Jesuit History

Jesuit Calendar

by Jim Manney

My friend and colleague Jim Campbell recently discovered a Jesuit calendar that’s a great resource for anyone interested in all things Jesuit.  It was developed by Otto Sayre, SJ, a German Jesuit.  The calendar pays special attention to the German history of the Society, but it covers the whole history of the Society, from Ignatius to [...]

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Francis Xavier

by Tim Muldoon

St. Francis Xavier (Indonesia, c. 16th century) December 3 is the feast of Saint Francis Xavier. Francis is the patron of foreign missions because of his evangelization in India, Indonesia, and Japan (he died off the coast of China, and the site is a pilgrimage destination for Chinese Catholics). Many Asian Catholics to this day [...]

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Ignatius and Poverty

by Jim Manney

In early November, Santa Clara University held a three-day conference on the legacy of the six Jesuit martyrs nurdered in El Salvador in 1989.  Papers from the conference have been published on the web. In one of these papers, the theologian Jon Sobrino, SJ, reflects on Ignatius Loyola’s struggle with the challenge of living in [...]

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Celebration of Matteo Ricci, SJ

by Jim Manney

Next year is the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, SJ, one of the most remarkable of the early Jesuit missionaries.  He was the first to bring European learning and culture to the Chinese.  This is a video marking a special exhibition at the Vatican in honor of Ricci.

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Lunar Footnote

by Jim Manney

NASA has announced that its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will strike the Cabeus A crater near the south pole of the moon in early October.  The crater is named for Niccolo Cabeo (1586-1659), a Jesuit philosopher and scientist.  It turns out that 35 craters on the moon have been named after Jesuit [...]

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Jesuits as Soldiers

by Jim Manney

It’s a common misconception that Ignatius Loyola set up the Jesuits along military lines, with a warlike outlook, a rigid chain of command, and unthinking obedience. Wrong, as Nathan O’Halloran explains in this post. Ignatius may have used military language, but it meant something far different than it means today. The knights Ignatius admired were [...]

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Jesuit on the Mound

by Jim Manney

Baseball is God’s game, in my opinion.  I love the game and I especially like the Detroit Tigers (who are currently barely hanging on to a one-game lead in the American League Central Division).  So you can imagine how excited I was to read about a future Jesuit who played briefly for the Tigers.  It [...]

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How the Jesuits Got So Worldly

by Jim Manney

Historian John W. O’Malley, SJ, ponders Jesuit worldliness  in a recent article.  He starts with a Jesuit joke, but the “worldliness” of the Jesuits is no joke.  It’s real. The decision to operate schools gave the Society a big shove in the worldly direction.  But O’Malley traces the roots of worldliness to the Jesuits’ early [...]

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Pedro Arrupe's Vocation

by Jim Manney

A genuine miracle played a decisive role in Pedro Arrupe’s decision to become a priest. He was a young medical student on pilgrimage to Lourdes. He noticed a young man twisted with polio in a wheelchair at Mass. At the consecration of the host, the man stood up, cured. Writes Arrupe: Thanks to the special [...]

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Who's the Most Influential Modern Jesuit?

by Jim Manney

Vote here and then look at the results.  They may surprise you.

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