Search Results for: Lages

In the 1740s, Feodosii Smorzhevskii, a Russian hieromonk in Beijing, reported to his superiors on the work of Jesuit missionaries in China. Both the Russian Orthodox and Catholic missionaries attempted to navigate the labyrinthine world of the Qing imperial court. In the selection below, the Russian hieromonk reveals—in vivid detail—the precarious position of Christians in […]

Pedro Arrupe issued the following letter to the whole of the Society of Jesus in March 1977. Rutilio Grande was assassinated earlier that month, becoming the fifth Jesuit martyred in less than a year. These five men were “of average human gifts, leading obscure lives, more or less unrecognized, dwelling in small villages and totally

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

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

The following decree, the first promulgated by the 34th General Congregation, explains that the congregation’s “major work” is the “revision of our law and the orientation of our mission for today.” The delegates went about this work by calling for an “annotated text of the Constitutions,” which would include complementary norms “to enable Jesuits to