SPIRITUAL
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SPIRITUAL
which he is the representative. He also considers
the soul's capacity; the Exercises contain in them-
selves matters useful to all, but taken altogether they
may not be suitable to every one. The eighteenth
annotation forbids them to be given indiscriminately,
without considering who the exercitant is. Finally
to sum up, all St. Ignatius's spirituality lies in tradi-
tional Catholic instruction, in a method favourable to
personal activity, and in the importance of prudent
direction.
The commentators who have attempted to explain and penetrate the doctrine of the "Exercises" are theorists who consider either the entire book or cer- tain parts of it, and show the book's order and con- nexion and when necessary justify the thought. Several of them, not satisfied with simply discussing the method, deal also with the practice. Those whose names we give here belong to the Society of Jesus, but they did not write solely for their order: sixteenth century — Achille Gaghardi; seventeenth century — Francisco Suarez, Antoine Le Gaudier, Luis de la Palma, Giovanni Bucellani, Tobias Lohner, Ignatius Diertins; eighteenth century — Claude Judde, Jean- Joseph Petitdidier, Baltasar de Moncada, Peter Fer- rusola; nineteenth century — Johann Philipp Root- haan, Pierre Jennesseaux, Antoine Denis, Marin de Boylesve, Jaime NoneU, James Clare. Franz de Hum- melauer, Jaime Gutierrez.
Criticib.m Unfavourable .\nd Favourable. — We refer the rea,der to Diertins's narration of the "perse- cutions" to which the "Exercises" were subjected during the Ufetime of St. Ignatius. He counts no less than twelve. The fir,st attacks may be attributed to the surprise felt by ecclesiastics at the sight of a lay- man treating of spiritual matters, before having made liis tlieological studies; the others arose from some difficulty of interpretation or from erroneous judg- ments as to the meaning of the text. These malev- olent or over-zealous censurers were answered by Nadal and Suarez, who were justified by the approba- tion of the Holy See. The attacks of the present day are generally unscientific, inspired by passion, and made without any preliminary examination of the question. When the adversary's mind conceives a caricature of the "Exercises" either because he has not read them, or because before reading them he has been influenced by the erroneous statements of other hostile critics, the attack appears legitimate; in re- ality it will be found to refer to something that is not in the "Exercises". Besides the attacks by their mutual opposition destroy one another. The "Exer- cises" cannot have, simultaneously, a machiavellian and an anodyne character, or be rapt in the clouds and yet crawl upon the soil. Long ago they were, and to-day are, charged with being a clever machinery destined to strike and move the imagination, and finally through hallucination produce ecstasies. Mich- elet and Quinct in their too famous lectures revived this calumny, which has been answered by Fr. Cahour in his pamphlet: "Des j6suites par un j&uite". To this charge of charlantanry one reply will suffice, the answer made by a young religious, Rodrigo de IVIen- ezes, on being asked whether he had not been favoured with any kind of vision: "Yes, I witnessed a very af- fecting sight, the state of my soul, the nothingness of this world and the misfortune of losing God for ever".
This sight, if it can move a sinner to conversion, is not one likely to cause a steady mind to wander. And yet W. James mentions, as the culminating point of the "Exercises", "a half-hallucinated monoide- ism" ("L'Exp(5rience religieu.se", Paris, 1906, p. 345). Certain critics have reproached the "Exer- cises" with favouring private inspiration, in the Protestant sense, and with opening a path to illu- minism. This criticism was emphasized in the be- ginning by Thomas de Pedroche, O.P., and arose from an erroneous interpretation of the fifteenth
annotation, in which St. Ignatius advises the director
not to substitute his own views for those God may
have upon the exercitant. There is no question of
leaving him an exaggerated libert}' which might draw
him beyond the limits laid down by the Church. We
therefore see that some find in Ignatius's method
illuminism, hallucination, and phantasmagoria; others
see in it nothing dazzhng, but rather dulness and in-
sipidity. " There are people, " said the Abbe Guetee,
"who consider this book a masterjiiece, and others
find it but very ordinary " ("Histoire des Je.suites",
Paris, 1858, I, 12). This charge appears again under
a different form, — the "Exercises" afford but a
scanty method, "a Japanese culture of counterfeited
dwarfish trees" (Huysmans, "En Route", Paris,
1896, p. 398). Finally, some Catholics see in it only
a book for beginners, a retreat for the time of conver-
sion, and a suitable means to guide one's first steps in
the way of perfection. A Protestant clergyman,
Rev. Mr. Carter, observes, on the contrary, that the
method is rather wide and free, since "one of the first
rules laid down by St. Ignatius for the director of a
retreat is, that he is to adapt the Exercises to the age,
the capacity, the strength of the person about to per-
form them" ("Retreats with notes of addresses",
London, 1893, p. xxv).
The praise bestowed on the "Exercises" far exceeds the adverse criticism. As they are considered a school of sanctity, it is interesting to know what the saints thought of them. The practice of Saints Phihp Ro- molo Neri, Charles Borromeo, Francis de Sales, and Alphonsus Liguori is more eloquent testimony in favour of the "Exercises" than anything they have written; and it will be sufficient to recall the words of St. Leonard of Port-Maurice: " During these holy days we must exercise ourselves in the Divine art of making secure the great important affair of our salvation. As God has inspired the glorious founder of the illustrious Society of Jesus with this precious art, we have but to follow the method laid down by him in his admirable book of the Exercises." Since the approbation given by Paul III in 1548, the "Exercises" have often been favoured by the sovereign pontiffs; the praises they have bestowed on them are mingled with recommen- dations of retreats, the usage of which, according to St. Francis de Sales, was revived by St. Ignatius. We need mention only Alexander VII, Clement XII. Ben- edict XIV, Clement XIII, and Pius IX. All their eulogies have been resumed by Leo XIII in his Brief of 8 February, 1900: "The importance of St. Igna- tius's book with regard to the eternal welfare of souls has been proved by an experience of three centuries and by the evidence of those remarkable men, who, during this lapse of time, have distinguished them- selves in the ascetic paths of Ufe or in the practice of sanctity."
Mgr Camus, Bishop of BcUey, calls the "Exer- cises" a "Golden book, of pure gold, more precious than either gold or topaz" ("Direction a TOrai-son mentale", Lyons, 1623, c. xix, p. 157); Mgr Freppel, "A book that I should call the work of a man of genius, if it were not that of a saint, a wonderful book, which, with the 'Imitation of Christ', is perhaps of all books written by man the one which gains the most souls to God" (" Discours-Pancgyriques ", Paris, 1882, II, 36, 37); and Cardinal Wiseman: "There are many books from which the reader is taught to expect much; but which, perused, yield him but little profit. Those are few and most pre- cious, which, at first sight, and on slender acquaint- ance, seem to contain but little; but the more they are studied, the more instruction, the more solid benefit they bestow; which are like a soil that looks bare and unadorned, but which contains beneath its surface rich treasures that nuist be digged out and drawn from a great depth. To this second cla.ss I know no book that BO justly belongs as the liltle work here presented
