On November 6, the Center for Ignatian Spirituality hosted a talk by Franco Mormando, a professor of Italian at Boston College, titled: “Ignatius the Franciscan: The Franciscan Roots of Jesuit Spirituality,” in which he discussed the ways the Franciscan order influenced St. Ignatius and the Society of Jesus.
The talk opened by addressing that St. Francis of Assisi was well known in Ignatius’ time, citing as an example how St. Francis Borgia, S.J. ordered Franciscan depictions in the Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus.
The first part of Prof. Mormando’s talk outlined the historical and biographical connections between St. Ignatius and the Franciscan order. He discussed the influence of Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros, a Franciscan, on Ignatian spirituality and St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, as well as the Franciscan influence on St. Ignatius’ spiritual development, mentioning that St. Ignatius’ confessor in Rome was a Franciscan.
The second part of the talk discussed the Franciscan presence in Ignatian spirituality. The first similarity cited between the Franciscan order and the Society of Jesus was the idea of radical poverty. Although both orders held radical poverty as a part of their respective orders, Mormando mentioned the disagreement between the orders regarding the ornateness of churches, as the Jesuits were more open to building ornate churches to “transport the viewer … into the heavenly realm.”
The next Franciscan influence mentioned was the use of the “IHS” monogram by both orders. St. Bernardino of Siena, known as the “Third Founder” of the Franciscan order, held a devotion to the monogram before St. Ignatius used the monogram as the emblem of the Society of Jesus. Mormando corrected the misunderstanding frequently held regarding the meaning of the monogram—it does not stand for Iesus Hominum Salvator, a Latin phrase meaning “Jesus savoir of men.” Rather, it is an abbreviation of the name of Jesus.
Mormando then discussed the Franciscan influence on the Jesuit ideas of “Contemplation of Place” and the application of senses in prayer and reflection, saying that these ideas were “not a Jesuit invention.” He illustrated this Franciscan influence by mentioning the Meditationes Vitae Christi, a series of contemplations on the life of Christ written by a Franciscan. The work had originally been attributed to St. Bonaventure, also a Franciscan, but it was later discovered that it was not his work, but that of another Franciscan whose identity remains unknown.
Further examples of the use of senses in Franciscan spirituality were Franciscan “image theory,” the popularization of the Stations of the Cross by the Franciscan order, and the first living nativity as enacted by St. Francis. Further, Mormando mentioned Bernardino’s idea of “contemplative in action,” his belief in the need for an educated clergy, and his work De Inspirationibus regarding discernment of spirits.
Mormando concluded with a remark about the continued connection between the Franciscan order and the Society of Jesus: Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, S.J., the first Jesuit elected to the papacy, chose Francis as his papal name.
Adam is a senior from Columbus, Ohio. He previously served as Campus News and Culture Editor, and boasts the title of least cultured to ever serve as the latter. Holding a minor in Biology, he recently converted from STEM and now majors in Philosophy and Classical Studies. He currently leads Una Voce, the Latin Mass society at BC, and sings with the University Chorale of Boston College and the Chorale Chamber Singers. He enjoys Gregorian Chant, relearning the clarinet, and is an unabashed Ohio apologist.
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