Conversion1 of Loyola ? Foundation of the Society of Jesus ? Preparation of the Novice2 ? Characteristics of the Order ? The Canadian Jesuits
It was an evil day for new-born Protestantism, when a French artilleryman fired the shot that struck down Ignatius Loyola in the breach3 of Pampeluna. A proud noble, an aspiring4 soldier, a graceful5 courtier, an ardent6 and daring gallant7 was metamorphosed by that stroke into the zealot whose brain engendered9 and brought forth10 the mighty11 Society of Jesus. His story is a familiar one: how, in the solitude12 of his sick-room, a change came over him, upheaving, like an earthquake, all the forces of his nature; how, in the cave of Manresa, the mysteries of Heaven were revealed to him; how he passed from agonies to transports, from transports to the calm of a determined13 purpose. The soldier gave himself to a new warfare14. In the forge of his great intellect, heated, but not disturbed by the intense fires of his zeal8, was wrought15 the prodigious16 enginery whose power has been felt to the uttermost confines of the world.
9 Loyola's training had been in courts and camps: of books he knew little or nothing. He had lived in the unquestioning faith of one born and bred in the very focus of Romanism; and thus, at the age of about thirty, his conversion found him. It was a change of life and purpose, not of belief. He presumed not to inquire into the doctrines17 of the Church. It was for him to enforce those doctrines; and to this end he turned all the faculties18 of his potent19 intellect, and all his deep knowledge of mankind. He did not aim to build up barren communities of secluded20 monks21, aspiring to heaven through prayer, penance22, and meditation23, but to subdue24 the world to the dominion25 of the dogmas which had subdued26 him; to organize and discipline a mighty host, controlled by one purpose and one mind, fired by a quenchless27 zeal or nerved by a fixed28 resolve, yet impelled29, restrained, and directed by a single master hand. The Jesuit is no dreamer: he is emphatically a man of action; action is the end of his existence.
It was an arduous30 problem which Loyola undertook to solve,—to rob a man of volition31, yet to preserve in him, nay32, to stimulate33, those energies which would make him the most efficient instrument of a great design. To this end the Jesuit novitiate and the constitutions of the Order are directed. The enthusiasm of the novice is urged to its intensest pitch; then, in the name of religion, he is summoned to the utter abnegation of intellect and will in favor of the Superior, in whom he is 10 commanded to recognize the representative of God on earth. Thus the young zealot makes no slavish sacrifice of intellect and will; at least, so he is taught: for he sacrifices them, not to man, but to his Maker34. No limit is set to his submission35: if the Superior pronounces black to be white, he is bound in conscience to acquiesce36. [1]
[1] Those who wish to know the nature of the Jesuit virtue37 of obedience38 will find it set forth in the famous Letter on Obedience of Loyola.
Loyola's book of Spiritual Exercises is well known. In these exercises lies the hard and narrow path which is the only entrance to the Society of Jesus. The book is, to all appearance, a dry and superstitious39 formulary; but, in the hands of a skilful40 director of consciences, it has proved of terrible efficacy. The novice, in solitude and darkness, day after day and night after night, ponders its images of perdition and despair. He is taught to hear, in imagination, the howlings of the damned, to see their convulsive agonies, to feel the flames that burn without consuming, to smell the corruption41 of the tomb and the fumes42 of the infernal pit. He must picture to himself an array of adverse43 armies, one commanded by Satan on the plains of Babylon, one encamped under Christ about the walls of Jerusalem; and the perturbed44 mind, humbled45 by long contemplation of its own vileness46, is ordered to enroll47 itself under one or the other banner. Then, the choice made, it is led to a region of serenity48 and celestial49 peace, and soothed50 with images of divine benignity51 and grace. These meditations52 last, without intermission, about a month, 11 and, under an astute53 and experienced directorship, they have been found of such power, that the Manual of Spiritual Exercises boasts to have saved souls more in number than the letters it contains.
To this succeed two years of discipline and preparation, directed, above all things else, to perfecting the virtues54 of humility55 and obedience. The novice is obliged to perform the lowest menial offices, and the most repulsive56 duties of the sick-room and the hospital; and he is sent forth, for weeks together, to beg his bread like a common mendicant57. He is required to reveal to his confessor, not only his sins, but all those hidden tendencies, instincts, and impulses which form the distinctive58 traits of character. He is set to watch his comrades, and his comrades are set to watch him. Each must report what he observes of the acts and dispositions59 of the others; and this mutual61 espionage62 does not end with the novitiate, but extends to the close of life. The characteristics of every member of the Order are minutely analyzed63, and methodically put on record.
This horrible violence to the noblest qualities of manhood, joined to that equivocal system of morality which eminent64 casuists of the Order have inculcated, must, it may be thought, produce deplorable effects upon the characters of those under its influence. Whether this has been actually the case, the reader of history may determine. It is certain, however, that the Society of Jesus has numbered among its members men whose fervent65 12 and exalted66 natures have been intensified67, without being abased68, by the pressure to which they have been subjected.
It is not for nothing that the Society studies the character of its members so intently, and by methods so startling. It not only uses its knowledge to thrust into obscurity or cast out altogether those whom it discovers to be dull, feeble, or unwilling69 instruments of its purposes, but it assigns to every one the task to which his talents or his disposition60 may best adapt him: to one, the care of a royal conscience, whereby, unseen, his whispered word may guide the destiny of nations; to another, the instruction of children; to another, a career of letters or science; and to the fervent and the self-sacrificing, sometimes also to the restless and uncompliant, the distant missions to the heathen.
The Jesuit was, and is, everywhere,—in the school-room, in the library, in the cabinets of princes and ministers, in the huts of savages70, in the tropics, in the frozen North, in India, in China, in Japan, in Africa, in America; now as a Christian71 priest, now as a soldier, a mathematician72, an astrologer, a Brahmin, a mandarin73, under countless74 disguises, by a thousand arts, luring75, persuading, or compelling souls into the fold of Rome.
Of this vast mechanism76 for guiding and governing the minds of men, this mighty enginery for subduing77 the earth to the dominion of an idea, this harmony of contradictions, this moral Proteus, the faintest sketch78 must now suffice. A disquisition on the Society of Jesus would be without end. 13 No religious order has ever united in itself so much to be admired and so much to be detested79. Unmixed praise has been poured on its Canadian members. It is not for me to eulogize them, but to portray80 them as they were.
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1 conversion | |
n.转化,转换,转变 | |
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2 novice | |
adj.新手的,生手的 | |
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3 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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4 aspiring | |
adj.有志气的;有抱负的;高耸的v.渴望;追求 | |
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5 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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6 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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7 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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8 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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9 engendered | |
v.产生(某形势或状况),造成,引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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11 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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12 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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13 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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14 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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15 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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16 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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17 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
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18 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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19 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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20 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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21 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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22 penance | |
n.(赎罪的)惩罪 | |
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23 meditation | |
n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录 | |
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24 subdue | |
vt.制服,使顺从,征服;抑制,克制 | |
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25 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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26 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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27 quenchless | |
不可熄灭的 | |
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28 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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29 impelled | |
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 arduous | |
adj.艰苦的,费力的,陡峭的 | |
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31 volition | |
n.意志;决意 | |
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32 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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33 stimulate | |
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋 | |
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34 maker | |
n.制造者,制造商 | |
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35 submission | |
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
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36 acquiesce | |
vi.默许,顺从,同意 | |
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37 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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38 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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39 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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40 skilful | |
(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的 | |
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41 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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42 fumes | |
n.(强烈而刺激的)气味,气体 | |
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43 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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44 perturbed | |
adj.烦燥不安的v.使(某人)烦恼,不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45 humbled | |
adj. 卑下的,谦逊的,粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下,贬低 | |
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46 vileness | |
n.讨厌,卑劣 | |
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47 enroll | |
v.招收;登记;入学;参军;成为会员(英)enrol | |
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48 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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49 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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50 soothed | |
v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 );抚慰;使舒服;减轻痛苦 | |
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51 benignity | |
n.仁慈 | |
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52 meditations | |
默想( meditation的名词复数 ); 默念; 沉思; 冥想 | |
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53 astute | |
adj.机敏的,精明的 | |
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54 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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55 humility | |
n.谦逊,谦恭 | |
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56 repulsive | |
adj.排斥的,使人反感的 | |
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57 mendicant | |
n.乞丐;adj.行乞的 | |
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58 distinctive | |
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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59 dispositions | |
安排( disposition的名词复数 ); 倾向; (财产、金钱的)处置; 气质 | |
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60 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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61 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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62 espionage | |
n.间谍行为,谍报活动 | |
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63 analyzed | |
v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析 | |
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64 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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65 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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66 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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67 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 abased | |
使谦卑( abase的过去式和过去分词 ); 使感到羞耻; 使降低(地位、身份等); 降下 | |
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69 unwilling | |
adj.不情愿的 | |
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70 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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71 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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72 mathematician | |
n.数学家 | |
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73 Mandarin | |
n.中国官话,国语,满清官吏;adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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74 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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75 luring | |
吸引,引诱(lure的现在分词形式) | |
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76 mechanism | |
n.机械装置;机构,结构 | |
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77 subduing | |
征服( subdue的现在分词 ); 克制; 制服; 色变暗 | |
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78 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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79 detested | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80 portray | |
v.描写,描述;画(人物、景象等) | |
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