Today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first Westerner in the court of Imperial China. He is one of my heroes, not only because I am fascinated by the history of China, but also because his ministry represents in my mind a model for the future [...]
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The visionary paintings of James Tissot in America. Pop psychology discovers Ignatian discernment. (“Using the 4 D’s to find more meaning and purpose in life.”) Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, on the beatification of Bernardo de Hoyos, SJ. (Litany of Jesuit saints here.) Peter Nixon on the washing of feet. An awesome view of the Sistine Chapel.
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Today is the anniversary of the canonization of Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier in 1622. Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri were also canonized on that day, making March 12, 1622, possibly the greatest day in the history of canonizations. The painting above by the Jesuit Andrea Pozzo depicts Ignatius sending Xavier to the missions [...]
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Today is the traditional beginning of the Novena of Grace in honor of St. Francis Xavier, a nine-day devotion that has been popular for centuries. The first Novena of Grace dates back to 1634, when the intercession of St. Francis obtained the miraculous cure of another Jesuit. The novena ends on March 12, the date [...]
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Last month America Magazine awarded its 2009 Campion Award to Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury– a remarkable move, since the award is named after St. Edmund Campion, one of the English martyrs. Williams writes movingly of “martyrial ecumenism,” which I take to mean the shared witness (Greek marturion) to faith in Christ, even [...]
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December 21 is the feast of another great Jesuit saint, Peter Canisius. Let this post represent a shout-out to Buffalo’s Canisius College and Canisius High School; Jakarta’s Canisius College (secondary school); and Berlin’s Canisius Kolleg (secondary school). The Dutch-born Canisius (1521-1597) was one of the early first-generation Jesuits. He met Pierre Favre, one of Ignatius’ [...]
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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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The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has announced that Mary Ward (1585-1645), the English woman who founded an order modeled directly after the Jesuits, will be declared Venerable. See the CathAsia news story here. See the bio of Mary at the website of the order she founded, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, [...]
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At his People for Others blog, my friend Paul Campbell has trouble coming up with “five fun facts” about Ignatius Loyola. One of them is the fact that Ignatius was hauled up several times before the Spanish Inquisition. This got me thinking about the personalities of saints. There aren’t many “fun” facts about Ignatius because [...]
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