IGNATIUS
642
IGNATIUS
that a new order should not be admitted, and with
tliat the chances of approbation seemed to be at
an end. Ignatius and his companions, undismayed,
agreed to offer up 4000 Masses to obtain the oljject
desired, and after some time the cardinal unexpect-
edly changed his mind, approved the " Formula ", and
the Bull "KegiminimilitantisEcclesia;" (27 September,
1.540), which embodies and sanctions it, was issued,
but the members were not to exceed sixty (this clause
was abrogated after two years). In April, 1.541, Igna-
tius was, in spite of his reluctance, elected the first
general, and on 22 April he and his companions made
their profession in St. Paul Outside the Walls. The
society was now fully constituted.
V. The Book of the Spiritual Exercises origi- nateil in Ignatius's experiences, while he was at Loyola in 1.521, and the chief meditations were probably re- duced to their present shapes during his life at Man- resa in 1.522, at the end of which period he had begun to teach them to others. In the jiro- cess of 1 .5 2 7 at Salamanca . they are spoken of for the first time as the " Book of Exer- cises". The earliest extant textisof the year 1.541. At the request of St. Francis Borgia the book was examined Ijy pa- pal censors, and a solemn ap- probation given by Paul III in the Brief "Pastoralis Officii" of 1.54,S. "The Spiritual Ex- ercises" are written very con- cisely, in the form of a hand- book for the priest who is to explain them, and it is practi- cally impossible to describe them without making them, just as it might be impossible to explain Nelson's "Sailing Orders" to a man who knew nothing of ships or the sea. The idea of the work is to help the exercitant to find out what the will of God is in regard to his future, and to give him the energy and courage to follow that will. The exercitant (under ideal circumstances) is guided through four weeks of meditations: the first week on sin and its consequences, the second on Christ's life on earth, the third on His passion, the fourth on His risen life; and a certain number of instructions (called "rules", "additions", "notes") are added to teach him how to pray, how to avoid scruples, how to think with the Church, and. most impor- tant of all, how to elect a vocation in life without being swayed by the love of self or of the world. In their fullness they should, according to Ignatius's idea, ordinarily be made once or twice only: but in part (from three to eight days) they may be most profitably made anniially, and are now commonly called "retreats", from the seclusion or retreat from the world in which the exercitant lives. More popu- lar selections are preached to the people in church and are called " missions". The stores of spiritual wisdom contained in the " Book of Exercises" are truly aston- ishing, and their author is believed to have been in- spired while drawing them up. (See also the next section.) Sommervogel enumerates 292 writers among the .lesuits alone, who have commented on the whole book, to say nothing of commentators on parts (e. g. the meditations), who are far more numerous still. But the liest testimony to the work is the frequency with which the exercises are made. In England (for which alone statistics are before the writer) the educated people who make retreats number
liiN.vrn.'.s
' Vfifl tx,0
annually about 22,000, while the number who attend
popular expositions of the Exercises in "missions" is
approximately 27,000, out of a total Catholic popu-
lation of 2,000,000.
VI. The Co.NSTiTurroNs op the Society. — Ignatius was commissioned in 1541 to draw them up, but he did not begin to do so till 1547, having occupied the mean space with introducing customs tentatively, which were destined in time to become laws. In 1547 Father Polanco became his secretary, and with his intelligent aid the finst draft of the constitutions was made between 1547 and 1.5.50, and simultaneously pontifical approbation was asked for a new edition of the " Formula ". Julius III conceded this by the Bull "Exposeit debitum", 21 July, 1.5.50. At the same time a large number of the older fathers assembled to peruse the first draft of the constitutions, and though none of them made any serious objections, Ignatius's next recension (1552) shows a fair number of changes. This revised version was then published and put in force throughout the society, a few explanations being added here and there to meet diffi- culties as they aro.se. These final touches were being added liv the saint up till the time of his death, after which the first general congregation of the society ordered them to be printed, and they have never been touched since. The true way of appreciating the con- stitutions of the society is to study them as they are carried into practice by the Jesuits themselves, and for this, ref- erence may be made to the artirle on the Society of Jksis. a few points, how- ever, in which Ignatius's in- stitute differed from the older orders may be mentioned here. They are: (1) the vow not to accept ecclesiastical dignities; (2) inerea.sed probations. The novitiate is prolonged from one year to two, with a third year, which usually falls after the priesthood. Candidates are moreover at first admitted to simple vows only, solemn vows com- ing much later on; (3) the Society does not keep choir; (4) it does not have a distinctive religious habit; (5) it does not accept the direction of convents; (6) it is not governed by a regular triennial chapter; (7) it is al.so said to have been the first order to undertake nffirjally and by virtue nj itx conntilutions active works such as the following: (a) foreign missions, at the pope's bidding; (b) the education of youth of all classes; (c) the instruction of the ignorant and the poor; (d) ministering to the sick, to prisoners, etc. The above points give no conception of the originality with which Ignatius has haiulled all parts of his sub- ject, even those common to all orders. It is obvious that he must have acquired some knowledge of other religious constitutions, especially during the years of inquirj' (1.541-47), when he was on terms of intimacy with religious of every class. But witnesses, who at- tended him, tell us that he wrote without any books before him except the Missal. Though his constitu- tions of course emljody technical terms to be found in other rules, and also a few stock phrases like "the old man's staff", and "the corp.se carried to any place", the thoiight is entirely original, and would seem to have been (!od-guided throughout. By a happy acci- <i('nt we still possess his journal of prayers for forty days, during which he was deliberating the single
I.OVOI.V.
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