In this paper the author proposes a way of reading the documents of the 35th General Congregations of the Society of Jesus. He highlighted the imageries employed in those documents, something that could not be seen as merely incidental.

Abstract: From its foundation by St. Ignatius in 1540 and linked to its educational work, the Society of Jesus has maintained a continuous and institutional involvement in the natural sciences unparalleled by any other religious order in the Catholic Church. Because its foundation coincided with the beginning of modern science and the educational work in colleges and universities, mathematical and experimental science was soon introduced in their programs. Thus the Jesuit scientific tradition was established. This tradition can be explained by the characteristics of Jesuit or Ignatian spirituality, a mystique of service, understood as a service to God through the apostolic ministry to men. At its core is the emphasis of “finding God in all things” and seeking in their work the greater glory of God. This leads Jesuits sometimes to unconventional work on the frontiers an example of which is scientific work. Jesuit scientists found an affinity between scientific work and their spirituality and try to integrate both together in their lives.

St. Ignatius Loyola made two attempts to create an apostolic order of men before he succeeded on the third try with the Society of Jesus. The defections of his earliest followers, and their subsequent scandalous behavior, imperiled the foundation of the Society. They seem to have left a mark on Ignatius and the other founding fathers of the Society as they formulated their foundational documents.

The Roman archives of the Society of Jesus hold over fifteen thousand letters written by young Jesuits to their general superiors in which they ask to be sent to the foreign missions. The letters, which predate the universal suppression of the Society in 1773, provide modern researchers an astonishing wealth of resources for learning about the spiritualities and personalities of these Jesuits. Often edifying, sometimes disconcerting, the letters also lay bare the reasons why many young men chose to enter the Society and why some of them eventually left.

The initial difficulty in this question is defining precisely what the term “mysticism” conveys. While often associated with miraculous or psychedelic experiences like rapture, levitation, or prophecy, the more fundamental characteristic of mystical theology, according to George Sauvage, “is either a religious tendency and desire of the human soul towards an intimate union with the Divinity, or a system growing out of such a tendency and desire.” This was as much the case in the early modern period as it is now; wherefore Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), the outstanding paragon of Counter-Reformation mysticism, teaches that “the highest perfection” is not manifested in “great raptures or in visions,” but rather “in having our will so much in conformity with God’s will that there is nothing we know He wills that we do not want with all our desire.” More than this, however, one can identify interrelated features of this desire for union with God that were quintessential to early modern Catholicism; these are (1) an orientation of contemplation toward practical action, (2) engagement with materiality as a medium to reach mystical experience, and (3) an emphasis on the humanity of Jesus Christ. In addition to being what John O’Malley calls the “golden age of Catholic spiritualties,” the early modern Church is also distinguished by the proliferation of new religious orders that responded to and were motivated by the religious cultures in which they were formed. Thus, the following essay seeks to demonstrate that the distinctive facets of post-Tridentine mystical spirituality were shaped by the figures, texts, and ideas that were most prominent and influential in these new orders.

Within current scholarship, the general consensus seems to be that Bonaventure did not, according to Paul Sabatier, “[understand] him whose disciple he wanted and believed himself to be.” Ewert W. Cousins takes up this line of thinking in his analysis of Bonaventure’s theology contrasting Bonaventure’s presupposition of the “speculative tradition” with the “simpleness and directness” of Francis of Assisi. This contrast contains the implication that Bonaventure’s work cannot be considered to be truly Franciscan, given the differing expression of his ideas from those in the orders foundational texts; however, I hypothesize that Bonaventure’s operates in, what Bernard Lonergan calls, the realm of interiority. I will argue that as a result of this Bonaventure is able to transpose his understanding of Franciscan spirituality from the realm of theory, as is seen in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, to the realm of common sense, as is seen in the Legenda Maior.