The Ignatian Center for Spirituality in Rome closed a five-week conference on Ignatian Spirituality on February 18, 1978, with Pedro Arrupe delivering the following remarks. The Superior General of the Society of Jesus based his remarks on a phrase from the Jesuits’ Formula, approved by Pope Julius III in 1550. For Arrupe, the phrase “To […]
“Ecclesial Service,” Pedro Arrupe (1978) Read More »
The following is a partial transcript—as translated by Jerome Aixala and published by Jesuit Sources—of an interview Pedro Arrupe had an Italian television program “Encounter” in September 1975. Among the interviewer’s admittedly “provocative questions” to the Jesuits’ superior general are those on Arrupe’s own personal history (he provides a vivid account of the bombings and
“An Hour with Father Arrupe” (1975) Read More »
Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus on July 21, 1773. In the preceding decades, the Jesuits had suffered expulsions from the Catholic empires of Portugal (1759), France (1764), and Spain (1767), where they had become handy scapegoats for kings or princes under civic pressure. In Portugal, for example, charges against the Society included
Dominus ac Redemptor (1773) Read More »
Gaspar Loarte published The Exercise of the Christian Life in 1557 (just a year after the death of Ignatius de Loyola) as the Spanish Jesuit served as the rector of a Jesuit college in Genoa. The slim volume provided prayers, meditations, and general advice to Christians who desired to live a more devout life. Exemplifying
On Remedies for the Second Sin of the Flesh, Gluttony (1557) Read More »
The 132nd annual meeting of the American Historical Association (January 4–7 in Washington, D.C.) is centered on the themes of “Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Global Perspective.” The conference features the following academic panels and presentations, among others, related to the field of Jesuit Studies: Thursday, January 4, 1:30PM Panel: “The Digital
January 2018: Presentations on Jesuit Studies at the AHA Conference Read More »
The last decree issued by the 35th General Congregation concerned the “dynamism” begun by the previous congregation of Jesuit delegates in 1995. The decree below contains the delegates’ call for renewal by the members of the Society of Jesus of “our commitment to apostolic collaboration and to a profound sharing of labor of the life
Decree 6: “Collaboration at the Heart of Mission,” General Congregation 35 (2008) Read More »
The delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus address the topic of Jesuit obedience in the following decree. They define “obedience” in the context of the vow the members of the Society of Jesus make to the pope as a vow “grounded in the desire to be sent effectively, to serve
The third of six decrees promulgated by the delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus articulated some of the main challenges facing the Jesuits and their works. The decree, appearing below, reaffirms the Society’s mission in the face of challenges, places that mission the new context of the dawn of the
Decree 3: “Challenges to Our Mission Today,” General Congregation 35 (2008) Read More »
On February 2, 2006, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, having reached an agreement with Pope Benedict XVI to allow for his resignation as the Jesuits’ superior general, dispatched a letter to the Society of Jesus indicating that “it had become more and more clear that the Society has arrived at a situation…which required a General Congregation.” That gathering—the
Decree 1: “With Renewed Vigor and Zeal,” General Congregation 35 (2008) Read More »
In the degree below, the delegates of the 34th General Congregation grant certain powers and responsibilities to their order’s new superior general, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, with those powers mainly concerning the issuance of the congregation’s decrees and recommendations. They also require Kolvenbach “to complete the work on the Complementary Norms and the Notes to the Constitutions
