As many of you know, I teach one course a semester at
Rockhurst University in Kansas City. I have been doing that, and have greatly
enjoying doing that, since August 2006, so I am now in my fifteenth
semester there. How time flies!
Founded in 1910 as Rockhurst College, it became a university
in 1999 and is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit
Colleges and Universities. The oldest and most prestigious member of that
organization is Georgetown University, founded in 1789.
The Society of Jesus (S.J.), whose members are usually
called Jesuits, is a Catholic Order founded by Ignatius Loyola and officially
approved six years later by Pope Paul III in 1540. It is currently the largest
male Order in the Roman Catholic Church with about 17,500 members worldwide.
Ignatius, whose
real name was Iñigo López de Loyola, was born in the Basque region of Spain on October 27, 1491. (Loyola was the name of the village
where he was born, not a “family name,” although it is often used that way
now.)
As a young man,
Ignatius was a knight and was wounded in battle in 1521—a month after Luther
had declared “Here I stand” at the Imperial Diet of Worms in Germany.
While recovering, Ignatius
turned his attention to spiritual matters. This resulted in his writing
“Spiritual Exercises” in 1522-24. After recuperating, he ended up at Paris
University where he and six university friends formed the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1534.
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| Statue of Ignatius at Rockhurst U. |
Before starting to teach at Rockhurst, I knew little about
Ignatius or the Jesuits. (I was a big admirer, though, of Father Gabriel, the impressive
young Jesuit missionary in the superlative 1986 movie “The Mission.”)
And I did know about Francis Xavier, one of the original seven
Jesuits and the first Jesuit missionary. In 1549 he became the first Christian
missionary to set foot in Japan.
As I have learned more about them, my appreciation for both
Ignatius and the Jesuits has grown. Earlier this year I read Margaret Silf’s
popularly done, and somewhat quixotic, book “Just Call Me López: Getting to the
Heart of Ignatius of Loyola” (2012). (This might be a book some of you would
enjoy reading if you want to learn more about Ignatius.)
Perhaps the primary popularizer of the Jesuits in the U.S.
at this time is James Martin (S.J., b. 1960). In addition to his highly
readable “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost)
Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life” (2010) in which he explains
how Ignatius helps people with practical spirituality, from time to time he
also appears on “The Colbert Report.”
Some of the notable Jesuits you may have heard of include Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, Daniel Berrigan, and John Dear (about whom I want to post
an article soon). Of course the most famous Jesuit of all is now Pope Francis,
the first Jesuit pope.
Ignatius’ main life principle became the Jesuit motto: Ad
maiorem Dei gloriam (“For the greater glory of God”). I use this on the
introductory page of the PowerPoint slides I use for each class period at RU.
Even though I am not a Jesuit and have several distinctly
different doctrinal beliefs, I admire the sincerity and spiritual commitment of
Ignatius and am not reluctant to use his words as a suitable expression for my
work at a Jesuit university.
And I am happy to post this in appreciation of Ignatius and
the Jesuits.
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