March 2006 Christian Spirituality By George A Lane SJ

JESUIT PRAYER SECOND GENERATION Continue from ...... The Second General Congregation in 1565 elected Francis Borgia general, and after a split of opinion left the matter of increased prescribed prayer up to him to decide. One month after the congregation closed Borgia prescribed the full hour of prayer for all members of the Society. Some other developments came in at this same time. In 1566 Pope Pius V asked the Society if they would say some litanies for the resolution of the Turkish problem in eastern Europe. Thus a temprary request became prescribed, institutionalized, and the litanies have been said regularly until just recently. Visits after meals, begun as a pious custom, eventually became almost a rule of architectural design so that one could harly avoid making a visit after meals on his way to recreation. Rosaries came to be worn with cassocks because Father Borgia wore one. In 1572 prescribed spiritual reading was introduced. By the time of the Third Congregation (1573) a considerable movement had developed within the Society to return to the original spirit and letter of the Constitutions of St Ignatius in the matter of prayer. A number of provincial superiors made the request, but Father General Mecurian simply refused to yield on the practice of Father Borgia. "Nihil innovadum est." No innovation was to be made on Borgia's innovation! But dispensations were allowed for the weak and for foreseeable conflicts. But the practice of obligatory prayer introduced a new problem which appears most pointedly in a letter written to the general in 1576 by the French provincial, Father Claude Matheieu.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2006. All rights reserved.