All My Liberty
Appendix II:
Apostolic Constitution of Pius XI Declaring
St. Ignatius Patron of All Spiritual Exercises
Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
It has always been the chief concern of the Sovereign Pontiffs to commend,
and highly to praise, to promote, and strongly to encourage, all that notably
makes for the goodness and perfection of Christian life. Now a place in the
front rank of all that helps towards this end has been won by those Spiritual
Exercises which St. Ignatius, by a certain divine instinct, introduced into
the Church. For although, in the goodness and mercy of God, men have never
been wanting to set forth aptly deep thoughts upon heavenly things before the
eyes of the faithful, yet Ignatius was the first to begin to teach a certain
system and special method of going through spiritual retreats. He did this
in the little book which he wrote when he was still a quite uneducated man,
and to which he himself gave the name “Spiritual Exercises.” This method was
such as wonderfully to help the faithful to hate sin, and to plan out their
life holily after the model of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To the power of the Ignatian method is due the fact that, as Our eminent Predecessor
Leo XIII avowed, the high value of these Exercises has been proved by the experience
of the last three centuries and by the witness of all who during that time gave
evidence of the highest form of ascetical training and holiness of life. Along
with the many shining examples of holiness actually found in the household of
St. Ignatius itself, who expressly declare that it is from the Exercises, as
its source, that they have drawn their whole plan of asceticism, we love also
to recall, from among the secular clergy, those two lights of the Church, St.
Francis of Sales and St. Charles Borromeo. Francis, when seeking duly to prepare
himself for episcopal consecration, carefully retired in order to make the Ignatian
Exercises, and during them mapped out for himself that plan of life, to which
he afterwards remained always faithful, according to the principles for the
“Reformation of Life.” Contained in St. Ignatius’ little book. Charles Borromeo,
as Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius X, has shown, and as We Ourselves have
proved in historical papers published before We were raised to the Supreme Pontificate,
having experienced the value of the Exercises in his own person and being led
by them to adopt a more perfect form of life, went on to spread their use abroad
among clergy and laity alike. Among holy men and women belonging to religious
bodies, it will be enough to quote, for example, that mistress of lofty contemplation,
Teresa, and Leonard of Port Maurice, the son of the Seraphic Patriarch, who
rated St. Ignatius’ book so highly that he owned he wholly followed its plan
when winning souls to God.
Accordingly this book – so small in bulk, yet so marvelous – from its first
edition has been solemnly approved by the Roman Pontiffs. They have praised
it most highly, have sanctioned it by their Apostolic Authority, and have constantly
urged men to use it by means of numerous indulgences and the recommendation
of frequent encomiums.
We regard it as certain that most of the ills of our day start from the fact
that “no one reflects in his heart.” We deem it proved that the Spiritual Exercises,
made according to the plan of St. Ignatius, have the greatest efficacy in dispelling
the most stubborn difficulties with which human society is now confronted.
We have studied the rich harvest of virtues that ripens today no less than of
old in spiritual retreats, not only among members of religious congregations
and the secular clergy, but also among the laity, and, what in our day is worthy
of special and separate remark, among the working classes themselves. Therefore
We earnestly wish that the making of these Spiritual Exercises should daily
spread more widely. We also desire that retreat houses, where persons withdraw
for a whole month, or for eight days, or for fewer, there to put themselves
into training for the perfect Christian life, may come into being and flourish
everywhere more numerously.
This in Our love for the Lord’s flock We beg from God. And therefore, in answer
to the earnest desires and petitions of the Sacred Hierarchy of both rites in
practically the whole Catholic world, and also because We Ourselves are eager
to give no doubtful sign of Our gratitude towards the Holy Patriarch at this
time, particularly on the occasion of the third centenary of the canonization
of St. Ignatius and the fourth centenary of the writing of this invaluable little
book, following the example of Our Predecessors who have assigned patrons and
guardians to various institutions, having called a council of Our Venerable
Brethren, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church who preside over the
Congregation of Sacred Rites, We, by Our Apostolic Authority, declare, constitute
and proclaim St. Ignatius of Loyola to be the Heavenly Patron of all Spiritual
Exercises, and accordingly of all institutes, Sodalities, or groups of whatever
sort, which bestow their care and zeal upon those who are making the Spiritual
Exercises.
And We decree that these Our Letters are and ever will be firm, valid and efficacious,
and that to them belong and shall accrue their proper, full and integral effects,
notwithstanding anything whatsoever to the contrary.
Given at Rome at St. Peter’s, in the year of Our Lord 1922, the 25th
day of July, the first of Our Pontificate.
Pius P.P. XI
Copyright © 1998 Inter Mirifica
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