Book of the Week

Father John W. O’Malley is a Jesuit historian who has written the standard history of the early Jesuits. Published in 1993 by Harvard, The First Jesuits looks at the first twenty-five years of the order’s history, beginning with its founding by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1540. Ignatius’ original ideal for the Society of Jesus was a group of itinerant preachers engaged in a kind of holiness ministry. This approach was modified when they starting taking on schools in 1548. In doing so, they were the first male order to take on formal education as a major ministry, which led to a redefinition of the Society’s meaning and purpose. Father O’Malley notes another thing that made Jesuits unusual, their stress on love rather than fear. A good example of this is the Jesuit approach to the sacrament of Penance, which stressed the consolation of confession rather than a rigorist approach. He also notes that if Jesuit schools have been a great success, this had to do with several factors:

o they didn’t charge tuition and made no distinction between rich and poor students
o a stress on recitals, plays, and debates too improve rhetorical skills
o the division of students into grades with an ordered progression
o an emphasis on the inner appropriation of ethical/religious values
o an international network of schools on every continent
o well educated teachers who try to influence by example

Within forty years, the number of Jesuits grew from seven to five thousand. Father O’Malley concludes that the first Jesuits didn’t understand the “intrinsic dynamism that would change the organization undertaking it.” This is one of the most well-written, intelligent, and ultimately inspiring books it has ever been my pleasure read on the history of the Jesuits.