There have been rumblings about director Martin Scorsese making a film of Shusaku Endo’s magnificent historical novel Silence, about Japanese martyrs of the 17th century. Now it seems that the rumor may become a reality, according to Spero Forum. In a preface to Endo’s book, Scorsese writes perceptively about faith: How do you tell the [...]
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Church historian Pat McNamara writes about how the Jesuits at St. John’s College (later Fordham University) befriended Edgar Allen Poe in the last years of his life. The poet, grief-stricken and depressed after the death of his wife, found companionship with the Jesuits. One of them remembered Poe as a “familiar figure at the college [...]
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Luis Espinal, SJ, is a Jesuit hero I hadn’t heard about. He was a Spanish Jesuit who worked for social justice in Bolivia. He was murdered in 1980. He wrote this. Losing one’s life means working for others, even though they don’t pay us back. It means doing a favor without it being returned. Losing [...]
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In 1534, Ignatius and his companions went to the church of Sainte Pierre in the village of Montmartre north of Paris, and took vows to work together as a company. It was an important moment because this band of brothers soon became the first Jesuits. When my wife and I went to Paris a couple [...]
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Jesuits arrived in Canada in 1611, and went on to shape significant parts of that nation’s history as missionaries, explorers, and educators. To mark the 400th anniversary, Canada’s Catholic Register of Canada has published a 36-page supplement about the Jesuits and their history. It’s fascinating reading. I especially liked St. John de Brébeuf’s advice to [...]
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A group of lay people and Jesuits have set up a new pilgrimage route in Spain that should appeal to walkers and cyclists with an Ignatian bent. It’s called the Camino Ignaciano (the Ignatian “way” or “road”). It’s the route St. Ignatius walked in 1522 after his conversion. It begins at his family’s home in [...]
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Church historian Pat McNamara has written a fascinating account of the life of Thomas Ewing Sherman, SJ, an American Jesuit in the late nineteenth century and the son of Civil War hero William Tecumseh Sherman. Thomas Sherman entered the Jesuits despite his father’s bitter opposition. He wrote: People in love do strange things…. Having a [...]
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Tuesday was the Feast of Blessed Peter Favre, SJ, sometimes called “the second Jesuit” because he was especially close to Ignatius when the order was getting started. Peter was looking for direction in life when he ran into Ignatius. He was overwhelmed with choices, like a young person today: I was always very unsure of [...]
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Let’s take a moment in IgnatiusFest to think about the men who first followed Ignatius. We wouldn’t be here without Ignatius, but we wouldn’t be here without the first companions either. They were a handful of students who met Ignatius at the University of Paris. They made the bold decision to join their lives together [...]
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“His holiness was unmistakable; he practiced self-mastery until there seemed to be no difference between God’s will and his own. “Eres en tu casa,” was his wide-armed greeting to anyone who visited him—“You are at home”—and all who talked with him left with the impression that he was kindliness itself: Michelangelo was so affected by [...]
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