Click here to download - Jamshedpur Jesuits

Roots
By Hedwig Lewis, SJ
“Confraternities” have been in
existence in the Church since the Middle
Ages in all parts of Europe. Their
main purpose was mutual aid to their
own members, within some religious
framework. By the early 16th century,
new confraternities, especially in Venice
and Rome, shifted their emphasis from
mutual aid toward charity to needy nonmembers.
Jesuit involvement
When Ignatius and his companions
first arrived in Rome, confraternities were
numerous and established entities. In
1541 Ignatius joined two Confraternities
– of the Blessed Sacrament and of
the Holy Spirit, for spiritual benefits,
like indulgences granted to members.
But there is no evidence of his active
participation in these. The early Jesuits
joined confraternities, but in keeping
with Ignatius’ policy they did not take
up administrative positions for fear that
their availability for ministry would
be compromised (Const 651). They
collaborated with existing confraternities,
helping “reform” them, and founding new
ones. They promoted a deeply interiorized
ethical and religious life, and infused the
spirit of the Spiritual Exercises.
The first Jesuit confraternity was
founded in 1539-1540 by Peter Faber
in Parma. Members, both priests and
laymen, bound themselves to spiritual
duties and to works of charity, instructions
in Christian doctrine, and assistance
to criminals condemned to death. The
confraternity took the name Compagnia di
Gesu. Within a short time some members
joined this ‘Society of Jesus’.
St Ignatius himself founded a
confraternity in Rome in the 1540s of
twelve pious men, to collect alms at the
sermons of the Fathers in the Chapel of
Our Lady of the Wayside and distribute
these among the poor. He also founded
three specific confraternities, which apart
from spiritual practices, respectively
attended to the houses of S. Marta for
reformed prostitutes; of S. Caterina della
Rosa for the daughters of prostitutes; and
of catechumens, mainly Jews and Muslims
who wished to convert to Catholicism.
First Marian Sodality
The Roman College founded
by St Ignatius in 1551, enrolled Jesuit
Ignatian Initiatives
for the Laity:
Confraternities
& Sodalities
scholastics and externs from all of Europe.
A 27-year-old Belgian Jesuit, Jan Leunis
(1535-1584), recently ordained, was
appointed in 1662 to teach grammar
there to the junior classes. He had about
250 students. In 1563 Fr Leunis, wanting
to inculcate “habits of conduct worthy
of a Christian” in extern students (see
Const 395), formed a group of about 70
interested students which met after school
hours for spiritual reading and prayer.
At first the group resembled existing
confraternities.
Within a year, however, it took
on a Marian character and the name of
‘Sodaility of Our Lady.’ The boys placed
themselves under the patronage of the
Virgin Mary, and promised to make it to
daily Mass, weekly confession, monthly
Communion, as well as to a half-hour
meditation every day, and to also “serve
the poor”. It was the forerunner and
distinct model of all Sodalities of Our
Lady that it would give rise to. Unlike
confraternities, the sodality did not have a
particular dress, functioned privately, with
less stringent bonds among members,
and by greater freedom of action and
expansion
A circular letter of 14 July 1564
from Rome to the Whole Society
described the nature and composition
of the new institution, adding that “one
of the Fathers directs” it, even though
from among “the older and wiser” boys
a prefect was elected. This signalled a
shift in the earlier Jesuit policy regarding
such bodies.
Expansion
The Sodality became so popular
that students from other classes sought
membership. In 1569 it split into two,
according to age-groups. Soon there was
a third division. The original group was
referred to as the Prima Primaria Sodality,
(the very first of the three primaries).
The Jesuits were glad to support the
initiative and soon Sodalities were started
in their schools across Europe, especially
motivated by those who had studied at the
Roman College. They eventually became
an integral part of the newly started
education system.
In 1578 Fr General Claudio
Aquaviva issued “Common Rules” for
the Sodalities, which were operative for
nearly three centuries, and proved to be
an important cornerstone for the dynamic
developments of Marian Congregations
worldwide.
In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII
confirmed the Prima Primaria Sodality
as the Head of all Marian Congregations,
in his Bull Omnipotentis Dei. As the
first lay association in the Church, it was
granted the right of self-government,
though juridically, sodalities came under
the General Superior of the Society of
Jesus. In 1587 Pope Sixtus V, in his Bull
Superna Dispositione, provided rights
to the Jesuit General to create sodalities
among Christian laity universally, which
could be affiliated to the Prima Primaria,
and enjoy the privileges and indulgences
granted to it. Soon, Marian Sodalities
aggregated to the “Prima Primaria” were
mushrooming by the thousands. Several
Popes and numberless canonized saints
have belonged to sodalities over the
centuries.
In 1954 the World Federation
of the Sodalities of Our Lady (Marian
Congregations) was born. In October
1967, during the 4th Assembly of the
Federation, the final draft of the new
General Principles, developed through a
worldwide consultation, was approved by
the 140 delegates from 38 countries. This
marked a re-founding of the Sodalities:
they were given a new name, Christian
Life Communities.
•
JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India OCTOBER 2012 19