Loyola and the Educational System of the JesuitsHughes, Thomas
History
Loyola and the Educational System of the Jesuits
Hughes, Thomas
Education -- History; Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556; Jesuits
Of the services of those nine men, with whom he founded the Order, he
spent a large part upon Germany. Lefèvre was there, Le Jay, Bobadilla,
Salmeron, Laynez; not to mention the great Canisius (de Hondt), a young
man already in the field, who was to stay there for half a century.
It is of these men and their work that Ranke writes: "Of what country
were these, the first of their Order amongst us? They were natives of
Spain, Italy, the Netherlands. For a long time, even the name of their
Society was unknown, and they were styled the Spanish Priests. They
filled the chairs of the universities, and there met with disciples
willing to embrace their faith. Germany has no part in them; their
doctrine, their constitution, had been completed and reduced to form,
before they appeared in our midst. We may then regard the progress of
their Institute here, as a new participation of Latin Europe in German
Europe. They have defeated us upon our own soil, and wrested from us a
share of our fatherland."[120]
In concert with the Duke of Bavaria and the Emperor Ferdinand,
Ingolstadt and Vienna became the two first centres of operations.
Ingolstadt was indeed destined to become soon one of the most
representative universities of the Company, and the German centre of
what has been called the "Counter-Reformation."[121] But Ignatius would
not accept it, without the clearest enunciation of some fundamental
principles in the educational work of his Institute. I will mention
them.
First, the condition of all higher studies, and of lower studies
as well, was such, that, as Ignatius said, it was useless to begin
with the top, which without a good foundation will never stand. The
disappointment of individual hopes and of general expectation would be
the only result, with demoralization for the future. Let Literature,
he said, and Philosophy be gone through satisfactorily; then Theology
may be approached. Literature must come first of all. Hence Polanco,
the secretary of Ignatius, writes to the Duke of Bavaria, in 1551,
that the "Jesuits must begin by undertaking preparatory teaching, with
Professors capable of inspiring their young students, little by little,
with a taste for Theology."[122]
Secondly, we may recall to mind what was mentioned before,[123] that
Ignatius provides for Law and Medicine in his universities, but the
professors of these departments are to be taken from without the Order.
Now, quite as a counterpart to this, we find him declaring to the Duke
of Bavaria, that it is at variance with his plan to lend any Professors
or Lecturers of the Order for work outside of Jesuit institutions.
Therefore a college must be founded for them, or the Duke cannot have
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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