SPIRITUAL
225
SPIRITUAL
who, on account of the differences between the Vul-
gate and the Spanish autograph, wished to retranslate
the "Exercises" into Latin, as accurately as possible,
at. tlie same time making use of the viraUi nnliqua.
His intention was not to supplant the Vulgate, and he
therefore pulilished the work of Frusius along with his
own in parallel columns (1835).
The Spanish autograph text was not printed until long after the Vulgate, by Bernard de Angelis, secre- tary of the Society of Jesus (Rome, 161 5) ; it has often been republished. The most noteworthy English ver- sions are: (1) "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Igna- tius. With Approbation of Superiours. At Saint Omers; Printed by Nicolas Joseph Le Febvre." This translation bears no date but it can be traced back to 1736; the printer was a lay brother of the Society. (2) "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Trans- lated from the Authorized Latin; with extracts from the literal version and notes of the Rev. Father Kothaan [sic\ by Charles Seager, M.A., to which is prefixed a Preface by the Right Rev. Nicholas Wise- man, D.D., bishop of Melipotamus" (London, Dol- man, 1847); which was republished by ISIurphy at Bah imore, about 1850. (3) "The Text of the Spirit- ual Exercises of St. Ignatius, translated from the original Spanish", by Father John Morris, S.J., pub- lished by Burns and Gates (London, 1880). The reader of the "Exercises" need not look for elegance of style. "St. Ignatius", says F. Astrain, "writes in coarse, incorrect, and laboured Castilian, which only at times arrests the attention by the energetic pre- cision and brevity with which certain thoughts are expres.sed." There are outpourings of the soul in different colloquies, but their affecting interest does not lie in words; it is wholly in the keen situation, created by the author, of the sinner before the cruci- fiXjthe knight before his king, etc.
CoMPosiTio.v OF THE ExERCisES. — The book is Eomjiosed of documents or spiritual exerci.ses, reduced U> the order most fitted to move the minds of the faith- ful to piety, as was remarkeil in the Brief of approval. We hnd in this work documents (instructions, admoni- tions, warnings), exercises (prayers, meditations, F'xamination of con.science, and other practices), and the method according to which they ar(> arranged. The sources of the book are the Sacred Scriiitures and the experiences of spiritual life. Ignatius indeed was little by little prepared by Divine Providence to write Ills liook. From 1521 the thoughts which precede his conversion, the progress of his repentance, the |)i(ius practices which he embraces at Montscrrat and at .Manresa lielpoil to give him a knowledge of a.s- I'et icism . His li'ook is a work lived by himself and later i>n lived bj- others under his eyes. But a book so lived is not composed all at once; it requires to be retouched, corrected, and added to frequently. These improvements, which neither Polanco nor Bartoli hid<', are revealed by a simple examination of the Spanish text, where along with the Castilian there are found Latin or Italian expressions, together with Scholastic terms which the writer could not have used hefore, at least, the beginning of his later studies. Ignatius him.sclf admitted this to Father Luis Gon- zales: "I did not compo.se the Exercises all at once. Wh<'n anything resulting from my own experience seemed to me likely to be of use to others, I took note of it". Father Nadal, Ignatius's friend and con- temporary, writes of the final redaction: "After hav- ing completed his studies, the author united his first attempts of the Exercises, made many additions, put all in order, and presented his work for the examination and judgment of the Apo.stolic See".
It seems probable that the "Exercises" were com- pleted while St. Ignatius was attending lectures at the TTniversity of Paris. The copy of Bl. Peter Faber, writ- ten undoubtedly about the time when he followed the Exercises under Ignatius's direction ( 1.5-33), contains all XIV.— 15
the essential parts. Moreover, some parts of the book
bear their date. Such are: the "Rules for the distribu-
tion of alms", intended for beneficed ('lergymen, mas-
ters, or laureates of the university', in which occurs a
citation of the Council of Carthage, thus leading one
to suppose that the writer had studied theology; the
"Rules for thinking with the Church ", which appear
to have been suggested by the measures taken by an
assembly of theologians at Valladolid in 1527 against
the Erasmists of Spain, or bv the Faculty of Paris in
1535, 1542, against the Protestants. The final
completion of the "Exercises" may be dated from
1541, when a fair copy of the versio aniiqua, which St.
Ignatius calls "Todos exercicios breviter en latin", was
made. It may be asked how far the work of com-
position was carried out during the residence of the
saint at Manresa. This spot, where Ignatius arrived
in March, 1522, must always be considered as the
cradle of the "Exercises". The sulisl:i,nce of the
work dates from Manresa. Ignatius foimd there the
precious metal which for a long time he WTOUght and
polished. "A work," as Fr. Astrain rightly says,
"which contributes throughout so admirably to
realize the fundamental idea set up by the author, is
evidently not an invention made by parts, or com-
posed of passages written at various times or under
varj'ing circumstances." The "Exercises" clearly
bear the mark of Manresa. The mind of Ignatius,
during his retirement there, was full of military mem-
ories and of thoughts of the future; hence the double
characteristic of his book, the chivalrous note and the
march towards the choice of a state of life. The ideas
of the knight are those of the service due to a sove-
reign, of the shame that clings to the treason of a vassal
(first week), and in the kingdom, those of the crusade
formed against the infidels, and of the confrontation
of the Two Standards (second week). But during his
convalescence at the ca.stle, the reading of t he lives of
the saints gave a mystical turn to his chivalrous ideas;
the great deeds to be imitated henceforth are no longer
tho.se of a Roland, but of a Dominic or a Francis.
To help him in his outhne of evangelical per- fection, Ignatius received a special assistance, which Polanco and Ribadeneira call the unction of the Holy Ghost. Without this grace, the composition of the "Exercises" remains a mystery. How could a rough and ignorant soldier conceive and develop a work so original, so useful for the salvation and the perfection of souls, a book which astonishes one by the originality of its method and the powerful efficacy of its virtue? We ought not, however, to consider this Divine assist- ance as a complete revelation. Wliat St. Ignatius knew of spiritual ways, he had learned chiefly from personal experience and by the grace of God, Who treated him "as the schoolmaster does a child". It does not mean that he had not the advice of a con- fessor to guide him, for he was directed by John Cha- nones at Montserrat; nor does it mean that he had read nothing himself, as we know that he had books at hand. We must therefore consider the revelation of the "Exercises", not as a completely supernatural manifestation of all the truths contained in the work, but as a kind of inspiration, or special Divine assist- ance, which prevented aU essential error, and sug- gested many thoughts useful for the salvation of the author, and of readers at all times. This inspiration is the more a<^lmis.sible as Ignatius was favoured with great light in Divine things. Kihadeneira, writing from Madrid, 18 April, 1607, to Fr. (!ir6n, rector of Salamanca, dwells on the wonderful fruits of the "Exerci.ses", fruits foreseen and willed by God. Such a residt could not be the effect of merely human reading and study, and he adds: "This has been the general opinion of all the old fathers of the Society, of tis all who have lived and conversed with our blessed father".
Another tradition concerns the part taker by the
