14. Ignatius the General

 

In 1941 the first companions met in Rome to elect a General. Francis Xavier left his vote in writing before leaving Rome for India. Favre sent his vote from Germany. Those gathered at Rome prayed and then voted secretly. Ignatius received all the votes except his own. Ignatius did not accept their decision and asked for another round of voting. So they voted again and in the second round Ignatius received all the votes again. Ignatius still hesitated but the companions and his confessor pointed out that he was resisting God’s clear will. Finally, he accepted their decision, though unwillingly, on 19^th April 1541.

 

The companions then asked Ignatius and Codure to draw up the Constitutions for their new order. In August 1541 Codure died so Ignatius undertook to write the Constitutions alone. He also had to organize the Society’s works since everywhere bishops were asking for his men. Soon the Society of Jesus took up many educational works all over the world. They also engaged in training priests and students. The first Jesuit school was built in Goa in 1543 by Francis Xavier. In Rome a seminary for training of priests, the Roman College, was built in 1551.

 

These new works required Ignatius to write letters to bishops, kings, leaders and his companions scattered all over the world. These letters were his wonderful means of union and communication. Ignatius wrote nearly 7000 letters. In those days there were no type writers so all the letters and their duplicates had to be hand written. On the day he died about 200 letters were sent out.

 

In 1550 Ignatius had finished writing the Constitutions and then he called the companions to Rome and took their advice. After finalizing the Constitutions he sent Nadal to explain the same to those who had not come to Rome. Ignatius kept on working on the Constitutions till he died on 31^st July 1556.

 

( Coming up  next. 15. Ignatius the Saint )

"Placed with the Son"- A short biography of St. Ignatius 

By Fr. Lawrence Dharmaraj, SJ

 

(From the personal study notes under the guidance of late Fr. Maurice Dullard, SJ. 

A special thanks to Fr.Vincent Saldahna s.j for doing the necessary corrections))