Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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Dedication ST. IGNATIUS LOOYLA In 1556, on the last day of July, Ignatius of Loyola died in Rome. A letter went forth to carry grief into the hearts of his thousand brothers. He was more than their brother: he was the creator of the way of life which was their joy; and he was a man whose nature inspired love. That is why they mourned his death, in EurOpe, Africa, Brazil, and India. But their sorrow soon turned to strength. Ignatius was gone, but not the goal of his life and not the road. The goal was the greater glory of God. The road was the Spiritual Exercises and the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. Their mournful thoughts soon turned into firm determination. There was work to be done, and the brothers of Ignatius turned to the task with renewed ardour. The history of their work is an incredible tale. In every field where greater glory might be won for God, in education, in the defence of the Church, in the missions, in preaching, in social work, the Jesuits laboured. And their labours, if not always crowned with success, always, it seems, were clothed in brilliance. This was not because they sought the light of fame: their road was one of humility. It was because of their great learning, wisdom, and imagination; their sanctity, courage and perseverance which brought them inevitably before the admiring gaze of men. Admirers and friends the Society of Jesus had; but it also had it's detractors and enemies. Its growth was like the growth of the Church herself, amid thorns that tried to hurt it, and weeds that tried to strangle it. For the space of four dark decades it was suppressed by Rome that its enemies might be placated. Its flowers and its stern were cut down and left to wither and die; but not its roots. And so it grew up again. It grew to a greatness: it grew over the whole world, and to a strength of thirty thousand men. It grew because, though much had been destroyed, the goal and the road of St. Ignatius had not. His life-plan was a masterpiece and it lives forever. At all times he is praised for it, but especially during this year, 1956, the four- hundredth anniversary of his death. He is praised by the whole Jesuit family, both those who walk his road, the fathers, seholasties and brothers, and those for whom they labour, the ignorant, the suffering, the learners. Our own college is a small part of the Jesuit family. It has dedicated this year to St. Ignatius. The Review is the chronicle of the year. It, too, is dedicated to him. DONALD WEEREN