Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
We celebrate a birthday today: The 483rd anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus. In 1540 Pope Paul III signed a Papal Bull that established the Jesuits. Oral approval was given a year prior, but the Jesuits have always considered 27 September 1540 as a culmination of a series of events that began with a canon ball at Pamplona and continues to this day. Birthdays always provide an opportunity for reflections on the past and hopes for the future. Pope St. John XXIII, when he called the Second Vatican Council, saw the progress of the Council based on two thoughtful actions. The first was embraced by the idea of Ad Fontes which directed those preparing for the council to look back at the sources of individual charisms and particularly the charisms found in the scripture. The second idea was Agiornamento which challenged the Council Fathers to bring these charisms forward, not so much to change them but to present them in such a way that they may be understood in different cultures and times. So on this anniversary of the founding of the Jesuits perhaps we can go ad fontes and see what the Jesuits saw as the purpose of the Order:
“He [an individual Jesuit] is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine.
Ignatius then goes to provide various means to achieve this end, but the end was always clear. We can understand Jesuit history as how the Jesuits implemented this one goal and the various success and failures in attaining that same goal. The means have always varied, but if the fundamental goal would change, then perhaps the birthday party would be better named as a memorial service.