The First Jesuits

by John W. O'Malley

John W. O’Malley gives us the most comprehensive account ever written of the Society of Jesus in its founding years, one that heightens and transforms our understanding of the Jesuits in history and today. Following the Society from 1540 through 1565, O’Malley shows how this sense of mission evolved. He looks at everything―the Jesuits’ teaching, their preaching, their casuistry, their work with orphans and prostitutes, their attitudes toward Jews and “New Christians,” and their relationship to the Reformation. All are taken in by the sweep of O’Malley’s story as he details the Society’s manifold activities in Europe, Brazil, and India.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, Christianity, European History, Audiobook

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Rev. Father John W. O’Malley, SJ, PhD was a professor of theology at the University of Detroit, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and Georgetown University. His specialty was the history of religious culture in early modern Europe, especially Italy. He received best-book prizes from the American Historical Association, the American Philosophical Society, the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, the American Catholic Historical Association, and from the Alpha Sigma Nu fraternity. His best known books are The First Jesuits (Harvard University Press, 1993), which has been translated into twelve languages, What Happened at Vatican II (Harvard, 2008), now in six languages, and The Jesuits: A History from Ignatius to the Present (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), now in seven languages. A companion to the book on Vatican II is his Trent: What Happened at the Council (Harvard, 2012), in five languages. He has edited or co-edited a number of volumes, including three in the Collected Works of Erasmus series, University of Toronto Press. Of special significance is The Jesuits and the Arts, (Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2005), co-edited with Gauvin Alexander Bailey, and Art, Culture, and the Jesuits: The Imago primi saeculi, 1640) (Saint Joseph's University Press, 2015). In 2015 he also published Catholic History for Today's Church: How Our Past Illuminates Our Present (Rowman & Littlefield). He edited a series with Saint Joseph's University Press entitled Early Modern Catholicism and the Visual Arts, in which thirteen titles have appeared to date.

John O’Malley lectured widely in North America and Europe to both professional and general audiences. He held a number of fellowships, from the American Academy in Rome (Prix de Rome), the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and other academic organizations. He was a past president of the Renaissance Society of America and of the American Catholic Historical Association. In 1995 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1997 to the American Philosophical Society, and in 2001 to the Accademia di san Carlo, Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy. He held the Johannes Quasten Medal from The Catholic University of America for distinguished achievement in Religious Studies, and he holds a number of honorary degrees. In 2002 he received the lifetime achievement award from the Society for Italian Historical Studies, in 2005 the corresponding award from the Renaissance Society of America, and in 2012 the corresponding award from the American Catholic Historical Association. He was a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus.

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 5 out of 5]

The First Jesuits by John O'Malley, S.J., is a five star book for anyone who has already done some reading in the history of the Reformation and is a familiar with the major theological writers of the middle ages and Renaissance (e.g. Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Jean Calvin, Thomas à Kempis and Luther). For the reader with the right background, Father O'Malley's book is lively and engaging. For those who are not familiar with the subject area, it will probably be quite a painful slog.
O'Malley does a magnificent job of demolishing the myths about the Jesuits and explaining what they were. The myths of course are many. Popular writers like Alexander Dumas have portrayed them as arch-conspirators directing the policies of the Royal dynasties of Europe. Others like Eugene Sue have shown the Jesuits duping middle class families in order to ensure that their wealth will be bequeathed to the Jesuit order. Still others, have described the papal chartered Jesuits as interfering in the jurisdictions of the local bishops wherever they operated. At the same time some of the legends show the Jesuits in a positive light. They are commonly described by academic historians as having been formed in response to Luther and having lead the Counter Reformation against Protestantism. O'Malley demonstrates that the Jesuits were none of these things.
O'Malley shows the Jesuits as having been formed by providential chance. A group of Spanish priests studying a the University of Paris formed the order out the simple desire to "care for souls". Instead of devoting themselves to lives of ritualistic prayer as did members of monastic orders, the Jesuits wanted to minister to people in the lay world. During the period covered by O'Malley (i.e. 1540-1565), the Jesuits did not involve themselves in palace intrigues and in fact demonstrated no interest in dynastic politics. They operated schools, orphanages, hospitals and shelters for prostitutes in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany. In all these nations they collaborated well with the local bishops who welcomed them and were particularly glad to see them found educational institutions.
O'Malley is at his very best in explaining how the Jesuits practiced their religion. They were inspired by Thomas à Kempis' "Imitation of Christ". They wanted to follow Christ like the original apostles. Hence they became the "companions of Jesus." They did not perform the liturgy of the hours. Instead they concentrated on emotional engagement in their relationship with Jesus. Loyola created his system of "Spiritual Exercises" to allow the members to develop a strong personal connection with Christ. The Jesuits were the first to conduct "retreats" for the purpose of allowing individual Catholics to reflect on and develop their faith.
The Jesuits were true men of the Renaissance. They were profound humanists who wanted a more human religion. Because they accepted Catholic Dogmas and the authority of the Pope, they have been perceived as having been created in response to Protestantism. The Jesuits however were not reacting against anything. They were simply endeavouring to be engaged companions of Christ within Christ's church.
As a group, the Jesuits were very energetic and tried many things. In O'Malley's view, they fell into becoming a teach order. The order was founded by intellectuals and was very good at recruiting individuals with intellectual temperaments. Thus they were good teachers. However, equally importantly they arrived on the scene at a time when the middle classes and the aristocracy decided that schools were important. Thus, the Jesuit schools had no trouble either attracting students or obtaining financial support.
O'Malley does a particularly good job of explaining the teaching techniques of the order's schools. The Jesuits employed the Paris method (a.k.a. modus parisiensis) was an organized plan for the progress of the student through increasingly complex materials. The Jesuit Schools thus were the first in Europe to emply a curriculum that students would follow throughout their entire course of study. In this as in so many other areas, the Jesuits stand as great innovators who have had a lasting impact on our society.
While O'Malley does an excellent job of describing the Jesuit endeavours in the area of education his examination of the missionary activity is highly disappointing. After receiving a Papal Charter in 1540, the Jesuits would lead the drive to bring Christianity to Canada, South America, India, Japan, China and other countries until their order would be dissolved in 1767. While acknowledging that the Jesuits were very active in spreading Christianity in Asia and the New World, O'Malley devotes very little space in his book to this aspect of the Jesuit order. It is hard to tell whether O'Malley's cursory treatment of the Jesuit Missions is due to his feeling that other authors had adequately covered the material or whether he felt that the magnitude of endeavour during the time frame of his book did not justify any longer treatment. However, good his reasons may have been, I was disappointed.
Finally it must be recognized that the content of the book was largely dictated by the primary sources that O'Malley chose to consult. Effectively "The First Jesuits" is based on the writings of Ignatius of Loyola, and two of his close collaborators Jéronimo Nadal (the first Vicar General of the order) and Juan Alfonso de Polanco (Loyola's secretary from 1547 to 1556). Using these sources, O'Malley has written a wonderful book about the founding of the Jesuits and their place in the gestalt of the Renaissance.

[Kaufmak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting ready to defend my dissertation, O'Malley was my snappy comeback if anyone asked if being a member of AA clouded my objectivity regarding the subject. O'Malley, a Jesuit, is considered by many the authority on Jesuit history, especially their early history during the Counter-Reformation. I'm sure there are some who doubt him when it comes to his spiritual ancestors, but it is hard to accept those doubts as reasonable. Yes, O'Malley praises certain aspects of the Order, but he is quick to take the founders, and the church for that matter, to task when examining some of the short-comings of the Counter-Reformation.

This book is basically a narrative of the first generation of the Jesuits, starting with Ignatius and the first men he called together for the ministry. O'Malley examines key documents in the formation of the Society, but what is really fascinating, and my guess is membership got us this privilege, is the enormous amounts of correspondence that O'Malley examines to give us an inside look into Ignatius and how he saw the Society evolving.

That Society, those first soldiers of Jesus, were very dedicated to three ideas, the first resulting in the other two. Obviously, the Jesuits were founded to combat the spread of Protestantism. In order to do this, Ignatius co-opted some of the Reformation's ideas. The Jesuit commitment to education, perhaps their most enduring legacy, was a key part of the Society almost from day one. Perhaps the one idea that was present from day one and also seen as a counter to Luther's doctrinal approach to salvation, was the Spiritual Exercises. It was as Ignatius wrote, "helping souls, heart to heart." As an institution, the Jesuits took a very personal, very public approach to salvation, a needed ballast in face of the challenge of Reformation. As the Jesuits grow in influence and power across Catholic Europe, some of these early objectives get muddled, not altogether lost, but pushed to the background in respect to becoming a key player in European politics.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a graduate of Boston College, I felt like I finally needed to read this book to officially call myself obsessed with the Jesuits. However, it wasn't an easy one to get through. It's a bit like a textbook. I found some chapters to be much more interesting than others but the research necessary to write this book is overwhelming just to think about... So read it if only to honor the work put into it!

[Jared Kassebaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this audiobook, I enjoyed most the brief biography of St Ignatius. The inner politics of the Jesuits, while interesting, weren't quite as enjoyable. Ignatius and his practices have begun, with many other ancient Christian traditions, to fascinate me, and so I am glad to have a primer on his life and the order he helped found.

[Mir Bal · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few organizations that are as mythical as Jesus' company is. Both detractors and friends of this religious order have woven a fabric so thick with myths that any reality is hard to come by in all that is fantastic. As time goes on, the more polarized this company seems to be. And maybe that's why this book came to be a classic. By focusing on the first year of the company, John W. O'Malley has managed to penetrate this thick web and reach how this company at its hart.

As always, the history is so much more than what the conspiracy theories want. And of course. Much more chaotic.

It all starts with a small but dedicated crowd of people who want to change the world. It always starts with a charismatic leader. It always starts with a longing for holiness.

What it doesn't start with is a plan. Neither any conspiracy. Soon, the small crowd of God-seekers will grow larger and their quest for helping souls must organize. An institution is growing parallel with the ravages of the mad monk Luther.

The myth of the Jesuits as a reaction to the Reformation is shattered, it becomes obvious that they were not a well thought out response to the Protestants. But a reply to the same question the Protestants ask themselves, but an answer that went in quite another way.

Instead of preaching that the Bible alone and faith would save all people, the Jesuits found their answer in a radical engagement in the world, but also in tradition. They built schools, arranged jobs for prostitutes, gave homeless jobs and taught the classic Greek and Latin texts for both poor and rich children. They became spiritual guides to beggars as well as emperors and for the most part they do not seem to really known what they were doing. All the practices that the Jesuits have come to be associated with, classic education that became accessible to all, health care and care for the poor, a constant desire to be where the needy are seems to have emerged in response to the needs of specific people, the talents of individual priests and requests from God-seekers and others who needed them.

The book has no one thesis, not a story of how the Jesuit came about, rather it shows how the order was created by its time and the many reactions to it. The time that Luther gave birth to the Jesuits and it was a time when the issue of faith and god was taken most seriously. Luther found his answer in leaving the world and actions to the Bible alone, the Jesuits fancied God in turning to the world and the poor. But they were characterized more by Renaissance Italy than by Luther's Germany, they were shaped by conflicts with the Inquisition and support for the humanists. They were formed in a commitment to the suffering. All this gave way to the Jesuits who had no great plan, the book shows that the words were created when confronted with their contemporaries.

To summarize the book in a review is impossible. But this book has no thesis, no easy way to summarize itself. It is a piece of cultural history that shows how a series of God-seekers came to change the world and the Catholic for all time by creating and being created by he Jesuits. And how none of this happened was thought through, but through a series of improvisations and attempts to serve. It is a piece of history that anyone who wants to understand our history, or find out how a changing world should read.

[BJ Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The First Jesuits is, admittedly, niche reading. There are lots of names to keep track of, men other than Ignatius who played critical roles in making the Society of Jesus what it remains today. But John O'Malley is a raconteur like no other. Blink and you'll miss his laconic judgments; catch them, enjoy his elegance, and you will finish the book with unparalleled insight into 'our way of proceeding.'

[Brian Hohmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal in its breadth and cleverly organized, The First Jesuits nonetheless loses marks for its prose, marred as it is throughout by imprecise and unnecessarily unclear writing. Still, O'Malley's history should not be missed.

[Cappy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can be uneven - especially in the way the author sometimes seems to wave away some controversies and “misperceptions” associated with the Society. But the chapter on the schools and the conclusion are simply not to be missed.

[Espelunco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelentemente documentado, claro y entretenido. Llevando agua a mi propio molino, clarísimo en dos temas que me importan: la modernidad de la espiritualidad de los jesuitas y las bases mentales de su despliegue mundial.

[Janice]

Diss

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic, though not exactly a page-turner.

[catarina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to read.

[Jungsook Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

'St. Ignatius Loyola and the Remarkable History of the First Jesuits' is an audiobook read by the author, Fr. John William O'Malley, SJ., Ph.D. I enjoyed listening to it. I am pretty familiar with much of the contents since I have read the biographies of St. Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier. St. Ignatius was born in 1491 and St. Francis Xavier in 1506. St. Ignatius and St. Francis met along with Peter Faber at the University of Paris.

When Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus along with Francis and Faber, they did not follow the rules and regulations of the other existing religious orders such as Augustinians, Dominicans, or Franciscans.

Jesuits did not build monasteries but lived in houses. They neither wear distinctive habits nor chant the liturgy or participate in the communal prayer of any kind. Instead, Ignatius developed Spiritual Exercises and spread them widely. While other orders in the 16th century focused on abstaining, Ignatius emphasized going deeper into the world and saving their souls by teaching, loving, and serving them. Not only because of the differences from other orders but also because of using the name Jesus in 'the Society of Jesus' was attacked. There was a cultural gap and theological gap. Jesuit manner is ordinary, orderly (into learning program), and flexible. We have to be in union with God from heart to heart. And they emphasized to say what you mean, and mean what you say.

I like the parts that St. Ignatius took care of the least ones; prostitutes and their children until they married. This book described how Francis Xavier went to India, Japan, and China. It also described how the Jesuit protected Native Americans from brutal Europeans who attacked to enslave them.

I enjoyed listening to the Early Jesuit History and learned something new I did not know of. I hope it will help increase my desire to do my daily spiritual exercise sincerely.

[AskHistorians]

Before they were Catholic hippies whose colleges had great academics and great basketball, the Jesuits were the front line soldiers of the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation. O'Malley demonstrates how the first generation of Jesuits rejuvenated spirituality within the Catholic Church at the same time Luther and Calvin were working on the same mission outside it. Unlike those early Protestant counterparts, the first Jesuits also led the way in carrying their new vision west to the Americas and east to India and beyond. And then they helped invent ballet.

[Eszter Beáta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a scientific book, but it tells a lot of interesting details about the time of the first Jesuits, it tells how the Society of Jesus began, how they define themselves, and what they did in the first decades.

[John]

history,theology,nonfiction

[Dan Yingst]

boring

[Getedwinsj]

Great Work!

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember much about this book -- not even sure what course I read it for. I seem to recall it being written in a pretty interesting and accessible style.

[Łukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly one of the best books about jesuits spirituality I've ever read.

[Susannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of academic style as I’m more interested in the spiritual relationship of St Ignatius and his cofounders.

[Cws]

272

[John]

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