1 Spiritual Policy: Ignatian Exercises and the Mission of the Society of Jesus

When the original ten companions of the Society of Jesus met with Pope Paul III in 1539, they had only begun to create a cohesive order, comprised of individuals whose personal histories were as varied as they were unorthodox. Regardless of their past, by 1550 the group soon found a new start through the papal bulls Regimini militantis ecclesiae (1540) and Exposcit debitum (1550). Stated in both edicts was the following, (quote) By the series of these present letters and toward their precisely intended effect, we absolve those previously mentioned companions and their coadjutors as well as the scholastics of the same Society from any sentences whatsoever of excommunication, suspension, or interdict...1 (end quote) The inclusion of this statement granted the newly ordained clerics the privilege of a new start, with a new order. Much of what Ignatius wrote was informed by his relationship with his fellow companions, for they helped coalesce and implement Ignatius ideas. Indeed this knowledge played into the content of both bulls and the insurance of clemency for any past transgressions. Future Jesuits absorbed these ideas and writings of openness by Loyola prior to and during their missions abroad, influencing their development and subsequent ministry within Europe and without. In this paper, I intend to expand upon the literature directed and written by Ignatius during the formative years of the Society, specifically the Spiritual Exercises. Its instruction cemented a policy that would come to define the later missionary practices, where the Jesuit ministry opened up to the culture in which they proselytized. In order for early Jesuits to gain awareness of the key cultural characteristics of the people to which they would minister, they first needed to undergo training through the Exercises, a guide which Ignatius crafted through his own complex life experience. Four years after Luther had publicized his grievances with Rome and her representatives, Ignatius, or Iigo, de Loyola , then a Spanish soldier, recovered at his familys castle from an injury sustained at a battle with the French at Pamplona. It was there that he encountered a series of spiritual experiences informed by the only books available within the librarya collection of the lives of the saints and the Vita Christi, or Life of Christ, a fourteenth century account of Jesus life written for the purpose of meditation and reflection.2 Undoubtedly, the latter text had a particular influence on Ignatius, who although a Christian had never felt compelled to reflect upon the figure of Christ or spirituality in general. Two years of incapacitation afforded him the
1

Julius III, Exposcit debitum, July 21, 1550, by which Pope Julius III confirmed and amplified the approbation first given in the bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae of September 27, 1540. in George Ganss, S.J., trans., The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1970), 72. 2 Paul Shore, The Vita Christi of Ludolph of Saxony and its Influence on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (St. Louis: Seminar on Jesuit Spirituality, 1998), 2-5.

2 opportunity to do so. Inspired by the revelations, Ignatius first began formulating the Spiritual Exercises in 1521 as an explanation of his own journey as well as a means of assisting other Christians in their own personal pursuit of purpose through both careful reflection and spiritual strength. Charged with a new devotion, Ignatius rejected the military and noble life. Many years prior to earning prominence as a religious leader, Ignatius traveled around Spain, lived as a hermit, and eventually made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Prevented from traveling into the major disembarkation points at Barcelona or Rome, he stopped at Manresa (Montserrat), where his hiatus turned into a year of prayer, penance, and meditation. By early 1523, he had composed the complete method of the Exercises, the solitude and silence at Manresa contributing to his growing mystical experiences.3 In Spain, his public preaching was criticized by the Inquisitional court, primarily for the fact that his teachings on mysticism appeared reminiscent of an earlier collective of Spanish heretics.4 Other criticism derived from similarities between his meditative approach and the Alumbradismo (the internal enlightenment), whose ranks included Jewish conversos, those who had converted to Christianity from Judaism. To be sure, Ignatius had engaged with these groups due to his own curiosity and openness for such an atypical theology. The controversy over his mystical beliefs, coupled with issues of public preaching, led Ignatius to seek higher education, mainly due to the stipulation that only collegiate-trained priests could speak on matters of faith in public.5 He then attended the universities at Alcala and Salamanca, and thus initiated a later defining commitment of his order. Although the Inquisition again questioned his public teachings at the two Spanish institutions (Dominicans), Ignatius successfully cleared his name and sought theological work outside of his homeland.6 His later studies in Paris gained Ignatius more supporters, and through a small group of friends he tested his program of spiritual reflection and public ministry. Spanish, Portuguese, and French devotees, six in number at that time, made the Exercisesmade meaning they completed the full outlined programand committed themselves to solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Their missions never came to fruition.7 They took their vows at Montmartre, Paris in 1534 on the Feast of the Assumption, and sought the blessing of the pope for passage to the Holy Land. Paul III, perceiving too great a danger, requested they stay in Rome.8 It was then that the founders took a final vow, one of obedience. In 1540, three

Robert W. Gleason, S.J., Introduction, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, translated by Anthony Mottola (New York: Image Books, 1964), 13. 4 R. Po-Chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal 1540-1770 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 26. 5 Simon Ditchfield, The Jesuits in the Making of a World Religion, in History Today 57.7 (London: History Today Ltd., 2007), 53-4. 6 John Patrick Donnelly, S.J., ed. and trans. Jesuit Writings of the Early Modern Period (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2006), xiii. 7 Schurhammer, 217. 8 Hsia, 27.

3 years after the ordination of the ten companions, the Regimini militantis ecclesiae of Paul III granted the group status as a religious order, thereby founding the Society of Jesus. The mention of militancy would only be expounded further by an additional bull from Julius III in 1550, Exposcit debitum. Removing any doubt over the question of the Societys legitimacy, the decree also incorporated defense into the original statement of purpose, that of propagation of the faith.9 Certainly the tone of Tridentine discussions colored this militant tone, but the Society from its inception and early development never saw itself as an outwardly aggressive sect by any means. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises evoked the language of soldiering for God, in that the Jesuit initiate must undertake a personal struggle, one that was intended to be spiritually but even more so physically demanding. When Francis Xavier made the Exercises, he was reported to have been so frail from strict fasting and binding his limbs together with rope that Ignatius worried for his physical health.10 In order to understand the ministry that involved such dedication, one must look at how the development of the individual companion occurred through the Spiritual Exercises. Many later detractors saw the process as a means through which the Jesuits ensured strict and blind obedience, but the language itself employed by the author himself tells another story. Twenty points of direction provided in the opening pages cover a variety of issues that might arise during the course of the four weeks of reflection and instruction, but the language often stresses moderation or caution. Initial points encourage instruction for individuals feeling desolation or confrontation with evil spirits, while also advising that during times of great temptation and confusion for the exercitant, the one giving the Exercises should not talk with him on the rules for discerning different spirits, as this distracts the individual from engaging on his own. Nor should the master attempt to influence the exercitants decisions, or, concerning mendicant service versus secular, encourage him to embrace one state of life rather than another.11 The Exercises themselves evoke, as Christopher Hollis stated, calm reasoning and psychological consolation. Perhaps later companions employed the text as the source for all spiritual problems or as a guide that demanded rigid obeisance, but it is with no authority from Ignatius.12 Similar to the phrasing of the early organizational writings, the full title of Ignatius volume described a spiritually militant purpose of the program, which was to lead Man to conquer himself, to disengage himself from the fatal influence of evil affections, and, with his heart thus set free to trace out for himself the plan of a truly Christian life.13 Training through the Spiritual Exercises followed a systematic pattern of weekly contemplation, yet the structure also allowed for a more gradual progression through the prescribed actions and topics. Also
9

John W. OMalley, The First Jesuits, 5. Schurhammer, 219. 11 Mottola, trans., Spiritual Exercises, 39. 12 Hollis, 10-11. 13 Ignatius de Loyola, Manresa: or the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for general use , Translated (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, Ltd., 1914), ix.
10

4 importantly, Ignatius explained that the Exercises were not intended to be done alone, even though the basic reflection was done on an individual level within the mind and between the exercitant and God. In fact, during each of the original companions progression through the Exercises, Ignatius himself served as the director or councilor, also referred to as master. Through the director, the individual was to analyze how best to complete the retreat based on age, capacity, health, and commitment.14 Essentially, the process was adaptable. The fact that the guide, which was to become the standard for Jesuit ordination, maintained an open and moderate approach indicates how Ignatius intended the spiritual reflection to progress, especially for converts. Here, the master who directs the exercitant, standing in the middle like the balance of a scale, should allow the Creator to work directly with the creature, and the creature with its Creator and God.15 Following along the prescribed schedule, the two interacted only in a way that furthered interaction of the exercitant with spiritsboth positive and negative. No element of the Exercises sought to control the individual or force them towards an area with which the exercitant was unfamiliar. In addition, the guide could potentially last longer than prescribed and be conducted more than once, which afforded Jesuits the opportunity to continually readdress their spiritual reflection based on the status of their apostolic life. According to John OMalley, Ignatius Exercises set the pattern and goals of all ministries in which the Society engaged, even though it was not explicitly recognized as doing so.16 It imparted lasting and repeated instruction on the followers of Ignatius long after his death. Since the Five Chapters required all Jesuits to make the Exercises before ordination into the Society, all considered themselves mastersthat is authorities of the Exercises and guides for those seeking all aspects of spirituality from simple examination of conscience to the search for salvation.17 When Xavier and Rodrigues served as confessors in the Portuguese Inquisition of 1540, they employed the guidance of the Exercises, not the Bible, in their ministry to help the accused reflect on their sins and heterodoxy.18 The structure of each stage of the Exercises followed three essential steps; examination, meditation, and contemplation. Although ascetic and contemplative in training, Ignatius saw the need for social discourse and active involvement in these internal processes. The three stages were meant to be undertaken daily, and whether one was to follow the prescribed steps or not, entertaining rhetorical situations was integral in order to connect the self, God, and Gods will for the self. In order to conduct such a rhetorical examination, the master and the participant would engage in the Exercises together, thereby linking the eremitic with the social. The process also included physical control. In meditation, the body was to be maintained in such a manner as was favorable to lesson and dogmatic recollection, since the Exercises required a solid grasp on
14

Ignatius de Loyola, Manresa, x. Anthony Mottola, trans., The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius (New York: Image Books Ltd., 1964), 41. 15 Mottola, trans., Spiritual Exercises, 41. 16 John W. OMalley, The First Jesuits (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), 4. 17 Mottola, trans., Spiritual Exercises, 37. 18 Schurhammer, 695.

5 doctrine to successfully combat sin. Contemplation required the initiate to apply their sensesto hear, feel, taste, and see the mysteries of Christ, which could arrive in celebration of the sacraments or ministry to others.19 Seeing in particular played a significant role in early Jesuit missions, as engravings and illustrations, such as Jeronimo Nadals Evangelicae historiae imagines and Adnotationes et meditationes imagines, served as inspiration for the missionaries and the exercitants serving as potential converts. Visual presentation would certainly go on to influence overseas ministries, as much scholarship on global Jesuit art has shown.20 Taken comprehensively, the Exercises involved more than simply artistic direction or a refashioning of scenes of Christ and the saints within ones imagination; it required, as Simon Ditchfield described, a systematic concentration of the whole mind by way of a disciplined application of all five senses.21 While it functioned as the vehicle for spiritual training for the earliest Jesuits, it was not until the first printing and papal approval in 1548 that the text became available to more people outside Romeand more companions within the Society. Laity and novitiates alike, including members of other orders and even some Protestants, sought to engage in the Exercises in a purely investigative manner, while Jesuits living in various corners of Europe and its expansionary peripheries could access and, perhaps more importantly, transport the guide. By 1608 it was required annual reading for all active Jesuits.22 Less than a century after its drafting, the bastion of Ignatian spirituality had turned more mobile and became increasingly more involved in ministry throughout the globe.

letter from Ignatius described a view to adaptation o we for a good purpose may praise or agree with another [non-Christian individual] in regard to some particular good thing, passing over his other bad things, and winning his love we do our things better; and thus going in by his door we come out by ours. (56) quoted from Epistolae Ignationem, vol. I, 179-81

19 20

Ignatius de Loyola, x-xiv. See John W. OMalley and Gauvin Alexander Bailey, eds., The Jesuits and the Arts 1540-1773 (2005); OMalley, Bailey, Steven J. Harris, and T. Frank Kennedy, eds., The Jesuits II: Cultures, Sciences and the Arts (2005); Bailey, Art on the Jesuit Missions in Asia and Latin America (1999). 21 Ditchfield, The Jesuits in the Making of a World Religion, 53. 22 Jonathan Wright, Gods Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power: A History of the Jesuits (New York: Doubleday, 2004), 47.

Figure 1. Xavier dreams that he relieves India from danger on his shoulders and escorts him to safety, engraving by Hendrick Cause and Sebastian van Loybos, Antwerp, ca. 1690. Courtesy of George Vahamikos. Prayer cards like these intended to inspire the missionary of the worth and necessity of their cause.