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In the Jubilee year we honour three early Jesuits, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and Bl. Peter Faber. 2006 is the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, and the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of Ignatius. In 1525, they first met in Paris, where they had gone to study. Ignatius, born in 1491, was the oldest. He encouraged his fellow Spaniard Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, from Savoy, to ask where they wanted their lives to go, and what God was inviting them to do. They made the Spiritual Exercises with him, and were captured by the Jesus Christ whom they met in the Gospels. They then decided together to spend their lives following Jesus wherever they could make the greatest difference. In 1534 they vowed to go to Jerusalem, if they could find a ship. Jerusalem was the city where Jesus had lived and died. It was also under Muslim control. Then, as now, the relationship between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East was often hostile. So, to work there was romantic and potentially dangerous. It would bring them face to face with Muslim people, and challenge the fearful images of Muslims that were current in Europe. Ships for Palestine left from Italy. To get there they walked through a fearful Europe. To travel was dangerous, because much of Europe was at war. But they did not allow insecurity to deter them from Christ’s mission. Danger went with the territory. In 1539, after failing to find a ship that would take them to Palestine, they offered their services to the Pope for difficult tasks. They formed a continuing group, the Society of Jesus. They then went different ways. But they remained close friends, and in their difficult work their friendship supported them. Ignatius Loyola was making his way in the world as a courtier when he was wounded in battle in 1521. In his convalescence, he was drawn to God. He reflected on the deep spiritual experiences that followed his conversion, and discovered a gift for speaking with others about matters of the heart. He returned to study in order to help others more effectively, and attracted many young students to make the Spiritual Exercises. When he and his early companions decided to form a stable group, he was unanimously chosen to lead them. He spent the rest of his life in Rome administering the growing group, and encouraging them to seek God's will in all their planning and activity. He looked realistically at the condition of his sixteenth century world, and also respected the ways in which God worked through the various gifts and desires of the Jesuits whom he led. He was a man of deep prayer. Francis Xavier travelled to India in 1541 after the King of Portugal had requested Ignatius to send an emissary. His love of Christ and compassion for the people led him to walk along the coast of India and Sri Lanka, and to travel in small boats through the dangerous seas around Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan and China. He was always attracted to larger and more distant challenges. In 1552 he died on an island off the coast of China, dreaming of entering it. Peter Faber worked in Italy, Germany and Spain, founding schools and engaging in public discussion of faith. Like Ignatius, he had a gift for engaging people in conversation about their lives. He worked in difficult times. Christians were at each others' throats in the heat of the early Reformation. Faber was notable for his gentleness. He believed that the goal of good conversation was not to win the argument, but to win his conversation partner to God. He died in 1546, preparing to accept a mission to go to Ethiopia. For further resources on these three Jesuits read:
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Copyright © 2005 Jesuit Communications.
