Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits

 Saturday 3^rd November.

 

This morning, we had a very special gift. Fifteen of us signed up to go and celebrate Mass with a Jesuit priest who is spiritual director here at the college. The place of the Mass was in the room where Saint Ignatius of Loyola died. It is now a simple chapel in the same style as the room would have been when it was Ignatius' room.

 

This room is in the Jesuit monastery right beside the Church in Rome called the "Gesu"  (The Holy Name of Jesus) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Gesu . St Ignatius is buried in the church of the Gesu and also are found the relic of the Arm of St Francis Xavier and  also the burial place of a famous Superior General of the Jesuits, Pedro Arrupe.  The Gesu church also has a beautiful picture of Mary (Our Lady of the Way) that Ignatius prayed before often, and only recently the original version of the painting was discovered when it was cleaned, apparently years of overpainting had changed it from its original look and now it is restored to the original form.

 

The room where Ignatius died was where we had our mass and it was truly beautiful. IT was simple and quiet and peaceful and prayerful. The reading for the mass was the reading about "don't take the places of honour at the banquet table, take the lowest place."  Something interesting happened at this that seemed quite amazing to me and made me smile. As we went into the little room, the altar was at one end and there were little stools to sit on on each side along the walls of the room. I didn't want to sit right up near the front of the altar, (this is before we knew what the reading was) and so I sat at the three-quarter's from the altar, near the back of the room.  Before mass started one of our priests asked the Jesuit main celebrant to say a few words about the significance of the room. SO, he said that this was the room in which Ignatius died. He had a humble death because apparently he felt the end was near and asked his brothers to administer the last rites, but they said "plenty of time for that, you are alright, and continued discussing plans for the purchase of a new building. St Ignatius passed away while they were discussing things and they were taken by surprise. He was humble to the last. Then the priest main-celebrant turned and said…  the exact point where St Igantius's bed was, where he passed away… is over there… under that painting on the wall of S Ignatius.   Guess who had just happened to have chosen to sit at this seat?   ME. I was amazed. I had picked the seat at random and assuming the placed he died was where the altar was. Again I was overwhelmed by God's kindness. I had not gone looking for any special places, and here I feel God had graciously and undeservedly handed me a place where I could reflect and concelebrate mass right at the spot where he entered eternal life.

 

In addition, the Italian Jesuit who welcomed us into the building was very kind to me being an Australian and gave us all a beautiful picture of "Mary of Providence" and gave me about fourteen copies (what a wonderful expression of the overwhelming generosity and gracousness of God who again gives us more than we could ever expect, ask for or imagine!).

 

This was a wonderful morning and I took some photos of the room, and Gesu church (whose facade design – the front of the church face - became the model for church designs all over the world).

 

God bless,

 

Paul

 

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A month or so ago, I sent through Part One on a lecture series on Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body"   (I have written up part II if anyone would like to look at the final instalment, and it can be found at this site:

 

http://maryboroughatholicnewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/11/andy-baker-theology-of-body-part-ii.html

 

pk