Jesuits – Page 4

Easter 470 years later

470 years ago on this date, another Easter Sunday, Ignatius of Loyola and his first companions elected Ignatius as the first superior of the new group, a year following the Church’s approval of the society. Just two days before his election, the companions went to the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls to profess their vows.

With these events, Loyola had more concrete points in following God’s will in forming a new society of priests aiming to reform Christian culture under the Roman Pontiff.

The account is here.

David L. Fleming, SJ, RIP

Today has been a day of death it seems. I started the day with a funeral of a 8 year old who died the other day of cancer.

This afternoon I was notified that my former rector, Father David L. Fleming, SJ, 76, died after facing cancer in a courageous way. Well done good and faithful servant. May the Lord be good to him.

David is likely to have been one of the best superiors I ever had. For me, he was a light in darkness when a lot of others were simply too self-absorbed. He was one of those who superiors who took each person seriously and approached each person with sensitivity, grace and love. He always showed me the operation of grace, that is, the act of God’s love on me as unmerited and without reservation.

When I saw David last summer it was a fine meeting –one that was full of memories from the past– but one we both knew that we’d not likely see each other this summer.

Father Fleming’s obituary is here: Fr David Fleming, SJ obit.pdf

Please pray for Father Fleming and all the souls who have died today.

May Father David Fleming’s memory be eternal.

Religious Orders talk about their purpose at Notre Dame Univ

Last week at the University of Notre Dame (my alma mater) members of the various religious orders along with a secular priest, spoke about their place in the Church. In church lingo: they spoke about their charism (the diivne gift). As you know ND was founded and continues to be sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC) but through the years members of religious orders like the Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans (among others) have worked and/or studied at ND. The richness ot the women religious ought to be explored at some point.

Speaking to the university was an opportunity to attend to the distinctions among the orders in a healthy manner. The Observer carried the story.

The Thought of Henri Bremond

In the current
issue of La Civiltà Cattolica, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro wrote an
interesting essay, “The Thought of Henri Bremond.” Matters pertaining to faith
and reason, faith and culture interest me perhaps you. At least that’s what I
hope if you are a frequent reader of the Communio blog. Henri Bremond
(1865-1933) is a former a Jesuit priest, literary scholar and was in the middle
of the Modernist crisis. His literary output was terrific. Bremond was a member
of the illustrious Académie Française succeedingm(elected in 1923 holding seat
number 36). France also awarded the Lé d’honneur. The summary:

An attempt to
overcome the gap between faith and culture – In the years that saw the rise of
surrealism, of Freudian thought and of the modernist crisis, Henri Bremond
captured the separation that was growing between theology and culture
sanctioned by the Enlightenment. Bremond suffered in trying to find a
compromise in terms of language, seeking to show to a cultured audience the
best results of a religious sensibility and sought to show to his Catholic
readers the religious value of «profane» literature. Seeing the similarities
between a mystical and a poetic inspiration, he concluded that “it is up to the
mystic to explain the poet,” reversing a common axiom. The article, on the
occasion of the reissue of his Prayer and poetry, absent from Italian
bookstores for three decades, presents the main insights of the priest,
academician of France.

New Heaven, New War

One of my favorite 16th century recusant poets is Saint Robert Southwell, an English Jesuit who preached the gospel in very trying circumstances. Southwell chose the obedience to be a Catholic priest in a country that outright persecuted Catholics and their priests. Ordained a Jesuit priest in 1584, his personal, theological and ministerial imagination, his human and divine calling, was to respond positively to a letter of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus of February 20, 1585 looking for missionaries to England. Southwell knew that his positive response to his religious superior would very likely end in martyrdom. Saint Robert Southwell’s poetry is challenging for the 21st century ear but worth the work of coming to understand his art and message. One such poem is “New Heaven, New War” expressing the Mystery of the Incarnation of God in history, the birth of Jesus.

Come to your heaven, you heavenly quires!

Earth hath the heaven of your desires;

Remove your dwelling to your God,

A stall is now His best abode;

Sith men their homage do deny.

Come, angels, all their faults supply.

His chilling cold doth heat require,

Come, seraphim, in lieu of fire;

This little ark no cover hath,

Let cherubs’ wings his body swathe;

Come, Raphael, this babe must eat,

Provide our little Toby meat.

Continue reading New Heaven, New War

Urbano Cardinal Navarrete Cortés, SJ, RIP

Urbano Cardinal Navarrete Cortés, SJ, 90, died today. The Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for November 24; the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Cardinal Sodano will celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass and His Holiness will preside over the Final Commendation and give a valediction.

His Eminence was a professor of Canon Law, a former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, a prolific author and a consultor of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Disciple of the Sacraments.

In 2007, Pope Benedict created Father Navarrete a cardinal of the Roman Church. He was dispensed of the episcopal dignity. The Pope assigned him the Church of San Ponziano as his titular Church.

Cardinal Navarrete was a Spanish Jesuit (entering in 1937), ordained priest in 1952. And since 1958 was a professor of Canon Law at the Gregorian, specializing in marriage law, where he also served as dean of the Canon Law faculty.

Fr Allen P. Novotny, SJ RIP

At this moment, family, friends, and Jesuits are gathering for the Mass of Christian Burial for the Reverend Father Allen P. Novotny, SJ, 58, President of Gonzaga College High School, Washington, DC. I mention this because I had the privilege of living with Allen for a year and liked him very much. I’ve been saddened since hearing the news on October 27th that Allen died earlier that day from a mutual friend. I was unable to make the funeral Mass but have not ceased praying for Allen’s peace and God’s mercy upon Allen and the rest of us. Eternal rest, dear friend.

A fitting video tribute to Father Allen

Gonzaga’s The Aquilian paid this tribute to Father Allen.

The lost Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, found with the Jesuits

The art world is abuzz due to an article in L’Osservatore Romano on Sunday stating that a “lost Caravaggio” may now be found.

The as yet unauthenticated painting, “The Martyrdom of St Lawrence,” owned by the Society of Jesus, is thought to be a Caravaggio because it has the hallmarks of a Caravaggio, including dramatic lighting effects, the L’Osservatore Romano said. “Certainly it’s a stylistically impeccable, beautiful painting,” the article stated in its Sunday edition. “One can’t but be reminded of works like the Conversion of St Paul, the Martyrdom of St Matthew and Judith and Holofernes.”

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is the acknowledged pioneer of the Baroque painting technique of contrasting light and dark known in Italian as “chiaroscuro.” It is estimated that about 80 of the painter’s works are extant. He was born in Milan and trained there under Titian. Many are also aware of the artist’s wild lifestyle and the alleged murder he committed of a man in a brawl and then fled Rome. Moreover, Caravaggio’s mysterious death in 1610 has long intrigued scholars. Among the theories of his disappearance are that he was killed on a deserted Tuscan beach or collapsed there due to an illness. Italian anthropologists announced last month they had found the famous artist’s mortal remains. The artist’s club is observing the 400th anniversary of the artist’s death.

Leave it to the Jesuits to have at least two Caravaggio’s!

The death of Jesuit psychoanalyst, Fr William W. Meissner

I haven’t seen him in nearly 7 years, but I was very sad to hear of the death of Jesuit Father William W. Meissner, 79, the other day. A New York Province Jesuit priest who was trained as a psychiatrist at Harvard, Bill was a great man in my mind with lots of quirks, probably too many to speak of. Bill was the sort of man who didn’t suffer fools gladly; he was one of those Jesuits who worked very hard and play well but didn’t do pastoral work. His life as a priest is was dedicated to the ministry of research and teaching. All the same, I loved being on vacation with Bill and I remember fondly our many serious conversations. When I studied in Boston in the early 1990s he gave a series of lectures on the psychology of Saint Ignatius of Loyola which I attended and found incomprehensible; the lectures eventually became a book, Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint, you may have seen it. I have to admit that psychoanalyzing a dead saint is a bit weird –with or without a couch– but fascinating nonetheless because we got a glimpse into the heart and mind of terrific saint.

Here’s one of Bill’s obit.

May Bill Meissner’s memory be eternal.

Bernardo de Hoyos beatified

Today, in Valladolid, Spain, Father Bernardo de Hoyos (1711-1735) was beatified. I previously mentioned Father de Hoyos on this blog. Here is a précis of Father Adolfo Nicolás’ letter to the Jesuits. The full text of the letter can be read here Bernard de Hoyos letter.pdf

“He is considered the first apostle of the Sacred Heart in Spain. To recapture who he was and what he contributed, I offer some biographical information that should be understood in the religious and cultural context of the 18th century.” Thus begins Nicolás’ for this occasion. More than a century ago, in 1895, the cause for Father De Hoyos was introduced; due to many ecclesiastical vicissitudes and the political history of Spain, it was repeatedly postponed. Father Nicolás, in his letter, traces the major events in the very short life of the newly beatified who died on the 29th of November 1735 at the age of 24. Near to the time of his death, de Hoyos was ordained a priest and in Tertianship.

“His reputation for holiness,” the letter continues. “spread immediately after his death. However, because of the difficult situation in which the Society found itself opposed by the Jansenists, the cause for beatification was not introduced at that time. Later the suppression of the Society would leave many projects unfinished. When the Society was restored in 1814 by Pope Pius VII, a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart emerged in the whole Church. In accord with the religious sensibilities of the time, the reborn Society dedicated itself to the spread and propagation of this devotion with significant results.” The letter outlines the steps of this recovery of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, beginning with Jesuits’ General Congregation 31st in 1965, through the generalate of Father Pedro Arrupe and then with generalate of Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach.

Then Father Nicolás goes on: “Bernardo de Hoyos’s passion for the Heart of Jesus faithfully corresponds to the devotion that Saint Ignatius felt for Jesus poor and humble, before whom he asks that our affections be moved in order to accompany Him in each step of His life: As companions with him on mission, his way is our way (GC35, D.2, nº 14), so that in what we do in the world there must always be a transparency to God (GC35, D. 2, nº 10). On the occasion of this beatification, I invite the whole Society, together with our collaborators, to renew our personal love of Jesus Christ and to open ourselves to the grace of identifying ourselves with Him, so that in Nadal’s words, we might understand with His understanding; will with His will; remember with His memory; and that our entire being, living, and doing be not centered in us, but in Christ (MHSI vol 90. p.122; GC35, D. 2, nº14), as the cornerstone of the particular vocation to which each of us has been called.”

Father Nicolás concludes his letter: “May the Father who has hidden these things from the wise and the learned and has revealed them to the childlike (Mt 11, 25) through the intercession of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos, grant the Society the grace of accomplishing its mission of being in the Church a loving response to Him who was pierced by the pain and the aggressive injustice of a world in need of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

May Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos show us the way to the Heart of Jesus!