Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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This year marks the four-hundredth anni- versary of the death of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. Hence it is quite appropriate that we honor this great saint in our Annual. Ignatius was born in 1491 in the castle of Loyola in Spain. Having sought worldly glory in battle during his youth, he fell wounded in 1521 while defending the fort- ress of Pampeluna. This was the turning point of his life. During his convalescence, the reading of a “’Life of Christ” led to an intense internal struggle which culminated in a vision of the Blessed Virgin with the Child Jesus, “at whose sight he felt a sur- passing sweetness, which finally left him with a loathing for his past sins. He be- came a soldier of Christ fighting to save souls. With the approval of Pope Paul III, Ignatius found the Society of Jesus in 1540 and served as first General of the Order until his death on July 31, 1556. The Jesuits arrived in what is now Mary- land with the first Calvert expedition in 1634 when Father Andrew White and four other Jesuits were sent from the English mission. After a long period of suppression under the Puritans, the Society finally suc- ceeded in establishing itself, and founded Georgetown University with the aid of Rev- erend John Carrol. In 1852, Loyola was established in Baltimore. The Ratio Studiorum, according to which all Jesuit schools are being conducted, is a system for coordinating the Curricula, Methods and Discipline of the schools. It is not just an inspiration, but an adaptation of techniques and ideas in the light of experi- ence. Ruthlessly logical, it sees man as a spiritual and material creature of God who must earn his right to live with God forever by the proper exercise of all his human faculties. Therefore these faculties a re the proper object of education. Unless the graduate has been trained to fulfill his duties to himself, his neighbor, his country and above all, his God, he is not truly an educated man. This year, the colors that are used on the cover of this hook are a distinct departure from the traditional Loyola school colors, green and gray. The red and gold have not been painted in without significance, but rather in keeping with the commemoration of the Ignatian Year. For these were the colors of the great saint in whose honor this special Ignatian Year volume of the Ever- green Annual is published.