#Society of Jesus

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Seal of the Society of Jesus

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SAINT OF THE DAY (December 3)

On December 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

He was a Catholic missionary and saint who co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative of the Portuguese Empire, led the first Christian mission to Japan.

Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France.

His mother was an esteemed heiress, and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris.

He studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola – who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him.

But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis:

“What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will.

In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order called the Jesuits.

During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith.

On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast.

However, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior. This situation spurred the Jesuit to action.

He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians.

Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims.

In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts.

Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom, rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

Francis Xavier became ill and died on 3 December 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China.

He was beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619. He and Ignatius Loyola were canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622.

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THE DESCRIPTION OF BLESSED DOMINIC COLLINS Feast Day: October 30

Dominic Collins (aka Doiminic Ó Coileáin) gave up the life of a soldier for the peace of religious life, but was executed when he accompanied a military force as a chaplain in a campaign to free Ireland from English Rule.

Collins was born to a well-established family in Youghal in County Cork about the year 1566 when Elizabeth I was queen of England and Ireland. The Irish Parliament had established Anglicanism six years earlier as the official religion of the land.

These laws were not fully enforced yet in Youghal, but young Catholic men had few careers open to them so young Collins chose to leave Ireland to seek his fortune in France. He managed to enlist in the army of the Duke of Mercoeur who was fighting against the Huguenots in Brittany. He served with distinction in the cause of the Catholic League for over nine years and rose through the ranks. His greatest moment came when he captured a strategic castle and was appointed military governor of the region.

With the passing of time, Collins became less and less enamored of soldiering, even though King Philip II had granted him a pension and placed him in the garrison at La Coruña on Spain’s Bay of Biscay.

During Lent 1598, he met a fellow Irishman, a Jesuit priest called Thomas White, whom he told of his desire to do something else with his life. He decided that he wanted more than anything else to join the Jesuits and serve as a brother. The superiors were initially reluctant to accept him because they felt that a battle-hardened soldier would never be able to settle into religious life. Dominic bombarded the provincial with requests and was finally admitted to the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain.

If he was seeking peace and quiet in religious life, he was not to find it. He had barely arrived in Santiago when the Jesuit College was struck by plague.

Seven of the community were infected and many others fled for fear of catching the awful disease. Collins stayed on and tended the victims for two months, nursing some of them back to health and comforting the others in their last hours. He had proved his worth and completed his novitiate without further question. A report sent to Rome by his superiors states that he was a man of sound judgment and great physical strength, mature, prudent and sociable, though inclined to be hot-tempered and obstinate.

Ireland was in turmoil at this time. In Ulster O'Neill and O'Donnell were defying the power of the English crown and trying to call all of Ireland into revolt. In 1601, King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to the help of the Irish rebels. A number of priests traveled with the expedition including an Irish Jesuit, Father James Archer who asked that Brother Collins be sent as his companion for the journey even though the priest had never met Collins.

The two set sail on different vessels, however, which became separated during a storm. Collins' ship had to return to La Coruña before finally reaching Ireland. Collins arrived at Castlehaven on Dec. 1, 1601, only 30 miles from his native Kinsale, where the main part of the Spanish fleet was already ensconced. A large English army under Lord Mountjoy had laid siege to the town.

Irish forces converged on Kinsale from North and South. The leaders were Hugh O'Neill, Red Hugh O'Donnell and O'Sullivan Beare from West Cork. The Irish army surrounded the English on the outside while the Spanish faced the English from inside the town. The Irish attacked at dawn on Christmas Eve, but for reasons never fully understood, suffered a humiliating defeat, with no help from the Spaniards who remained within the town.

The Irish scattered, with the O'Neill and O'Donnell armies marching northward while O'Sullivan Beare led his people home to the Beare peninsula. Dominic Collins accompanied him in his retreat. Thus he found himself some months later besieged inside Dunboy Castle with 143 defenders.

As a religious, Dominic Collins could not take part in the fighting but tended the wounded. After a bitter siege, with huge casualties, the defenders surrendered.

Almost all were put to the sword, but on June 17, the Jesuit was taken off in chains for interrogation. He was savagely tortured and promised rich rewards if he would renounce his Catholic faith. Even though some of his own family visited him and encouraged him to pretend a conversion in order to save his life, he stood firm.

On October 31, 1602, Dominic was taken to Youghal for execution. Before he ascended the scaffold to be hanged, he addressed the crowd in Irish and English, saying that he was happy to die for his faith.

He was so cheerful that an officer remarked: "He is going to his death as eagerly as I would go to a banquet."

Collins overheard him and replied: "For this cause I would be willing to die not once but a thousand deaths."

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5 January 2024. America Magazine.

This is an old article, but I think it explains things in a succinct way. Good to hear from a Jewish-Catholic priest about the situation inside of "Israel".

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What St. Ignatius of Loyola Teaches Us Today

Fr. Paul K. Rourke, S.J.

Vice President for Mission and Ministry

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, commemorating July 31, 1556 when he entered into eternal life. With the growth of the Society of Jesus and spread of its institutions across the globe over close to five centuries, his legacy and impact have only grown in importance. As heirs of that legacy we continue to unpack the spiritual and pedagogical riches given by God to Ignatius for the benefit of the Church and the world.

Which of those riches is most helpful to us today? While many people would offer a different answer, I think we can learn most from Ignatius’s ability to discern a path forward in a time of conflict, controversy, and danger. Ignatius lived in a time of near-constant war and religious conflict. (His own conversion was precipitated by a near-mortal wound from one of those wars.) The Church had yet to reform, and was reeling from the attacks of Martin Luther and Henry VIII’s break with the papacy. Political and economic freedom, or anything we would recognize as justice in the civil or social sphere were non-existent. In other words, the crises faced by Ignatius and his companions, as they founded the Society of Jesus, were no less daunting than the ones we confront today. As a university founded in the darkest days of World War II, we seem to have drawn inspiration from their courageous leap of faith.

No one needs reminding of the crises we face today. We feel besieged by a world seemingly more divided and dangerous than ever. Ignatius may not offer answers, but the discerning path he offers is a hopeful one. He remained a pilgrim throughout his life, and the spirituality he offers each of us is a pilgrim’s spirituality—i.e. a spirituality for people on an often arduous and confusing journey. As a pilgrim, he was frequently uncertain of the next step, but never of the destination: he knew that God was that destination, and that Jesus accompanied him along the path and was the path in the truest sense. The firm conviction, born of experience, that God lay ahead of him, and that Jesus accompanied him, allowed Ignatius to confront many dangers with courage and serenity. 

Similarly, in facing controversy and conflict, Ignatius wisely counseled his followers to go to the deeper roots of that conflict by addressing the underlying spiritual malaise and corruption besetting the Church. Perhaps in our own time we can learn from him by spending less effort focusing on which camp we belong to, or which argument will carry the day, and more on the nagging sickness at the heart of a world so alienated from itself.

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About St Charles Lwanga

About St Ignatius of Loyola

Losers' Bracket Round 2

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We’re in the year of skull and bones so anything might happen

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“Not One Lawyer Would Take Case,” Ottawa Journal. March 1, 1932. Page 17. ---- Canadian Press by Direct Wire --- MONTREAL. Feb. 3. - Regret that "the great traditions of the bar should be so forgotten in this district" was expressed by Mr. Justice Martineau, in Superior Court today, in discharging the delibere in Rev. J. M. Garaix's action against the Society of Jesus. The judgment declared that "the Plaintiff secured no lawyer because no lawyer would take the case" and that "he will be asked to appear before the court again and will be given an opportunity to offer further proof of his statement and claim.”

Garaix claimed a pension of $300 a month on the ground that he was wrongfully dismissed from the society 23 years ago. In his statement the plaintiff claims to have twice carried his case to the ecclesiastical hierarchy and gone to Mgr. Andrea Cassulo, Apostolic Delegate to Canada, who. he says, admitted the justice of his claim. 

The defendant society. Mr. Justice Martineau pointed out in his Judgment, declared that Garaix had resigned. The oral evidence, however, did not touch upon this Question, the judgment said, and the letters "shed no light on it.’

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Jesuit seal at Marquette University

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SAINT OF THE DAY (October 19)

Also known as Canadian Martyrs; Isaac Jogues and Companions; Jesuit Martyrs of North America; Martyrs of New France.

The eight North American martyrs, also known as the Candian Martyrs, the Jesuit Martyrs of North America or the Martyrs of France, included six priests and two lay brothers.

They were heroic members of the Society of Jesus who were martyred in North America in order to bring the Faith that is necessary for salvation to the Huron, the Iroquois, and the Mohawk Indians.

Five of the eight North American martyrs were put to death in what is now Canada, and three of them in New York State.

There is a shrine to the United States' martyrs at Auriesville in New York, and there is a shrine to the Canadian martyrs at Fort Saint Mary near Midland, Ontario.

The names of the eight North American martyrs are:

Saint Rene Goupil, a lay brother martyred in 1642 in New York State;

Saint Isaac Jogues, a priest;

Saint John de Lalande, a lay brother, martyred in 1646 in New York State;

Saint Anthony Daniel, a priest, martyred in Canada in 1648;

Saint John de Brebeuf;

Saint Charles Garnier;

Saint Noel Chabanel, Saint Gabriel Lalemant, all priests, and all martyred in Canada in 1649.

Saint Isaac Jogues, after thirteen months' imprisonment by the Mohawks, had several fingers cut off of his hand.

He went back to Europe but returned again to North America where he was killed by tomahawk blows at Ossernenon, now called Auriesville, in New York State.

Saint John de Brebeuf declared before he died, "I have a strong desire to suffer for Jesus Christ."

He was tortured terribly and a burning torch was put into his mouth, which strangled him.

Saint Rene Goupil, thirty-five, was the youngest of the martyrs. He cried "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" as he died.

Saint Noel Chabanel was thirty-six, and Saint Isaac Jogues and Saint Gabriel Lalemant were thirty-nine.

The oldest of the eight North American martyrs, Saint John de Brebeuf, was fifty-six when the Indians killed him.

Pope Pius XI beatified them on 21 June 1925 and canonized on 29 June 1930.

Their memorial is on October 19 and September 26 in Canada.

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THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT MARKO KRIZIN (KRIŽEVČANIN) Feast Day: September 7

Marko Križevčanin (aka Marko Stjepan Krizin or Mark of Križevci) was born in Križevci, a town in the northern part in the Kingdom of Croatia. He started his studies in the Jesuit college in Vienna, and then later at the University of Graz, where he became a Doctor of Philosophy.

As a candidate for Holy Orders of the Diocese of Zagreb, Krizin then moved to Rome, where he attended the famous Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum. He personally noted his nationality as Croatian in a document which is available in the college archives.

As a student, he was smart and considerate. He studied there from 1611 to 1615.

After his ordination as a priest, Krizin returned to his diocese, where he stayed only a short while. Cardinal Péter Pázmány, the Archbishop of Esztergom (then living in Nagyszombat – present-day Trnava – because of the continuing Ottoman occupation of much of Hungary), called him from Zagreb and appointed him both rector of the local seminary and canon of the cathedral chapter.

In early 1619, Krizin was sent to administer the estate of the former Benedictine Abbey of Széplak, near Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia). Around the same time, Gábor Bethlen, the Calvinist Prince of Transylvania, led a nationalist uprising against the Austrian Habsburgs, who then ruled Hungary.

At the time, Kassa was a stronghold of Calvinism for Hungary. To strengthen the position of the Catholic minority, the governor of the city, Andrija Dóczi, a Catholic appointed by Emperor Matthias, brought two priests to Kassa: István Pongrácz, a Hungarian Jesuit priest and Melchior Grodziecki, a Silesian Jesuit priest.

Their presence caused unrest among the Calvinist majority of Kassa.

The Calvinists then incited a rebellion on July 13, 1619, falsely accusing the Catholic minority of arson. That following September, the city came under siege by the forces of the commander of the Calvinist army, George I Rákóczi. On September 5, Dóczi was betrayed by the mercenary forces defending the city and was handed over by the city authorities to him.

His Protestant supporters then declared Bethlen 'head' of Hungary and the protector of the Protestants.

At that time, Marko was staying at the then-Jesuit Church of the Holy Trinity, in the company of the two Jesuits ministering to the Catholics of the city. The Calvinist troops arrested the three priests at once. They were then left without food and water for three days.

During this time, the fate of the Catholic population was being determined. At the instigation of a Calvinist minister named Alvinczi, the head of the City Council, Reyner, was demanding the execution of all Catholics of the city. The majority of Protestants, however, were opposed to such a slaughter. The execution of the priests, however, was approved by them.

The commander promised Marko Krizin a church estate, if he renounced the Catholic Church and converted to Calvinism. Krizin refused. All three were then tortured and soon beheaded. It was September 7, 1619. The news about their martyrdom stormed across Hungary, shocking both Catholics and Protestants alike.

Despite many pleas, Prince Gabriel refused to allow them to be buried them in consecrated ground. Only after being asked by Countess Katalina Pálffy, six months later, did he allow them to have a proper burial.

The three priests were beatified on January 15, 1905 by Pope Pius X. The canonization of the three Košice martyrs was proclaimed by Pope St. John Paul II on July 2, 1995 in Košice.

The remains of the Košice martyrs now rest in various locations, including the Basilica of Esztergom and the Ursuline Church of St. Anna in Trnava.

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San Francisco de Borja

by Alonso Cano (Granadan, 1601 – 1667) oil on canvas (120 × 186 cm), 1624

Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla

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Milestone Monday

On this date, September 27 in 1540, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) received its charter from Pope Paul III with the aim as “soldiers of God” to establish educational institutions, found foreign missions, and halt the spread of Protestantism. To commemorate this event, we present some engravings of Jesuit martyrdoms in Japan from De Christianis apvd Iapanios trivmphis sive de gravissima ibidem contra Christi fidem persecvtione (”The Christian triumph of the Japanese or of the most grievous persecution which arose there against the faith of Christ”) by the Jesuit missionary in China Nicolas Trigault, published in Munich by Raphael Sadeler in 1623. The book covers the period from 1612-1620.

The Jesuits were the first Catholic missionaries in Japan beginning around 1549 and led by Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. Persecutions and martyrdoms of Catholics in Japan began in 1587 and culminated in the Great Genna Martyrdom of 1632, which sent the church in Japan underground until the 19th century.

Many of the images in this book are quite gruesome, but at least we get to add to our Tumblr collection of severed heads!

View our other Milestone Monday posts.

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What’s in a name? Celebrating Saint Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

Rev. Keith Maczkiewicz, S.J., ‘04 Director of Campus Ministry

The statue stands at the end of the drive to the stately building that bears his name, on the campus of which he is patron. Dressed in the cardinatial robes of his day, episcopal cross hung around his neck, left arm resting on a pile of books, his Italian name is etched into the bronze: Santo Roberto Bellarmino. In English: Saint Robert Bellarmine, of the Society of Jesus.

A gifted writer and professor of theology, Bellarmine was made a cardinal in life and declared a Doctor of the Church in death. A leading character of the Counter-Reformation period, he figured prominently in the reforms of the Council of Trent and the first trial of Galileo, where he defended Scripture, asking scientists to prove their theories on heliocentrism. Canonized in 1930, only a few years before Fairfield’s charter was approved by the State of Connecticut, the new institution was placed under his patronage and heavenly care: Fairfield University of Saint Robert Bellarmine.

 Still, for such a prominent figure in the life of the Church and in the Fairfield story, it’s remarkable to me how many people pronounce his name incorrectly here on campus, saying bellarMINE, rather than BELLarminh. I hear the mispronunciation every day from both newly-arrived students and long-tenured staff, from locals and from transplants alike.  

 And perhaps we could change that.

 Perhaps I take it more personally than most since I share that last signifier, of the Society of Jesus. As a Jesuit, my heritage in our storied religious order is very important to me, and the mispronunciation feels to me like a slight, although I know it is just a mispronunciation that has gained traction over time. But I am also an alumnus, Class of 2004, recently returned to North Benson Road as the new Director of Campus Ministry and University Chaplain, and so it feels doubly personal, like people cannot be bothered to care enough. As if Robert Bellarmine is the name of the person who checks your coat at a restaurant, whose name badge you saw perhaps only in passing, and have no intention of remembering. 

 But I would argue that getting the pronunciation back on track might be important. If we lose sight of where we have come from, aren’t we also likely to lose some of the richness of our tradition, and hence, find it more difficult to find out where to look for direction, when we want to know where God is leading us?��       

 I think my exasperation is only compounded by the fact that I am living in a residence hall these days which is named after twentieth century Fairfield Dean Father Larry Langguth (LANGgeth) that campus constituents insist on calling langGOOTH or, even worse, the GOOTH. To anyone who will listen, I say there are Jesuits who regularly pass through our community who lived with this man! We actually know this guy! This man is responsible for much of the building that went on here on campus! Surely we know how to pronounce his name!  

 Alas, one name at a time is probably enough and it is good to start with whom it started. Today, as the Church celebrates his memorial, let us make the effort to remember that he was an actual person, with an actual name, and get it right. It’s BELLarminh, not bellarMINE. 

 So, in this small matter, we say: Saint Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.  

Top photo:

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598-1680)

Bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, 1621-24

Marble

Church of the Gesù, Rome

Photo Credit: Andrea Jemolo/Scala / Art Resource, NY

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About St John Chrysostom

About St Ignatius of Loyola

Losers' Bracket Round 1

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