THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS

The Text of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, as translated into English from the Spanish Autograph, and edited for private circulation by Rev. John Morris, S. J., is printed in a small volume of only 125 pages. That little work contains all that the Saint composed in the Grotto of Manresa, and he never afterward wrote any additions to the text. But in explaining his Exercises to his first companions, and to others who made the retreat under his direction, he would adapt the details to their characters and the various circumstances. His followers did the same, without writing further additions or commentaries on the original text; they followed in their practice the traditional method as it had come to them from their saintly founder.In the course of time, as was natural, considerable departures from the first process took place, some of which induced the danger of gradually losing the very spirit of the original Exercises. Among the learned men of our Society who labored most successfully to check such tendency, one of the most distinguished was the Father General John Roothaan, who in 1834 addressed a circular letter to all his subjects, earnestly warning them against this peril. At the same time he furnished them a masterly work on the original Spanish and Latin texts, which he accompanied with a most valuable commentary.For those preferring a Latin guide book, whether in making the Exercises themselves, or in explaining them to others, no work is more commendable than that masterpiece of Father Roothaan. Still, both before and since its publication, many other editions of the Exercises and commentaries on the same have been printed, both in Latin and in various modern languages, with full approbation and warm commendations of the Superiors of the Society; and excellent reasons appear to exist why successive generations of Jesuits should continue their efforts to enrich this valuable literature....