uses this letter as a reproof to a discontented temporal coadjutor brother. Giovanni Battista Guidini was the buyer at the college of Padua, and he was agitating to study for the priesthood. Several letters between the rector at Padua and Ignatius were exchanged on the matter. On the same day he wrote to Guidini

Valentín Marín, a young Spanish Jesuit working in Sicily, was known as an excellent preacher despite having a disagreeable voice. His superior greatly praised him for his learning and his holiness. But Marín was constantly beset by scruples. Ignatius, who took a personal interest in the young man’s troubles, had earlier instructed his provincial and

The difficulties that the Society experienced in Zaragoza, Spain, weighed heavily on the Jesuits in the city and their rector. For example, the archbishop was firmly opposed to their presence in his archdiocese, excommunicating them and anyone who frequented their church or heard their sermons. The populace had been encouraged to throw stones at their

The following is one of Ignatius’s most direct and blunt letters. The recipient, Antonio Soldevila, apparently gave more than occasion for it. The Catalan had entered the Society of Jesus in 1551 and came to Rome in 1553. At first, he had a reputation for devotion and spirituality, but Soldevila soon showed eccentric and hardheaded

With this letter written by Juan Alfonso de Polanco, Ignatius orders the Society’s rectors to ensure that the local languages were used throughout all the Jesuit houses. Ignatius had ordered this previously and repeated it at the beginning of the year. This policy sought to enable the Jesuits not only to speak to those whom

As the rector at Leuven, Adrian Adriaenssens frequently consulted Ignatius on a variety of questions. In this letter, Ignatius addresses Adriaenssens’s problem of how to provide the proper food for his scholastics who are of different nationalities and physical constitutions. While Ignatius recommends having all get used to the ordinary local diet, he is clear

Emerio de Bonis was a twenty-five-year-old scholastic strongly troubled by temptations against chastity. He had been in the Society for five years and felt overly uncertain about himself. He revealed his state of soul to Ignatius. De Bonis received the following reply from Ignatius, written on his behalf by Juan Alfonso de Polanco. Ignatius calls

In this letter to Lorenzo Bresciani, Ignatius explains how the Society of Jesus “regards the mingling of human attachments with charity as imperfect.” Bresciani had reportedly given rosaries and an error-filled dialogue to certain ladies, signs of preferential treatment to which Ignatius had found objectionable. For more sources from Ignatius, please visit the Letters of Ignatius