Although this book is intended for Jesuits, all Christians can
benefit from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. The
original exercises are meant for a month long retreat. By being
reorganized for eight days, more people can take advantage of these
holy exercises. 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 subject, 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. In particular the eight days retreat, which all our
members perform every year, gains additional interest and
impressiveness when a wider range is presented, affording a choice
among a large number of approved guide books to direct them through
this fertile region of spirituality. The spirit permeating all of
these must ever be the same, so too the main outline of the truths
proposed and the general plan of the Exercises. Yet experience
shows that there remains a wide room for variety in comments,
suggestions and practical applications. Therefore, when the time
for each one's annual retreat comes round, there is shown by many
Fathers an earnest desire for some late publication on the subject,
that will lend new zest to the familiar solid doctrine. To satisfy
such reasonable wishes is the chief reason why the present pages
are modestly presented to his brethren by THE AUTHOR
General
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