of Loyola Saint Ignatius - Personal writings: reminiscences, spiritual diary, select letters including the text of The spiritual exercises

Reminiscences, Spiritual Diary, Select Letters
including the text of The Spiritual Exercises

Translated with Introductions and Notes by
JOSEPH A. MUNITIZ and PHILIP ENDEAN

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published 1996
Reprinted with updates to Bibliography 2004
13

Translations, introductions and notes copyright Joseph A. Munitiz and Philip Endean, 1996, 2004
All rights reserved

The moral right of the translators has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

EISBN: 9781101489536

Occasionally a writers influence is in indirect proportion to the size of his work: there can be few more decisive examples of this phenomenon than Ignatius Loyola. The only work of his to be published in his own lifetime was a Latin translation, made by a French colleague, of a very short handbook written in Spanish and bearing the title The Spiritual Exercises. Only 500 copies were printed and it is clear that Ignatius was extremely loath to distribute this book. Who in his day would have imagined that one day he would be included in the Penguin Classics series? To carry the paradox even further, the strongest advocate for the key importance of Ignatius as a writer has been not a member of the Society he founded, and not even a confessional believer in Christianity, but a sophisticated agnostic, the acute literary critic and pioneer in semiotics, Roland Barthes. He pointed out that Loyola shares with Sade and Fourier the distinction of being a logothete, one of the fondateurs de langues, and he analyses with great finesse the levels of language, the conceptual architectonics and the sensitivity to signs to be found in the Exercises.

One may be excused for thinking that Barthes founded his appreciation of Loyola simply on the Exercises. In reality he also had access to a French translation of the Spiritual Diary, and he mentions in passing the Autobiography. This recognition of the importance of Loyolas other writings, in particular of those writings in which he was personally committed, underlies the publication of the present collection of Personal Writings, which has been conceived primarily as a first-hand introduction to a remarkable man, whose influence in the development of spiritual awareness has been unique. The texts are chosen leaving to one side his other writings that enter self-consciously into the public domain: thus Ignatiuss major work, the Constitutions, the foundation document for the Society of Jesus, is not represented here and from his extant correspondence only a tiny proportion (as explained below), with the minimum of official documents, has been included.

This collection opens with the Reminiscences: some may wonder if this text, preserved in the memory of a disciple serving as a human dictaphone, strictly deserves to be accepted as a writing of Ignatius, but the force of his personality is certainly mirrored in these pages as Ignatius recounts his early life prior to his work as Superior General of the Society of Jesus. Next comes The Spiritual Diary, dating from 154445, with the Pros and Cons as a necessary preliminary. It is followed by forty Letters, each with its own short presentation and notes. In fourth place, and treated rather as an Appendix, the text of the Spiritual Exercises is printed once more.

The appeal of writings such as the last may have to remain something of an acquired taste. However, it will help if a sharp distinction is drawn between the main texts in this collection and that of the Spiritual Exercises (reproduced here as an indispensable background to all the other writings). The Exercises originated in the form of prayer notes, outlines of sequences of thoughts that had helped Ignatius as he reflected in silence before God. They take on meaning only in that sort of context. But the difficulty increases because these random notes were subsequently placed in a deliberate order, designed to foment a process (or dialectique as one outstanding French commentator called it The Personal Writings may well present us with something to admire; the Spiritual Exercises aim to help us discover how we might do otherwise.

Among those to be thanked for their help with this edition, William Those who have collaborated in the production of this book are mentioned in the introductions to the various sections, but a special word of thanks is due to Michael Ivens and Philip Endean, who were the most closely involved. Paul Keegan, the Advisory Editor of Penguin Classics, Michael Campbell-Johnston, former Provincial of the British Jesuits, and my Campion Hall community have all put me very much in their debt.