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consists of a group of Jesuits from various provinces who are listed below.
The members were appointed by the Fathers Provincial of the United States.
The Purpose of the Seminar is to study topics pertaining to the spir-
itual doctrine and practice of Jesuits. especially American Jesuits, and to
communicate the results to the members of the Assistancy. The hope is that
this will lead to further discussion among all American Jesuits--in private,
or in small groups, or in community meetings. All this is done in the spirit
of Vatican Council II's recommendation to religious institutes to recapture
the original charismatic inspiration of their founders and to adapt it to
the changed circumstances of modern times. The members of the Seminar wel-
come reactions or comments in regard to the topics they publish.
To achieve these purposes, especially amid today's pluralistic cul-
tures, the Seminar must focus its direct attention sharply, frankly, and
specifically on the problems, interests, and opportunities of the Jesuits of
the United States. However, many of these interests are common also to Jes-
uits of other regions, or to other priests, religious men or women, or lay
men or women. Hence the studies of the Seminar, while meant especially for
American Jesuits, are not exclusively for them. Others who may find them
helpful are cordially welcome to read them.
• •
11
•
Editor1s Foreword
Many J esuits have on occasion found that their kn owl edge about
St. Ignatius I attitude and practic e with regard to the Jews is ob s cure
and fragmentar y. some thing l ess than a comprehensive whole. They kn ow i n
a general way. for example. that there wa s an impedime nt agai n s t admitting
converted Jews into the Society . even as late as 1924 when the Ep i tome
Instituti Societatis Iesu was publi shed in Rome. Bu t did that i mpediment
spring. to any no teworthy exte nt. fr om St. Ignatius ' own attitude or from
later enactments? and under what circums tances? When ques ti on s such as
these arose, these Jesuits have f ound themse l ves uncomfortably unable t o
answer with the precision and confiden ce they would like.
One reason for thi s situation is that the live s of St. Ignati us avail -
able in English are si l ent on the topic or a l most so . Even the SOD-page
life by Dudon devotes only three pages (386-388) to Ignatius ' work among
the Jews; and th ese pages dea l, in rather s ketchy fash i on, with merely one
of his projects, the house of catechumens for converted Jews and Mus li ms
in Rome. That brief account is manifestly insuffi ci ent to convey a view
of hi s attitude as a whole.
A few years ago Father James W. Reite s . S .J .• pr esentl y th e chairman
of the Department of Relig i ous Studies in the University of Santa Clara,
was prodded by a derogat ory remark about Ignatiu s l att i tude t oward the
Jews, and then surp rised at the difficu lty of fi nding any comprehensive
treatment rea sonabl y available for appraising that remark from a J esuit
pOint of view . For a rather l ong while not hing seemed available except
scattered fragments without adequate background. Becoming mo r e and more
interested , he chose this area as the t opi c for his doctoral dissertation
in the Gregorian Uni versity. Rome. He pursued hi s extensive research on
it under the veteran dire ctor of di sse rtation s on Ignat ian t opic s , Father
Gervais Dumeige, S.J .• Dean of the Faculty of Sp iritual Theology. The
disse rtati on was submitted and approved i n 1979 , with the title: St . Ig-
natius of Loyola and the People of the Boo k: An Hi storical- Theological
Study of St . Ignati us of Loyo'La 'sSpiritual Motivati on in His Dealings
with the Jews and MUslims.
In the present issue of these Studies , Father Reites has compre ss ed
.. .
111
2
Many fled the country, but many more were converted before Si sebut died.
A general discriminatory policy again s t Jews conti nued for many yea r s , with
the fifth through seventeenth Councils of Toledo containing some so rt of
legislation against them. Jews were gradual l y st r ipped of right s, and
humiliating and painful punishments like flogging or pulling out of hair
were infli c t ed for misdemeanors. Under King Recceswinth (653). a l l Jews
were f or ced t o sign a placitum , a l engthy oath which made the practice of
Judaism impossible. Vi olations of the oath wou ld r es ult in death by fire
4
or stone.
King Egica (687-702) and the Sixteenth Council of To l edo (693) forced
Jews to sell their prope~ty and slaves at a fix ed price, whi ch were then
given to the nobles and c lergy. The Sevent eenth Council (694), in con -
junction with the king, accused the Jews of conspiring with their brethren
in North Africa t o surr ender Spain to the Moors. I ts decrees reduced Jews
to perpetual s lave r y, confiscated their goods, and scattered them t o various
provinces. Moreover, all Jewish chi ldren above the age of seven were taken
from their parents and r aised as Ch ri stians. I t i s not s urpri s ing, then,
that when Muslim forc es under Tarik in vaded Spain in 711 to overturn the
Visigothic rule, the Jews vie wed them as saviors and we l comed them with
open arms. It i s not ce rtain that the J ews actua l ly helped the ~ruslims,
S
but neither i s it improbable.
There seem t o have been a number of r easons for the Visigothic
persecuti on of th e Jews . The J ews were powerfu l and aggressive, and were
seen as a threat to th e Church. The state, united with the Church, had both
religious and political reasons to l egislate against the Jews. The crown
even went beyond the Church in its effor t to preserve the faith, but the
Visigothic kin gs also used the Jewish i ss ue as a means to unify the country
and gain the support of the bishops.6
Under 400 years of Mu s lim rule, the Jews flourished mo r e than ever
•
before. They enj oyed a tim e of prosperity and creati vity and achieved
great s trides in poetry. rabbini c l iterature , medi ci ne , and philosophy.
So successful was this period that th e latter ha lf became known as the
Golden Era of the Jews in Spain. But with the ascendancy of the fanatical
Almohade s and their ultimatum, tl I s l arn or death,lI many Jews fled north to
Christian Spain where the Reconquista was making its s l ow prog r ess. 7
4
As attacks against the marranos increased, there came a call from the
people and from the Dominican and Franciscan orders to introduce the In-
quisition in Spain. After a short delay and disputes about its control,
Sixtus IV in 1480 gave permission for its introduction and placed two
Dominicans in charge. The Inquisition was soon to spread to all major
5
~he New Christians, some faithful, some baptized only under duress to avoid ex-
pulsion from Spain. Over the years as sentiment against the Jews grew, the
distinction between these groups became blurred; and that between converted
and non-converted Jews seemed to disappear. Their "bad blood" (mala sangre),
many thought. made all Jews, whether converted or not. evil and perverse.
Eventually. limpieza de sangre, purity of blood, was a major
"
concern. Judaism
had become not on ly a religious problem, but an ethnic one as well. 14
It was in this context that Ignatius of Loyola, the seventh son of an
old Basque family. was born, hardly one year before the edict of expulsion
was Signed. He probably met no Jews during his childhood in Spain. The
first mention of any kind of connection that he might have had with Jews
or Jewis h Christians does not occur until he was interrogated by the In-
quisition soon after his conversion. Here, perhaps, is his early attitude
t oward Jewish Christians revealed.
B. Ignatius at Alcala
After Ignatius had been in jail for seventeen days, the Vicar Figueroa
7
C. At Paris
Not until his years of study at the Universi t y of Paris did I gnati us '
more mature attitude become gradually recognizable. There he met Diego
Laynez. a young man who had heard so much about Igna tius that after finish-
ing his studies at Alcala in 1532, he went t o meet hi m in Paris. 20 Born
-
in 1512 in the old Castilian town of Almazan, Diego, who se father was a New
Christian, came from a well-to-do family. Though his Chri stian faith
descended from three generations, Diego, becaus e of hi s gr ea t- grandfa th er' s
21
Jewish origin, was still cons idered a J ew. Certainly Diego must have
confided this information to hi s friend during th ei r acqua int ance , for the
t wo were tee
h I osest 0 .
f companIons, 22 b ut It
. eV I. d
en t I rna e no d I· ff eren ce
yd
to Ignatius. If he did share the common Guipuzcoan attitude to\.:ard the
conversos before meeting Laynez, Ignatius was never to leave his attitude
in doubt after meeting him, because sub seq uentl y there IS no hi nt that
racial origin i s of any importance to him.
Besides the influence of Laynez in Ignat ius ' life, his s tud y of
St. Thomas Aquinas also made an impression on him and modified hi s attitudes.
Though little is known of Ignatius I precise th eological course at th e
8
79- year- old Gian Pietro Carafa on May 23, 1555, as Pope Paul IV, however,
there was a radical change in papal policy toward the Jews. Just seven
weeks after assuming the Chair of Peter, Paul IV issued the bull Cum nimis
absurdum, which Jewish historians consider the most infamous and discriminatory
legislation ever to issue from the Papal States. 32 Henceforward. the Jews
of Rome were caught up in the hard reform-minded stance of the Church. What
was viewed as tolerance by some was now seen as laxness by others. Thus,
t Oleration gave way to severe restrictions that were to last almost to the
33
demise of the Papal States.
Ignatius was to enter Rome at the end of one papal attitude toward
the Jews and to die there at the beginning of another. There are two things
that tell us how Ignatius viewed the Jews during th e last twelve years of
hi s life spent at Rome: hi s work for their convers ion, and his reaction
t o Paul IV' s CWn nimi s absurdum .
the happy news that dowries had been found for t hr ee Jewish women who had
converted. 39 During this fir s t period of his apostolate, too , Ignatius
ordinarily had the Jewi sh catechumens stay i n the Jesuit house . Ribadeneyra,
a young boy at the time living at th e Jesuit house on Via degli Astalli,
tells that despit e the povert y and aus t erity of the hou se , Ignatius continued
this practice for several years. He would teach them, support them by
begging, and later help th em find jobs. Ribadeneyra wr ites:
Many Jews, moved by the l ove of our fe ll ow Je sui t s or the good
example of some of their own who were already baptized, were
converted to our faith. Among them were some of the most
respected Jews who were highl y importan t for converting other s
because they could clearly and forcefu l ly persuade the other
Jews, s howin g them fr om Scr ip ture that Jesus Chri st our Lord
is the real promised Me ssiah. 40
Thus another aspect of Ignatius ' personal aposto l ate was his interest in
•
teaching newly baptized Jews to act as apostles to their O\<l'n people .
Not only did the conver t s help attract other Jews to the faith,
but the so lemn baptisms, suc h as that of t he young Jew mentioned earlier,
were also ins trument s f or the conversion of other Jews perhaps drawn to
Christianity. They in themse l ves were an ap ostO l ic means as they attracted
attention and served as a witness to ot hers. Multiplying his own \<I'o rk in
thi s way by making use of practical means at hand, Ignatius S3 \<1' thi s
project in Rome as a tremendous success.
Ignatius ' practicality i s s hown, t oo , by his wor k against the custom
12
of forcing converts to turn over all of their material goods t o the state.
This practice was a relic of the Middle Ages, and the thinking behind it
was that the Jewish converts should s how a complete break with the past,
giving up everything they had gained while they were Jews. Obviously this
41
proved a considerable obstacle to conversion. To bring more Jews to the
faith, Ignatius asked the pope to abolish the practice. In response. Paul
III in 1542 is sued the bull Cupientes iudaeos, whi ch allowed Jewish and
other converts to retain their property, even that obtained by usury if
42
impossible to return. They were also extended full rights of citizenship
and we re able to retain their legitimate inheritance, even if they had
converted against the will of their parents who might then want to dis-
inherit them.
Ignatius ' work in Rome attracted so many J ews to the faith that there
were soon too many catechumens t o be conveniently housed and fed in the
small Jesuit house near their church of Santa Maria della Strada. In
Ignatius' mind, a house for catechumens (aasa dei aateahumeni) was direly
needed. After several appeals from Ignatius , Paul III issued the bull
Illis qui , whi ch designated the church of San Giovanni del Mercato as the
43
seat of th e new aasa. In a letter to Francis Xavier in 1543, Ignatius
writes of his pleasure with the house:
Now that this work has been so well established through our
sendin g t o Father Juan for the use of the neophytes all the
bedsteads and househo ld furniture which we had, and likewise
the alms that we had put in deposit for the same purpose, we
hope in our Lord that this work, so well ordered and confirmed
by apostolic authority, will expand into other works that will
serve Hi s Div ine Majes ty; for he is the one who bestows both
the will and the accomplishment of all good things. 44
Typically, Ignatius mixes "bed steads" and works that "serve His Divine
Majesty" in his down-to-earth spirituality. Of course this is an old
convict i on which Ignatius brought from Manresa, a worldview that sees God
acting in the ordinary, everyday events of life. In his usual contorted
syntax Ignatius informed Xavier that:
God our Lord has moved the matter forward so much already, as
happens where His Divine Majesty in any way plants and waters
for us so lowly and un-useful men, that out of his infinite
and supreme "goodness, he has willed to advance this same
project even further ahead through a good man and friend of
mine, Juan del Mer cado. 45
13
Until 1555, Ignatius had dealt on l y with Jew s \o,'ho wished to conve rt.
The issue of the bull Cum nimis absur dwn , . . 'ith i t s unparallel ed r es tr ic ti ons
on the Jews of Rome, provides us with the opportunity t o se e Igna t ius '
attitude t oward Jews who had no in t ention of converting. I ssued i n 1555 by
Pope Paul IV, Gian Pietro Carafa, the papa l document mirror s wha t many
s ixteen th- cent ury theolog ians had to say about th e Jews . Thus , it i s wort h
c iting the preamble to the bu l l at l ength.
It i s ex tr emely absurd and alt ogether inappropri ate that J ews ,
whom thei r own guil t has consigned t o perp e tual ser vitude ,
should--under the pretext that Chri s tian pie t y a ccep t s them
and a ll ows them to live among Chri s tians --be so ungr a t e ful t o
Christians that t hey pay back favor with in sult s and , i n pl ace
of the servitude that they owe to the Chri s tian s , mana ge t o
assume dominion. We have r ecently r ecei ved infor mati on tha t
their inso l ence has gone so far in our de a r c it y of Rome and i n
sever a l ot her cities, vil l ag es , and l oca liti es o f th e Ho l y
Roman Church that they not on l y ventur e t o l ive int ermi ng l ed
with Christians, even near their churches , wi th out an y
distinction in their attire, but a l so dar e t o rent houses in
the choicest s tr eets and squar es of th ose c it ies , vi l lages ,
and l ocalities. They a l so acquire and own r ea l es tat e , emp l oy
wet nurses, maids, and oth e r hir ed Chri s tian se r va nt s , and
commi t various other act s t o th e shame and con t empt of t he
Chri s tian name.
The bull continues that, be aring in mi nd all th ese t hings , t he Roma n
ChuTch nevertheless tolerates the J ews in witn ess of t he true Ch ri s t ia n
faith; but that as l ong as they pers Et in th ei r e rr or s , t hey will r emai n
servant s and the Christians will be th e onl y fr ee peopl e . To ove r come t he
14
"evil!! power the Jews were gaining, the Holy See instituted measures of
unprecedented harshness. The first of these was the establishment, for the
first time in Rome and other papal cities, of obligatory Jewish quarters.
After more than 1500 years of continuous residence in Rome, the Jews were
t o live in a ghetto with only one gate to enter by. All property outside
the gate would be sold to Christians. All synagogues except one in each
city we re to be destroyed, and all Jews were to wear badges to indicate
their Jewishness. They were not allowed to employ Christians as servants,
nor were they to work on Christian feast days. Social gatherings with
Christians would be kept to a minimum and a Jew was not to be addressed as
Signore. Sir. by a Christian. Jewish physicians were not to treat Christians
even if th ey were requested to do so. In addition, Jews could not own
real estate. nor could they engage in ordinary business except to sell old
rags and secondhand goods. Restrictions were also placed on their money-
50
lend ing. Though these measures were not new to the history of the Jews,
never before had they been joined together and enforced with such vigor.
The Roman ghetto was erected within the astonishing time of two weeks and
51
soon surr ounded by a wall which the Jews themselves had to pay for.
Not on l y were these restrictions extremely severe, but their orienta-
ti on marks a dramatic shift in the papal attitude toward the conversion of
the Jews. For the first time papal policy was aimed primarily at converting
th e Jews to Christianity. Whereas in the past there was oOly a vague
expectation that the Jews would eventually be converted, now there were
legal restrictions who se purpose was not to protect Christians from being
influenced by Jews, but t o convert the Jews, and this policy seems to have
been f o llowed by the majority of Paul IV's successors. 52 As the decree states:
The Roman Church t olerates the Jews in witness of the true
Christian faith and to the end [ad hoc~ ut] that they. led
by the piety and kindness of the Apostolic See, should at
length recognize their errors and make all haste to arrive
at the true light of the Catholic faith. 53
The bull goes on to say that thi s is why the restrictions are being put into
effect. Kenneth Stow shows that whi Ie all fonner papal legislation says
that t he Jews are tOlerated although (lioet) they do not believe, from
Cum nimis absurdum on , Jews are tol erated to the end that they may be
54
conve rted (ad hoc~ ut) .
•
15
Father Giacomo Martina has traced the thinkin g behind the bull to a
long line of Cath olic theologians who, beginning with Augustine, devel oped
a theological f oundati on for anti-Jewi sh sentiment. Using St. Paul ' s
example of the Old Testament figures of Jac ob , Esau, Sarah, and Aga r
(Romans 9:1 3; Galatians 4 : 22 - 31) to show Christianity's sup e r io r it)' ove r
Judaism, Augusti ne added a more temporal interpretati on to Pau l' s doct r ine:
the Jews, like Esau, have lost their birthright and must now serve their
55
yOWlg brother, Jacob. In the High ~1iddl e Ages, Inno cent III (1198-1216)
56
spoke of the "perp etual servitude" of the Jews . Later St. Thomas Aquinas
adapted thi s attitude to a j uridical context. He wrote:
. . . although, as the laws state, the Jews because of their
guilt are consigned ·to perpetual servit ude , and sovereigns
consequently may tak e their property for themse lves , it must
be under thi s li m itati on~ that the s upports nec essa r y f or
life are not taken away.~7
Though the measures of the bull are pu r po rted to be disciplinary, it s
motivation is strictl y religi OUS, aimed at moving the Jew s c l ose r to con-
version. The J ews, condemned by God, were to be subjugated by men because
of their unw illingness to accept Chr istianity and their fidelity to the
Law of Moses . Tertullian, J erome, Ambros e , and John Chrysostom a ll speak
hars hly of the Jews i n the name of religion, frequ ently using the most
s8
common epithets of the bigot. By Ignati us' time, thi s r e li gious sent iment
against Jews had become the official pos ition of the hierar chi cal Church ,
typified in Paul I V' s bull.
Any person t oday would criticize thi s pos iti on, whi ch wa s offi cial l y
repudiated by the Fathers of t he Second Vatic an Council. The Dec l a r ation
on Religiou s Freedom s t ated that "gove rnment is t o see to it that the
equality of citizens before the l aw, whi ch is itse lf an e l ement of the
common welfare, is never violated for r eligious r easons whether openly or
59
cove rtl y ." In 1555, and for many years afterward, th e pope , as head of
the government of th e Papal States, quite open l y violated t he equality and •
human dignity of the Jews, and precisely for reli gi ous r easo ns.
When the bull was published, Ignatius sent copie s of it far and wide
with ins tru ctions t o pass th em around to other Jesuit houses after the y had
60
been r ead. In thi s way, he not only helped promulgate the bull, but
seems t o have agreed with it. I n the l etter to the r ec t or s of Je sui t co llege s,
16
he conunents that the bull contra "los ju£tos, "against the Jews," is livery
necessary in those lands where they are permitted to live," which also
suggests that he thought the Jews were somehow foreigners in a country they
61
had occupied longer than the Christians. This understanding of the civil
status of the Jews was, as we have seen, the position of Thomas and the
62
position of most Christian princes. It seems, then, that both his actions
and what little he said about the bull indicate that he did approve of it.
In his apparent agreement with this unjust bull, Ignatius was guilty
of the blindness of his time, but guilty only to a degree . According to his
mind, Ignatius was acting in a just manner by fighting to protect the rights
of Christians and preserve the one true faith. It was as unjust for Jews,
a subjugated people by definition, to assume power over their lords as it
was for s laves. The pope, by issuing the bull, was acting to restore right
order. For a man who was so devotedly willing to "obeyl1 and "praise" the
official teachings and precepts of the hierarchical Church (as he himself
63
advocates in his "Rules for Being One with the Church" ), it should come
as no surprise that Ignatius did indeed approve of the bull.
He was not, however, a hopeless victim of the blindness of his peers.
While he seems to have agreed with the bull and the establishment of the
ghetto, showing a religious anti-Judaism, he in no way shared what he called
the "temperament" (humor) of his fellow Spaniards: a phobia and dislike for
all Jews, converted .or not. If we distinguish between race and religion,
we find that although Ignatius shared the strong feelings against the
Jewish religion and all who practiced it, he clearly transcended his age
in his open-mindedness toward the Jews as a race of people. Objecting
only t o their denial of Christ, he hoped that harsh measures against them
would encourage them to reconsider and accept the Lord. Ignatius success-
fully fought to reinstate the decretal of Innocent III denying medical
treatment to th os e s eriously ill until they first went to confession, and
thi s f or their spiritual benefit, which he viewed as more important than
their phys ical we lfare. In simi lar manner it was natural for him, also
f or th e spiritual benefit of the Jews,to approve of the measures of Cum
. . a b Bur durn . 64
n"ums
It would be many years before even thi s religious anti-Judaism with
it s ve ry hars h practical consequences would be put officially aside by the
17
Church. The genuine Christian opposition t o all f orm s of anti -Semitism had
to wait until Pope Pius XI. In a publi c audien ce on Se ptember 6 , 1938 ,
Pius XI said: "Through Christ and in Christ, we a re all s piritual des ce nd ants
of Abraham. Anti-Semitism is inadmi ss ible. Sp irit uall y, we are all Semit es,,,65
purity of b l ood cul mina t ed in 1547 when th e Arc hdi ocese of Toledo , the
Primatial See of Spain. en f orced it s own statut es ba rr ing Jewish and
77
Moorish descendants from any positions wi thin the Chu r ch. Eventually
ratified by both th e king and pope, they s et the t one f or both the Chur ch
20
.. 78
and state toward those of Jewish and Moorish racial orIgIns. Though the
statutes speak of both Jewish and Moorish Christians, they had their greatest
impact on those of Jewish lineage, since the se were much more likely to
aspIre to positions of authority. The Moori sh Christians for the most part
lived in rural districts, and engaged in agriculture and manual labor, while
the Jewish Christians lived in cities, were me rchants, and were more edu-
79
cated . Thus, the statutes had to do almost entirely with Jewish Christians.
The first religious order at the time to enforce statutes against the
oonversos was the influential Order of St. Jerome, the Hieronymites. They
considered the question in 1461, but it took thirty years for the order to
accept the s tatute s and the pope to ratl. f y tern.
h 80 In 1496, the Dominican
Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas in Avila enacted and received papal approval
Sl
for its discriminating regulation. OVerty thirty years later, in 1531,
the Dominican houses of Santa Maria Nieba and San Pedro Martir of Toledo
82
were authorized to exclude New Christians. In 1525, the Franciscan
Observants requested and obtained from Pope Clement VII permission to
refuse applicants of Jewish descent as well as those who had been examined
83
by the Inquisition. Other orders, monasteries, churches, dioceses,
military orders, and confraternities followed suit so that by the time
Ignatius was writing the Constitutions of the Sooiety (chiefly from 1547
to 1556 ), all of the major and most influential religious orders of Spain
enforced clauses in their rules for admission excluding those of Jewish
. . 84
orIgIn.
The statutes, of cour se, were not always universally well received,
no r were they always strict ly enforced. The general sentiment, however,
leaned in favor of them, and opposition was confined mostly to New
.. 85
Ch rIstIans. The acceptance of the s tatutes by the Church of Toledo in
1547 and their ratifi cation by Pope Paul III in 1548, by Pope Paul IV in
1555, and finally by King Philip II in 1556 represented the official
86
position of both the Church and state in Spain.
One feature which distinguished the Je suits from other orders was
precisely their refusal to exclude J ewish Christians from their ranks .
This unique and controversia l policy evolved from much thought and consideration
21
by Ignatius during the time he was writing the Gen.eral Exconen , which wa s
completed in 1546. A means of investigation and a co nspectus intended t o
give an accurate account of the Society to possible candidat es , the Examen
87
also lists the prerequi sites for acceptan ce and reason s for exc lusion .
Because the fever of limpieza de sangre ran so high, Ignatius could not
omit consideration of the question while he wa s writing the Examen. In
fact, at that very time he was being badgered by Ant onio Araoz to exc l ude
New Christians from the Society.SS Yet nowhere in the Examen is there any
mention of racial origin as a reason for exclusion. While it 15 true that
candidates for the Society were t o be asked if they were 1! New" or "Old l l
Christians, this question is listed among thos e whose purpose wa s "to gain
. 89 _
a better knowledge of the candidate" (paPa mas conocer "La persona . . . ).
The question ranks with ones that ask for the candida te' s name, age, place
of birth, and so forth.
-
Alonso Salmeron, one of the early companions of Ignatiu s , f e lt that the
question should be deleted, and in fact it was deleted in text B of 1556 ,
90
but added again in Ignatius ' own hand. The many prob l ems that New
Christian Jesuits faced made it important that the Soci e ty kn ow of th ei r
origins from the beginning so that th ey could be trained t o meet them.
There were also some places where New Christian Jesuits could not be sent.
It was imperative, therefore, t o know who they were fr om the beginning.
But in no way was the question meant to be discriminatory.
Jesuit to go t o Spain in 1539, but was later named by Ignatius, who admired
91
his ability, as Spain's fir s t provincial.
An elegant preacher, Araoz soon became popular in court circles where
h e spent mue h 0 f h 1· 5 tIme.
. . f luential
92 Th ere h e met many In . people, firm
believer s in timpieza de sangre and interest ed in prohibiting Jewi sh
· ·
Ch Tlstlans f r om any posItIons
. . .In t h e Ch ure h or state. 9 3 Araoz f requent 1 y
wrote to Ignatius of the bateria , the racket, these people made in protest
94
aga inst the Societ y ' s acceptance of New Chris tians.
On December 11, 1545, jus t six months after Araoz and his companion,
Pierre Favr e . arrived in the CQurt of Prince Philip II where they were to
spend a year promoting the establishment and growth of the Society,
Araoz wrote to Ignatius expressing his concern about the acceptance of
New Chri s tians:
Fathe r, until th e Society is somewhat better known and
es tabli shed in Castile, it would seem very appropriate to
th ink ove r [mirar ] the matter of rec eiving New Christians
[gente verriac ], for, in the opinion of many, this alone i s
poison. 95
He goes on t o excuse himself if he has improperly brought up the question
and asse rt s that he doe s not believe there should be a rule against the
gente verriac , Itnew people. I I Throughout his carefUlly worded letter, Araoz
tries to be as di screet as possible in broaching the subject with Ignatius.
as if he already knows what I gnatius' reacti on will be. His sense of
.
delicacy about the problem is revealed in his use of the Basque word
verriac . mean1ng new or young. Ignatius , on the other hand, preferred to
use the more direct cristianos nuevos to refer to Christians of Jewish
or igin .
Ar aoz never fully accepted Ignatius' stand on the is sue and repeatedly
wrote t o him abou t it over a span of ten years. He s till felt that the
general sen timent in Spain was reason enough to change the Society's policy.
Igna t ius. however, remained firm. Adhering to the apostolic orientation
of the Socie t y , he de ci ded that a man's effectiveness in spreading the
gos pel and working for the Kingdom of God surpassed hi s ethnic or religious
origins as crit eria f or accep tance. A man of Jewi sh origin, he stressed,
could even give greate r g lory to God than an Old Christian because he had
96
had to overcome the handicap of being Jewis h.
In his ear l y a ttitude toward Jewish Christians, however, Ignatius ,
23
perhaps using the convention of his day . did consider a man ' s Jewi sh
heritage an imperfection or defect (la falta~ la nota) ,97 In a later
letter to Araoz, Ignatius says that New Chri s tians should have other gr ea t er
-
qualities (mas otras partes) to be admitted, and that qua lified candidat es
should be sent to Rome to avoid possible troubl e in Spain or Portugal. 98
Ignatius had his secretary. Juan de Polanco, write in one of hi s man y l etter s
on the subject to Araoz:
About not accepting New Christians, our Father i s not
persuaded that God would be served thi s way. But it seems
good to him that one ought to be more c ircumspect wit h them .
•
If over there [in Spain] the attitudes (humores) of the
court or of the king are against admitting them, send th em
here if they are worthy candidates, as we hav e written other
times. Here one does not l ook at the matter so closel y in
the light of what is the race of one who i s seen to be a good
person. just as nobility does not suffi ce for admissi on if
the other qualifications are lacking. 99
New Christians must have, he here indicates, compensating qualitie s to offset
the difficulties for them caused by the general cultural mili eu . The under-
lying criterion, however, for acceptance always rema ined a man's ability,
regardless of his racial or ethnic origin, to work for the goa l of the
Society, "the spiritual progress of sou l s " (ay udaJ' a las animas), whi ch i n
his thought is coupled, often explicitly as here, with "greater s ervl ce t o
His Divine Majesty" (mayor sepvicio de su divina Majestad) . 100
D. -
Problems from the Spanish Church: Archbi shop Si liceo
•
25
was us eless . He felt that he had no choice now but to invoke the papal
authority of th e Apos t ol ic Letters whi ch es ta blished and granted specia l
privileges to the Soc i ety and ord e r ed se r ious sanctions against tho se "'ho
. 1ate d
V10 h
tern. 110 Thus arm ed with th e papal bulls and l e tter s from the
apostolic nun c io, Giovanni Pogg i o , as well as fr om higher-placed friend s ,
Villanueva, accompanied by Miguel de Torr es , went to see th e ar ch bi s hop
for a second time.
It was durin g thi s second meetin g that the rea l reas ons behind
Sillceo's truculen ce emerged. -
Vi ll anu eva as ked Sili ceo if they cou l d
notify him of th e auth ority of th e bull s , to whi ch he responded that if
they did, he would burn them. Then, r efu s ing to address Villanueva because
•
he believed him raciall y impure, Sil i ceo drew Torre s as i de to tell him
that the main reason he had trea ted th e Society so badly was because of
its acceptance of New Chri s tians, 111 If the Society agreed to his limpieza
s tatut e imposed on the Church of To l edo, Si l iceo claimed , lIhe would treat
it well, and it would have no greate r fri end than he, or one who wou l d
.
f avor 1t more, 11112
In hi s letter of Novembe r 15 , 155 1, to Ignatiu s regarding the meet ing ,
Villanueva aired his own opinion of discrimination ~ga in s t New Chri s tians.
An Old Christian himse l f, he believed th at:
If we make a di s tinction such as the archbish op wan t s , more
will be lo s t in other region s than gained in hi s . . . .
People will stay away from us, notwith s tan ding the fact that
at the present time there are few grandees in Cas til e wh o are
not of mixed blood [que no esten mezcZ.ados ] . I t is a gr eat
pity that the authorities do not wi sh to give the se poor
people a place on thi s land . I wish that I had the s trength
to become th eir prot ector, es pec iall y s in ce we see that today
they have in them mo r e virtue than the Ol d Christians or the
hidal gos, 113
Torre s also wrote to Ignatius on t he same day , giving his har s h
judgment of the ar chbishop . He expressed his fru s tr ation at Sili ceo ' s
lack of respec t for the Holy See , which the arc hbishop be li eved to be
rife with nepotism and engaged in numer ous questionable ac tivitie s . Wh en
Torres asked what mo r e approbation other r eligious ord ers had, the arch-
bishop repli ed, "Miracl es," t o whi ch Torr es ret ort ed , liAs if mira c l es
did not have the same aposto l ic authorit y,lI To rr es ""a s th inking, of
course, that miracles, to be recogniz ed as authentic , s hou ld be declared
26
•
27
s imilar orders were issued to others in Spain. 125 Thus there was never any
universal discrimination against the New Christian s while Ignatius lived,
but for the time being and under the special circumstances, Ignatius com-
promised with the myth of Zimpieza .
Where concern for limpieza did not exist, however, there was no need
for any concessions to time or place. In ISS1 and 1552, at the height of
the difficulties with the archbishop of Toledo, Ignatius approved of the
entrance of the newly baptized Jew, Giovanni Batti sta Eliano, also called
Romano, who was the grandson and student of the famous rabbi, Elijah Levita
(ben Asher ha-levi Askinazi), and a rabbinical student himself. 126 The
twenty-one-year-old Eliano, who was well traveled and spoke six languages,
.
was baptIzed -
by Andre des Freux in Venice, and shortly afterwards was
.
accepte d Into t he S ·
oCIety. 127 After being called to Rome by Ignatius and
assigned to teach in the Roman College, which he did until 1560, he was
later sent to the Middle East where he worked as a missionary among the
128
Cop t s and Orthodox. Eliano's conversion and reception into the Jesuits
is espeCially noteworthy, for he is frequently referred to by present-day
Jewi sh hi s t orians as an example of Ignatius' open-mindedness t oward the
Jews. 129
experience with New Christians, men who cou l d not be surpa ssed in their
religi ous dedication to work for th e uni versal good. The Soc iety co uld
not exclude them and remain tru e t o it s apost o lic orientati on .
Perhaps Ignati us had thought the same as Juan de Avi l a, a New
Christian known as the Apostle of And a lus ia. Avila, th e l eade r of a com-
munity of men that worked especially to reform th e clergy, had es t ablis hed
several col l eges t o better prepare men for the pasto r a l mini s try. Simi l ar
to Ignatius in hi s apostolic spiri tua lit y , Avi l a , after hearing of 19natius '
work and hi s refu sal to exclude New Chri s tians , was ve r y much imp r essed
and even recommended some of his own disciple s t o the Societ y . Opposed
to discrimination on th e basis of race, Avila warned th e Societ y that it
could de s troy it se lf in ·two ways: th e first, by accepting too many
candidates, and the second, by making distin cti on s based on lineage and
blood. The se were the rea sons that Rib adeneyra wou ld rais e many year s
later when the Soc iet y was about t o abo li sh I gna ti us ' enlightened practice
of accepting New Chri stians . Ignatiu s and Avi la, mutual admirers and
similar in many ways, agre ed most strongly on this principle. 131
PART III. THE SOC IETY LATER EXCLUDES NEW CHRI STIANS
That concludes the present historical a ccount of Ignatius ' own
attitude t oward the Jews . Pe rhaps he is to be mos t commended in th i s
matter for re s isting all attempts to ena ct statutes of limpieza de sangre
for the Society. As we have se en, he r es i sted tremendous pr essures from
all sides t o change the Constitutions t o prohibit anyone of Jewish back -
ground from being admitted t o th e Soc iet y . Though kings, pr elates , nobles,
and even some of the Spanish J esu it s r epeated l y sought the ena ct me nt of
such legi s lation, Ignatiu s was adamant: There was to be no such impediment
in the Society of Je sus.
As Cecil Roth pointed out, howeve r, this attitude of Ignatius did
not prevail, and we cannot leave off our s tudy wi thout a br ief word about
the s ub sequent c han ge in the Soc i e ty' s l egislation co nc ernin g those of
Jewis h origin .
first general. Even in the time of Laynez, the second superior general of
the Jesuits, who was himself of Jewish blood, there were renewed attempts
t o restrict admission of New Christians to the Society.132 The third
general. Francis Borgia, also endured and resisted the same harangue as
Ignatius from advocates in Spain of limpieza de sangre. 133 But it was not
until the time of the fifth general, Claudio Aquaviva, that those who
sought to exclude anyone from Jewish lineage finally won out. In 1592,
Aquaviva wrote to the provincials of Spain ordering them not to receive
New Christians into the Society. 134
The final blow to the Ignatian attitude of openness came in 1593 at
the Fifth General Congregation. With the passage of its Decree 52, no one
of Jewish or Muslim backgrounds could ever enter the Society. Further,
not even the general could dispense from this impediment. 135 The
characteristic outlook (humor) of the Spanish elite had finally won out.
The matter was again raised in the Sixth General Congregation in 1608,
and the decree
. was mitigated to exclude only. those whose Christianity
coul d not be traced to five generations. 136 This impediment was commonly
called the lIimpediment of origin."
During some four centuries after the Council of Trent, a growing body
of laws and ins istence on them was one of the means by which the Church
pul led herself together after the disorganization preceding the Reformation.
This spirit was in full momentum in Aquaviva's day and naturally had its
parallel movement in the Society. Many rules and ordinances- enacted during
or near hisgeneralate as good means t o their ends in the circumstances of
the time received a growing reverence as the decades and centuries passed;
and they remained in force long after the se circumstances had passed away.
Examples in point are many of the !lComon Rules" in the text of 1616,137
such as Common Rule 14 which with Rule 10 of the Rules of the Temporal
Coadjutors (16 09) obstru cted the Jesuit brothers from acquiring more learn-
138
ing than they had when they entered. These rules stood unchanged until
General Congregation XXVII in 1928 139 __ a time in which we can now see the
first effective beginnings of the desire for adaptation to modern cir -
cumstances which produced Vatican Council II and with it has become so
s trong. In similar fashion, the "impediment of originl1 remained unchanged
from 1593 until well into our twentieth century.
31
If As train had investiga ted further. he would have found that the
32
The r e are t\<l'O thi ngs that have become clear in t he course of our
study of Ignatius o f L.orola and the Je\<l' s. First o f all, he was oriented
t o\<l'ards t h ei r conve rsi on t o Ch ri stiani t y . He per sonally 'A'orked f o r the
conv er sion of t he Je'A's o f Rome, and he t ook practical s teps to foster an
organized apostolate t o them. It should not be surp ri s ing , then, that he
'A'o uld suppor t the papal bull Cwn nimis ahSUI'a.un, \<I'hose harsh measures 'A'ere
aimed at the conve r sion of the Je'A's. But it is equally true t hat Ignatius
'A'as in no 'A'ay an anti - Semite. I ndeed, it was his desire to be of Jewish
blood so t hat he might mor e c losel y be like Chri s t. For Ignatius , unlike
many of his contempo rari es , race 'A'as not an issue. As he 'ATote to Antonio
•
Arao z, one should l oo k "not in t he light of \<I'ha t 15 the race o f someone,ll
14 8
but at \<I'hethe r he 15 a good pe r son.
This pe r sonal attitude of Ignati us . blind to race but s ensitiv e t o
Christian goodness, \<I' as incorporated in t o his Constitutions 0 .::' the Society
o f Jes :J,S. Consequen tl y, in Ignatius I time men of Je'A'ish li neage were
adcitted t o the Jesu it or der. Though this migh t seem no t h ing extraordinary
t o us t oday , f or a r eligious o rder so deeply rooted in s ixteenth-century
Sp ain 1 t \<I'as revo l u tionary. and it was certai nly courageous . This attitude
Cleant a constant oppo siti on fr om all levels of Spani sh societ y who 'A'ere
very se ns itive t o " purity o f bl ood."
33
A. Spirituality
Why is it that on this point Ignatiu s shou ld have stood against so many
of hi s contemporaries? I s there anything in Igna t ius' spi ritual out l oo k
that both motivated and gave support t o this stance against his cu lture?
Several I gnatian documents indicate that there is. I n them, I gnatius
gives reli gious r easons why th e r e was to be no ra cial discrimination in
the Soci et y of J esus .
We suggested an i mpor t ant r ol e for Diego Laynez in th e for mation of
Ignatius ' attitude toward Jewish Chri st ians. This seems to be borne out
not onl y by Ignatius ' c l ose association with Laynez . but also by a l etter
that Laynez wrote to AraQZ over thi s same i ssue-- whether New Christians
shoul d be exc luded from the Societ y . Layne" superio r general of the
Jesuit s at this time, t old Araoz why this i s unacceptable:
The reason why we cannot exc lude them is that, if you
remember, Your Rever ence wrote about this to our Father
[Ignatius], and then our Father, after carefu ll y con-
s idering the matter and re commending it to our Lord
[mirandb mucho Za oosa y encomendada a N. S .], decided
agains t it [the exclusion], and thi s_ [attitude] is what
he put in t o the Constituti ons [y assi lo puso en las
Const1-. tu(nones
. 1, . . . 149
According to Laynez, then, Araoz' fir st l et ter on the subject, writte n
in December, 1545, was th e occasion of Ignat ius ' se ri ously considering the
i ssue with r egard t o i nc lu s i on in th e Constitutions . 150 Since Laynez was
in Rome with I gnatius when Araoz ' letter was r eceived and 1.o.' hen Ignatius
was considering how t o re spond, it i s likel y that Ignatius would have
151
di scussed the questi on wi th Layne,. Even the nearness o f Layne" the
New Chri s t ian , must have had some influence on his cons id er ations. I gna -
tius knew that he cou ld not categorica ll y exc l ude pe ople of the qua lity
of Laynez just becau se they were from Jewish ancestry.152
Whateve r Layne,' r ol e was i n the f ormati on of Ignatius ' position,
Laynez ' l et t er tel l s us tha t the decision was not lightly made , and that
it was a decision made f or religi ous r easons. The l anguage, "after
carefully considering the matt er and rec ommending it to our Lord," is
the language Ignatius uses in th e ~iritual Exercises for discernment of
153
God' s wi ll. I gnatius ' ultimate mo ti vation i s not to be found in his
fri endship with Layne" bu t in hi s prayerful discernment of God's will
for the Society.
34
Another letter, this one from Araoz to Ignatius, gives some insight
into the process of discernment itself, or at l east it tells us something
of the language Ignatius uses to articulate the religious motivat ion behind
his attitude. Written at the end of 1546, the letter is obviously answering
the letter Ignatius wrote in response to Araoz' origina l question about
accepting New Christians into the Society. It is that original question
and Ignatiu s ' response that Laynez referred to many years later. Unfortu-
nately. Ignatius' l etter has been lost, but we can reconstruct at l east
part of it from Araoz' letter . From his home town, Vergara, Araoz wrote
Ignatius:
With regard to receiving New Chri stians [gente verriaa ], it
is a holy thing, without doubt, to show no partiality [see
Acts, 10:34] in regard to persons, nor will the Lord permit
it among Ours [Jesuits], (besides which we eat the food
that was shown St. Peter without exception). Nevertheless,
whi l e this is so, yet for the common and greater good, in
accordance with the charact eristic attitude [humor] in the
regions where we go, i t is good to l ook very carefully at
this, at least in order to examine these persons with more
vigilance and rigor. Although the Constitutions do not
exclude them, to give no appearance of partiality [par no
pareaer aaepqion], if it seems right to Your Reverence, it
seems that it would be appropriat e that each of our members
take very se riously, wherever they are, that they should
look very much into this; at least if there are other places
where the feelings are as in Spain, it is necessary to look
and look again at this matter. In the end, it will be done
as Your Reverence orders and commands, as has been done up
to now. 154
Since it is unlikely that Araoz, who al l his life sought statutes
to exclude New Christians from the Society, would produce scripture
passages against such legislation, the references most l ike l y come from
Ignatius. Moreover, the first sentence cited has the character of a point
being granted to Ignatius by Araoz, as if I gnatius had used these
scriptural reasons for his decision when he responded to Araoz ' question.
Further, the reference to Peter is repeated in other Ignatian letters
" su b"Ject. ISS
on t h 1S
The scriptural allusion comes from the Acts of the Apostles where
Luke recounts Peter' s V1S10n at Joppa. It is ironic that the question
that Peter is dealing with i s one of Jewish revulsion from Gentiles and
their customs. Araoz ' problem is just the opposite, Gentile revulsion
3S
from Jews. In Acts, after his visio n, Peter realized both that th e Old
Law' s food proscriptions were abrogated in th e New Cove nant, and th a t he
should call IIno man common or uncl ean."lS6 Thus, it was no l onge r unlawful
to associate with Gentiles. Consequently. Peter a ccepted the Genti l e
Cornelius as a Christian and visited him in hi s house . ~~en Pe t e r next
preaches the gospel, Act s says:
"The truth I have now come to realizc,lI he sai d, "i s that
God i s not an acceptor of men, but in every nat i on , anyone
who fear s hi m and does right i s acceptabl e t o him,III S7
The tables are now turned for Ara oz. The Old Chri s t i an of Gentile
s tock is to accept the New Chr istian of Jewi sh st oc k. Th er e would, there-
fore, be no di s tinctions in the Society on th e basis of r ace , and there
would not be the re st rictive c lau ses that Araoz requ es t ed . Wh a t Peter
realized, God' s universal love of all peopl e , I gnati us a l so re alized .
Biblical insight was at the core of I gnatius' attitude t oward s Jewish
Chri stian s.
In another letter, to Pierre Favre who was with Araoz in Spain,
I gnatius applied this more general principle of non-parti a lit y t o the
practical situation of the Society.
As far as accepting New Christian s , what we do he r e is as
follows: We take well into account that th e Society's aim
is to be able and to know how to edify all persons in all
things. This requires people free from any c hara cteri s ti c
mark [no ta ] which could hind er th e spiritual fruit. And
this especiall y in those place s wh ere they are expected to
bear spiritual fruit. However, they might do thi s with
much more glory, talent, mortification, and good example
of l ife. All of thi s would make up f or and even c l ea r up
the mark [suppliria y esclareaeria la nota ], and i n sgme
ways would give even greater glory to God ou r Lo rd . lS
Startin g fr om th e aim and purpos~ of the Societ y , Igna t ius ha s no othe r
presuppositions . The formula her e , "la Campania es para en todo poder y
saber edificar a todos ~" as Iparraguirre has pointed out, means the s ame
thing as "aJuda del projimo~" "to help ou r neighb or ." l S9 The ph r ase i s •
used seve ral times in the Constitutions (Cons , [4 38], [64S], [766]); and
in (766] it i s coupled with tie l servicio de Dios N. S . J " "th e s e r VIce of
God our Lord." This, of cou r se , i s the prin cipa l aim of th e Soc i ety, the
service of God and the aid of our neighbor . Thus the apo s toli c ori en tat i on
of the Society is to be the norm f or choosi ng its membe r s. Those wh o will
36
be most effective and useful towards spreading the gospel are to be chosen,
no matter what ethnic or former religiOUS background they may have.
But the letter also intimates that concessions may have to be made.
Being a New Christian is considered by some to be a IIdefect," "characteristic
mark" (nota) in a depreciatory sense. Ignatius frequently allows for this
when he recommends sending New Christian candidates for the Society to
places where this is not a problem. Thus the principle of impartiality
gives way to apostolic effectiveness, but only to the degree of sending
160
the person elsewhere. How, then, did Ignatius come to his position on
New Christian Jesuits? It was by prayerful discernment based on his
personal experience in the light of biblical faith. Or, as we suggested
in the Introduction, the story of Ignatius and the Jews illustrates the
concrete working out of the virtue of prudence informed by a high spiritu-
ality. This is the spirituality of the spiritual Exercises which has to
do with prudent decisions in the light of commitment to Christ. This, too,
is what enabled Ignatius to take such a critical stance towards his culture,
towards the lIattitudes ll (hwnores) of the Spanish court and of the king. 161
and failur e to live according t o it are a part of the hist ory o f th e Je suit s .
The Society fell away from that Igna tian inspiration when it gave in to the
demands of Iberian culture and showed " partiality" (Acts 10 :34) in regard
t o persons. But the Society re alized this, too, and returned to the in-
spiration of its founder. Perhaps this is the lesson of the s t ory o f
I gnatius and the Jews, t o r ema 1n faithful to the spirituality o f the Ex-
•
erc~ses. and to be courageous in f ol l ow ing its in s ight s .
openness to God's will which proved his capacity to overcome the narrow-
mindedness of his day. In his daily ~xistence and confrontation with
problems, Ignatius enacted and epitomized the ideals of the Exercises,
keeping Christ the King his paradigm, His mission to win the whole world
his goal, discernment as the means to this goal, and everything else
secondary to seeking God's greater honor and glory.
39
FOOTNOTES
38 Ibid., 185.
39 Ibid., 202 (June 1, 1542).
40 Ribadeneyra, Vita Ignatii LoyoZae~ III~ 9, in FN, IV, 404.
41 Tacchi Venturi, II, 2, 152-153.
42 Bultarium Romanum (Taurinensis Editio, 1890), VI, 366-377. The
language of papal documents of this period is not known for its
subtlety or sensitivity.
43 Bullarium Romanum, VI, 353-358; see also PolChron, I, 109.
44 EppIgn, I, 268-269 (July 24, 1543-January 30, 1544).
45 Ibid., 268 (July 24, 1543).
46 See Tacchi Venturi, I, 2, 270-273. For the subsequent history, much
of it tragic, of the casa, see A. Milano, "Impari latta della comunita
di Rama contro la casa dei catechumeni," Rassegna mensile di Israel,
XVI (1950), 355-368, 408-419. The casa was deeply resented by the
Jewish community. See Roth, The History of the Jews of Italy (Phila-
delphia, 1946), p. 290.
47 EppIgn, I, 326-327 (November 21, 1545).
48 Ibid., 299-300 (March-July, 1545).
49 Bullarium Romanum, VI, 498. The one Latin sentence is over 200 words
long! For the Jewish historians' judgment on this bull see Baron, A
Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2nd ed. (New York, 1969), XIV,
34-35, 41, and A. Milan, Storia degli ebrei in Italia (Turin, 1963),
pp. 247-253.
What Dudon (St. Ignatius of Loyola, p. 386) says of the bull is
quite reprehensible: "While showing themselves more merciful to the
Jews than did many other sovereigns, the popes, throughout the course
of the centuries, had taken precautions that the faith of the inhabi-
tants of Rome should not suffer from the proximity of a race singularly
active and tenacious." Besides the bigotry of the statement, Dudon mis-
interprets the motivation of the Churchts anti-Semitic legislation. It
was rarely out of fear of the danger of "Jewish contamination" that
the restriction was made against the Jews, and in the case of Cum
nimis absurdum this "danger" is not even mentioned (see Martina, p. 264-
281). Dudon also says that Ignatius thought the closing of the Jews
into the ghetto in sufficient and therefore worked to establish the aasa
dei aateahumeni. This is a flagrant anachronism, since Ignatius
worked for the aasa ten years before the ghetto was set up. Furthermore,
there is not the slightest bit of evidence that Ignatius thought the
ghetto "insufficient."
50 Bullarium Romanum, VI, 498-499. A full text and translation of the
bull is available in K. Stow, Catholia Thought and Papal Jewry Poliay
1555- 1593 (New York, 1977), pp. 291-298.
51 See Milano, pp. 248-249j Baron, XIV, 35.
52 See St ow, pp. xxiv, 5-27.
53 Bullarium Romanum, VI, 498.
43
128 EppIgn, IV, 427 (September 10, 1552); Sola, AHSJ, IV, 305-32l.
129 See Cecil Roth in Encyclopaedia Judaica, X, col. 79; A. Milano, Storia
deg li ebrei in Italia (Turin, 1963), p. 246; Baron, XIV, 10.
130 EppIgn, X, 61 (October 29, 1555).
131 See L. Balust, Obras Completas del Santo Maestro Juan de Avila, nueva
edicion por F. M. Hernandez (Madrid, 1970), I, 13-184; also MonRib, II,
38l.
132 5ee MonLai, VIII, 311-312 (November 23, 1564); also MonRib, II, 376, 250.
133 -
Astrain, Ill, 591; MonRib, II, 252, 376.
134 Astrain, III. 592. See also Eusebio Rey's more recent study "San Ignacio
-
de Loyola y el problema de los 'Cristianos Nuevos, III Razan y Fe, CLIlI
( 1956), 187-204.
135 I nstSJ J II J 278, 279. 545; see also Astrain, III J 592-593.
136 InstSJ, Ill, 302 (decree 28).
137 Ibid., 10-13.
138 For some historial details about these Rules and their history. relevant
also here, see G. E. Ganss, "Toward Understanding the Jesuit Brothers
Vocation . . . ,11 Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, XII, no. 3
(May, 1981), 35-42.
139 See ibid., 42-46.
140 Colld , [199], on p. 235. See also A. Arregui, Annotationes ad Epitomen
I nstituti (Rome, 1934), pp. 76-77; H. Ramiere and J. Besson, Compendium
Ins tituti Societatis Iesu, 3rd ed. (Toulouse, 1896), no. 31, pp. 46-48j
A. Oswald, CcmMentarius in Decem Partes Constitutionum Societatis Iesu,
3rd ed. (Ruremond, 1902). These commentators give the "development of
the move toward the possibility of dispensation.
141 The text is in Acta Romana Societatis Iesu, XI (1946); CoZld, [199] on
p. 235.
142 -
As train, Ill, 59l.
143 Ibid., 592.
144 -
MonRib , II, 191, 376. Astrain, writing in 1909, makes no mention of
Ribadeneyra's letters to General Congregations V and VI.
14 5 The decree states: "Even more, for the greater glory of God and the
better achievement of its proposed end, it is fitting for the Society
to have as its mini s ters (operarios) those who are more pleasing to all
the other nations on the whole earth" (InstSJ, II, 278-279). The decree
al so expressly s tates that those from Jewish origins are for that very
reas on offen s ive, and that this is why the decree was requested.
14 6
-
Astrain, III, 593. Unfortunately, William Bangert in his History of
the Socie t y of Jesus (St. Louis, 1972), p. 101, follows Astrain, and
even connec t s the two ques tion s of the perturbatores and New Christians
so that he s tate s that lithe congregation decided to lay the ax to the
r oo t of the trouble," and that it acted "in sheer self-defense" when it
47
164 S. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2nd ed. (New York,
1969), XIV, 10. See also XIII, 9-11; L. Cristiani, L{EgZise a l'epoque
au Conaile de Trente. vol. 17 of Histoire de t'Egtise depuis les origines
jusqu'a nos jours, ed. A. Flicke, V. Martin, et al. (Paris, 1934- ),
XVII (1948), 296.
165 To these we might add the assessment of the Russian-born Leon Poliakov:
liThe only man who was able in his lifetime to ignore the taboo of limpieza
with impunity was Ignacio de Loyola. High birth as well as missionary
genius made this founder of the Jesuit order immune to the racist contagion"
(Poliakov, II, 226).
T he Institute of Jesui t Source'i 49
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J.C. Haughey , S . 3 . Ne w Perspecti ve on Religious Comm itment .
Vol . III, no. 4 (Sept. , 1971). J . J. Ton e r, S .J. A Method f o r Commu n a l Disce rnment o f
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