Loyola and the Jesuits

1. Loyola and the Jesuits

2. Loyola • a soldier who was reborn through scholasticism while recovering from an injury • He turned his life around and became a priest • Came up with a plan for spiritual discipline which is like a military manual for “soldiers” at the service of the pope. • Their mission: conversion • His followers were known as the Jesuits

3. Catholic Reformation • Mysticism was a large part of the Catholic reform. • Even before Luther posted his theses agroup in Rome formed a brotherhood called Oratory of Divine Love • Their guiding belief was that the reformation of the church and society begins withing the indiviual soul • It stimulated reform in the older monastic orders and laid plans for a general council to deal with internal reform and Protestant heresy

4. Catholic Reformation • However in the 1520’s and 1530’s the Church of Rome took no significant steps toward reform. Why? • Politics. The popes discouraged a general council because of their experience with councils at Constance during the papal schism where the Popes lost power for a brief period. • The popes were also secular and political affairs.

5. Counter Reformation • Aka the Catholic reformation was a change within the Roman Catholic Church in response to the rise of Protestantism • It was slow in coming, but eventually it got there. • Pope Paul III saw the need for reform and appointed a number of Cardinals to oversee this task. • They conducted a study and issued a formal report in 1537 stating disorder in the church could be traced directly to the need for reform, the papal office was too secular and needed to give more attention to spiritual matters. • bribery, abuses of indulgences, evasions of church law, and prostitution in Rome must cease

6. Loyola • Pope Paul III also approved of Loyola’s Society of Jesus – aka Jesuits • Like Luther Loyola struggled with faith • While Luther saw that man cannot save himself except through faith, Loyola believed God and Satan are external to man and man can strengthen his will to choose between them.

7. Loyola • Loyola strengthened his imagination through studies and the resulted in the Jesuits plan of studies. • He was such a fervent preacher that the Inquisition repeatedly examined him on his theology • He gained followers and shared with them his spiritual exercises. These exercises became the basis of every Jesuits spirituality.

8. The Society of Jesus • In 1540 Pope Paull III approved Loyola’s Society of Jesus as a new religious order. • They were to be soldiers of Jesus, ready to go anywhere and perform any task the pope assigned. • The had vows of poverty, chastity, obedience to their superiors, and special loyalty to the pope. • They were ran by a Superior General. The first general was Ignatius.

9. They attempted to live in the world without being of it. • They attacked their assignment to convert the heathen and reconvert the Protestants in Europe with zeal. • They spread the Christian word to four continents and stemmed the tide of protestantism in France.

10. Council of Trent • The most important council to exist up until then. • Under the influence of the Jesuits, Trent developed into a powerful weapon of the Counter Reformation by guiding the agenda toward the “correct churchly attitude,” of the followers of Loyola.

11. The shape of modern Catholicism • Protestant Justification by faith alone Salvation by Grace alone Religious authority of the Scripture alone Council of Trent Christians must perform good works lest they become lazy and indifferent Salvation by grace and human cooperation with God Authority on the supreme teaching office of the RC Church (popes and bishops)

12. Everything the Protestant Reformation stood for was rejected at Trent • The council of Trent guaranteed that modern Roman Catholicism would be goverend by the collaboration between God and man • The pope, seven sacraments, mass, saints, confessions, indulgences remained.

13. We can look back to the Reformation age and see that the religious unity of western Christendom was permanently shattered. • Luther’s followers were so convinced he was right that the Catholic Church would adopt his ideas • The Catholic Church would always battle against the heretical protestants. • Both believed they represented the true Church of Christ.

14. As time went on the people came to realize that the conflict had reached a stalemate • Neither side was going to give in, each side believed they were right • The idea of religious toleration based on the full acceptance of religious diversity appeared only in hints in the attitudes of mystics, Anabaptists, and practical politicians like Queen Elizabeth I.