Biography of Ignatius Loyola

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D. The Jesuit Order and its Ideology

The most remarkable accomplishment of Ignatius was the founding of the Jesuit order, although they have formed the group in 1537. The order was only recognized as new Order by Pope Paul III, where Ignatius was elected as the Superior General in 1540. The very mission of the Jesuit order was to counteract the heresy of the reformation. According to the written account of Macpherson in his book “The Jesuits in History”,

“Ignatius swore to fight to all eternity only for the things of God, of the Holy Mary, and her Son, Jesus Christ-a true spiritual knight ; as also for the protection of the Holy Romish Church, all for the extension of the true faith among unbelievers- devoting his life thereto” (Macpherson, 2002, p. 6).

Although the new order did not originally agree on extending their teaching in educational Institutes, Loyola soon realized the importance of education to educate and influence young people with their ideology .The Ideology of the group was based on his written work “Spiritual Exercises”. Ignatius wrote the visions of the new religious Order in the "Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus", and then later he wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, implemented in 1553, which empowered their organization to be centralized in command even in acceptance of missions from the Pope.

E .Philosophy of Jesuit Education.

In the early years of the Jesuit Society, students under the new order were trained under Ignatian Ideologies which most basically was derived from his own writings of Spiritual exercises. A student must vow to live in poverty, obedience and chastity. By poverty means giving up all earthly possessions, even to the point of severing ties from the outside world including family. Obedience is a watchword for Jesuitism and one must follow their Superior without question. Students are surrounded with prayers day and night and are taught to idolatrous reverence to the Mother of God. Science was greatly discouraged because it was believed to be demonic, so therefore Jesuit schools give priority to literature. The instruction dispensed by the Jesuits was therefore bound to be more flashy than profound, or "formalistic" as it is often called. "They did not believe in liberty, which was fatal as far as teaching is concerned", according to Boehmer. But much of their ideologies in education has to change, as new ideologies surfaced in the course of History. Later, they included secular subjects. Even, with their attempt to compromise with the world’s rapid change in educational Ideologies, most of their Colleges did not survive in the 1800’s much due to their extreme conservatism, due to some controversies they were politically involved. Although they revived the Jesuit society in the 1900’s

The Jesuits founded schools and universities in 1547. They sought to influence others through education and scholarship. Ignatius insisted these schools were for everyone, regardless of money or religion. When Ignatius died in 1556, the Jesuits had already established 35 Jesuit colleges. They were very successful in reviving Catholicism in Europe by establishing colleges in countries such as France, Italy, Germany. Their mission work extended as far as China and Japan. I think this is one of the most important accomplishment of Loyola to education. The Jesuit Society was able to establish Universities and colleges around the globe.

F. Controversies

The Jesuits grew into power as they escalate in number. They increase their influence even politically both to the state and the church. According to Macpherson, the society would sometimes succeed in putting pressure on the Pope in regard to orders which the Society felt to be to its disadvantage. During the 16th and 17th centuries, other Catholic orders disapproved the Jesuits for their arrogance and manipulation. Jesuits have also been condemned for forced conversions of pagans and their role in the Spanish Inquisition.

During the Reformation, Protestants criticized the Jesuits for their political conspiracy. In 1594, the Jesuits were exiled briefly from France when a group of Jesuit priests were arrested for collaborating to kill Henry IV. In the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a leading Jesuit priest was hanged for trying to kill King James I and other Protestant members of the English aristocracy.

G. Loyola vs. Luther

Martin Luther was born in 1483 eight years earlier than Ignatius Loyola. Both men were renowned in history on different ideologies although born in the same era. It is fascinating. There is Luther, who comes from humble beginning and saw the authoritative and suppressing influence of the church to the society and sought to end it with biblical argument. On the contrary, Loyola who comes from a renowned family, who held on to the traditional teachings of the Catholic church and vowed to protect it against the heresies of ideologies such that of Luther.

Luther stood on biblical reasons and his desire was to bring the world especially the Catholics during this era into knowing who truly God is. He believed on justification by faith and not of works. While Loyola preached on penance, charity and complete obedience to the church to gain salvation. Their contrasting ideologies caused division in the whole course of History even in education.

References

Primary Sources

Gonzales, L. (1900). The autobiography of Saint Ignatius Loyola. Retrieved from

https://jesuit.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2017/06/St.-Ignatius-of-Loyola-The-Autobiography-of.pdf

Mullan, E. (1914). The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Retrieved from http://www.companionofjesus.com/se-mullan.pdf

Secondary sources

Ryan, E. A. (2017, August 02). St. Ignatius of Loyola. Retrieved October 07, 2017, from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/St-Ignatius-of-Loyola

Gray, H. (1999, October 15). The experience of Ignatius Loyola: Background to Jesuit

education. Retrieved from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/offices/mission/pdf1/ju18.pdf

Macpherson, H. (2002). The Jesuit in history. Retrieved from

http://pdf.amazingdiscoveries.org/walter/39881790-The-Jesuits-in-History-by-Hector-