Every year on July 31, we, the Jesuits celebrate the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius is the Founder of our Religious Order, called the Society of Jesus. We are more popularly known as Jesuits.
The youngest son of a noble chief, Ignatius was born in Loyola, Spain, in 1491. Reared to be a Courtier in the service of the Crown, his desire was to win fame as a soldier of great valour. He was the typical self-seeking young man of his time. But then something happened which was to change his life forever.
On May 20, 1521, while fighting in a battle against the French, his right leg was shattered by a French cannonball. Unfortunately, the attending doctors set his leg wrong. It had to be broken and set again. The surgery was excruciating but he survived it.
During his convalescence, Ignatius asked for books of chivalric romances but instead, much to his chagrin, he was given the Life of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. With nothing else to do, he began to read, and before he knew it, he was overwhelmed by the exploits of the Saints to the point where he decided that their lives were an example worth emulating. This was the beginning of his transformation.
Ignatius began to feel God’s immense and unconditional love suffusing and transforming him. He felt that God had given him a New Vision, and opened his inner eyes and heart. Seeing everything anew in and by the light of God, he decided he would no longer serve earthly kings, but serve only the Heavenly King. He made it his mission to love and serve God in all things and in all persons. His values, thoughts and actions had been radically changed. His transformation was complete.
He spent the next few years in Spain and Paris studying to become a priest. At the University of Paris, he forged a strong bond with six committed companions who, motivated by him, were also deeply transformed to love and serve God. They, in turn, transformed many others in Europe, Asia and Africa. Everywhere they went they inspired willing hearts to love and serve
all in the greater glory of God.
With his six original companions, Ignatius founded, in 1540, the “The Society of Jesus” in Rome. One of these loyal companions was Francis Xavier.
Xavier came to India in 1542 and preached the message of love and service to all. At great personal risk, he zealously carried this message to South-east Asia and Japan. He died on December 3, 1552, on Sanchian Island close to mainland China, after 10 long years of hectic and fruitful education and evangelisation works in Asia.
Xavier’s sacred body is preserved in the Church of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. It was there that he opened the first Jesuit College in 1542. It was the precursor of many such Jesuit schools and colleges to come up in India and Asia, many of them perpetuating the name of St Francis Xavier for posterity. A precursor to liberal education, Jesuit education incorporated the classical teachings of Renaissance humanism into the Scholastic structure.
The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum (1599) would standardise the study of Latin, Greek, classical literature, poetry and philosophy as well as non-European languages, sciences and the arts. Furthermore, Jesuit schools encouraged the study of vernacular and rhetoric and became important centres for the training of lawyers and public officials.
The Jesuits are the first religious group to operate schools, colleges and universities as a principal and distinct service. When Ignatius died in 1556, the Jesuits were already operating a network of 74 schools and colleges on three continents.
In India, the Jesuits run 839 schools and 61 higher education institutions, including universities, autonomous and non-autonomous colleges, research centres, management institutes,
BEd colleges, engineering and law colleges, and colleges of theology and philosophy. The Jesuits are renowned for the quality of education that they provide. This has been their driving mission of service to the world over for the last 480 years and continues. This mission is sustained through the Jesuit commitment to social uplift and justice for the downtrodden, the poor, the landless, the displaced, the marginalised, and indigenous people, and to a spirituality that brings people closer to nature and to God.
Jesuit education is a holistic formation of the intellect, emotions and soul to ensure that students are consciously responsive to contemporary needs, and are empowered to become “Men and Women for and with Others”. They are inspired to share the Jesuit ideal of love and service to others to bring Glory to God, to the country, and to society at large.
To achieve these values, we need to pray for guidance, courage and hope from God through the intercession of St Ignatius who will revive, inspire and challenge us to love and serve God in all persons and in all things, especially in and through education, for greater glory of God.
In Bengal, we the Jesuits run one university, St Xavier’s University, four colleges, including St Xavier’s College, and numerous schools.