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Torrevieja Outlook
Nº 41 - July 2017
041 July 2017
Fiesta
Calendar – Moors & Christians – La Armengola – Almoradi medieval market – Valencia flower battle – San Javier Jazz programme – Torrevieja seamen and habaneras – Monument of Habaneras – Health Check – Music is good too – Iñigo de Loyola – Jesuit History – Anti Nazis – Syria – Social Justice – Looking at the Universe – Vatican Observatory in USA – The earth is not round – In a Spanish prison – Homeboy LA – In a Russian Gulag – Books & Films – Alumni – Whats On
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Tabarca Island Virgen el Carmen maritime procession
JULY CALENDAR One of the principal fiestas of July is that of the Virgen del Carmen, 16th July, who is the patroness of those at sea. Most seaside towns hold a maritime parade, ships adorned with bunting, the lead one carrying the image of the Virgen del Carmen on the prow.
1st July Pego celebrates el Día de la Sangre. First weekend of the month there are the fiestas of “Bouet de la Sang” in Castalla: in the Dulzura district in Ibi: in the San Pedro area of Benifato. Unusual fun fiestas of “de las Fadrins” in Tárbena: 10th July Biar celebrates the fiesta de San Cristóbal. 12 - 27th Main fiestas of the VIRGEN DEL CARMEN in Algorfa. 13th July Unusual Día del Cólera held in Biar. Second weekend of the month: Hogueras 4-day fiesta in San Vicente del Raspeig. Moors & Christians in Benitachell. Patronal fiestas in Orba. aormi@icloud.com
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There are many Moors & Christian parades held throughout the Valencian region in the summer months. Orihuela Moors & Christians parades are not only spectacular but carry a whiff of history. The legend is that a Christian woman, employed as a nanny by the Arab ruler of the city, managed to gain entry to the stronghold and control it, when she discovered a plot to kill all the Christians . Every year a woman is elected as La Armengola
14th July
Santa María Magdalena are the main fiestas in Tibi, ending around the 25th July. Patronal fiestas in Cañada week preceding 17th July in honour of Virgen del Carmen. 14 - 18th July Patronal fiestas in honour of Virgen del Carmen in Cox. Moors & Christian parades on the week preceding the 25th, for Saint James the Apostle, held in Albatera. 15 - 22 July Moors & Christians in Orihuela. 15 - 25th July Santa María Magdalena celebrated in Novelda. These fiestas include a romería and Moors & Christian parades and are held the weekend prior to 20th July. . 15 - 16th July Moraira holds sea procession. 16th July Virgen del Carmen: Benidorm, Calpe, Tabarca Island, La Villajoyosa, Santa Pola, Torrevieja and Xàbia are among those who celebrate this fiesta. Altea combines this feast with that of St. Peter. El Campello holds a maritime procession, the start of the summer fiestas. 17th - 21st July Moors & Christians in Jávea. 17th July Fallas (bonfires) in Orihuela. 19th - 26th July Fiestas in honour of Santa Ana in Ondara. Third weekend of the month: patronal fiestas in Pedreguer and at Ibi. aormi@icloud.com
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20 - 21st July
Guardamar del Segura honour San Jaime with Moors & Christians parades. 21st - 26th July Fiestas in Lorcha. 22nd July Fiestas of Santa María Magdalena in Banyares de Mariola. 22 July - 11th August Alicante fiestas in honour of the Virgen del Remedio. 22nd - 25th Patronal fiestas in Benitachell. 24th July Moors & Christians in La Villajoyosa. 25th July Benijófar patronal fiestas of San Jaime the Apostle. 25 - 26th Torremanzanas fiestas of Santa Ana. Patronal fiestas in Castel de Castells. 25 - 27th July Fadrins festival in Callosa d’En Sarrià. 26th July Romería in Benefallím and Onil. Fiestas in Campello (Vall de Laguart). 27 July- 4th August Moors and Christian fiestas in Almoradi 28th July Disembarkation in La Villajoyosa. 28th - 30th July Patronal fiestas in Algueña. 30th July Weekend nearest to this date fiestas in Pilar de la Horadada and Los Montesinos. 30th - 31st July “Bous al carrer” in Els Poblets. Last weekend of the month patronal fiestas in Benimarfull. summer festival in Benirrama. Popular fiestas in Tollos.
Disembarkation in La Villajoyosa.
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Between last weekend of July and the first weekend of August there are fiestas in Orba. End of July Teulada holds the fiestas dels Sants de Pedra. Last weekend and the first weekend of August main fiestas in Gata de Gorgos. As can be seen there are plenty of opportunities to join in the fun of the Moors & Christian parades. However, the principal fiestas in nearly all seaside towns is on the 16th July, the Virgen del Carmen.
July is a month when there are several opportunities to see the pomp, enjoy the splendor, the music and smell the gunpowder as there are several towns exhilarating in their annual Moors & Christians parades. Although they are a tourist attraction they still represent history in a period when there was chivalry, not only by Christian princes but by Moorish warriors in what with retrospect, many see as a romantic era. Although it may see that it was them against us, it was very political as kingdoms fought nearby principalities. In many instances mercenaries Charlton Heston as El Cid were used, so you could find someone like El Cid fighting on the side of a Moorish side against a Christian prince, or a other times on the side of a Christian prince against the Moors. As today it was politics, or politicians, manipulating people’s beliefs to rally against an idolatrous foe.
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This month in many parts of Valencia region these parades with sumptuous costumes keep alive some of that romanticism,, usually with battles to oust the Moors out of the Iberian peninsula before it was united under one king (and queen) as Spain. We should bear in mind that most of the Moors were people born and bred in Spain and their families had lived there for generations. They never saw the North Africa of their forebears. This romanticism is imbedded in some of the legends where brave Christian women take up arms agains the enemy, as in the case of Orihuela, Guardamar del Segura and Rojales. Most of these festivals feature ambassadors proclaiming a truce with peace, a capitulation or outright war. Sometimes a king will fight it out face to face with the enemy chief in single ocmabt to prevent a bloody battle an loss of life. Often castles form a backdrop as one army lays siege to the other. Some towns feature disembarkation of Moors and the town being defended on the beach by the local townspeople. Others are siege of a castle, but all have mock battles, waving swords and scimitars, plus lots of smoke and noise from the blunderbusses. Rarely is any real blood shed and there are strict regulations on the amount of gunpowder used to prevent accidents that in the past have been mortal. Its all great fun with great camaraderie among the groups or cofradias, especially when they retire to their kabilas (a selected restaurant) and a feast worthy of fighting men. Possibly the main attraction of these type of fiestas are the spectacular costumes, the swaggering files of colorful warriors, or the belly dance files of gorgeous girls. Guardamar del Segura was a fortress town guarding the River Segura approach to Orihuela. There had been a strong Arab presence there at one time as can be seen in the archeological remains of the Rabita spiritual centre hidden among the woods on a hilltop that gives spectacular vistas of the Mediterranean.
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These parades form true theatre brought on to the streets for the enjoyment of actors and audience. Many towns have a day set aside for the next generation of youngsters who also dress up and march along to the beat of the drums. Many towns will also feature a Mig Any or middle of the year parade for those who who have to be working during the main parades. Often, as in Orihuela, this will be tied in with a medieval market. There is an organized program of these festivals by a central association so that dates do not clash. Often you will find one file of warriors in different towns as they love to dress up. There are companies that provide most of these costumes and either sell them or rent them out and each individual warrior pays his own. So its not cheap to be a Christian or Moor. Quit often captains of the files will donate their costume to the local museum of fiestas or designed for Moors & Christians, such as in Orihuela.
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Moors & Christians Fight Friendly Battles
Sanctuary in Novelda
Mary Magdalen is the patron saint of Novelda and her feastday is the reason for a full week of festivities in the town. This takes place on the weekend prior to the 20th July. A romeria pilgrimage has been held in the town since 1866 on 20th July when the image of the saint is carried from its normal home of the Santuario de la Mola to the town’s church of San Pedro. The statue carries bunches of grapes in her arms, symbolic of the work of this agricultural town. Fruit is an important element in the fiestas and on the day it is customary to eat melon in the open-air ‘almuerzo’. Her actual feastday is on the 22nd July and the statue remains in the town centre until the first Monday of August, when it is once more ceremoniously carried back to the sanctuary. These fiestas began in 1866. The people prayed that the rampant cholera of that era in Spain would by-pass the town. There were no cases of this dreadful disease in Novelda and this was attributed to the intercession of the saint. The origins of the Moors and Christians fiesta go back to the reconquest of Jaime I of Aragon when a hermitage dedicated to Mary Magdalene was built in the Castillo de La Mola. The present sanctuary was built in the beginning of the 20th century and the saint is now officially proclaimed a joint Mayoress of the town since 1970.
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The Castillo de la Mola has over 900 years of history. and in 1931 was declared to be an Historic Monument of National Interest.
Moors and Christians are an important part of the Novelda’s fiestas. The first time that they were associated with the romeria was in 1860, but the present comparsas of Moors & Christians were instituted in 1970 when two groups were formed. Most events during the fiestas begin around 21.30 during weekdays and throughout the day at the weekends. The fiestas begin with the ‘Bajada’ of the saint’s image at the sanctuary of the Castillo de la Mola where a group of nuns of the Dominican Oblates live all year round. This is a popular place for baptisms, communions, weddings etc. On the last day of the fiestas (15th July to beginning of August) the saint’s image is returned to the sanctuary. During the week there are many events organised including pop concerts, a day for the elderly, sports and, of course, the Moors & Christians. aormi@icloud.com
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La Armengola - Orihuela’s Llegendary Woman
This year Conchi Cabrera has been elected as la Armengola, the most prestigious post for the women of Orihuela, a town steeped in historic buildings and stories.
Orihuela is also famous for its Moors & Christians festival commemorating the Reconquest of the city and the legend of la Armengola of 17th July, 1242. According to the tale the Arab chief, Benazaddón, was Mayor of the city residing in la alcazaba. Living not far away was his children’s wet nurse, Armengola, the wife of Pedro Armengol; as such she had free access to the fortress. It was secretly decided by the Moorish elements that on the 16th July the local Christians would be put to the sword; however, the Mayor decided to make an exception of the wet nurse’s family so she would be saved. But she herself decided on a ploy to save the Christians: she dressed two young men, Ruidoms and Juan de Arún, in the clothes of her children and together with her husband gained access to the fortress where they silently, secretly and swiftly slaughtered the guards. Armengola herself took up arms and fought like a man with great bravery. A cross was put on top of the tower to show victory.
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With the death of the mayor and his men the plot to massacre the Christians failed and the army of Don Jaime came to the rescue of Orihuela. Every year this tradition is re-enacted on 17th July as part of the annual celebrations. This event took place on the feast of Saints Justa and Rufina who became the patrons of the city. Each year a procession to the church dedicated to these saints includes selecting a local woman who deems it an honour to represent the heroic figure of la Armengola. Orihuela’s Moors & Christians fiestas have their roots in the 16th century, but lapsed for various reasons for a period and were not restarted until the 1980’s. Now there are over 3,000 men, women and children who take part in the parades and the battles of the Moors & Christians. Impressive as they are in their costumes there are several bands from other towns that participate: notable is the insistent resonance of the big kettle drums wheeled along marking the march of the Moorish files going into battle. Historically one should remember that for almost eight centuries Moors & Christians lived peacefully side by side.
Vocational students from 1st year in Promotion of Gender Equality have worked the text of the local legend “La Armengola” in the English language class. In February Orihuela has a medieval market followed by a mid year (media año) parade with a scaled down version of these July fiestas, but still fun to watch. Most of the groups have developed from other groups that are now extinct.
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Almoradi medieval Market
Almoradí celebrates the fair and fiestas “Feria y Fiestas de Julio” starting with the crowning of the Queen and her Maids of Honour. In front of the Casino of Almoradí there is a Medieval Market in honour of this agricultural town’s patron saints - Abdón and Senén. These saints are also nicknamed the “Santicos de las Piedras” in reference to the need to keep hailstones away from the crops. These were noble Persians who aided Christian martyrs and also buried their remains with dignity, thus evoking the wrath of Prefect Valerian, who ordered that they be fed to the wild beasts of the amphitheatre. First of all they were beaten and whipped to draw blood, but once in the pit the fierce animals came and knelt before them, licking the saints’ wounds. After this they were decapitated. During the fiestas, those who labour in the fields make a floral offering to the two diminutive statues of their patron saints. These fiestas feature the strong association of the town with the fields and in recent
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years have recaptured some of the atmosphere of days bygone. Groups form other nearby towns participate and wear typical clothing of the 18th/ 19th centuries. Moors & Christian comparsas also feature largely in these fiestas in Almoradi from 27th July and on to the 4th August as an agreement has been reached so that they do not clash with those of nearby Guardamar. The patron saint of the town is Saint Andrew the Apostle and according to legend the saint appeared above the Christian camp during the reconquest on the 30th November. Almoradi was designated as a “Tourist Municipal” in 2007 and opened a new museum dedicated to agriculture. Every Saturday there are guided tours around the town centre and it is intended to employ guides for tours around the countryside. There will be a new hostel (albergue) to improve and extend these services.
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Valencia Battle of Flowers
The city of Valencia has a large fair in July that includes a Battle of Flowers and large colorful parade that takes place on the last Sunday of July, this year 30th July, Friendship Day. In la Alameda the crowds provide a rainstorm of petals and carnations as floats parade along. Last year was the 125th anniversary of this event which closes the annual Gran Fira de Valencia. So this battle actually began in 1871 and has been ongoing ever since. The Fair is an outlet of the variety of the produce from the fields and orchards of the Valencian countryside. To get a good viewing spot there is an area where groups pay for a palace of 6 people for 30 euros which includes basket of carnations to join in the battle. Among events this year will be classical concerts in the Jardines de Viverso, and as usual a huge unfair of attractions. Throughout the month there will be seven spectacular firework displays,
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Once again San Javier becomes the centre for jazz fans at the International Jazz Festival in the auditorium of the Parque Almansa. It is not just jazz, but there will be the bossa nova, flamenco, gospel music, and even some funk. If you can, book bonos, that is a series of entry vouchers which makes it much cheaper. Here you can hear some of the finest international exponents of music of all classes.
FRIDAY JUNE 30TH XIMO TEBAR SPECIAL GUEST: CARMEN RODRÍGUEZ SOLE GIMÉNEZ SPECIAL GUEST: ANTONIO CARMONA SATURDAY JULY 1ST CHARENEE WADE CHANTZ POWELL MEETS SHAKIN’ ALL WEDNESDAY JULY 5TH aormi@icloud.com
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ALLAN HARRIS LEE RITENOUR & DAVE GRUSIN FRIDAY JULY 7TH IVAN LINS & BAND MINGO – COLOMA – SIMÓN BLUES EXPRESS SPECIAL GUEST: TIA CARROLL
SATURDAY JULY 8TH THIERRY LANG HERITAGE TRIO INVITADO ESPECIAL: OLIVIER KER OURIO STACEY KENT FEATURING: JIM TOMLINSON WEDNESDAY JULY 12TH FUNKYSTEP & THE SEY SISTERS FRIDAY JULY 14TH PEGASUS SPECIAL GUEST: MÓNICA GREEN TAJMO’: THE TAJ MAHAL & KEB’ MO’ BAND SATURDAY JULY 15TH T. S. MONK SEXTET CON NNENNA FREELON “MONK ON MONK”: THELONIOUS S. MONK CENTENNIAL JOHN PIZZARELLI & DANIEL JOBIM FEATURING: HELIO ALVES, DAVID CARN Y DUDUKA DA FONSECA TUESDAY JULY 18TH ZOOT SUITERS aormi@icloud.com
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THURSDAY JULY 20TH JOSÉ LUIS GUTIÉRREZ GEORGE BENSON FRIDAY JULY 21ST CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET FEATURING: GERALD CLAYTON, REUBEN ROGERS & ERIC HARLAND PATAX SPECIAL GUEST: MAUREEN CHOI
SATURDAY JULY 22ND FOURPLAY FEATURING: BOB JAMES, CHUCK LOEB, NATHAN EAST & HARVEY MASON BUDDY WHITINGTON & SANTIAGO CAMPILLO SPECIAL GUEST: MAURI SANCHIS aormi@icloud.com
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SUNDAY JULY 23RD SAMMY MILLER & THE CONGREGATION WEDNESDAY JULY 26TH LUCRECIA “AMÉRICA CÓMO TE ADORO” FEATURING: RAMON VALLE, NILS FISCHER Y YELSI HEREDIA
FRIDAY JULY 28TH JORGE PARDO ESPECIAL JAZZ SAN JAVIER 20 ANIVERSARIO FEATURING: NIÑO JOSELE, TOMASITO Y ALBERT SANZ HOUSTON PERSON ALL STAR SEXTET FEATURING: DENA DEROSE, JIM ROTONDI & KEVIN MAHOGANY SATURDAY JULY 29TH TONI LYNN WASHINGTON & LUCA GIORDANO BAND SPECIAL GUEST: SAX GORDON BARCELONA BIG BLUES BAND GUESTS: DANI NEL.LO Y RAY GELATO SUNDAY JULY 30TH MICHEL LEGRAND
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Torrevieja Seamen, Habaneras
As in most coastal towns Torrevieja fishermen and sailors celebrate the feast of their patroness Our Lady of Mount Carmel which falls on 16th July each year. This is a thanksgiving festival for the bounty of the sea and praying for those who lost their lives at sea. The image of the Virgen del Carmen is carried from the central church to the port, to be hoisted on board a waiting fishing boat that ferries the statue around the harbour accompanied by a fleet of smaller vessels with hooting of sirens. In the fishermen’s wharf area there are many events including BBQ, a giant paella for 2,000 people, music dancing, children’s events with special treatment for the children of ALPE college. Of course a huge fireworks display at the end of the day. In the late 19th century the Virgen del Carmen was adopted in Spain as the patroness of fishermen and each year on the 16th July her fiesta is celebrated by them. Fishermen had formed themselves into guilds in the medieval times, usually under the patronage of a saint. The first known cofradia or guild was in 1035 in aormi@icloud.com
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Laredo during the reign of Fernando I of Castile. The first cofradia of fishermen in the Valencian region was that of la Albufera in 1939. However, Carlos I put a stop to them, partly because he felt that they had become too powerful. The guilds were officially dissolved in 1805 by Carlos IV in the reign of Isabel II sixty years later in a royal decree that reflected the thought of the times in that there should be no religious character of these guilds. They then became recognised as working men’s associations. After the Civil War of 1936/39 the religious aspect of the fishermen’s cofradias became effective resulting in a popular fiesta. In the la Inmaculada church there is a side chapel to the right of the main altar dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen with a beautiful statue of her flanked by two famous Carmelite saints - St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. At the base of this altar are two copies of lifebelts with the words of the “Fishermen of Torrevieja” linking her with their work and the safety of their very lives in their arduous harvesting of the seas. The small chapel at the playa de los Locos is dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen on land that previously belonged to the family of Don Mariano Ruiz Cánovas who founded a sanatorium there until it was destroyed as a result of the Civil War. He donated a statue of the Virgen del Carmen to the hermitage that was there before the present utility building was constructed in the 1990’s and each year on the 16th July the sanatorium opened its doors to everyone for a special celebration of the Virgen del Carmen.
Habaneras Once again the annual Torrevieja competition, the 63rd Internacional Certamen de Habaneras, normally held in the open-air theatre of the Eras de la Sal from 17-23 July. In recent has there has been a popular habaneras concert on the playa de la Cura beach but this year, the 25th, it will be held on the paseo Vista Alegre instead. The choirs chosen to compete this year are:• Cantoría de la Merced, Argentina. • Youth Choir Kamer, Letonia. • Chamber Choir Ozarenie, Rusia. • Kammerchor Manila, Filipinas. • Kirovograd Municipal Chamber Choir, Ucrania. • Vocal Erudita Students Choir Of Sebelas University, Indonesia. • The Novi Sad Chamber Choir, Serbia. • Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Indonesia Paragita. • Palawan State University Singers, Filipinas. • Chorr Akademic Prof. Jana Szyruckiego, Polonia. • Coro Gli Apassionati, Vigo, España. • Coro Gaos, La Coruña, España. aormi@icloud.com
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Habaneras Monument Fountain
The monument to the Habaneras is at the far end of the paseo Vista Alegre, with panels that tell the story of the departure of the fishing boats, the arrival of sailing ships, the seamen bringing habanera songs to their families, the original type of cottage house, and a dedication to the choir led by the local parish choirs.
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Health Check
So you're ready for your holidays and made a check list, a what to do list, even a wish list. What about a health list? Should you have any particular infirmity or illness ensure that you have sufficient medication to cover the days away. Those traveling with a pacemaker or other body prosthesis should have the necessary document to pass through security checkpoints at airports and other exit and entry ports. Now they have body scans to check knee and hip replacements. If you are traveling abroad check with your doctor or travel agency in case you require any vaccinations or that there are any particular health hazards, such as the Zika scare of the Rio Olympics. Travel in Europe is covered in an emergency by the EHIC card. It will still be valid at least until other arrangements are made by governments. It is also wise to take out travel insurance that covers health and repatriation should it be required and include a Death repatriation. When traveling by air be sure not to become dehydrated and drink plenty of water, but no alcohol and avoid tea or coffee as they can lead to dehydration. In hot countries drink plenty of water and get the habit of carrying a small bottle of water wherever you go. These common sense preparations and precautions are important especially if you suffer from Chrons or other intestinal illnesses. Travel can be stressful so it is advisable to have a small first aid kit that includes your normal medication such as asthma pump, diabetic insulin or other specialized medical equipment. Don't forget basics such as good sunglasses and a sun hat. aormi@icloud.com
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On board a plane ensure you drink a lot of water, move around the cabin whenever possible, wear suitable loose and light clothing to aid body circulation. When seated do not cross your legs as this blocks your circulation. Try to do small flexing exercises with your feet and legs. Try to keep fresh and relaxed and a good idea is to have wipes. Pregnancy has its own potential dangers and medical advice should be sought prior to travel. Air hostesses are not permitted to fly when pregnant and laid off for the full pregnancy and maternity time. Depending on the airline they are on full pay. If traveling from exotic destinations pay attention for at least a week afterwards to your physical condition as most (but not all) tropical diseases will manifest themselves during this time; if anything abnormal is noticed see a doctor and explain your recent travels and how you feel. Keep a note of flight details in case they are needed and keep travel ticket stubs until you're safely home.
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Music is an essential part of vacations. How many of us have memories conjured up by some particular song, which reminds us of holiday encounters. This month is a packed month for music. Mar de MĂşsica, Cartagena, offers a wide range of music by some of the top international names. Jazz, Rhythm and Blues important elements of the annual festival of music in San Javier held during this month. Some of the best Andalucian music can be heard and enjoyed in the former mining town of La Union close
to Cartagena. This is a hangover of when people travelled from the south of Spain to work in the mines and brought their own flamenco style music with them. If you enjoy guitar music then some of these concerts are a must for you. It is not a particularly attractive town thanks to the mounds of soil brought up from the mines but there is a wonderful industrial and mining heritage that is worth a visit. In fact there is a volunteer group who are fans of the mines and can supply useful information about visiting one of them. FLUMS 985 773 005. In San Pedro del Pinatar a flamenco festival is also held. Rock music is a main attraction in Lorca but there is month long festival of nearly every one of the seven arts that will likely hold an attraction for someone, somewhere. Lorca itself is a great historical place to visit. Torrevieja holds its international habaneras and polyphonic music competition this month.
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Albatera is another growing town and is the scene for further summer fiestas as the citizens also celebrate Santiago’s feast day for a week. Four bands of Moors and Christians take to the streets colourfully dressed for the parades through the streets and prepared to enjoy themselves in the kabilas put up for the fiestas. This town has a lovely 20,000 square metre park - Parque de la Huerta - with its own open-air auditorium that now has a cupola roof and will be the centre of various concerts and shows that will include all ages and tastes. The park has cascades of water, local flora and a children’s playground area. The local church is dedicated to Santiago the Apostle and patron saint of the whole of Spain and in 2008 celebrates its 4th centenary of the parish foundation and the 275th anniversary of its construction. Cox - the exception The inland agricultural town of Cox celebrates the feast of The Virgen del Carmen on 16th July. The town has around 7,000 inhabitants is located near Callosa del Segura and Orihuela. There are several notable buildings such as the Santa Barbara Castle built in 1466 on a dominating hilltop, destroyed during the Civil War and was restored at the end of the 20th century. There are two interesting churches – St, John the Baptist built in a neoclassic baroque style between 1744 and 1788 on the site of a previous church which had in turn been built upon the site of a mezquita. The Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Carmen was raised in 1621 by the Carmelita Order in place of a medieval hermitage dedicated to Our Lady of Virtues. This contains all the images used in he Holt Week processions. There is also a windmill, El Molino, in el Barrio district where the original Christian population was located. There is an interesting Glorieta Garden where a Carmelites convent used to be and which has two hundred year old pine trees and many palm trees. The two weeks prior to this date are full of processions and parades by the Moors and Christian groups. Cox has seven groups – Moros Coines, Comparsa Lues, Zingaros de Arad, Peña, El Borrego, Pirates del Caribe, Tropical and Estudiantes.
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Iñigo - the Basque Saint by Andy Ormiston
This month I would like to do a section about a Spanish knight, who ended up a saint, and was responsible for starting a new religious order of the Catholic Church: an order that has influenced most aspects of life for the past 500 years more or less. I’m sure not everyone will agree with this section.
The Spanish captain grimaced in pain, asking for his leg to be broken and stretched again after he had been a victim of a French bombardment of Pamplona castle on May 20, 1521. Years later he wrote an autobiography in the third person referring to the Pilgrim. After he fell, the Spanish surrendered the city to its French besiegers. The enemy doctors set his leg out of respect and had him carried home to Loyola, but he was horrified at what he discovered after getting back there: one leg was shorter than the other. The leg was shorter because the bones had healed over each other, creating an ugly lump of flesh and bone that protruded from his body. After his family physicians inspected the wound, he told them to break the leg and set the bones again, and then to start stretching it with weights to make it the same length as the other. It was 16th century Spain so without any anesthetics, the doctors did what López asked, and he put up with the pain without uttering a cry. He did so for only one reason that he kept in mind to distract himself from the pain: to fit into his tight-fitting leather boots again. According to one account, “he was "a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, a womanizer, sensitive to insult, and a rough punkish swordsman who used his privileged status to escape prosecution for violent crimes committed with his priest brother at carnival time.”
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Iiñigo had in mind a certain lady in the court so his appearance was important as he didn't want one leg shorter and people making jokes about “limpy”. The doctors gave him a 50/50 chance of survival. Spain was the world’s leading power and he dreamed of becoming an important figure in that power. He loved to read chivalric romances, like Amadis de Gaul, the 16th-century equivalents of comic books or drugstore adventure novels. He dreamed of doing great deeds for Spain, acquiring kingdoms and winning the hands of fair ladies. As a good Catholic had had attended Mass twice a year (daily Mass options came in during 20th century). His faith was externally pious, but most certainly not devout. In those days there was no television, phone or radio. He asked for books of chivalry to lift his depression, but his sister-in-law could only find two volumes in the entire house: The Life of Christ by Ludolph of Saxony and the Lives of the Saints, the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine. López was so bored that he would read anything. He began leafing through the hefty volumes, unenthusiastically at first. But as he read each page with growing interest, something changed within him. He read about Jesus Christ healing the sick, about the great saints like Francis and Dominic preaching to the poor. When he read these things, it felt like a sword had pierced his heart. Here, for the first time, he was reading about men who had lived their lives for others. And what was López living for? His vanity and posing for the ladies. In the midst of his pain and confusion, only one thing made sense: Íñigo wanted to be as close to Jesus Christ as possible. Having read that many of the great saints went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Íñigo decided to do the same. He went to his superior, the Duke of Nájera, and resigned his commission in the army despite the duke’s offers of money and promotion. He then took a staff and began walking to Jerusalem. He first stopped at Our Lady of Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey situated high upon a sheer mountain cliff, to dedicate his life to God and a must-see if you are in the Barcelona area. There he spent the night in a medieval “vigil of arms,” sometimes standing and sometimes kneeling in prayer before the Black Madonna—an African depiction of Mary left behind from the days of the Muslim conquest. aormi@icloud.com
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“[L]ove ought to manifest itself in deeds rather than in words.... love consists in a mutual sharing of goods, for example, the lover gives and shares with the beloved what he possesses, or something of that which he has or is able to give; and vice versa, the beloved shares with the lover. Hence, if one has knowledge, he shares it with the one who does not possess it; and so also if one has honors, or riches. Thus, one always gives to the other.” ― Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises
In the morning, he left his sword and dagger at the altar, and walked out to the entrance of the church. There he gave all of his clothing to a beggar. He gave away his hat with the feather, his ruffled shirt and his boots. Then he donned a rough potato sack and a staff to continue his journey.
He stopped a second time in Manresa, staying with the Dominicans and going to a little cave on the banks of the Cardoner River to pray each day for 10 months. There he he had jotted down events in the life of Christ. He immersed himself in the scenes of the Gospels and paid attention to the thoughts and feelings that arose. Some of them seemed to come from God and others from the Evil Spirit. One of his intentions was to convert Muslims to Christianity. All the time he was learning about spiritual things and his place in the way of God. For example he realized that the greater penance was to serve others out of love for God, rather than to punish his own body. He did reach Jerusalem but his visit was cut short because of war,, and maybe because the friars saw ain him a troublesome fellow, so he returned to Spain, where he spent all of his time preaching God’s word in the streets and sleeping with the homeless. He was jailed by the Inquisition, who suspected him during this Reformation period of
“If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.” ― Ignatius of Loyola aormi@icloud.com
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being an alumbrado who denied the sacraments in favor of inner experience. He was eventually acquitted, but not the last Jesuit to be hauled before the Inquisition. Deciding he needed an education to dedicate himself to God, he ended up at the University of Paris, a 40-year old college student with two roommates in their 20’s who he helped to become saints: Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He gradually acquired influence over these men and others, gathering a small circle of wealthy youths who made his Exercises and went with him to care for the sick and dying. Later he changed his name to “Ignatius” to symbolize his change of life, but probably because it was more Latinised. After earning their Master’s degrees, Ignatius’s little group of friends wanted to spend their lives praying in the Holy Land, but war would not allow it. So they ended up in Rome putting themselves at the service of Pope Paul III, who established them as a missionary order called the Society of Jesus that would eventually span the globe in its educational and pastoral reach. He established the order in 1540, a new style of religious order. The so-called “Jesuits” of this order achieved such vast influence that in 1773, Rome formally suppressed the Society under pressure from Europe’s monarchs. A forgotten remnant of the Society survived for 40 years in White Russia, where Queen Catherine the Great refused to promulgate the papal bull of suppression because she liked Jesuit schools. Rome finally restored the order in 1814, exactly 200 years ago this August 7. Ignatius spent the rest of his life in Rome, overseeing the growth of his new order and starting a home for reformed prostitutes as well as caring for others in the city’s streets. History records that Ignatius of Loyola died on July 31, in 1556, at the age of 65. The Catholic Church made him a A recent statue of St. Ignatius shows how his spiritual saint whose feast falls on exercises, especially the personal examen of conscience, makes this date. a person reflect on him or herself
Karl Rahner’s observation: “Even an image that does not have a specifically religious theme can be a religious image, when viewing it helps to bring about...that properly religious experience of transcendence.” aormi@icloud.com
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So what about this new religious order Ignatius started in conjunction with his friends? One of the main differences is that its members were not tied down by the singing of the Daily Divine Office which requires the community gathering together several times each day for the common prayer of the Church. The idea was that the Companions of Jesus would be contemplative, but in action, opening their day to doing things to serve more people making use of their skills and resources. Today it is known as The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ or SI), a male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, originally known as.the Companions of Jesus, and over the years its member have been commonly called Jesuits. There are Jesuit priests known as professed who are selected to be the higher echelon from which principal spurious are drawn.There are other priests known as spiritual coadjutors, these assisted in spiritual matters such as administrating the sacraments. Then a third group of Brothers called temporal coadjutors because their ministry is to help the priests' spiritual mission by undertaking more daily concerns of administration, catering etc. Again there are this in training called novices or scholastics. Those in training to be priests are known as scholastics and their training normally includes two year noviceship to learn the basic spirituality of Ignatius and the Constitutions of the religious order, including a 30-day retreat in silence going through the Spiritual Exercises of the founder. It is during this time that the young men will
St. Bueno’s residence in Wales where Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote his famous tragic poem, “The Wreck of the Deutschland “ Today is a spiritual retreat centre.
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Georgetown University in Washington decide what to do with their lives, either continue as a Jesuit or leave and do something else. These scholastics will normally also have a three year course of philosophy, followed by a break of some type, maybe teaching in a school, or working on a mission station or doing another degree in a particular subject that attracts them, such as physics, literature etc. This regency period as it is called, is followed by a further three years of studying theology. Finally they are ordained as priests, but finish their long training with a third year of going back to the roots of the novitiate and another 30-day retreat in their tertianship. Those who are Brothers will usually do more studies after noviceship depending in their innate skills, maybe cook, teacher, accountant or just a door keeper. They also do a third year of tertianship with the long retreat. But theirs is an important and very supportive role and often an anchor for a Jesuit community and nowadays they participate in the consultations carried out in Rome at what are known as General Congregations (36 so far in their history) to decide on Jesuits priorities. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents in a wide variety of projects. Jesuits work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual and scientific research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of their founder, minister in hospitals and parishes and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue. Today much of their work is focused on modern concerns such as social works, refugees, education in Third World countries after a decision by the 32nd Congregation to concentrate on social justice. aormi@icloud.com
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In 1534, Ignatius and six other young men, including Francis Xavier and Bl. Peter Faber, shared ideas the decided to devote their lives to Jesus. Peter Faber was the only priest among them and they gathered around him and professed vows of poverty, chastity; and later obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the Pope. Poverty means that personally they do not own anything but can do so as a community. Chastity means that they do not get married and seek a higher type of purity in the sexual sense. Obedience is seeing the superior as the hand of God in giving orders on what requires doing. This fourth vow is innate in the this vow but those who are professed actually of a specific vow of obedience to the Pope. But in no way does this take away their individual conscience and can often refuse directives. One famous case was in the mid-20th century
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Spanish Television film of the life of Vicente Ferrer and his work in India
Fordham University, New York
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of a Spanish priest Vincente Ferrer, who believed that his vocation was in helping the poor in India. His local superiors wanted him to do other work, but after a long time of prayer and spiritual discernment, Vincente decided to leave and continue his own plans to help the poor. He started a small town with basic agricultural plans and sought the approval of Indian authorities. He later married and had children who continue his work with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation helping thousands of Indians to better their lifestyles, educate and feed them. He always had a good relationship with some office former Jesuit workers. Jesuits are the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church with today approximately 19,216 members (13,491 priests, 3,049 scholastic students, 1,810 brothers and 866 novices). The leader of the Jesuits is elected and normally approved by the pope and his title is Father General. He has the final decision, but has consulters and advisers from the 9 regional “assistancies" for example, Africa, or Canada and USA, and each of the Regional Assistants is the channel for the provinces in his area. There are also General Counsellors and when Father General is in Rome, he begins every day meeting with his “General Counsellors”. The election of those counsellors shows a balance of power between the newly elected Superior General and the General Congregation who has elected him. So in a sense it is a very democratic way of ruling. Among the General Counsellors there is a Counsellor for Formation, one for Discernment and Apostolic Planning and Fr. General’s Delegate, responsible for the governance of the international Jesuit houses in Rome. Their main aim of each Jesuit is to strive to be holy and to help people in a world of many religions and cultures to develop a harmonious Christian life.There is also awareness of the need for dialogue with various faiths and so there is a Secretariat as aa consultive group conserving with the ongoing dialogue among divvies faith communities. Centro Aletti in Rome is a centre of study and encounter of the Western and Eastern Christian traditions, including an atelier of art and various theological and spiritual formation courses. Recently a new Superior, the Provincial, was appointed for the British Province and he has been a professor of teaching about Islam and other Eastern religions.
The Jesuit Curia is the headquarters of the Society of Jesus and as can be seen close to St. Peters basilica in Rome.
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The word Jesuit was originally coined as a derogatory expression for a crafty person, but was soon adopted as a popular nickname for members of the society. Early Jesuits were noted for their counter-Reformation work in Europe, but their original mission is to take the Gospel to all nations and the conversion of Protestants was a secondary apostolate. Ignatius actually set out before the order was constituted to go to the Holy Land to convert Muslims. Their European work meant instituting an educational programme from primary to university levels and it is probably this that has made them famous.
The general layout of one of the missions in Latin America known as “reductions” an experiment in democracy permitting native Guarani Indians to live in peace, learn a variety of skills, develop their culture, all that remains are ruins.
In many instances individual priests were ordered by the Pope or kings to become confessors, and intrinsically advisers, of royal households, which again caused many problems and accusations of undue influence. The original mandate of missionary work still went ahead on many fronts and soon there were Jesuit missionaries in the Far East, India and Oriente, China, Japan, and the new continent of the Americas, from Argentina to Canada, even a mission to the legendary patriarch John of Abyssinia. They were successful on all fronts including, theology, philosophy, sciences, education, preaching, working among the rich and poor, even building unique “reductions” in Paraguay for AmerIndians that were so successful they caused envy among other religious and traders and again caused the Order serious problems. But they did face criticism because of their ideas on inculturation. In Christianity inculturation is the adaptation of the way Church teachings are presented to non-Christian cultures and, in turn, the influence of those
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Matteo Ricci and his friend Xu Guangqi cultures on the evolution of these teachings. This is a term that is generally used by Roman Catholics, whereas Protestants tend to use the term "contextual theology.” Jesuits like Ricci in China or John de Britto in India who adopted native priestly dress and even customs into their presentation of Christianity. Both learned not only the local language but dialects as well, producing dictionaries. Ricci for example called God in Heaven by a Chinese title Tiānzhǔ (天主, "Lord of Heaven”). Some contemporary authors have venerated Ricci as an exemplar of beneficial inculturation.
Suppression of the Jesuits The Jesuits were venerated or loathed depending on the person’s point of view. The Suppression of the Jesuits is the period when the Order was suppressed and Jesuits in various countries kicked out of those countries. It began in Portugal in 1767 at the instigation of Pombal, then France followed, the Two Sicilies, Parma and King Carlos III in the Spanish Empire. The governments involved were mainly the house of Bourbon whose princes ruled most of Europe and its dominions. King Carlos III of Spain allowed no papal bulls or briefs in Spain without royal permission. He particularly resented the Jesuits, whose international organization and attachment to the papacy he regarded as an affront to his absolutism. Suspecting their loyalty and obedience to the crown in the aormi@icloud.com
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American colonies, he also chose to believe that they were the instigators of the violent riots in Madrid and elsewhere in 1766. He kept his reasons to himself and it is suspected that part of it may because of a slur on his birth rights made by a Sicilian Jesuit. These powerful governments’ antagonism was troubling to the Society's defender, Pope Clement XIII. A decree signed under secular pressure by Pope Clement XIV in July 1773 suppressed the Order. This religious Society of 23,000 men dedicated to the service of the church was disbanded.The suppression was carried out in all countries except Prussia and Russia, where Catherine the Great had forbidden the papal decree to be executed largely because the Jesuits were responsible for the education system. Thanks to Catherine the Society was able to continue its functions all through the period of suppression and inducted some European Jesuits into their Province. But thousands of Jesuits suffered terribly during this period with nowhere to call home. Subsequently, Pope Pius VI would grant formal permission for the continuation of the Society in Russia and Poland. Based on that permission, a Pole, Stanislaus Czerniewicz, was elected superior of the Society in 1782. Pope Pius VII (14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was a political prisoner in France, and during his captivity had resolved to restore the Jesuits universally; so after his return to Rome he did so with little delay: on 7 August 1814, by the papal bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum, he reversed the suppression of the Order and therewith, the then Superior in Russia, another Pole, Thaddeus Brzozowski, who had been elected in 1805, acquired universal jurisdiction. But many of the Jesuits in Europe and elsewhere continued to work as diocesan priests, including the famous stalwart of America John Carroll who Castel Sant’Angelo is where the leading Jesuits were imprisoned at the Suppression of the Order. the gown and slippers of Fr Lorenzo Ricci (1703–1775), the 18th Superior General of the Society of Jesus were salvaged by the Rome-based English Jesuit, Fr John Thorpe (1726–1792). On his death, he bequeathed the garment and slippers to Henry Arundell (1740–1808), 8th Baron Arundell of Wardour, whose family in 1854 donated the items to Stonyhurst College, where they are preserved
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The old Santa Clara Mission church located in the middle of Silicon Valley is now the centerpiece of the Jesuit Santa Clara University in California that specializes in law, engineering, sciences and business with an emphasis on athletics.
built a strong Catholic Church in USA and founded Georgetown University. John Carroll, was the first Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States — serving as the ordinary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. When the ban was lifted it was called the Restoration of the Jesuits in 1814, and it is notable for the large number of Jesuit colleges and universities established in the 19th century. For example in the United States, 22 of the Society's 28 universities were founded or taken over by the Jesuits during this time. Not all the Jesuit troubles were over as in 1848 Switzerland banished the Jesuits until a referendum altering the Constitution repealed the ban in 1973. The 20th century was a period when the Society was held in high esteem and possibly at its peak regarding numbers of personnel, schools and universities, social work ad missionary activity. In Denmark the ban on Jesuits was lifted in 1956 and English Jesuits started a pastoral mission there. In Russia with the communist revolution the Catholic Church was banned and with it the Jesuits. However, Benedict XV asked the Church to pray for the conversion of Russia and also for priests to train in the Russian rite so that when the communist regime failed there would be priests available who could speak Russian and say the Mass in the local rituals available. Three English Jesuits volunteered and their whole life was directed to serving the White Russians, mostly living in U.S.A. aormi@icloud.com
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Anti-Nazi Chaplains
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War
The 20th century saw two world wars. From its earliest days there were Jesuits who were military chaplains especially during wartime. The 20th century is one of the bloodiest eras in human history with two world wars and hundreds of others including civil wars. More people died violently in the 20th century century than any other, notably in the Nazi concentration camps and Hitler's racial cleansing programme. A plaque commemorating the 152 Jesuit priests who gave of their lives during the Holocaust was installed at Fr. Willie Doyle, an Irish Rockhurst University, a Jesuit university, in Kansas City, Jesuit who served and died Missouri, United States, in April 2007, the first such plaque in as a chaplain in the British the world. Early in the Nazi regime Hitler considered the Army. Jesuits as one of their most dangerous enemies. According to Below German Father John Pollard, the Jesuit's "ethos represented the most Alfred Delp hung by Nazis intransigent opposition to the philosophy of Nazism." A Jesuit college in the city of Innsbruck served as a centre for anti-Nazi resistance and was closed down by the Nazis in 1938 along with other Jesuit colleges in Germany. Jesuits were a target for Gestapo prosecution and many Jesuit priests were deported to concentration camps. A famous one was Father Alfred Delp who died in Berlin on 2nd February 1945 after being tortured then hung on the prison gallows. Before his death in the prison another Jesuit priest visited him so that he could make his Final Vows. Father Hermann Wehrle from the same parish also stood trial before the same Judge Freisler and was also executed in Berlin. While he was on trial, Wehrle had the courage to stand up to Judge Freisler and say that Hitler was a tyrant. There is actual film of the trial that shows Wehrle standing before the judge, as Freisler asks, "Are you saying that the FĂźhrer is a tyrant?" And Wehrle says, "Yes, he is a tyrant." The priest was condemned to the gallows but incidentally the judge died the following day during an air raid. A set of German stamps issued in 1964 is dedicated to people who resisted Nazism and includes an image of Father Delp.
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When Pope John Paul II visited Warsaw, on 13 June 1999, he beatified 108 victims of the Nazis, half of whom died through torture or execution at the Auschwitz or Dachau concentration camps. The list included Capuchins, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Salesians, not to mention a number of other religious whose orders and congregations which, as far back as 1992, responded to the invitation to introduce the causes of their members. Unfortunately, at that time, the Jesuits of Poland did not regard the inclusion of Jesuits as that important, but they have come to appreciate that they had missed an important opportunity. Because Polish Jesuits were among the intelligentsia of the country marked for extermination by the Nazis. The Second World War was a terrible time for dedicated Catholics as well as Jews. Just as it is true to speak of a Nazi war against the Jews, it is also accurate to speak of a similar war against the Jesuits. This is particularly so in Poland where at least seventy Polish Jesuits perished as victims during the Nazi persecution. Of these, some twenty died at Dachau where more Jesuits than any other religious order were imprisoned. And, of the approximate 150 Jesuit victims of the Nazis, at least half of them were Polish priests, brothers, and seminarians. One of them was Adam Sztark, a priest who sacrificed his life at the age of thirty-five to save Jewish children. He was shot in the killing ground used by the Gestapo where pits had been dug for the burial of thousands of victims, including two Carmelite nuns killed the previous day whom the priest had used to help save the children.
Jewish Recognition
82 Jesuits killed in the war are associated with the Holocaust; 43 died in concentration camps; and a further 27 in captivity in prisons. There were at least eleven Jesuits who survived the concentration camps, including a Brother who was interned for five years. On top of those in the third group who died in prison another dozen survived to talk of their ordeal. Twelve Jesuit priests have been formally recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust of World War II: Roger Braun (1910–1981) of France; Pierre Chaillet (1900–1972) of France; Jean-Baptist De Coster (1896–1968) of Belgium; Jean aormi@icloud.com
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Fleury (1905–1982) of France; Emile Gessler (1891–1958) of Belgium; Jean-Baptiste Janssens (1889–1964) of Belgium; Alphonse Lambrette (1884–1970) of Belgium; Emile Planckaert (b. 1906–2006) of France; Jacob Raile (1894–1949) of Hungary; Henri Revol (1904–1992) of France; Adam Sztark (1907–1942) of Poland; and Henri Van Oostayen (1906–1945) of Belgium. In the fighting in the Far East six Spanish Jesuits working in the Micronesia islands were rounded up and taken to Palau island in September 1944 and interned in a small house for several days just as the American army was getting closer taking Guam and other islands. After some days the six were put on a lorry with some others to a jungle clearing where a pit had been dug, made to kneel by the edge, then each one shot in the head and buried. Later someone dug them up and cremated the remains. Br. Miguel Timoner Guadera also met a violent death at the hands of the Japanese during the final days of the war. He had worked for several years on Rota, where he had assisted Fr. Juan Pons until his death of a leg ulcer in 1944. Then he, along with five of the Catholics on Rota, were transported to Saipan and imprisoned for several months. They were accused of being enemy spies, were tortured in an attempt to force them to confess to their crises. Finally, one day in November 1944, Brother Timoner and his five companions were beheaded and their bodies buried secretly.
Jesuit priest, first aid, French idealist philosopher, a paleontologist and geologist, discovery of Peking Man
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Other Jesuits of different nationalities were military chaplains and captured by both German and Japanese and stuck in concentration camps and acted as medical first aid staff to allied prisoners.
Of course before the Second World War we had the First One, where Jesuits were also involved as chaplains and first aiders. In the First World War at least 2,014 Jesuits served as chaplains, first aid and stretcher bearers, soldiers and seamen. In 1912 before the war there were 16,545 members in the Jesuit catalogues. In 1920 there were 17,250 members, a remarkable increase as so many died during the war. 8,458 priests, 4,819 scholastics and 3,977 lay brothers. During the war Belgium contributed 165 Jesuit chaplains, France 855, Italy 369, England 83, Ireland 30, Canada 4, USA 50, Germany 376, Austria 82. Of The 83 British Jesuits, 5 died in service, 2 won the DSO, 13 The Military Cross, 3 The Order of The British Empire, 21 mentioned in dispatches. 2 were mentioned for valuable services, 4 received foreign awards. At that time the Society of Jesús was banned in France and its dominions, but nevertheless every French Jesuit was called to arms and recalled from all parts of the globe where they were working as missionaries, teachers, etc. 855 eligible men returned to be enlisted. Of these 107 were officers, 3 commandants, 1 lieutenant commander, 13 captains, 4 naval lieutenants, 22 lieutenants, 50 second lieutenants, 1 naval ensign, and 5 officers in the health department. The loss in the number of dead was 165 of whom 28 were chaplains, 30 officers, 36 sub officers, 17 corporales and 54 privates. The number of distinctions awarded is incredible - 68 received The Legión d'Honor, 48 Medal Militaire, 4 Medalle des epidemies, 320 Croix de Guerre, Moroccan or Tunisian Medal conferred on 3, 595 mentioned in dispatches, and 18 foreign medals received: all in all 1,056 medals shared among 855 men, quite an amazing record. Among the stretcher bearers was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the 8th Moroccan Rifles and awarded both The Legión d'Honor and The Medal Militaire. Another interesting point is that after wars, including current ones, many soldiers, airmen and naval personnel, became priests and religious, such as Hugh Thwaites SJ (now deceased) a soldier prisoner of the Japanese. It would be interesting to read their accounts of wartime experiences and what influenced them to "give up the world”. There were also many priests who became prisoners of war and supported fellow soldier prisoners. For example Fr. Pat O'Rorke, a British Jesuit, was a POW in Japanese work camps and he had two memories of his time there. One was a limp after a beating, another was the remains of his breviary as when he had finished reading the Office of the Day, the page was pulled out and used to make very thin cigarettes for the sick prisoners in his care. There were many Jesuit priests and brothers with wartime experiences although they are now dying off because of age. It could be a good and positive step if the work of so many aormi@icloud.com
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men could be put as a propaganda counterpoint to the image of a perverted priesthood. After the war Fr. Peter Blake SJ ran a successful programme of Leadershop Courses in the Royal Air Force and was awarded an OBE for his work, mostly for conscripted men, in the RAF. Also, although now gone, Osterley House provided the extra tuition needed for the priesthood to older men, again many of them with military experiences. Apart from those mentioned so far who died for their beliefs, over the centuries hundreds of others met violent deaths. In North America, Latin America, Japan, India, China, Britain, France, Poland, Zimbabwe, Burundu, Mozambique, Congo and other African countries, offshore Brazil: groups and individuals died for their faith. So it looks as though being a Jesuit makes you a mark for those who hate what the Companions of Jesus represent.
Safe Zones in War Before that there was the Sino-Japanese war. When Japanese forces attacked Shanghai in 1937, a French Jesuit, Father Robert Jacquinot de Besange, S.J., heroically stood up for human life. Father Jacquinot, who spent twenty-seven years in China, was determined to provide safety and refuge to victims of modern warfare. Through relentless negotiations and deft diplomacy, Father Jacquinot convinced Japanese and Chinese military leaders to allow for the establishment of a safe zone in the midst of the ongoing war. He was supported byW.H.Plant Father Jacquinot's example was subsequently copied in other Chinese cities and saved the lives of more than half a million Chinese civilians over the course of the brutal Sino-Japanese war. The Jacquinot Zone is mentioned by name in both the Protocols and Commentaries to the Geneva Convention of 1949. Father Jacquinot's work in creating a safe zone for refugees fleeing wartime chaos is singular in history and provides an important example for the protection and support of refugees today. His work foreshadowed the future social justice of the late 20th century promoted by Jesuits.
China’s commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, included a bust to Fr. Jacquinot as authorities highlight how he protected around 300,000 refugees.
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Jesuits in Numbers How many men are we looking at? The following figures have been based on figures summarized by a Jesuit priest. From the founding of the Society until the Suppression, (1540-1773) about 85,000 men died as Jesuits, priests, brothers, novices and scholastics. During the period of the Suppression, from 1773-1814 perhaps 17,000 died, who had been Jesuits and presumably would have died as Jesuits. From 1815-2000 about 45,000 have died as Jesuits. And currently there are 21,354 live Jesuits. So the grand total of those who died as Jesuits (graciously including those of the Suppression who would otherwise have died as Jesuits) would be about 147,000. Add to that the 21,354 now alive, we come to a bit over 168,000 Jesuits living and dead in the past 500 years. For such a relatively small number, their achievements are very impressive, especially when one considers those who gave their lives to save others, tending the sick in times of plague and war, serving lepers. Then there so many others distinguished in so many fields, sciences, education, social works and social justice, writing, history, philosophy, theology, spirituality, mysticism, intellectual research, preaching, artists, architects, poets and musicians, medicine - almost everything in life has received some Jesuit contribution. Notably the Jesuits are remembered for their education policies and the number of schools, colleges and universities they started with their own ethos.
Jesuit scholastics of Asia Pacific learn about management
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Syria But the old idea of a lone mission priest working among a native people still goes, even at the cost of their life as shown in the case of Fr Frans van der Lugt, SJ who died in Homs in Syria. Fr Frans van der Lugt was a Dutch Jesuit priest who devoted his life to the people of Syria; when civil war erupted in 2011, he chose to remain in the country, suffering the shortages and terrors of the conflict alongside both Muslims and Christians. He shared the suffering of the locals, refusing to leave, even as that part of the city continued to be bombed from all sides. Before long, his centre became a home for those who had nowhere to go: Muslims and Christians; women and men; old and young. It was a haven for them, and Fr Frans was their refuge. His message to all was one of hope: of mercy and reconciliation, of justice and of peace! Listening to those who knew him, those who experienced his warmth, his love, his courage to give "all-of-himself" to those in need would easily touch even a heartless person. With his training in psychology, he documented the spread of mental illness among those who found themselves besieged: "I try to help them not by analysing their problems, as the problems are obvious, and there is no solution for them here. I listen to them and give as much food as I can.� Very ironically he was gunned down on World Health Day, 7 April 2014, by those who felt that this healer had no right to live to heal the brokenness of Homs and the rest of Syria. It was just three days before what would have been his 76th birthday Of course, many more men than this entered the Society and lived the Jesuit life for some time before deciding that the life was not for them for one reason or another. Most of them were successful in the lives they decided to choose.
Vatican and Arrupe As far as numbers are concerned the Society of Jesus reached a peak with around 33,000 in the middle of the 20th century. This was the time of the Vatican Council that put the Catholic Church on a new course and made the Jesuits consider their apostolate and priorities. A prime figure in this adaptation was a Basque priest. Father Pedro Arrupe was born in the Basque region of Spain in 1907. After some years of medical training, Arrupe entered the Jesuits in 1927. In 1932, the Republican government in Spain expelled the Jesuits from the country. Arrupe continued his studies in Belgium, Holland, and the United States. aormi@icloud.com
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After being ordained, Fr. Arrupe was sent to Japan in 1938. He hoped to work there as a missionary for the rest of his life. He was arrested for a time after the bombing of Pearl Harbour and confined in solitary for 33 days until his release, suspected of being an American spy as he had spent some of his studies in U.S.A. Arrupe moved to Nagatsuka, on the outskirts of Hiroshima, where he resumed his duties as the master of novices for the Japanese mission. On August 6, 1945, he heard the sirens wail as a single American B-29 bomber flew over the city. He did not think much of it and expected to hear the all-clear siren soon. Instead he heard an enormous explosion and felt the concussion that blew in the doors and windows of his residence. Moving outside Arrupe and his colleagues saw the first of the 200,000 casualties of the atomic bomb. Walking up the hill they saw the city of Hiroshima turning into a lake of fire. Arrupe decided to use his medical training to help whomever he could. He and his colleagues were able to give aid initially to 150 victims who entered their compound. Jesuits had only the most basic food and medical supplies and had to care for people without anesthetics or modern drugs. Nevertheless, of the 150 people whom they were able to take in, only one boy died from the effects of his injuries. Pedro Arrupe was serving as the Superior of the Jesuits’ Japanese Province when he was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus in 1965. He held the position until 1983. He was most concerned that the Jesuits make a commitment to addressing the needs of the poor. His work resulted in the decree from the 32nd General Congregation, Our Mission Today: The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice, passed in 1975. This led the Jesuits, especially in Latin America, to work in practical ways with the poor. In spite of threats against their lives—threats that led to the murder of six priests in El Salvador in 1989—the Jesuits continued their justice work with the poor, with Arrupe’s support. Arrupe’s belief in justice informed his understanding of the goal of Jesuit education. He said: Today our prime educational objective must be to form men-and-women-for-others; men and women who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ—for the Godhuman who lived and died for all the world; men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce. (Pedro Arrupe: Essential Writings, Kevin Burke, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books 2004, p. 173) aormi@icloud.com
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Social Justice So today this promotion of social justice has become a cornerstone of Jesuits’ activities in the last part of the 20th century and into this 21st. It is notable on many fronts - in the liberation theology of Latin America, or Ameriican anti-war protests of Vietnam with the two Berrigan brothers being imprisoned, with the start of the Jesuit Refugee Service active all over the world begun because of the precariousness of the Vietnam boat people. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS undertakes services at national and regional levels with the support of an international office in Rome. Founded in November 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on 19 March 2000 at the Vatican State as a foundation.Based on the needs of refugees and the capacities of the organisation, JRS staff in over 50 countries provide a broad range of services to approximately 950,000 refugees and other forcibly displaced persons worldwide. These services are made available to refugees and displaced persons regardless of their race, ethnic origin, or religious beliefs. In 2013, JRS provided education services to approximately 238,000 young people in 35 countries worldwide. JRS advocacy draws on the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, widely acknowledged to be the cornerstone of refugee protection.
Michael Campbell-Johnston was a British Jesuit priest with a varied background who joined the novitiate in 1949 when he was almost 18. He studied philosophy in a French atmosphere and exposed to radical aormi@icloud.com
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intellectual tradition at the time, and it was there that he encountered the existentialists and Marx. Back in England he went to the London School of Economics for graduate work in economics before doing his theology at Heythrop College in the Oxford countryside. But after a year he moved to Mexico for further studies and it was here that he really encountered the Third-World reality and parish work. His tertianship was spent in Brazil and travelled throughout the Latin American countries examining the new social institutes that the new father general, Pedro Arrupe, had ordered be set up in every South and Central American country. He was then sent to Guyana, which he turned into the major focus of the British Province outside of England itself. But it was in this time that the idea of a refugee service incubated. Then a spell in El Salvador after the assassination of Óscar Romero. Influenced by all these experiences he spoke to the general about the plight of refugees and from that founded the Jesuit Refugee Service working in Rome. He also served as the British Provincial for six years. In an interview he said, “Poverty and inequality are serious problems, and they’re not new. Most people don’t realize the extent to which poor, undeveloped countries are kept that way by the rich countries to the north. We’re not going to realize the Millennium Development Goals—we’ve actually made reverse progress on several—and that’s mostly to do with our lack of a will, not a way. The expert consensus basically across the board for development is that we could fix most of the problems that are out there if we wanted to, but our politicians are too scared to do anything about it. The difficult part is that the democratization of information has made the citizens of the global south more and more aware of how and to what extent they’re being exploited, and they’re starting to speak up about it. - we’ve got to get serious about social justice. “Helping the poor” or “charity” just aren’t good enough any more—these are important, but they alleviate the symptoms of a much deeper pathology. Now that we have the knowledge to change systems of economics, politics, and culture, we have incurred the duty to change them, and radically. ”
Campion House was a Roman catholic college run by the Society of Jesus in the Archdiocese of Westminster. It was situated in Osterley on the Thornbury Road, off the A4 road, in the London Borough of Hounslow and initially used for retreat giving. In 1915, Fr Edmund Lester SJ took over as director of the aormi@icloud.com
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Campion House, Osterly, house of retreats, students and later refugees. house. After the First World War he saw a dramatic increase in the number of vocations from veterans of the First World War, so he changed the name of the house to Campion House College and turned it into a sort of 'preseminary', a house of studies, a place to help young men, between 18 and 40 who had a late vocation to learn Latin and to further their education, helping them progress in their training for the priesthood. Campion House had 13 acres of gardens, and these were cultivated by the students to provide food for themselves.The college was not just for the Jesuits but also students from all the Catholic dioceses of England and Wales, other religious orders and even from outside of the UK. In 1935, Fr Clem Tigar SJ replaced Fr Lester as director of the college. Again, after the Second World War, the number of students drastically increased. So the stable and coach-house of the mansion were converted into a dormitory called Bethlehem. As the number of applicants continued to increase, appeals were made for funds to build extra accommodation.
French Canadian soldiers gather in the Students' Study Hall at Campion House at 3:15pm on Sunday afternoon to hear the priest answer questions from the Question Box. Photo:Imperial War Museum aormi@icloud.com
However, from the 1970s, student numbers lessened and more space became available. So some of the buildings were used by the Jesuit Refugee Service to accommodate Vietnamese refugees and resettle them elsewhere. Later, it was used to house migrants from Eritrea and Kosovo.
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Looking at the Universe and finding God
One of the hoary things thrown against the Catholic Church is that it is against science, mainly because of how Galileo was treated. Actually several of the Jesuit scientists were on the side of Galiileo apart from Cardinal Robert Bellarmine who queried his theology on the subject, not on the scientific results. Jesuits are taught to see God in all things..including fellow men. One of the famous stories of Ignatius is that as an older man (who was stuck running the Society in Rome), he used to look out at the stars at night. It gave him so much joy that it moved him to tears, to look up into that brilliant night sky. When astronauts in our lunar orbiter described the rough terrain beneath them they had to use Jesuit names. That Jesuit lun-nautics had preceded them was evident from the fact that 35 lunar craters had been named to honor Jesuits; and some of these craters are large enough to be seen from earth by naked (but sharp) eye. In fact at some time or other at least 40 Jesuit names were used and some are clusters of craters e.g. Cysat A,B,C,D; so there were even more than 40 craters named for Jesuits until NASM altered the lunar map.. Jesuit scientists treated science as a window of God's grandeur and used its appeal in their apostolic endeavors. Science and mathematics maintained a place of honor in the curriculum established for Jesuit seminarians in the early Roman College. Jesuit educators knew that "many a professor of philosophy has made no end of mistakes because of his ignorance of mathematics". In 1611 a school in Antwerp specializing exclusively in mathematics was established for young Jesuits skilled in the sciences. As a result, scientific inquiry of a high order flourished in the early Society. The Jesuits have made numerous significant contributions to the development of science. For example, they have dedicated significant study to earthquakes, and seismology has been described as "the Jesuit science.� The Jesuits have been described as "the single most important contributor to experimental aormi@icloud.com
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physics in the seventeenth century." According to Jonathan Wright in his book God's Soldiers, by the eighteenth century the Jesuits had "contributed to the development of pendulum clocks, pantographs, barometers, reflecting telescopes and microscopes, to scientific fields as various as magnetism, optics and electricity. They observed, in some cases before anyone else, the colored bands on Jupiter's surface, the Andromeda nebula and Saturn's rings. They theorized about the circulation of the blood (independently of Harvey), the theoretical possibility of flight, the way the moon affected the tides, and the wave-like nature of light.” Although not a Jesuit, the Big Bang Theory was the work of a French priest scientist. Wikipedia offers a long list of Jesuit scientists from the 16th century through to the 20th century including Christopher Clavius (1538 – 1612), German Jesuit mathematician and astronomer: the main architect of the modern Gregorian calendar. Roger Joseph Boscovich, S.J. - 1787: and his atomic theory. At a time when Jesuits were banned from England, in 1669 King Charles II felt he needed a spectacular sundial for his garden in Whitehall. Father Francis Line, renowned dial maker and professor of physics in Liege, was chosen for the job. Some sort of gentleman's truce was arranged, Line came to Whitehall and built an elaborate dial modelled after his famous sundial at Liege. It was an immediate and immense success, and consisted of a series of glass spheres floating freely in fluid inside larger glass spheres. Because this fascinating sundial had interesting demonstration possibilities - even for inquisitors, a friend of Galileo requested Line to bring one to Rome to help Galileo defend the heliocentric theory. Although Line was willing, Galileo was not.
Andrea Pozzo SJ (1642 to 1709) was a Jesuit Coadjutor Fr. Line’s sundial made for King Brother who wrote of perspective geometry which Charles II in Whitehall Palace was "meant to aid artists and architects". His book gardens Prospettiva de' pittori et architect (Rome, 1693-1700). One of the most remarkable sights in Rome is his perspective painting on the ceiling of St. Ignatius Church. On the flat, massive ceiling of the church he painted a fresco, in perspective, of the missionary spirit of Jesuit Society, thereby expressing Jesuit identification with the baroque spirit of Rome. The beautiful ceiling celebrates two centuries of adventuresome Jesuit explorers and missionaries. His theme aormi@icloud.com
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Brother Andrea Pozzo SJ had a tremendous idea of perspective and his painting on a flat ceiling of St. Ignatius Church in Rome is admired by attests throughout the world. is the missionary spirit of the Society. Light comes from God the Father to the Son who transmits it to St. Ignatius as it breaks into four rays leading to the four continents. The pantograph was invented about 1603 by the German astronomer Christolpher Scheiner for mechanically copying a figure on an enlarged or reduced scale. In 1613 Scheiner in turn contributed to the perfection of the refracting telescope with which we are familiar today. He constructed a number of different kinds of telescopes, and in particular (perhaps at the suggestion of Kepler) he made one with two convex lenses instead of Galileo's scheme which included one concave and the other convex. This improved sightings greatly. Scheiner gave one of his telescopes to the archduke of Tyrol who was more interested in the scenery from his Innsbruck castle than he was in the stars. When he complained that the image was upside down, Scheiner inserted another lens to invert the image and so created one of the first terrestrial telescopes. One of Scheiner's pupil, another Jesuit geometer and astronomer, Johann Cysatus was the first to make a telescopic study of a comet in 1618 and gave the first description of the nucleus and coma of a comet.
Roger Boscovich SJ developed the first coherent description of an atomic theory which is one of the great attempts to explain the universe in a single idea. His influence on modern atomic physics is undoubted and his many works are kept as the Boscovich Archives in the Bancroft library of rare books at Berkeley. He lived in a time when when mathematicians were expected to fix things so he was commissioned by popes and emperors to do such jobs as repair the fissures in cathedral domes and survey meridians of the Papal states. The Jesuit General Laurence Ricci made Boscovich a Visitor for the whole Society and it was Boscovich's influence that minimized the hostility of Catholic churchmen to the Copernican system. He did not suffer fools gladly so when shown the aormi@icloud.com
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treasures of the Jesuit school at Sens which included a rib of the prophet Isaiah, he told the rector to throw it away in the interest of truth. After the Suppression of the Jesuits, Boscovich became a captain in the French navy and was able to travel through France using a salvus conductus given him by Louis XV.
Galileo’s four moons of Jupiter
Fr. Christopher Grienberger, Clavius' successor, verified Galileo's discovery of the four moons of Jupiter, then later in 1611 he organized a convocation honoring Galileo. At this gathering of cardinals, princes and scholars, the students of Clavius and Grienberger expounded Galileo's discoveries to the delight of Galileo. He said that if Galileo had heeded the advice of the Jesuits and proposed his teachings as hypotheses, he could have written on any subject he wished, including the rotation of the earth. Francesco Grimaldi discovered diffraction and anticipated the invention of the diffraction grating. He was one of the earliest physicists to suggest that light was wavelike in nature. and he formulated a geometrical basis for a wave theory of light. His treatise attracted Isaac Newton to the study of optics. The Encyclopedia Britannica reports: "Probably no European name of past centuries is so well known in China as that of Li-ma-teu (Ricci Matteo).” Matteo Ricci made western
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developments in mathematics available to the Chinese and published in 1584 the first maps of China available to the west. For the first time the Chinese had an idea of the distribution of oceans and land masses. He ensure that China was in the center of the map, knowing that the Chinese Emperor could lose face if it should appear on the outskirts of the world. The Chinese Jesuits also brought Chinese artifacts such as the umbrella back to Europe. He introduced trigonometric and astronomical instruments and translated the first six books of Euclid into Chinese. He is remembered for his Chinese works on religious and moral topics as well as works on scientific topics.
To mark the Year of the Horse in 2014, the museum in Taipei prepared a giant animated digital version of Giuseppe Castiglione's absolute masterpiece100 Horses painted entirely on one long scroll. He was a Jesuit brother and painter who worked at the court of Emperor Qianlong for 51 years, painting pictures of emperors, concubines and especially horses. His work is treasured in the museums of the Imperial Palace in Taipei and Beijing. Like Ricci Br., Castiglione is appreciated in Chian and a film made about his life with Australian actor Ashok Zaman playing Br Castiglione.
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Angelo Secchi, S.J. was born in Reggio, Italy and died in Rome. He was a physicist and mathematician with remarkable ability and passion for astronomy. Angelo worked in stellar spectroscopy, made the first systematic spectroscopic survey of the heavens, pioneered in classifying stars by their four spectral types, studied sunspots, solar prominences, photographed solar corona during the eclipse in 1860, invented the heliospectroscope, star spectroscope, telespectroscope and meteorograph. He also studied double stars, weather forecasting and terrestrial magnetism. He became director of the Vatican Observatory at the age of 32 and dedicated himself energetically to the task. Angelo Secchi was particularly attracted to astrophysics, a courageous choice in a time when this field was little developed. He acquired an equatorial telescope of Merz with an aperture of 24 cm and a focal length of 435 cm, an excellent instrument for those times. Angelo decided to transfer the observatory to the flat roof of the Church of St. Ignatius, a perfect foundation for an observatory, because the Church had been originally designed to support a dome 80 meters high and 17 meters wide /see Andrea Pozzo SJ). He observed double stars, nebulae, planets and comets. He discovered three comets in the years 1852-1853. Angelo had a particular interest in the sun: its innumerable facets attracted his attention right up to the time of his death. He kept a daily record of the number of sunspots, and of their appearance and movement; at the eyepiece of his telescope, he drew pictures of the most interesting spots. Using a new technique for observing solar prominences outside of eclipse, Angelo found the connection between prominences and sunspots. His magnificent drawings of the huge red hydrogen jets extending from the solar surface in stupendous and ever changing shapes, have become classics of astronomical literature. By the time of the suppression in 1773, of the world's 130 astronomy observatories, 30 were operated by Jesuits
Fr. Angelo Secchi SJ was the first person to classify stars by their spectra... a novel idea scorned by many of his contemporaries.
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Vatican Observatory In June BBC’s The Sky at Night astronomy programme featured the Vatican Observatory in Rome, managed by the Jesuits. Presenter Chris Lintott asked Br Guy Consolmagno SJ, Director of the Vatican Observatory, why the Vatican is interested in astronomy. “Why is anyone?” was Br Consolmango’s answer, pointing out that the Vatican, indeed any religious organisation, can share the impulse of curiosity and intellectual enquiry in and with a secular world. “Space is a place we can ask bigger questions,” he observes, “Science is not a book of answers, any more than religion is. It is the conversation. Science cannot solve or answer all our questions, and religion is in the business of suggesting questions. Religion and science share the road between truth and understanding”. The programme also explored the story of Fr Angelo Secchi SJ, Director of the Observatory for 30 years in the nineteenth century. He w a s responsible for moving the observatory to the roof of the Jesuit Church of St Ignatius at Camp Marzio in Rome. Fr David Brown SJ explained how Secchi did ground-breaking work in the use of spectroscopy (splitting the light spectrum into different colours) to determine the chemical make-up of stars and start to classify them . Br. Guy said, “Why does the Vatican have an observatory? Aren’t there more important things to do than look at the stars? That is a question not only for the Church, but for the person who chooses to do astronomy Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ for a living. I recall when I was thirty years old, a is n charge of the Vatican postdoctoral fellow at MIT, I would lie in bed at 3am Observatory and the wondering, ‘why am I wasting my time worrying about museum of meteorites Tucson, Arizona Observatory
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and asteroids, one of the largest collections in the 56 world.
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the moons of Jupiter when there are people starving in the world?’ I had no answer. Astronomy is how we experience the universe as creatures who are interested in more than just, ‘what’s for lunch?’ As an interested scientist the first thing you must believe is that this universe actually exists. The second thing to believe is that the universe operates by regular laws. How can you go searching for the physical laws of the universe if you do not believe there are physical laws to be found? And here is the third thing you have to believe as a scientist: you have to believe that the universe is good. Fr Gabriele Gionti SJ explained his complex work on resolving incompatibility between the rules of quantum physics and general relativity occurring at the moment of the Big Bang. The programme also told the story of how Pope Gregory XIII used astronomical observations to introduce the Gregorian calendar in 1582, how the Church made mistakes in its treatment of Galileo, and how the Observatory led the way in a project to photograph the whole of the night sky – at the time (1891) the biggest astronomy project in the world, and whose results are still be referred to by scientists today.
Talking about summer schools and workshops at the Vatican Observatory Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, curator of the Vatican’s meteorite collection, which is one of the largest in the world, said that for many of the students, it’s the first opportunity to make
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a public presentation of their work in English, hence “good practice” for their future careers. He said the Jesuits want to give the young scholars a chance to meet expert researchers and discover what astronomers in other countries are doing. Pope Leo XIII formally established the Vatican Observatory in 1891 as a visible sign of the church’s centuries-old support for science. At that time, Brother Consolmagno said, a myth was forming that somehow the church and science were opposed. The observatory traces its origins back to the observational tower erected at the Vatican by Pope Gregory XIII in 1578 in preparation for reforming the Western calendar. “The church has always supported science,” he said. “You had to learn astronomy as one of the seven courses in medieval universities before you got to go on to theology or philosophy.” The first papal observatory was moved from the Tower of the Winds inside the Vatican walls to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in 1935. And then the Jesuit observatory staff set up a second research center in Tucson, Ariz., in 1981 after Italian skies got too bright for nighttime observation.
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the earth is not round
This year we have been looking at several anniversaries that fall in 2017. One of the anniversaries is the Durham man who measured the earth 250 years ago. Fr Christopher Maire SJ (1697–1767), was rector of the Venerable English College in Rome between 1744 and 1750, the year when he was commissioned by Pope Benedict XIV to measure two degrees of the meridian from Rome to Rimini with fellow Jesuit Ruggiero Boscovich SJ. The end purpose was to map out the then Papal States; in doing so they proved that the earth is an oblate spheroid (slightly flattened at the poles). This confirmed beyond doubt what Isaac Newton had proposed in his Principia, published in 1687. This stated that a rotating self-gravitating fluid body in equilibrium takes the form of an oblate ellipsoid of revolution, which he termed an 'oblate spheroid' and in doing so established the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity But no one was able to prove it with certainty until Maire and Boscovich's scientific study. Modern scientists refer to the shape of the earth, with its slightly flattened poles, as 'ellipsoid'. The papal States included were the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Umbria, Marche and part of Emilia-Romagna. Their two-year expedition through the Papal States in 1750–52 was an epic adventure, involving all sorts of dangers - encountering bears in the aormi@icloud.com
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mountains, storms and floods. The had to hump hundreds of p o u n d s ’ weight of quadrants, sextants and measuring rods up and down the Apennines to heights of 5,000 feet plus, in all sorts of weather. By dint of extraordinary efforts, they used their measurements of the two degrees of the meridian from Rome to Rimini and extrapolated the data to calculate the total meridional circumference of the earth, which, remarkably, they got right to within 28 kilometres of the standard modern measure for this (40,007.86 kilometres)." Christopher Maire’s companion, Ruggiero Boscovich a Croation, was an extraordinary scientist who produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the moon. In 1742, along with other scientists, Pope Benedict XIV consulted him about the best means of securing the stability of the St. Peter’s dome, as a crack had been discovered. His suggestion of placing five concentric iron bands was adopted. In 1758 in Vienna he published the Theory of Natural philosophy derived to the single Law of forces that exist in Nature; this work contains his atomic theory and his theory on forces. During a stay in England he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and in 1971 elected as a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was invited by the Royal Society to undertake an expedition to California to observe the transit of Venus in 1769, but he was prevented by a decree of the Spanish monarch expelling the Jesuits from Spanish dominions. Another Jesuit, Maximilian Hell, managed to map out the transit of Venus when he led an expedition of scientists to Lapland under the sponsorship of King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway. Jesuit scientists treated science as a window of God’s grandeur and used its appeal in their apostolic work.
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Spanish Jesuits The first Jesuit presence in the Alicante Province was when the Marquesa of Rafal invited them to work in 1695. From that they founded the college of la Inmaculada in 1724. The Bishop of Orihuela asked them to take over the Santo Domingo College in Orihuela in 1872. This was a vey successful college who boasted among its pupils Miguel Hernandez, the famous poet. From this base they started many social works in the early 20th century such as food kitchens, adult classes, agricultural initiatives, and a savings bank helping the poorer people start their own businesses; this developed into the CAM Trustee Bank. In 1956 the Jesuits left Orihuela and stared a new college in Alicante city for 750 pupils, which over the years ha expanded to 1,800 from ages 3 to 18 years of age who celebrated the college’s 60th anniversary last year. Today the college still adheres to the dynamic principles of St. Ignatius in teaching the whole person, not only in educational subjects including modern technological system, but in turning out a person who is educated, cultural and helps his fellow man. aormi@icloud.com
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In a Spanish Prison Helping prisoners rebuild their lives, overcome addictions, and re-enter the workforce is a challenge that the Father Garralda-Horizontes Abiertos Foundation has been working toward for 40 years. The prison ministry founded by a Spanish Jesuit in the 1960s has proveneto be successful with commitments from prisoners such as a group of inmates donating their own money to help the needy at Christmas. Fr. Jaime Garralda began working with prisoners and now serves, through his foundation, more than 200 people in prison, provides halfway homes for parolees, and with workshops on re-entering the workforce.
Fr. Jaime Garralda, S.J., lived for 16 years in a shanty town during the '60s. Many women there wanted to visit their husbands or children who were in prison. Fr. Garralda and some volunteers began to accompany them and began a social action work in the prisons, also addressing all those realities related to the prisons,
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He introduced the 'volunteer resident', that is prisoners who are at the end of their sentence but who help others in the prison achieve their goals so they can set out on an itinerary so their stay in the prison is as bearable as possible.” “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.” The foundation has a rehabilitation centre for prisoners who are addicted to drugs where more than 100 people live, with floors for HIV patients, and they vouch for prisoners who meet certain requirements so they can request a supervised leave. This assistance “toward freedom” is because family members or friends need to give guarantees to ensure that the prisoner's leave from prison meets some minimum conditions and also that he will return when his permission to leave expires. The foundation vouches for certain people who have no one to turn to and helps make this transition as good as possible. A favorite programme is one they do for the children of mothers who are in prison: “We organize camps for the children, outings with the mothers, workshops to lessen the prejudices created by prison, and we help mothers and children have a little more of a normal life, at least for a few days.”
One of the criteria of the original aims of the Jesuits was to go where others didn’t go. Ignatius himself visited prisoners in Roman jails, possibly because he had experienced prison life himself as a young brawler and drinker, and later when arrested by the Inquisition. aormi@icloud.com
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In Spain in the last decade Jesuits have enlarged their work of the Jesuit Refugee Service into visiting Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros (CIE), that strictly speaking are not prisons, but nevertheless those interned have nowhere else to go. Annually around 8,000 people pass through these CIE centres. It is questionable that with almost 75% off these refugees accepted why are they in jail if they have not committed a crime? These centres are for undocumented foreigners and Jesuits work in conjunction with various associations - CIE in Madrid (through Pueblos Unidos), Barcelona (Migra Studium), Valencia (SJM), y Tarifa y Algeciras (via la Asociaciรณn Claver de Sevilla). These centres are to sift out real refugees and in 2016 only 29% were expelled from the country. On average this is 26 people per day who are repatriated forcibly to their original countries. The Jesuits and their volunteers help with basic clothing and personal hygiene, but more importantly listening to these men and women. Last year these included 513 women and 51 minors of age held in the Valencia and Madrid centres. Some of these women are victims of prostitution rings being forced to be prostitutes, therefore viictims in their own right. They provide legal aid, and each year present to the Defensor of the Pueblo a report outlining the defects of the system and individual persons affected and abuses of human rights. Legal aid includes using human rights aormi@icloud.com
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laws, international and European laws. One problem is the uncertainty of what the future holds, and how long is the person going to be held? The Jesuits through their association SJM help with communications to family members as often an internee has no contact with their family who may be wondering what has happened. The Jesuits recommend that these should be centres of welcome and induction rather then temporary jails. The majority of those in CIE are in Ceuta and Mellila, followed by the South of Spain and Palmas. The Spanish Cruz Roja also play an important role in these CIE centres offering an integral sanitary assistance.
Homeboy LA Another related work is well known in U.S.A. The Rev. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry programme in the world. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English from Gonzaga University, a master’s degree in English from Loyola Marymount University, a Master of Divinity degree from the Weston School of Theology, and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. After ordination, Father Boyle spent a year living and working with Christian base communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1986, he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East LA. At the time, Dolores Mission was the poorest Catholic parish in the city, located between two large public housing projects with the highest concentration of gang activity in Los Angeles. He witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community during what he has called "the decade of death" that began in the late 1980's. In the face of law enforcement and criminal justice tactics and policies of suppression and mass incarceration as the means to end gang violence, Father Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treating gang members as human beings. By 1988, having buried an ever growing number of young people killed in gang violence, Father Boyle and parish and community members sought to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth by developing positive opportunities for them, including establishing an alternative school and day care program, and seeking aormi@icloud.com
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out legitimate employment. They called this initial effort Jobs for a Future. “Gang violence is about a lethal absence of hope,” Father Boyle has said. “Nobody has ever met a hopeful kid who joined a gang.”
In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Jobs for a Future and Proyecto Pastoral, a community-organizing project begun at Dolores Mission, launched their first social enterprise business in an abandoned bakery that Hollywood producer Ray Stark helped them purchase. They called it Homeboy Bakery. The success of Homeboy Bakery created the groundwork for additional social enterprise businesses, leading Jobs for a Future in 2001 to become an independent nonprofit organization, Homeboy Industries. Today, Homeboy Industries employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, as well as provides critical services to 15,000 men and women who walk through its doors every year seeking a better life. Through a therapeutic environment and belief that community trumps gang, Homeboy Industries has helped thousands of men and women to envision an exit ramp off the “freeway” of violence, addiction and incarceration. There is a recycling programme that offers a repair system rather than throwing something away. Another initiative is training in solar energy and silk screen & embroidery, which has led to fashion designing and making a range of fashion clothing. The Homeboy Diner at Los Angeles City Hall is located on the 2nd floor offering a daily selection of sandwiches, salads, cookies and other desserts, coffee, tea and other drinks direct from Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Bakery. Catering is one of the largest training program of Homeboy. Homeboy’s food products are baked or prepared fresh daily by trainees at Homeboy Industries using only the best ingredients. aormi@icloud.com
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Homegirl Café is one of Homeboy’s many social enterprises, where formerly gang involved men and women are placed in what is often their first “real job,” learning to work side by side with former enemies and gaining fundamental job skills in a supportive environment. Homegirl Café has a training programme that empowers women to support themselves and their families while receiving needed services menu can be customized for any occasion and allergy or dietary restrictions or preferences.as they work toward a better life. full-service catering for large groups having catered for over 2,000. A cornerstone of the Homeboy model is case management. All trainees at Homeboy Industries are immediately placed with a case manager who helps them to create a goaloriented service plan, guides their progress through necessary services, and holds them accountable as they move toward a better life. Maria Flores, Director of Case Management, describes the process: “Once a month a trainee sits with the team: case manager, business manager, peer navigator—someone who’s been through the program, and their therapist. They discuss the client’s service plan and what they’re doing. They want to hold them, know their stories, provide extra support and keep them moving forward on goals, dreams, and plans.” Legal aid and vice is available as is the removal of tattoos as many gangs are identifiable by aa specific tattoo. As a Jesuit Father Greg is well aware of the importance of education and in conjunction with other institutions there is an invaluable education programme. Because of the distinct and singular power that education has on reducing recidivism, easing reintegration, and enhancing opportunities for employment, family reunification, healing and positive self-regard, Homeboy Industries' Educational Services engages more people each day than any other department. Beyond the academic, classes in personal development and life skills, as well as substance abuse and support groups, are offered as part of the overall commitment to healing, wellness, empowerment and self-sufficiency.
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In a Russian Gulag - Walter Ciszek
Since the day of its founder hundreds of Jesuits have found themselves in prisons throughout the world, not only as chaplains, but inmates. A Jesuit who made the headlines in 1963 was Walter Joseph Ciszek, S.J. He had been exchanged by the American government for two Russian spies. He was born in on November 4, 1904, at Shenandoah, Pennsylvania to Polish immigrants Mary (Mika) and Martin Ciszek, who had emigrated to the United States in the 1890s. He died on December 8, 1984 . So he was a Polish-American Jesuit priest who conducted clandestine missionary work in the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1963. Fifteen of these years were spent in confinement and hard labour in the Gulag, plus five preceding them in Moscow's infamous Lubyanka prison. After his release and return to the United States, he wrote two books of his experiences, including the memoir With God in Russia, and served as a spiritual director. A former gang member, he shocked his family by deciding to become a priest. Ciszek entered the Jesuit novitiate in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1928. The following year, he volunteered to serve as a missionary to Russia, which had become the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution 12 years before. In 1934, Ciszek was sent to Rome to study theology and Russian language, history and the liturgy at the Pontifical Russian College (or 'Russicum'). In 1937, he was ordained a priest in the Byzantine Rite in Rome taking the name of Vladimir. In 1938, Ciszek was sent to the Jesuit mission in Albertyn in eastern Poland, but with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland and forced Ciszek to close his mission. Arriving in Lviv, he realized that it would be very easy for a priest or two to enter the Soviet Union amid the streams of refugees going East. He crossed the border in 1940 under the assumed identity of 'Vladimir Lypinski, " a widower whose family had died in a German air raid. On March 15, 1940 he boarded boxcar 089725 with twenty-five other people, an oildrum stove, a slop bucket for a toilet, and not much else for the fifteen hundred-mile trip to Chusovoy in the Ural Mountains. The trip took two grinding, tedious weeks. With two of his fellow Jesuits, he travelled 2400 km (1500 mi) by train to the logging town of Chusovoy, in the Ural Mountains. For one year, he worked as an unskilled logger, while discreetly performing religious ministry at the same time.
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Then one night early in June at 3 a. m. the barracks were surrounded by secret police. They searched everything. In Ciszek's suitcase they found two bottles of white wine, a can of tooth powder, and some sheets of paper he had used to teach a little boy how to write. The agent claimed they were "bottles of nitrogylcerine, a tin of gunpowder, and a secret code. Vladimir Lypinski was arrested as a German spy. Ciszek was arrested in 1941 under accusations of espionage for the Germans initially and later as a Vatican spy: he was sent to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, operated by the NKVD (internal security agency). There he spent a total of five years, mostly in solitary confinement. Some interrogations were accompanied with rubber clubs, pressure devices on his head, starvation of his body, rubber tubes around his mid section, interrogation at all hours of the night, drugs in his blood stream, and these first three months of solitary confinement and punishment were increased to six and a cell mate was added in order to obtain a confession.In 1942, he signed a confession under drugs and severe torture. He was convicted of espionage and then sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the GULAG.
Since he had been convicted, the prison officials allowed him one book at a time and he read his way through Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, Dickens, Shakespeare, and Goethe--all in Russian. Throughout his lengthy imprisonment, Ciszek continued to pray, to celebrate Divine Liturgy, hear confessions, aormi@icloud.com
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conduct retreats and perform parish ministry. After work he heard confessions as the men walked around the prison yard. And once the commandant's quarters had cleared for the day, he said Mass undetected right in the offices. At times he said Mass in the hospital examination rooms. He even began giving retreats. Ciszek was ordered by the KGB to move in 1958 to Krasnoyarsk, where he secretly established mission parishes. "By my second month at Krasnoyarsk, I had thriving mission parishes on the Pravi Biereg and in the outskirts and suburbs of the city. One German settlement out beyond the Yenisei station took over a whole barrack when I said Mass. More than eight hundred people attended, and there were baptisms and marriages before and after Mass sometimes for hours. I served another German community in a kolkhoz farther out and, since I still had my regular parish and the 'missions' on the Right Bank, I had to hold these suburban services on Saturday. . . . I worked sometimes around the clock, getting no sleep at all for more than seventy-two hours.” [With God in Russia] After the KGB learned of this, he was forcibly transferred to Abakan, 160 km (100 mi) to the south, where he worked as an automobile mechanic for four more years. In 1963, he finally received a letter from his sisters in the U.S.A. After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Ciszek was released on October 12, 1963, in exchange for two Soviet agents
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Back in the USA
Until he was allowed to write to America in 1955, he was presumed dead by both his family and the Jesuit Order. No one knew for certain whether it would actually be Father Ciszek getting off the plane or some Soviet imposter. Fathers Davis and Culhane had been Jesuit classmates of Walter’s in the 1930s before he went to Rome to study. His two books were co-written by a young Jesuit Daniel L. Flaherty, the memoir initially 1,500 pages cut to around 500 pages for the Publisher Harold McGraw. In 1965, he began working and lecturing at the John XXIII Center at Fordham University (now the Center for Eastern Christian Studies at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania), counselling and offering spiritual direction to those who visited him, until his death. On December 8, 1984, Ciszek died after many years of declining health, and was buried at the Jesuit Cemetery in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He wrote his two books With God in Russia, He Leadeth Me, In conjunction with Daniel L. Flaherty, S.J.
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Celluloid Jesuits Liam Neeson has twice played a Jesuit
Where would writers be if they hadn’t the Jesuits to be villains. Ever since The Gunpowder Plot they keep coming up as a secret society, manipulating popes and Kings. Elsewhere in this issue there are detail of the political and cultural forces that led to the suppression of the Society of Jesus in the mid 1700s. During those years there were numerous stories about the Jesuits that fed public imagination. Accounts flew about that the Jesuits in South America had gold mines and there were hoards of treasure. Many gullible people parted with money for dummy treasure maps. These led to printed tales such as Voltaire’s “Candide” with a conniving Jesuit in the reductions of South America. In 1844 Eugène Sue’s wrote the notorious “The Wandering Jew”, in which the Jesuits d’Aigrigny and Rodin scheme to take possession of a family’s fortune while Gabriel, a family member who was a Jesuit for a while, shows “the fatal stamp of that enervating subjection, that moral emasculation with which the victims of the Company of Jesus are always branded, when they are not fortunately delivered in time from their homicidal influence.” Two centuries later, Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov presents its own unflattering Jesuit characters. More recently Judith Rock’s fourth novel featured a Jesuit scholastic, Charles de Luc, who solved crimes in the late 1600’s Paris setting.
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"The Star" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo Awardin 1956. A group of space explorers from Earth return from an expedition to a remote star system, where they discovered the remnants of an advanced civilization destroyed when its star went supernova. The group's chief astrophysicist, a Jesuit priest, is suffering from a deep crisis of faith, triggered by some undisclosed event during the journey. A novel by Richard Sapir, The Body, was turned into a film starring Antonio Banderas and Olivia Williams in which he plays Father Matt Gutierrez, a Jesuit priest. In it during an archaeological dig in Jerusalem, the suspected remains of the body of Jesus Christ are found. The book is far better than the film as the end makes more sense. The Mission is another film about a group of international Jesuits working among the native Guarani but on the orders of the Spanish king have to close the mission so that the Portuguese can make the Indians slaves. A very good sound track reinforces the various ethical problems the Jesuits encounter. Jeremy Irons is the soldier converted to be a Jesuit who fails to understand the obedience expected of him and reverts to his life as a soldier but this time defending the Indians. He also features in another film, The Man in the Iron Mask, where he portrays the retired Musketeer Aramis, who has become not only a priest but a Jesuit, and not just a Jesuit but also the Father General of the order. A rather ridiculous proposition but everything is fair on celluloid. The Black Robe was a film about early Jesuit missionaries in Canada working with the Algonquin nation, many were killed by Indians and there is a working replica of Saint Marie mission station that is a tourist attraction in Wendlake, Ontario. A aormi@icloud.com
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very famous Indian song was, and still is, the "Huron Carol", a Christmas hymn written by Jesuit martyr Jean de Brébeuf. One of the most infamous horror movies ever produced is The Exorcist. Although Jason Miller’s Father Karras and Max von Sydow’s Father Merrin are never identified specifically as Jesuits, Karras works at G e o r g e t o w n. The story is based on a real Jesuit priest who was an exorcist. William J. O’Malley, S.J., a long time teacher at McQuaid High in Rochester, N.Y., and Fordham Prep in the Bronx, N.Y., advised and acted in the film “The Exorcist,” based on the novel by William Peter Blatty. Anthony Hopkins is a Welsh Jesuit exorcist named Father Lucas in another scary movie “The Rite” and he meets up with another young Jesuit who is having doubts about his vocation. Rather scary to think that someone with doubts is sent to be an exorcist. The same in The Body, Anthony Banderas’ character is having doubts about his vocation ending up loving a Jewish archaeologist. The Martin Scorsese film “Silence” is based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, it follows two 17th-century Jesuits as they witness the persecution of Christians in Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate. Once again it explores doubts of the priests and what they should be doing. aormi@icloud.com
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The prime work of any member of the Society of Jesus is to pray. All his works and acts should be a prayer in action. He is a contemplative in action. In the past century education was one of the principle works of the Jesuits and their success may be seen in their alumni. On Wikipedia you can find a long list of famous alumni of the Jesuits' school system. In no particular order nor year here are some. Here you will find presidents, lawyers, surgeons and doctors, scientists and inventors, sportsmen, film makers, actors and writers and rebels. In fact several of these people were rebels in spirit fighting their own devils. You can find many more on Wikipedia.
Among them is listed Donald Trump, but as he only lasted a year at Fordham University before he opted out, I don't know if he really counts. Bill Clinton - President of the United States (Georgetown University) Vicente Fox - President of Mexico (Campion Jesuit High School for two years, and Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico) Gordon Zubrod - American oncologist who played a role in the introduction of cancer chemotherapy (Georgetown Preparatory School) Tony Abbott - Australian Prime Minister (St Ignatius' College, Riverview) Eusebio Kino - Tyrolian Jesuit missionary explorer of present-day California, Arizona and Sonora (University of Ingolstadt) Lyndon B. Johnson - President of the United States (Georgetown Law School) • Gordon Getty - billionaire and businessman (St. Ignatius College Preparatory) • John Paul Getty - American-British philanthropist (St. Ignatius College Preparatory and University of San Francisco)Bing Crosby - American entertainer (Gonzaga University, Spokane) Terry Wogan - Irish broadcaster (Crescent College, Limerick) James Joyce - Irish novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (Clongowes Wood College Co. Kildare and Belvedere College Dublin aormi@icloud.com
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•
George Wendt - American actor, Campion Jesuit High School (Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri) • Edward Douglass White - ninth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (Jesuit High School, New Orleans) • Francis Walsingham - Elizabethan Spy Master (University of Padua) • Denzel Washington - American film actor (Fordham University) Joseph Vijay - Tamil actor (Loyola College, Chennai) Peter O'Toole - Irish actor • Spencer Tracy - American actor (Rockhurst High School and Marquette Academy) George Martin - British music producer (St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill, N15; relocated to Enfield, Middlesex in the 1960s.) Bob Newhart - American actor and comedian (St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago and Loyola University Chicago) • • Richard Harris - Irish actor (Crescent College, Limerick, Ireland) • Bill Murray - American TV and movie star (Loyola Academy, Wilmette and Regis University) • John Courtney Murray - American theologian (Xavier High, New York and Boston College) Robert Abplanalp - inventor of the aerosol valve; founder of Precision Valve Corporation (Fordham Preparatory School) • Joseph Murray - American surgeon and Nobel laureate (College of the Holy Cross)Daniel J. Travanti - American TV and movie star (Loyola Marymount University) Monir Fakhry Abdelnour - Egyptian Minister of Tourism (College de la Sainte Famille)Arturo Ripstein - film director and producer (Universidad Iberoamericana) Drea de Matteo - Italian-American actress (Loyola School) • Jay Thomas - American actor, comedian and radio talk show host (Jesuit High School, New Orleans) Charles Laughton - English Academy Award-winning stage and film actor, screenwriter, and producer (Stonyhurst College) Robert Altman - American film director (Rockhurst High School) • Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) - American musician (Creighton aormi@icloud.com
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Preparatory School, Omaha, Nebraska) Freddie Mercury - British musician (St. Mary's High School in Mazagaon) Alan Alda - American movie actor and TV star (Fordham University) Nathan Lane - two-time Tony and Emmy Awardwinning American actor of stage, screen, and television (Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, New Jersey) • Pat O'Brien - American actor (Marquette University High School and Marquette University, Milwaukee) John Barrymore - American Shakespearean actor (Georgetown Preparatory School) Tom Clancy, Jr. - American author (Loyola College in Maryland and Loyola High School) Timothy Egan - Pulitzer Prize–winning writer (Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington) Alfred Hitchcock - British film director (St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill, N15; relocated to Enfield, Middlesex in the 1960s)Luis Buñuel - Spanish filmmaker (Jesuit College, Aragon, Spain) Don Ameche - American actor (Marquette University) • Charles Waterton - English naturalist and explorer (Stonyhurst College in Lancashire) Pedro Calderón de la Barca - Spanish dramatist (Jesuit College Madrid) Jean-Charles de Borda - French mathematician, physicist, political scientist and sailor (Jesuit college at La Fleche) • Tom Dooley - American Catholic physician and humanitarian (St. Louis University High, St. Louis University) • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories (Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and Stonyhurst College) Kurt Schuschnigg - Austrian chancellor imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp in 1938 by Nazi Germany following the Anschluss (Stella Matutina (Jesuit school)) Antonio Maria Valsalva - Italian anatomist who coined the term "Eustachian tube” Mary Higgins Clark - American writer (Fordham University, Bronx, New York) Charles de Gaulle - former President of France Jean-Luc Dehaene - former Belgian prime minister (Sint-Jozefscollege, Aalst, Belgium) aormi@icloud.com
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Miguel de Cervantes - Spanish author Franz Mesmer - German physician whose ideas spawned the development of hypnosis (University of Dillingen and University of Ingolstadt) • Vincenzo Viviani - Italian mathematician and scientist; a pupil of Torricelli and a disciple of Galileo (educated at Jesuit schools in his native Florence) Viswanathan Anand - Indian chess grandmaster (Loyola College) Peter Paul Rubens - Flemish painter of the 17th century, Antwerp Yi Su-gwang - Korean scholar; military officer (studied under Fr. Matteo Ricci, SJ) William F. Buckley, Jr. - American author, conservative commentator and public intellectual (Beaumont College in England) Edward Fenech Adami - former President of Malta (St Aloysius' College) Curtis Sliwa - American founder of the Guardian Angels (Brooklyn Prep) Mark Shriver - CEO, Save the Children (College of the Holy Cross) Ramaswamy Venkataraman - former President of India (Loyola College, Chennai) Ivo Andric - Yugoslavian author and Nobel laureate (Jesuit gymnasium in Travnik, Bosnia) • Voltaire - French author and skeptical master of the Enlightenment (Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, France) Joseph Mary Plunkett - Irish signatory of the Irish Proclamation of Independence who played a leading part in the Easter Rising, for which he was executed (Stonyhurst College) Kevin Barry - martyr of the Irish War of Independence (Belvedere College) Federico García Lorca - Spanish poet and playwright (attended Jesuit school as a boy in Grenada) Lope de Vega - Spanish Baroque playwright and poet (Colegio Imperial de Madrid) Byron Lee - Jamaican music pioneer (St. George's College, Jamaica) Grégoire de Saint-Vincent - Jesuit mathematician who aormi@icloud.com
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aormi@icloud.com
Torrevieja Outlook
Nº 41 - July 2017
independently discovered the Mercator series, the expansion of log (1 + x) in ascending powers of x Talleyrand - French diplomat (Jesuit College of La Flèche) • Jacques Rogge - chairman of the International Olympic Committee (SintBarbaracollege, Ghent, Belgium) • Michel Rojkind - Mexican architect and former musician of Russian descent (Universidad Iberoamericana) • Al Roker - American TV meteorologist (Xavier High School, New York) • Óscar Romero - priest and martyr (Gregorian University, Rome, Italy) • Blessed Theodore Romzha - Ruthenian Catholic Church's Bishop of Mukachevo, martyr under Joseph Stalin (Collegium Russicum) Loretta Tofani - Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (Fordham University) Pierre Elliott Trudeau - former Prime Minister of Canada (College Jean-de-Brebeuf, Montreal) Ruud Lubbers - former Prime Minister of the Netherlands; former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Canisius College, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Leo Ryan - member of U.S. House Of Representatives (D-California) assassinated during Jonestown Massacre (Creighton University and Campion High School) Leon Panetta - 23rd United States Secretary of Defense, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Obama Administration, former White House Chief of Staff to Cardinal Richelieu - French statesman (Collège de Navarre, Collège de Calvi)Pierre Teilhard de Chardin French Jesuit philosopher and anthropologist (Jesuit College of Mongré in Villefranche-sur-Saône) Jose Rizal - national hero of the Philippines, Reformist, Revolutionary; founder of La Liga Filipina; ophthalmologist, author; surgeon; linguist; led independence movement against Spanish rule in the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University)
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Torrevieja Outlook
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aormi@icloud.com
Torrevieja Outlook
Nยบ 41 - July 2017
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80