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The Society of Jesus, (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI ) is a Christian religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in service to the universal Church, whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.
Jesuits are the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church with 19,216 members (13,491 priests, 3,049 scholastic students, 1,810 brothers and 866 novices) as of January 2007, (the Franciscan family of first orders OFMs, Capuchins, and Conventuals has some 30,899 members [20,786 priests]). The average age of the Jesuits in 2007 is 57.3 : 63.4 for priests, 29.8 for scholastics and 65.5 for BrothersCuria Generalis, Society of Jesus. "News from the Curia (Vol. 11, N. 9)", The Jesuit Portal - Society of Jesus Homepage., 2007-May-07. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. "The annual statistics of the Society for 2006 have been compiled and will be mailed to the Provinces within a few days. As of January 1, 2007 the number of Jesuits in the world was 19,216 (364 fewer than in 2005)..." .
Jesuit priests and brothers are engaged in ministries in 112 nations on six continents. No work, if it has an evangelical perspective, is closed to them, but they are best known in the fields of education (schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, theological faculties), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. They are also known in missionary work and direct evangelization, social justice and human rights activities, interreligious dialogue, and other \'frontier\' ministry.
The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General, currently Adolfo Nicolás.News on the elections of the new Superior Generalafrica.reuters.com, Spaniard becomes Jesuits\' new "black pope" The headquarters of the Society, called General Curia, is in Rome. The history curia of St Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church.
| Society of Jesus | |
History of the Jesuits | |
Ignatius Loyola
On August 15, 1534, Ignatius of Loyola (born as Íñigo López de Loyola—he improperly latinized his Basque first name), a Spaniard of Basque origin, and six other students at the University of Paris (Francisco Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, and Nicolás Bobadilla all from Spain, Peter Faber from Savoy in France, and Simão Rodrigues from Portugal) met in Montmartre outside Paris, in the crypt of the Chapel of St Denis, Rue Yvonne le Tac.
This group bound themselves by a vow of poverty and chastity, to "enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, or to go without questioning wherever the pope might direct".
They called themselves the Company of Jesus, because they felt they were placed together by Christ. The name had echoes of the military (as in an infantry "company"), as well as of discipleship (the "companions" of Jesus). The word "company" comes ultimately from Latin, cum + pane = "bread with," or a group that shares meals.
These initial steps led to the founding of what would be called the Society of Jesus later in 1540. The term societas in Latin is derived from socius, a partner or comrade.
Much is sometimes made of Ignatius\' military background; in fact nowhere in the Constitutions of the order is the Society of Jesus compared to an army.
In 1537, they travelled to Italy to seek papal approval for their order. Pope Paul III gave them a commendation, and permitted them to be ordained priests.
They were ordained at Venice by the bishop of Arbe (June 24). They devoted themselves to preaching and charitable work in Italy, as the renewed Italian War of 1535-1538 between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Venice, the pope and the Ottoman Empire rendered any journey to Jerusalem impossible.
They presented the project to the Pope. After months of dispute, a congregation of cardinals reported favorably upon the Constitution presented, and Paul III confirmed the order through the bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae ("To the Government of the Church Militant"), on September 27, 1540, but limited the number of its members to sixty. This is the founding document of the Jesuits as an official Catholic religious order.
This limitation was removed through the bull Injunctum nobis (March 14, 1543). Ignatius was chosen as the first superior-general. He sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries.Höpfl, Harro (2004). Jesuit political thought: the Society of Jesus and the state, c. 1540-1630. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 426. ISBN 0521837790.
When developed, Jesuits concentrated on three activities. First, they founded schools throughout Europe. Jesuit teachers were rigorously trained in both classical studies and theology. The Jesuits\' second mission was to convert non-Christians to Catholicism, so they developed and sent out missionaries. Their third goal was to stop Protestantism from spreading. The zeal of the Jesuits overcame the drift toward Protestantism in Poland-Lithuania and southern Germany.
Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1554, which created a tightly centralized organization and stressed absolute self-abnegation and obedience to Pope and superiors (perinde ac cadaver, "[well-disciplined] like a corpse" as Ignatius put it).
His main principle became the unofficial Jesuit motto: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God"). This phrase is designed to reflect the idea that any work that is not evil can be meritorious for the spiritual life if it is performed with this intention, even things considered normally indifferent.
The Society of Jesus is classified among institutes as a mendicant order of clerks regular, that is, a body of priests organized for apostolic work, following a religious rule, and relying on alms, or donations, for support.
The term "Jesuit" (of fifteenth-century origin, meaning one who used too frequently or appropriated the name of Jesus), was first applied to the Society in reproach (1544-52), and was never employed by its founder, though members and friends of the Society in time appropriated the name in its positive meaning.
Ratio Studiorum, 1598
The Jesuits were founded just before the Counter-Reformation (or at least before the date those historians with a classical view of the counter reformation hold to be the beginning of the Counter-Reformation), a movement whose purpose was to reform the Catholic Church from within and to counter the Protestant Reformers, whose teachings were spreading throughout Catholic Europe.
As part of their service to the Roman Church, the Jesuits encouraged people to continue their obedience to scripture as interpreted by Catholic doctrine. Ignatius is known to have written:
But his hyperbole relativizes propositional claims defined by the hierarchical Church. For him, the important things in life are not propositional definitions, but the spiritual movements within oneself.
Ignatius and the early Jesuits did recognize, though, that the hierarchical Church was in dire need of reform, and some of their greatest struggles were against corruption, venality, and spiritual lassitude within the Roman Catholic Church.
Ignatius\'s insistence on an extremely high level of academic preparation for ministry, for instance, was a deliberate response to the relatively poor education of much of the clergy of his time, and the Jesuit vow against "ambitioning prelacies" was a deliberate effort to prevent greed for money or power invading Jesuit circles.
As a result, in spite of their loyalty, Ignatius and his successors often tangled with the pope and the Roman Curia. Over the 450 years since its founding, the Society has both been called the papal "elite troops" and been forced into suppression.
St. Ignatius and the Jesuits who followed him believed that the reform of the Church had to begin with the conversion of an individual’s heart. One of the main tools the Jesuits have used to bring about this conversion has been the Ignatian retreat, called the Spiritual Exercises.
During a four-week period of silence, individuals undergo a series of directed meditations on the life of Christ. During this period, they meet regularly with a spiritual director, who helps them understand whatever call or message God has offered in their meditations.
The retreat follows a Purgative-Illuminative-Unitive pattern in the tradition of the mysticism of John Cassian and the Desert Fathers. Ignatius\' innovation was to make this style of contemplative mysticism available to all people in active life, and to use it as a means of rebuilding the spiritual life of the Church. The Exercises became both the basis for the training of Jesuits themselves and one of the essential ministries of the order: giving the exercises to others in what became known as retreats.
The Jesuits’ contributions to the late Renaissance were significant in their roles both as a missionary order and as the first religious order to operate colleges and universities as a principal and distinct ministry.
By the time of Ignatius\' death in 1556, the Jesuits were already operating a network of 74 colleges on three continents. A precursor to liberal education, the Jesuit plan of studies incorporated the Classical teachings of Renaissance humanism into the Scholastic structure of Catholic thought.
In addition to teaching faith, the Ratio Studiorum emphasized the study of Latin, Greek, classical literature, poetry, and philosophy as well as non-European languages, sciences and the arts. Furthermore, Jesuit schools encouraged the study of vernacular literature and rhetoric, and thereby became important centers for the training of lawyers and public officials.
The Jesuit schools played an important part in winning back to Catholicism a number of European countries which had for a time been predominantly Protestant, notably Poland and Lithuania. Today, Jesuit colleges and universities are located in over one hundred nations around the world.
Under the notion that God can be encountered through created things and especially art, they encouraged the use of ceremony and decoration in Catholic ritual and devotion. Perhaps as a result of this appreciation for art, coupled with their spiritual practice of "finding God in all things", many early Jesuits distinguished themselves in the visual and performing arts as well as in music.
The Jesuits were able to obtain significant influence in the Early Modern Period because Jesuit priests often acted as confessors to the Kings of the time. They were an important force in the Counter-Reformation and in the Catholic missions, in part because their relatively loose structure (without the requirements of living in community, saying the divine office together, etc.) allowed them to be flexible to meet the needs of the people at the time.
Jesuite missionary, painting from 1779.
Early missions in Japan resulted in the government granting the Jesuits the feudal fiefdom of Nagasaki in 1580. However, this was removed in 1587 due to fears over their growing influence.
Francis Xavier arrived in Goa, in Western India, in 1541 to consider evangelical service in the Indies. He died after a decade of evangelism in Southern India. Two Jesuit missionaries, Johann Gruber and Albert D\'Orville, reached Lhasa in Tibet in 1661.
Jesuit missions in Latin America were very controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal, where they were seen as interfering with the proper colonial enterprises of the royal governments. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the Native Americans and slavery. Together throughout South America but especially in present-day Brazil and Paraguay they formed Christian Native American city-states, called "reductions" (Spanish Reducciones, Portuguese Reduções). These were societies set up according to an idealized theocratic model. It is partly because the Jesuits protected the natives whom certain Spanish and Portuguese colonizers wanted to enslave that the Society of Jesus was suppressed.
Jesuit priests such as Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta founded several towns in Brazil in the 16th century, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and were very influential in the pacification, religious conversion and education of Indian nations
There were several Jesuit missions in China.
Jesuit scholars working in these foreign missions were very important in understanding their unknown languages and strived to produce Latinicized grammars and dictionaries. This was done, for instance, for Japanese (see Nippo jisho also known as Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary written 1603) and Tupi-Guarani (a language group of South American aborigines). Jean François Pons in the 1740s pioneered the study of Sanskrit in the West.
Under Portuguese royal patronage, the order thrived in Goa and until 1759 successfully expanded its activities to education and healthcare. On 17 December 1759, the Marquis of Pombal, Secretary of State in Portugal, expelled the Jesuits from Portugal and Portuguese possessions overseas.
Jesuits in China.
The Jesuit China missions of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and astronomy, then undergoing its own revolution, to China. The Society of Jesus introduced, according to Thomas Woods, "a substantial body of scientific knowledge and a vast array of mental tools for understanding the physical universe, including the Euclidean geometry that made planetary motion comprehensible." Woods, Thomas E.. How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Regnery Publishing, 101. Another expert quoted by Woods said the scientific revolution brought by the Jesuits coincided with a time when science was at a very low level in China:
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"Life and works of Confucius, by Prospero Intorcetta, 1687.
Conversely, the Jesuits were very active in transmitting Chinese knowledge to Europe. Confucius\'s works were translated into European languages through the agency of Jesuit scholars stationed in China. Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and father Prospero Intorcetta published the life and works of Confucius into Latin in 1687Parker, John (1978). Windows into China: the Jesuits and their books, : delivered on the occasion of the fifth annual Bromsen Lecture, April 30, 1977. Boston: Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston, 25. . It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into ChristianityHobson, John M. (2004). The Eastern origins of Western civilisation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 194-195. . Here are two well-known examples:
Boston College is the home to the world\'s largest Jesuit community
The Suppression of the Jesuits in Portugal, France, the Two Sicilies, Parma and the Spanish Empire by 1767 was troubling to the Society\'s defender, Pope Clement XIII. A decree signed under secular pressure by Pope Clement XIV in July 1773 suppressed the Order. The suppression was carried out in all countries except Prussia and Russia, where Catherine the Great had forbidden the papal decree to be executed. Because millions of Catholics (including many Jesuits) lived in the Polish western provinces of the Russian Empire, the Society was able to maintain its existence and carry on its work all through the period of suppression. Subsequently, Pope Pius VI would grant formal permission for the continuation of the Society in Russia and Poland. Based on that permission, Stanislaus Czerniewicz was elected superior of the Society in 1782. Pius VII during his captivity in France, had resolved to restore the Jesuits universally; and after his return to Rome he did so with little delay: on 7 August 1814, by the Bull Solicitudo omnium ecclesiarum, he reversed the suppression of the Order and therewith, the then Superior in Russia, Thaddeus Brzozowski, who had been elected in 1805, acquired universal jurisdiction.
The period following the Restoration of the Jesuits in 1814 was marked by tremendous growth, as evidenced by the large number of Jesuit colleges and universities established in the 19th century. In the United States, 22 of the Society\'s 28 universities were founded or taken over by the Jesuits during this time. Some claim that the experience of suppression served to heighten orthodoxy among the Jesuits upon restoration. While this claim is debatable, Jesuits were generally supportive of Papal authority within the Church, and some members were associated with the Ultramontanist movement and the declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870.
In Switzerland, following the defeat of the Ultramontanist Sonderbund by Calvinist cantons, the constitution was modified and Jesuits were banished in 1848. The ban was lifted on 20 May 1973, when 54.9% of voters accepted a referendum modifying the Constitution.Chancellerie Fédérale Suisse, Votation populaire du 20 mai 1973 (1973-05-20), Arrêté fédéral abrogeant les articles de la constitution fédérale sur les jésuites et les couvents (art. 51 et 52), <http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/pore/va/19730520/det236.html>. Retrieved on 23 October 2007
The 20th century witnessed both aspects of growth and decline. Following a trend within the Catholic priesthood at large, Jesuit numbers peaked in the 1950s and have declined steadily since. Meanwhile the number of Jesuit institutions has grown considerably, due in large part to a late 20th century focus on the establishment of Jesuit secondary schools in inner-city areas and an increase in lay association with the order. Among the notable Jesuits of the 20th century, John Courtney Murray, SJ, was called one of the "architects of the Second Vatican Council" and drafted what eventually became the council\'s endorsement of religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae Personae in apparent contradiction of Pope Eugene IV\'s Domini Cantate.
 Current Jesuit Cardinals
| Date of Birth Current Age | Elevated to Cardinal |
|---|---|---|
Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio Archbishop of Buenos Aires
| December 17, 1936 71 years, 326 days | February 21, 2001 Pope John Paul II |
Julius Riyadi Cardinal Darmaatmadja Archbishop of Jakarta
| December 20, 1934 73 years, 324 days | November 26, 1994 Pope John Paul II |
Avery Robert Cardinal Dulles priest
| August 24, 1918 90 years, 77 days | February 21 2001 Pope John Paul II |
Ján Chryzostom Cardinal Korec Bishop Emeritus of Nitra
| January 22 1924 84 years, 291 days | June 28 1991 Pope John Paul II |
Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini Archbishop Emeritus of Milan
| February 15 1927 81 years, 267 days | February 2 1983 Pope John Paul II |
Urbano Cardinal Navarrete Cortés priest
| May 25 1920 88 years, 167 days | November 24 2007 Pope Benedict XVI |
Paul Cardinal Shan Kuo-his Bishop Emeritus of Kaohsiung
| December 3 1923 84 years, 341 days | February 21 1998 Pope John Paul II |
Tomáš Cardinal Špidlík priest
| December 17 1919 88 years, 327 days | October 21 2003 Pope John Paul II |
| Roberto Cardinal Tucci priest
| April 19 1921 87 years, 204 days | February 21 2001 Pope John Paul II |
Albert Cardinal Vanhoye priest
| July 23 1923 85 years, 109 days | March 24 2006 Pope Benedict XVI |
Under Superior General Pedro Arrupe, social justice and the preferential option for the poor emerged as dominant themes of the work of the Jesuits. On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests (Ignacio Ellacuria, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Joaquin López y López, Juan Ramon Moreno, and Amado López); their housekeeper, Elba Ramos; and her daughter, Celia Marisela Ramos, were murdered by the Salvadoran military on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador, because they had been labeled as subversives by the government. The assassinations galvanized the Society\'s peace and justice movements, including annual protests at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the assassins were trained under US government sponsorship.
In 2002, Boston College president William P. Leahy, SJ, initiated the Church in the 21st Century program as a means of moving the Church "from crisis to renewal." The initiative has provided the Society with a platform for examining issues brought about by the worldwide Roman Catholic sex abuse cases, including the priesthood, celibacy, sexuality, women\'s roles, and the role of the laity.
On January 6 2005, Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, on the occasion of the Jubilee Year, wrote that the Jesuits "should truly profit from the jubilee year to examine our way of life and taking the means to live more profoundly the charisms received from our Founders."Letter to major superiors, 6 January 2005.
In April 2005, Thomas J. Reese, SJ, editor of the American Jesuit weekly magazine America, resigned at the request of the Society. The move was widely published in the media as the result of pressure from the Vatican, following years of criticism by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on articles touching subjects such as HIV/AIDS, religious pluralism, homosexuality and the right of life for the unborn. Reese is currently on a year-long sabbatical at Santa Clara University.
Visit of Benedict XVI to the Pontifical Gregorian University, "one of the greatest services the Society of Jesus carries out for the universal Church."
On February 2 2006, Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, informed members of the Society of Jesus, that with the consent of Pope Benedict XVI, he intended to step down as Superior General in 2008, the year he will turn 80. The 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convened on 5 January 2008 and elected Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Japan, as the new Superior General on 19 January 2008. The deliberations of the General Congregation on other important policies for the Jesuit order are expected to continue until March, 2008. While the Jesuit superior general is elected for life, the order\'s constitutions allow him to step down.
On April 22 2006, Feast of Our Lady, Mother of the Society of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI greeted thousands of Jesuits on pilgrimage to Rome, and took the opportunity to thank God "for having granted to your Company the gift of men of extraordinary sanctity and of exceptional apostolic zeal such as St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier and Bl Peter Faber." He said "St Ignatius of Loyola was above all a man of God, who gave the first place of his life to God, to his greater glory and his greater service. He was a man of profound prayer, which found its center and its culmination in the daily Eucharistic Celebration." Benedict XVI (2006-04-22), Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI to the Fathers and Brothers of the Society of Jesus, <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060422_gesuiti_en.html>. Retrieved on 23 October 2007
In May 2006, Benedict XVI also wrote a letter to Superior General Peter Hans Kolvenbach on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII\'s encyclical Haurietis aquas, on devotion to the Sacred Heart, because the Jesuits have always been "extremely active in the promotion of this essential devotion " Benedict XVI (2006-05-15), Letter to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus on the 50th anniversary of the Encyclical Haurietis Aquas, <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20060515_50-haurietis-aquas_en.html>. Retrieved on 23 October 2007. In his November 3, 2006 visit to the Pontifical Gregorian University, Benedict XVI cited the university as "one of the greatest services that the Society of Jesus carries out for the universal Church" Benedict XVI (2006-11-03), Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI - Visit of the Holy Father to the Pontifical Gregorian University, <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061103_gregoriana_en.html>. Retrieved on 23 October 2007.
On January 19, 2008, Adolfo Nicolas was elected by General Congregation (GC XXXV) as the Order’s thirtieth Superior General and was promptly confirmed by Benedict XVI. A month after, the Pope received members of the General Congregation and urged them to "to continue on the path of this mission in full fidelity to your original charism" and asked them to reflect so as "to rediscover the fullest meaning of your characteristic \'fourth vow\' of obedience to the Successor of Peter." For this, he told them to "adhere totally to the Word of God and to the Magisterium\'s task of preserving the integral truth and unity of Catholic doctrine." This clear identity, according to the Pope, is important so that "many others may share in your ideals and join you effectively and enthusiastically."Benedict XVI (2008-03-04), Papal Address to Members of Jesuit General Congregation: Rediscover the Fullest Meaning of Your Characteristic \'4th Vow\' of Obedience, <http://zenit.org/article-21968?l=english>. Retrieved on 8 March 2008. The Congregation responded with a formal declaration titled "With New Fervor and Dynamism, the Society of Jesus Responds to the Call of Benedict XVI," whereby they confirmed the Society\'s fidelity to the Pope.Jesuits end meeting by approving decrees, confirming fidelity to pope, CNS March 7, 2008
Sacred Heart of Jesus. According to Benedict XVI, the Jesuits have always been "extremely active in the promotion of this essential devotion."
Like all Catholic spirituality, the spirituality practiced by the Jesuits, called Ignatian spirituality, is based on the Catholic faith and the gospels. Aside from the "Constitutions," "The Letters," and "Autobiography," Ignatian spirituality draws most specially from St. Ignatius\' "Spiritual Exercises," whose purpose is "to conquer oneself and to regulate one\'s life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment." In other words, the Exercises are intended, in Ignatius\' view, to give the exercitant (the person undertaking them) a greater degree of freedom from his or her own likes, dislikes, comforts, wants, needs, drives, appetites and passions that they may choose based solely on what they discern God\'s will is for them.
In the words of Kolvenbach, the Exercises try to "unite two apparently incompatible realities: exercises and spiritual." It invites to "unlimited generosity" in contemplating God, yet going down to the level of many details.Discourse given to the Rome Consultation, 16 February 2003.
Ignatian spirituality can be described as an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to God, who is ever active in people\'s lives. Though it includes many forms of prayer, discernment, and apostolic service, it is the interior dispositions of attentiveness and responsiveness that are ultimately crucial. The result is that Ignatian spirituality has a remarkable \'nowness,\' both in its attentiveness to God and in its desire to respond to what God is asking of the person now.Charles J. Jackson, Ignatian Spirituality.
The Ignatian ideal has the following characteristics:Pinard De La Boullaye, Ignatian Spirituality.
Upon his recovery from battle wounds, St. Ignatius of Loyola hung his military accoutrements before the image of the Virgin of Montserrat. Then he led a period of asceticism to found the Society of Jesus.
The training of Jesuits seeks to prepare men spiritually, academically and practically for the ministries they will be called to offer the Church and world. St. Ignatius was strongly influenced by the Renaissance and wanted Jesuits to be able to offer whatever ministries were most needed at any given moment, and especially, to be ready to respond to missions (assignments) from the Pope. Formation for Priesthood normally takes up to 14 years, depending on the man\'s background and previous education, and final vows are taken several years after that, making Jesuit training among the longest of any of the religious orders.
At this point, the novice pronounces his First Vows (perpetual Simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and a vow to persevere to final profession and ordination) and becomes either a Scholastic (entering onto the path of priesthood) or a Jesuit brother (technically known as a "temporal coadjutor", but officially styled "brother" today). The scholastics (who are addressed by the title "Mister") and the Brothers (addressed by the title "Brother") of the Society of Jesus have different courses of study, although they often overlap.
For scholastics, the usual course of studies is as follows:
The formation of Jesuit brothers has a much less structured form. Prior to the Second Vatican Council, Jesuit brothers worked almost exclusively within Jesuit communities as cooks, tailors, farmers, secretaries, accountants, librarians and maintenance support - they were thus technically known as "temporal coadjutors", as they assisted the professed priests by undertaking the more "worldly" jobs, freeing the professed of the four vows and the "spiritual coadjutors" to undertake the sacramental and spiritual missions of the Society. Following the Second Vatican Council, which recognized the mission of all the Christian faithful, not just those who are ordained, to share in the ministries of the Church, Jesuit brothers began to engage in ministries outside of their communities. Today, the formation of a Jesuit brother may take many forms, depending on his aptitude for ministry. He may pursue a highly academic formation which mirrors that of the scholastics (there are, for instance, some Jesuit brothers who serve as university professors), or he may pursue more practical training in areas such as pastoral counseling or spiritual direction (some assist in giving retreats, for instance), or he may continue in the traditional “supporting” roles in which so many Jesuit brothers have attained notable levels of holiness (as administrative aides, for example). Since Vatican II the Society has officially adopted the term "brother," which was always the unofficial form of address for the temporal coadjutors.
Regardless of the practical details, Jesuit formation is meant to form men who are open and ready to serve whatever is the Church’s current need. Today, all Jesuits are expected to learn English, and those who speak English as a first language are expected to learn Spanish.
The Society is headed by a Superior General. In the Jesuit Order, the formal title of the Superior General is "Praepositus Generalis," Latin for General President, more commonly called Father General or General, who is elected by the General Congregation for life or until he resigns, is confirmed by the Pope, and has absolute authority in running the Society. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is the Spanish Jesuit, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón who was elected on January 19, 2008.
He is assisted by "assistants," each of whom heads an "assistancy," which is either a geographic area (for instance, the North American Assistancy) or an area of ministry (for instance, higher education). The assistants normally reside with the General Superior in Rome. The assistants, together with a number of other advisors, form an advisory council to the General. A vicar general and secretary of the Society run day-to-day administration. The General is also required to have an "admonitor," a confidential advisor whose specific job is to warn the General honestly and confidentially when he is acting imprudently or is straying toward disobedience to the Pope or heresy. The central staff of the General is known as the Curia.
The order is divided into geographic provinces, each of which is headed by a Provincial Superior, generally called Father Provincial, chosen by the General. He has authority over all Jesuits and ministries in his area, and is assisted by a socius, who acts as a sort of secretary and chief of staff. With the approval of the General, he appoints a novice master and a master of tertians to oversee formation, and rectors of local houses of Jesuits.
Each individual Jesuit community within a province is normally headed by a rector who is assisted by a "minister," from the Latin for "servant," a priest who helps oversee the community\'s day-to-day needs.
The General Congregation is a meeting of all of the assistants, provincials and additional representatives who are elected by the professed Jesuits of each province. It meets irregularly and rarely, normally to elect a new superior general and/or to take up some major policy issues for the order. The General meets more regularly with smaller councils composed of just the provincials.
Jesuits do not have an official habit. St. Ignatius\'s intent was their adoption of diocesan clergy dress in whatever country or region they found themselves. In time, a "Jesuit-style cassock" became standard issue: it wrapped around the body and was tied with a cincture, rather than the customary buttoned front, a tuftless biretta (only diocesan clergy wore tufts), and a simple cape (ferraiuolo) completed the full, formal Jesuit garb, but this too was part of diocesan priestly dress. As such, though their garb appeared distinctive, and became identifiable over time, it was the common priestly dress of Ignatius\'s day. Missionaries of all religious orders, at their commissioning ceremony, received a large crucifix worn on a cord around the neck that is often tucked, for convenience, to the cassock\'s cincture: historical depictions of Jesuit saints show the buttonless cassock, cape, biretta, and cervical crucifix.
During the Missionary periods of the Continental Americas, the various Amerindian tribes referred to the Jesuits as the "Blackrobes" because of the black cassocks they wore.
Today, most Jesuits wear the simple Roman collar tab shirts in non-liturgical, ministerial settings. Some, since the 1960s, have opted for secular garb.
The Jesuits have frequently been described by their enemies (both Catholic and Protestant) as engaged in various conspiracies. The Monita secreta, published 1614 in Kraków, allegedly written by Claudio Acquaviva, in reality by Jerome Zahorowski, were fabricated to expose such a conspiracy.[citation needed]
Henry Garnet, one of the leading English Jesuits, was hanged for misprision of treason because of his involvement in Gunpowder Plot. The plan had been an attempt to kill King James I of England and VI of Scotland, his family and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.[citation needed] Another Jesuit, Oswald Tesimond, managed to escape arrest for involvement in the same plot.[citation needed]Robert Southwell, another Jesuit was arrested while visiting the house of Richard Bellamy, who lived near Harrow and was under suspicion on account of his connection with Jerome Bellamy, who had been executed for sharing in Anthony Babington\'s plot. He was hanged for treason.[citation needed]John Ballard (also Jesuit) was executed for being involved in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England. Same fate struck Edmund Campion Jesuit priest sentenced to death as a traitor.[citation needed]
They have also been accused of using casuistry to obtain justifications for the unjustifiable.[citation needed] In English, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, "Jesuitical" has acquired a secondary meaning of "equivocating". The Jesuits have also been targeted by many anti-Catholics like Jack Chick, Avro Manhattan, and Alberto Rivera (who claimed to be a former Jesuit himself).[citation needed]
Within the Catholic Church, some Jesuits are criticized by some parties for allegedly being overly liberal and allegedly deviating substantially from official Church teaching and papal directives, especially on such issues as abortion, priestly celibacy, homosexuality, and liberation theology.See:
John Paul II appointed Jesuit priest Roberto Cardinal Tucci, S.J., to the College of Cardinals after serving for many years as the chief organizer of papal trips and public events. In total, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have appointed 10 Jesuit cardinals.
Nine Jesuit priests have been formally recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs\' and Heroes\' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust of World War II. Several other Jesuits are known to have rescued or given refuge to Jews during that period. Hiatt Holocaust Collection
A plaque commemorating the 152 Jesuit p
