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Mosaic
Stories to tell
In October 1550 St Peter Canisius was elected by the faculty to the office of Rector at the
University of Ingolstadt, not under Jesuit management. In a letter to Ignatius in Rome a few weeks
later, Canisius sighed: “Governing this place is bringing me a good deal of trouble and precious little
so far in the way of obvious results. The Rector’s principal duties are to enroll new students, to force
debtors to pay their bills, to listen to the complaints which men and women citizens of the town bring
against the young men, to arrest, reprimand and jail the students who get drunk and roam around
the streets at night, and finally to preside at official festivities and at academic functions connected
with the conferral of degrees… They say, and it’s true, that the lawyers run the place.”
- Contributed by Hedwig Lewis, SJ
Words to ponder
“Historically, painting has had to
wrestle with iconophobia. The Second
Commandment prohibits the use of
graven images (Exodus 20:4). Suspicion
of the visual image was apparently
also a feature of early Buddhism, and
persists in much of Islam and Judaism.
James Hillman, who regards imagery
as a very important part of our psychic
life, reminds us that the followers of
Cromwell smashed images of Jesus,
Mary and the saints... Christianity has
avoided this iconophobia by regarding
Jesus himself as an icon of God. In
Murdoch’s view there is religiosity in
all great art, and visual art has therefore
contributed to our understanding of
religion.” - Earl McKenzie
Dates to remember
4 Dec 1870: The Roman College, appropriated by the Piedmontese
government, was reopened as a Lyceum. The monogram of the Society
over the main entrance was effaced.
7 Dec 1688: At Rome, the death of Fr Honoratus de Fabri, a great
scientist. He taught the circulation of the blood before Harvey’s book
was published.
9 Dec 1741: At Paris, the death of Fr Charles Poree, a famous master
of rhetoric. Nineteen of his pupils were admitted into the French
Academy, including Voltaire, who, in spite of his impiety, always felt
an affectionate regard for his old master.
15 Dec 1631: At Naples, during an earthquake and the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius, the Jesuits worked to help all classes of people.
28 Dec 1663: The death of Francis Maria Grimaldi. He was an
astronomer who did research on the refraction of light. Isaac Newton
made use of his work. Fr General Acquaviva granted him admission
to the Society, but he died while making his preparations.
Courtesy: www.glasbergen.com
Cartoon to giggle at
“Peace on Earth, good will
toward men? There’s an
application for that!”
JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 18