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Title: |
Mens Nostra
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Descr.: |
On The Promotion Of The Spiritual Exercises
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Pope: |
Pope Pius XI
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Date: |
December 20, 1929
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To
the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and Other Local
Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.
1.
You all know, assuredly, Venerable Brethren, what was Our
mind and Our purpose when, at the beginning of the year, We
proclaimed to the whole Catholic world an extraordinary Jubilee to
commemorate the anniversary of the day on which, having received
the consecration of the priesthood, We offered the divine
Sacrifice for the first time, fifty years ago. For as We solemnly
declared in the Apostolic Constitution Auspicantibus Nobis,
published on January 6th, 1929,(1) we were moved to this partly by
the purpose of calling Our beloved children, the great Christian
household entrusted to Our heart by the Heart of the most merciful
God, to share in the joy of their common father and to join with
us in rendering thanks to the Supreme Giver of all good. But,
besides this, we were moved by the sweet hope, which pleased us
greatly, that when with fatherly liberality we unlocked the
treasures of heavenly graces entrusted to our dispensation, the
Christian people would make use of this happy opportunity to the
strengthening of faith, to the increase of piety and perfection,
and the faithful reformation of private and public morals in the
most joyful fruit of peace and pardon obtained from God, the peace
of all severally and of the whole society might be confidently
expected. And these hopes have not been falsified. For the pious
enthusiasm with which the Christian people welcomed the
promulgation of the Jubilee did not grow cold as time went on. On
the contrary, we saw it daily waxing stronger, by the help of God,
who brought such things to pass as will make this year, a
veritable year of salvation, memorable in days to come. We, for
our part, have had abundant cause for rejoicing, since we have
seen, on many sides, such noble advance in faith and piety; and we
have enjoyed the sight of such a multitude of our most dear
children whom we have been enabled to receive, right willingly,
into our home, and to press, most lovingly, to our heart. And now,
while we strive very earnestly to express our heartfelt gratitude
to the Father of mercies for the many and rich fruits which He has
vouchsafed to bring forth in the course of this year of expiation,
our pastoral solicitude moves us and impels us to draw from these
auspicious beginnings greater and abiding advantages, to provide
for the happiness and well-being of each and all, and the good
estate of society. Now, while we were considering how, or in what
way, such fruits can be best secured, we thought how Our
predecessor Leo XIII, of happy memory, proclaiming a Holy Year on
another occasion, exhorted all the faithful in very weighty words,
which we ourselves repeated in the aforesaid Constitution
Auspicantibus Nobis, urging them "to recollect themselves a
little and to run their thoughts, now immersed in the earth, to
better things."(2)
2.
In like manner we recalled Our Predecessor Pius X of holy memory,
who, after ceaselessly promoting sacerdotal sanctity both by word
and by example when he was keeping the fiftieth year from
ordination to the priesthood, addressed a most pious
"Exhortation to the Catholic Clergy,"(3) replete with
precious and most choice lessons by which the edifice of the
spiritual life is raised to no small altitude.
3.
Accordingly following in the footsteps of these Pontiffs, We have
deemed it fitting to do somewhat in like manner Ourselves, and
establish something most excellent, which will, we trust, prove a
source of many rare advantages to the Christian people, We are
speaking of the practice of the Spiritual Exercises, which we
earnestly desire to see daily extended more widely, not only among
the clergy both secular and regular, but also among the multitudes
of the Catholic laity; and it is Our pleasure to bequeath this to
our beloved children as a memorial of this Holy Year. And we do
this the more gladly at the end of the fiftieth year since Our
first offering of the Divine Sacrifice. For nothing can be more
pleasing to us than the recollection of the heavenly graces and
the unutterable consolations which we have often experienced when
occupied in the Spiritual Exercises; and of the diligence we
devoted to the sacred retreats, marking our priestly course, as it
were, by so many stages; of the light and the impulse that we drew
from them, enabling us to know the divine will and to fulfil it;
and lastly of the labor therein bestowed, in the whole course of
our priestly life, on instructing our neighbors in heavenly
things, and that so fruitfully and successfully, that we may
rightly conclude that a singular resource for the eternal
salvation of souls is set in the Spiritual Exercises.
4.
And, in very deed, Venerable Brethren, the importance for more
than one reason; the utility and the opportuneness of Sacred
Retreats, will be readily recognized by any one who considers,
however lightly, the times in which we now live. The most grave
disease by which our age is oppressed, and at the same time the
fruitful source of all the evils deplored by every man of good
heart, is that levity and thoughtlessness which carry men hither
and thither through devious ways. Hence comes the constant and
passionate absorption in external things; hence, the insatiable
thirst for riches and pleasures that gradually weakens and
extinguishes in the minds of men the desire for more excellent
goods, and so entangles them in outward and fleeting things that
it forbids them to think of eternal truths, and of the Divine
laws, and of God Himself, the one beginning and end of all created
things, Who, nevertheless, for his boundless goodness and mercy,
even in these our days, though moral corruption may spread apace,
ceases not to draw men to himself by a bounteous abundance of
graces. Now, if we would cure this sickness from which human
society suffers so sorely, what healing remedy could we devise
more appropriate for our purpose than that of calling these
enervated souls, so neglectful of eternal things, to the
recollection of the Spiritual Exercises? And, indeed, if the
Spiritual Exercises were nothing more than a brief retirement for
a few days, wherein a man removed from the common society of
mortals and from the crowd of cares, was given, not empty silence,
but the opportunity of examining those most grave and penetrating
questions concerning the origin and the destiny of man:
"Whence he comes; and whither he is going"; surely, no
one can deny that great benefits may be derived from these sacred
exercises. But pious retreats of this kind do much greater things
than this, for since they compel the mind of a man to examine more
diligently and intently into all the things that he has thought,
or said, or done; they assist the human faculties in a marvelous
manner; so that the mind becomes accustomed, in this spiritual
arena, to weigh things maturely and with even balance, the will
acquires strength and firmness, the passions are restrained by the
rule of counsel; the activities of human life, being in unison
with the thought of the mind, are effectively conformed to the
fixed standard of reason; and, lastly, the soul attains its native
nobility and altitude, as the holy Pontiff St. Gregory declares in
his "Pastoral," by a concise similitude: "The human
mind, like water, when shut up around, is gathered up to higher
things; because it seeks that from which it descended; but when it
is left loose, it perishes; because it spreads itself uselessly on
lowly things."(4) Moreover, as St. Eucherius Bishop of Lyons
wisely observes; when exercising itself in these spiritual
meditations; "the mind rejoicing in the Lord is stirred up by
a certain stimulus of silence; and grows by unutterable
increments."(5) And not only so, but it also acquires that
"heavenly nourishment," concerning which Lactantius says
"for no food is sweeter to the mind than the knowledge of
truth";(6) and according to an ancient author, who long
passed as St. Basil, it is admitted to "the school of
heavenly doctrine and the discipline of the divine arts"(7)
wherein "God is all that is learnt, the way by which we are
directed, all that whereby the knowledge of the supreme truth is
attained."(8) From all this it clearly appears that the
Spiritual Exercises avail both to perfect the natural powers of
man; and further, and more specially, to form the supernatural or
Christian man. Now, certainly in these days when so many
impediments and obstacles are raised against the true sense of
Christ, and the supernatural spirit, wherein alone our holy
religion consists; when Naturalism, which weakens the firmness of
faith, and quenches the flames of Christian charity, holds
dominion far and wide; it is of the greatest importance that a man
should withdraw himself from that bewitching of vanity which
obscureth good things(9) and hide himself in that blessed secrecy,
where, cultured by heavenly teaching, he may form a just estimate,
and understand the value of human life devoted to the service of
God alone; he may abhor the turpitude of sin; he may conceive the
holy fear of God; he may clearly see unveiled the vanity of
earthly things; and, stirred up by the precepts and the example of
Him who is "the way, the truth and the life,"(10) he may
put off the old man(11) may deny himself, and with humility,
obedience, and voluntary chastisement of self, may put on Christ
and strive to attain to the "perfect man," and to that
absolute "measure of the age of the fullness of
Christ,"(12) whereof the Apostle speaks; nay, more, may
endeavor, with all his soul, to be able to say himself, with the
same Apostle: "I live now not I; but Christ liveth in
me."(13) By these degrees, indeed, the soul goes upward to
consummate perfection, and is most sweetly united to God by the
help of divine grace, which is obtained in greater abundance,
during these days, by more fervent prayers, and more frequent
reception of the sacred mysteries. These things, assuredly,
Venerable Brethren, are singular and most excellent, and far
surpassing nature; and in obtaining them alone are to be found the
quiet, and happiness, and true peace for which the human mind
longingly thirsts; and which the society of today, carried away by
the heat of temptations, vainly seeks in the hungry quest of
uncertain and fleeting goods, and in the tumult of a perturbed
life. On the other hand, we are clearly taught that in the
Spiritual Exercises there is a wonderful power of bringing peace
to men and of carrying them upwards to holiness of life; which has
been proved by daily experience in former ages, and perhaps yet
more clearly in our own: for we can hardly number those who, being
duly exercised in a sacred retreat, come forth from it
"rooted and built up"(14) in Christ; filled with light,
heaped up with joy, and flooded with that "peace which
surpasseth all understanding."(15) Moreover, from this
perfection of life, which is manifestly obtained from the
Spiritual Exercises; besides that inward peace of the soul, there
springs forth spontaneously another most choice fruit, which
redounds to the great advantage of the social life: namely that
desire of gaining souls to Christ which is known as the Apostolic
Spirit. For it is the genuine effect of charity that the just
soul, in whom God dwells by grace, burns in a wondrous way to call
others to share in the knowledge and love of that Infinite Good,
which she has attained and possesses. And, now, in this our age,
when human society is in so much need of spiritual graces; when
the foreign Mission fields, which "are white already to
harvest"(16) demand, more and more, the care of apostles
adequate to their need; and our own regions, likewise, require
elect bands of men, of the secular and regular clergy, as faithful
dispensers of the mysteries of God; and compact companies of pious
laymen, who, united to the Apostolic Hierarchy by close bonds of
charity, may help it with active industry, by manifold works and
labors devoting themselves to the Catholic Action. And We,
Venerable Brethren, being taught by history, regard these sacred
retreats for exercises as upper chambers raised by God, wherein
any one of generous mind, supported by the help of divine grace,
illuminated by eternal truths, and exhorted by the example of
Christ, may not only see clearly the value of souls, and be
inflamed with the desire of helping them, in whatsoever state of
life, he sees, on careful examination, he is called to serve his
Creator; but many likewise, learn the ardent spirit of the
apostolate, its diligence, its labors, its deeds of daring.
5.
Furthermore, our Lord often made use of this method in forming the
preachers of the Gospel. For the Divine Master Himself, not
content with having spent long years in the domestic retreat of
Nazareth, before he shone forth in full light before the nations,
and taught them heavenly things by his word, chose to spend full
forty days in desert wilderness. Nay more, in the midst of his
evangelical labors, he was wont to invite his Apostles to the
friendly silence of retreat: "Come apart into a desert place,
and rest a little,"(17) and when he left this earth of
sorrows to go to heaven, he willed that these same Apostles and
his disciples should be polished and perfected in the upper
chamber at Jerusalem, where for the space of ten days
"persevering with one mind in prayer"(18) they were made
worthy to receive the Holy Spirit: surely a memorable retreat,
which first foreshadowed the Spiritual Exercises; from which the
church came forth endowed with virtue and perpetual strength; and
in which, in the presence of the Virgin Mary Mother of God, and
aided by her patronage, those also were instituted whom we may
rightly call precursors of the Catholic Action.
6.
From that day, the use of the Spiritual Exercises if not under the
same name and in the modern manner, at least in substance,
"became familiar among the primitive Christians,"(19) as
St. Francis of Sales taught, and as appears from clear indications
in the writings of the holy Fathers. For it is thus St. Jerome
exhorts the noble lady Celantia "Choose to thyself a suitable
place, remote from the noise of the household, whither thou mayst
betake thyself as a haven. Let there be there so much care in
divine readings, such frequent turns of prayers, such steadfast
thought of things to come, that thou mayest redeem the occupations
of other hours by this vacation. We do not say this to withdraw
thee from thine own: nay, rather we say it that thou mayst learn
there and meditate how thou shouldst show thyself to thine own."(20) And St. Peter
Chrysologus Bishop of Ravenna, in the same age as St. Jerome urges
the faithful with this famous invitation: "We have given a
year to the body, let us give days to the soul...Let us live to
God a little who have lived the whole time to the world. Let the
divine voice sound in our ears: let not the noise of the household
confuse our hearing...Being thus armed brethren and thus
instructed let us declare war on sins...secure of
victory."(21) But as time went on men were still held by the
desire of placid solitude wherein away from witnesses the soul
might give attention; nay more, it is found that in the most
turbulent ages of human society men athirst for justice and truth
were the more vehemently urged by the Divine Spirit seek the
solitude "in order being free from bodily desire they might
more often be intent on the divine wisdom in the court of the mind
where all the tumult of earthly cares being silent, they may
rejoice in holy mediations and eternal delights."(22) Now
after God in his supreme providence had raised up many men in his
Church, abundantly endowed with supernal gifts and conspicuous as
masters of the supernatural life who set forth wise rules,
approved ascetical methods, whether from divine revelation, or
from their own practice, or from the experience of former times;
by the disposition of Divine Providence like manner, the Spiritual
Exercises, properly so called were given to the world by the work
of the illustrious servant of God St. Ignatius of Loyola - "a
treasure," as is called by that venerable man of the Order of
St. Benedict, Louis of Blois, whose opinion is cited by St.
Alphonsus Liguori in a very beautiful letter "On making the
Exercises in solitude" - "A treasure which God has set
open for his Church in these last ages, and for which abundant
thanksgiving should be rendered to Him."(23)
7.
From these Spiritual Exercises, whose fame spread very rapidly in
the Church, many drew a stimulus to make them run with more
alacrity in the paths of sanctity. And among these was one most
dear to Us on many grounds, the Venerable St. Charles Borromeo,
who as we have mentioned on another occasion, spread their use
among the clergy and the people;(24) and by this care and
authority enriched them with appropriated rules and directions;
and what is more, established a house for the special purpose of
cultivating the Ignatian meditations. This house, which he called
the Asceterium, was, so far as we know, the first among the many
houses of this kind, which, by happy imitation have flourished
everywhere. For as the estimation of the Exercises grew
continually greater in the Church, there was a marvelous
multiplication of these houses, which may be called most opportune
places of [reflection], set in the arid desert of the world,
wherein the faithful of both sexes are separately recreated and
refreshed with spiritual nourishment. And, indeed, after the cruel
carnage of the war, which has so bitterly troubled the human
family, after so many wounds inflicted on the spiritual and civil
prosperity of the peoples, who can count the vast number of those
who having seen the fallacious hopes they cherished fail and fade
away, clearly understood that earthly things must give place to
those of heaven, and, by the most present aid of the Divine
Spirit, fled to seek true peace of mind in holy retreats? Let all
those remain as a manifest proof, how, whether drawn by the beauty
of a more holy and more perfect life, or tossed by the turbid
tempests of the time, or moved by the solicitudes of life, or
beset by the frauds and fallacies of the world, or fighting
against the deadly plague of Rationalism, or allured by the
fascination of the senses, withdrawing themselves into those holy
houses, have tasted again the peace of solitude, all the sweeter
to them because of the heavy labors they have borne, and
meditating on heavenly things, have ordered their life in
accordance with supernatural lessons.
8.
We, therefore, Venerable Brethren, rejoicing in these happy
beginnings of a noble piety, and seeing in its further extension a
powerful help against the evils that assail us; must, at the same
time, endeavor, as far as in us lies, to second the most sweet
counsel of the Divine Goodness; so that this secret calling,
breathed by the Holy Spirit into the minds of men, may not be
deprived of the much-desired abundance of heavenly graces.
Moreover, We do this the more willingly because We see what has
already been done by Our Predecessors. For, long since, this
Apostolic See, which had often commended the Spiritual Exercises
by word, taught the faithful by its own example and authority,
converting the august Vatican temple into a Cenacle for meditation
and prayers; which custom We have willingly received, with no
small joy and consolation to Ourselves. And in order that we may
secure this joy and consolation, both for ourselves and for others
who are near us, We have already had arrangements made for holding
the Spiritual Exercises every year in the Vatican.
9.
We know well, Venerable Brethren, how much store you also set by
the Spiritual Exercises; for you gave yourselves to them before
you were adorned with the fullness of the Priesthood; and often
afterwards, in company with your Priests you have sought them anew
in order to refresh your souls with the contemplation of heavenly
things. This excellent practice, assuredly, is deserving of our
solemn and public commendation. And we commend, likewise, no less
warmly those bishops, whether of the Eastern or of the Western
Church, who, as we know, have sometimes come together, with their
own Patriarch or Metropolitan, to make a pious retreat adapted to
their offices and duties. We hope that this luminous example, so
far as circumstances allow, may be followed with sedulous
emulation. And perchance there would be no great difficulty in
this if a retreat of this kind were instituted on the occasion of
one of those synods which all the Prelates of an ecclesiastical
province celebrate ex officio, whether to provide for the common
salvation of souls, or to deliberate on those things which the
conditions of the time seem to require. And, indeed We ourselves
had determined to do this, with all the Bishops of Lombardy,
during the brief space of our rule over the Metropolitan Church of
Milan; and, without doubt, we should have accomplished it, in that
first year of office, if the inscrutable decrees of Divine
Providence had not disposed otherwise of our lowliness. Wherefore,
We are well assured that those priests and religious men who,
anticipating the law of the Church, in this matter, already
frequented the Spiritual Exercises will, hereafter, use this means
of acquiring sanctity with yet greater diligence, now that they
are more gravely bound to it by the authority of the sacred
Canons.
10.
For this reason We earnestly exhort all priests of the secular
clergy to let the faithful see them following the Spiritual
Exercises, at least in that modest measure which the Code of Canon
Law prescribes for them:(25) and let them approach and fulfil the
exercises with an ardent desire of their own perfection, so that
they may obtain that abundance of the supernatural spirit, which
is very necessary for them, if they would secure the spiritual
advantage of their flock, and win a multitude of souls to Christ.
For this was the path trodden by all those priests who, burning
with zeal for the salvation of souls, were foremost in guiding
their neighbors on the way to holiness, and in educating the
clergy; as may be seen, to take a recent example, in B. Joseph
Cafasso, to whom We ourselves decreed the honors of the blessed in
Heaven. For it was the constant custom of this most holy man to
labor assiduously in the Spiritual Exercises, in order that, by
this means, he might better nourish his own sanctity, and that of
other ministers of Christ, and might know the heavenly counsels.
And once, when he came forth from a sacred retreat, gifted with
divine light, he clearly showed this same path to a younger
priest, whose confessor he was; and he followed it up to the
highest summit of sanctity. This was the blessed John Bosco, whose
name is beyond all praise. As for those who, under whatever title,
serve within the bounds of religious discipline; since they are
commanded by law to make the sacred exercises every year(26) there
can be no doubt that they will bring from these sacred retreats an
abundance of heavenly goods for which, as each one needs, they may
draw draughts of greater perfection, and all the graces enabling
them to run the way of the evangelical counsels with alacrity. For
the annual Exercises are the mystical "tree of life"(27)
by which both individuals and communities may live in that flame of
sanctity, in which every religious family must needs flourish. Nor
should the priests of the Clergy, secular and regular, think that
the time spent on the Spiritual Exercises tends to the detriment
of the apostolic ministry. On this matter, let them hear St.
Bernard, who did not hesitate to write thus to the Supreme
Pontiff, Blessed Eugene II, whose master he had been: "If
thou wouldst belong wholly to all, after the manner of him who
became all things to all men; I praise thy humanity, provided it
be full. But, how is it full when thou art excluded? Thou also art
a man: therefore, that the humanity may be whole and full, let it
gather thee also into the bosom which receives all: else, what
will it profit, if thou gain all, and lost thyself? Wherefore,
when all have thee, be thyself one of them that have. Remember, I
say not always, I say not often, but at least sometimes, to render
thyself to thyself."(28)
11.
With no less care, Venerable Brethren, would we have manifold
cohorts of the Catholic Action polished or cultivated fitly by the
Spiritual Exercises. With all our power, we desire to promote this
Action; and we cease not, and will never cease, to commend it;
because the cooperation of the laity with the apostolic hierarchy
is exceedingly useful, not to say necessary. And, indeed, we can
hardly find words to express the joy we experienced, when we
learnt that special series of sacred meditations were established
almost everywhere, for the cultivation of these pacific and
strenuous soldiers of Christ and in particular for bands of young
recruits. For while they crowd to this course, in order that they
may be found more ready and more prompt to fight the battles of
the Lord, they will find there not only the helps enabling them to
express the form of the Christian life more perfectly in
themselves, but may also, not rarely, receive in their hearts the
secret voice of God, calling them to the sacred offices, and to
work for the salvation of souls, and urging them on to the full
exercise of the apostolate. This is, indeed, the glowing dawn of
heavenly goods, and in a short time it will be followed and
completed by a perfect day; if only the practice of the Spiritual
Exercises is yet more widely extended and is propagated with
prudence and wisdom among the various associations of Catholics
and chiefly those of younger members.(29)
12.
Now, even as in this age of ours, temporal goods and the various
advantages flowing from them, together with a certain measure of
wealth, have been extended somewhat freely to workmen and others
hiring out their labor, thereby raising them to a happier
condition of life, it must be ascribed to the bounty of the
provident and merciful God, that this treasure of the Spiritual
Exercises also has been scattered abroad among the common mass of
the faithful so as to serve as a counterpoise to hold men back,
lest borne down by the weight of fleeting things and immersed in
pleasures and delights of life, they fall into the tenets and
morals of Materialism. For this reason we cordially commend the
works of the Exercises which have spring up already in certain
regions, and the exceedingly fruitful and opportune "Retreats
for Workmen," together with the associated sodalities of
Perseverance; all which, Venerable Brethren, We recommend to your
care and solicitude.
13.
Now in order that the joyful fruits we have mentioned may flow
forth from these sacred Exercises, these must needs be made with
due care and diligence. For if the exercises are performed merely
for the sake of custom, or tardily, and with hesitation, little or
no advantage will be derived from them; wherefore before all
things it is necessary that the mind, assisted by solitude should
devote itself to the sacred meditations, leaving aside all the
cares and solicitudes of daily life. For as that golden book, the
Imitation of Christ, clearly teaches: " The devout soul makes
progress in silence and in peace."(30) For this reason,
although we regard those meditations as worthy of praise and
pastoral approval in which many make the exercises together in
public - for these have received many blessings from God - still
we most strongly recommend those Spiritual Exercises which are
made in private, and are called "closed." For in these a
man is more easily separated from intercourse with creatures and
concentrates the dissipated powers of his soul on God himself and
on the contemplation of eternal truths.
14.
Moreover, Spiritual Exercises, truly so-called, require a certain
space of time for their fulfillment. And though, by reason of
circumstances and persons, this may be reduced to a few days, or
extended to a whole month; nevertheless it should not be curtailed
too much if one wishes to obtain the benefits promised by the
Exercises. For even as the salubrity of a place can only
contribute to the health of the body of one who stays there for
awhile, so the salutary art of sacred meditations cannot
effectively benefit the spirit unless it spends some time in the
Exercises.
15.
Lastly it is of great moment for making the Spiritual Exercises
properly and deriving fruit from them that they should be
conducted in a wise and appropriate method.
16.
Now it is recognized that among all the methods of Spiritual
Exercises which very laudably adhere to the principles of sound
Catholic asceticism one has ever held the foremost place and
adorned by the full and repeated approbation of the Holy See and
honored by the praises of men, distinguished for spiritual
doctrine and sanctity, has borne abundant fruits of holiness
during the space of well nigh four hundred years; we mean the
method introduced by St. Ignatius of Loyola, whom we are pleased
to call the chief and peculiar Master of Spiritual Exercises whose
"admirable book of Exercises"(31) ever since it was
solemnly approved, praised, and commended by our predecessor Paul
III of happy memory,(32) to repeat some words we once used before our elevation to the Chair of Peter,
"stood forth and conspicuous as a most wise and universal
code of laws for the direction of souls in the way of salvation
and perfection; an unexhausted fountain of most excellent and most
solid piety; as a most keen stimulus, and a well instructed guide
showing the way to secure the amendment of morals and attain the
summit of the spiritual life."(33) And when at the beginning
of Our pontificate satisfying the most ardent desires and vows of
sacred Prelates of almost the whole Catholic world from both Rites
in the Apostolic Constitution Summorum Pontificum, given on July
22, 1922, We declared and constituted St. Ignatius of Loyola
"the heavenly Patron of all Spiritual Exercises, and,
therefore, of institutes, sodalities and bodies of every kind
assisting those who are making the "Spiritual
Exercises",(34) we did little else but sanction by our
supreme authority what was already proclaimed by the common
feeling of Pastors and of the faithful; and what together with the
aforesaid Paul III, our illustrious Predecessors Alexander
VII,(35) Benedict XIV,(36) Leo XIII,(37) had often said
implicitly, when praising the Ignatian meditations, and what all
those who, in the words of Leo XIII, had been most conspicuous
"in the discipline of ascetic, or in sanctity or
morals," during the last four hundred years(38) had said by
their praises and yet more by the example of the virtues which
they had acquired in this arena. And in very deed, the excellence
of spiritual doctrine altogether free from the perils and errors
of false mysticism, the admirable facility of adapting the
exercises to any order or state of man, whether they devote
themselves to contemplation in the cloisters, or lead an active
life in the affairs of the world, the apt coordination of the
various parts, the wonderful and lucid order in the meditation of
truths that seem to follow naturally one from another; and lastly
the spiritual lessons which after casting off the yoke of sin and
washing away the diseases inherent in his morals lead a man
through the safe paths of abnegation and the removal of evil
habits(39) up to the supreme heights of prayer and divine love;
without doubt all these are things which sufficiently show the
efficacious nature of the Ignatian method and abundantly commend
the Ignatian meditations.
17.
It remains, Venerable Brethren, in order to guard and preserve the
fruit of the Spiritual Exercises which we have been praising and
to revive its salutary memory that we should earnestly recommend a
pious custom which may be called a brief repetition of the
Exercises namely a monthly or trimestrial recollection. This
custom which, to borrow the words of Our Predecessor of holy
memory, Pius X, "We gladly see introduced in many
places"(40) and flourishing especially in religious
communities and among pious priests of the secular clergy we
earnestly desire to see adopted by the laity also. For it would
prove a real benefit more especially for those who are prevented
by the cares of their family from using the Spiritual Exercises.
For these recollections might supply in some measure the
advantages to be derived from the Spiritual Exercises. In this
manner, Venerable Brethren, may these Spiritual Exercises be
extended everywhere through all the orders of Christian society
and if they are diligently performed a spiritual regeneration will
follow. Piety will be enkindled, the forces of religious will be
nourished, the apostolic office will unfold its fruit-bearing
branches, and peace will reign in society and in the hearts of
all.
18.
When the heavens were serene and earth was silent and night lay on
the world, in secret, far from the crowd of men, the Eternal Word
of the Father, having assumed the nature of man, appeared to
mortals, and the heavenly regions echoed the heavenly hymn,
"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of
good will."(41) This praise of Christian peace - the Peace of
Christ in the Kingdom of Christ - setting forth the supreme desire
of Our Apostolic heart to which all our aims and our labors are
directed, nearly touches the minds of Christians who withdrawn
from the tumult and the vanities of the world in deep and hidden
solitude have pondered on the truth of faith and the example of
Him who brought peace to the world and left it as a heritage:
"My peace I give to you."(42)
19.
This peace truly so called We wish for you from our heart,
Venerable Brethren, on this very day on which by the Divine bounty
the fiftieth year of Our Priesthood is completed, and as the sweet
festival of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ approaches,
which may be called the mystery of peace, we with
fervent prayer supplicate for that gift from him who is hailed as
the Prince of Peace.
And with our mind raised by these thoughts, a joyful and firm hope,
as an omen of divine gifts, and as a pledge of Our affection to
you, Venerable Brethren, and to your clergy and people - that is,
to all our most beloved Catholic family - We impart the Apostolic
Benediction most loving in the Lord.
Given
at St. Peter's, Rome, on the twentieth day of December, 1929, the
eighth year of Our Pontificate.
Endnotes:
1.
Acta Apost. Sedis, vol. XXI, (1929), page 6 | 2. Litt. Encycl.
Quod auctorifate, 22 Dec., 1885; Acta Leonis XIII, vol. II, pp.
175 ss | 3. Exhortatio ad clerum catholicum: Haerent animo, 4
Aug., 1903; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. XLI, pp. 555-577 | 4. S.
Greg. M. Pastor L. 3 adm. 15. (Migne P. L. tom. 77, col. 73) | 5.
S. Eucher. De laud. eremi. 37. (Migne P. L. tom. 50, col. 709) |
6. Lactant. De falsa relig. L. 1, c. 1. (Migne P. L. tom. 6, col.
118) | 7. S. Basil M. De laude solitariae vitae, initio. (Opera
omnia. Venetiis, 1751, tom. 2, p. 379) | 8. Ibid | 9. Wis. IV, 12
| 10. Jn. XIV, 6 | 11. Rom. XIII, 14 | 12. Eph. IV, 13 | 13. Gal.
II, 20 | 14. Col. II, 7 | 15. Phil. IV, 7 | 16. Jn. IV, 35 | 17.
Mk. VI, 31 | 18. Acts I, 14 | 19. S. Franc. Sal. Traite de l'Amour
de Dieu, L. 12, c. 8 | 20. S. Hieronym, Ep. 148, ad Celant. 24. (Migne
P. L. tom. col. 1216.) | 21. S. Petr. Chrysolog. serm. 12. (Migne
P. L. tom. col. 186) | 22. S. Leo Magn. serm. 19. (Migne P. L.
tom. 54, col. 18.) | 23. S. Alf. M. de Liguori, Lettera sull'
utilita degli Esercizi in solitudine. Opere ascet. (Marrietti,
1847), vol. 3, pag. 616 | 24. Const. Apost. Summorum Pontificum,
25 Juillet, 1922; Acta Apost. Sedis. vol. XIV (1922), p. 421 | 25.
Cod. Iur. Can. can. 126 | 26. Cod. Iur. Can. can. 595, pr. 1 | 27.
Genesis II., 9 | 28. S. Bern. De consider. L. 1. c. 5. (Migne P.
L. tom. 182, col 734.) | 29. Cfr. "Ordine del giornodi Mons.
Radini-Tedeschi," nel Congr. Cattol. Ital. an. 1895 | 30. De
Imit. Chr., L.I., c. 206 | 31. Brev. Rom. in festo S. Ign. (31 Iul.),
lect. 4 | 32. Litt. Apost., Pastoralis officii, 31 Iul., 1548 |
33. S. Carlo egli Esercizi spirituali di S. Ignazio in "S.
Carlo Borromeo nel 3 Centenario della Canonizzazione," 23
Sett., 1910, pag. 488 | 34. Const. Apost., Summorum Pontificum, 25
Iul., 1922; Acta Apost. Sedis, vol. XIV (1922), pag. 420 | 35.
Litt. Apost. Cum sicut, 12 Oct., 1647 | 36. Litt. Apost., Quantum
secussus, 20 Mart., 1753; Litt. Apost., Dedimus sane, 18 Maii,
1753 | 37. Epist., Ignatianae commentationes, 8 Febr., 1900; Acta
Leonis XIII, vol. CII, pag. 373 | 38. Ibid | 39. Epist. Apost. Pii
PP. XI, No. Av. Ap., 28 Maii 1929, ad Card. Dubois | 40.
Exhort. ad Cler. Cathol., Haerent animo, 4 Aug., 1908, Acta
Sanctae Sedis, vol. XLI, pag. 575 | 41. Luc. II, 14 | 42. Io XIV,
27
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