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50-422: After completing his studies (which were concerned with the cultivation of the intellect), the scholastic should apply himself to the schola affectus (which deals with matters of the heart), by turning now to "spiritual and corporal" works, which will help him to make progress in humility and in the denial of selfishness and self-will or self-opinionatedness. Tertianship characteristically takes place either through

100-523: A Biblical scene (to participate in the life of Jesus), significantly influenced the approaches to Christian meditation in the 16th century and thereafter. These methods persist in meditations such as the Spiritual Exercises , which the Jesuits continue to practice. Devotio Moderna arose at the same time as Christian Humanism , a meshing of Renaissance Humanism and Christianity , and

150-514: A change of life and as a school of contemplative prayer. The most common way for laypersons to go through the Exercises now is a "retreat in daily life", which involves a five- to seven-month programme of daily prayer and meetings with a spiritual director. Also called the "19th annotation exercises" based on a remark of St. Ignatius in the 19th "introductory observation" in his book, the retreat in daily life does not require an extended stay in

200-408: A final year of spiritual studies after ordination to the priesthood. The Exercises have also impacted the founders of other religious orders, even becoming central to their work. Ignatius considered the examen , or spiritual self-review, to be the most important way to continue to live out the experience of the Exercises after their completion. Ignatius identified the various motives that lead

250-636: A methodical format, as well as self-projection into a Biblical scene, e.g. starting a conversation with Christ in Calvary . Also influenced by the Devotio Moderna were Ludovico Barbo , Lawrence Giustiniani and the Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga . However, the methods of "methodical prayer" taught by the Devotio Moderna and the techniques used for "self projection" into the imagery of

300-430: A person to choose one course of action over another as "spirits". A major aim of the Exercises is the development of discernment ( discretio ), the ability to discern between good and evil spirits. A good spirit can bring love, joy, peace, but also desolation to reveal the evil in one's present life. An evil spirit usually brings confusion and doubt, but may also prompt complacency to discourage change. The human soul

350-476: A process of wholehearted commitment to the service of God. Morning, afternoon, and evening will be times of the examinations. The morning is to guard against a particular sin or fault, the afternoon is a fuller examination of the same sin or defect. There will be a visual record with a tally of the frequency of sins or defects during each day. In it, the letter 'g' will indicate days, with 'G' for Sunday. Three kinds of thoughts: "my own" and two from outside, one from

400-415: A retreat house and the learned methods of discernment can be tried out on day-to-day experiences over time. Also, some break the 30 days into two or three sections over a two-year period. Most retreat centers offer shorter retreats with some of the elements of the Spiritual Exercises . Retreats have been developed for specific groups of people, such as those who are married or engaged. Self-guided forms of

450-405: Is continually drawn in two directions: towards goodness but at the same time towards sinfulness. According to the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar , "choice" is the center of the Exercises , and they are directed to choosing God's will, a deepening self-abandonment to God. The Exercises "have as their purpose the conquest of self and the regulation of one’s life in such a way that no decision

500-410: Is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment." "Discernment" is very important to Ignatian thought. Through the process of discernment, the believer is led toward a direct connection between one's thought and action and the grace of God. As such, discernment can be considered a movement toward mystical union with God, and it emphasizes the mystical experience of the believer. This aspect of

550-400: Is related to German mysticism and other movements which promoted an intense personal relationship with God . Practitioners of the Devotio Moderna emphasized the individual's inner life and promoted meditation according to certain strictures. With the ideals of Christian Humanism, Devotio Moderna recommended a more individual attitude towards belief and religion . It is regarded sometimes as

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600-472: Is that we might gain the empathy to "follow and imitate more closely our Lord." From this comes the widespread use of the magis concept in Ignatian circles, pursuing spiritual growth and progress rather than sudden transformation. The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola are considered a classic work of spiritual literature. Many Jesuits are ready to direct the general public in retreats based on

650-556: Is written in Latin. By the late 15th century the advent of the printing press increased the reach of the movement; The Imitation of Christ was printed in several languages by the end of the century. The spiritual life of the Devotio Moderna followers was marked by focus on inner devotions and frequent short periods of meditation, especially before each new activity. The writings of the Devotio Moderna followers such as Gerard of Zutphen and Jan Mombaer , as well as Groote introduced

700-591: The Catholic Church , as well as later Reformed communities. The manuals for methodical prayer and meditation by Florens Radewyns and Zutphen had significant influence within Europe for over a century. The concept of immersing and projecting oneself into a Biblical scene about the life of Jesus was developed by Ludolph of Saxony in his Vita Christi in 1374 and became popular among the Devotio Moderna community. The methods of methodical prayer as taught by

750-568: The Devotio Moderna , though, seems to have lessened the force of many of these criticisms. The movement was especially prominent in cities in the Low Countries during the 14th and 15th centuries. Alongside its immediate impact, however, it was the writings of authors associated with the movement (who were most commonly based in the monasteries associated with Windesheim), that gave the Devotio Moderna its wider European influence at

800-415: The Exercises are also available, including online programs. Online text Devotio moderna Devotio Moderna ( Latin ; lit., Modern Devotion ) was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience, simplicity of life, and integration into the community. It began in the late 14th century, largely through

850-546: The Exercises for 15 years before he was ordained, and years before the Society of Jesus was founded. He saw them as an instrument for bringing about a conversion or change of heart, especially in the Reformation times in which he lived. After the Society of Jesus was formed, the Exercises became the central component of its training program. They usually take place during the first year of a two-year novitiate and during

900-431: The Exercises is a retreat of about 30 days in silence and solitude. The Exercises are divided into four "weeks" of varying length with four major themes: sin and God's mercy, episodes in the life of Jesus, the passion of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus together with a contemplation on God's love. This last is often seen as the goal of Ignatian spirituality, to find God in all things. The "weeks" represent stages in

950-484: The Exercises . Since the 1980s there has been a growing interest in the Spiritual Exercises among people from other Christian traditions. The Exercises are also popular among lay people both in the Catholic Church and in other denominations, and lay organizations like the Christian life community place the Exercises at the center of their spirituality . The Exercises are seen variously as an occasion for

1000-572: The Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Divided into four thematic "weeks" of variable length, they are designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. They were composed with the intention of helping participants in religious retreats to discern the will of God in their lives, leading to a personal commitment to follow Jesus whatever the cost. Their underlying theology has been found agreeable to other Christian denominations who make use of them and also for addressing problems facing society in

1050-599: The Spiritual Exercises reflects the trend toward mysticism in Catholic thought which flourished during the time of the Counter-Reformation (e.g., with Teresa of Ávila , Francis de Sales , and Pierre de Bérulle ). However, while discernment can be understood as a mystical path, it is also more prosaically a method of subjective ethical thought, emphasizing the role of one's own mental faculties in deciding right and wrong. The original, complete form of

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1100-519: The "Sisters of the Common Life", were freer in structure than the beguines and kept no private property. The women who lived in these houses remained, also, under the jurisdiction of city authorities and parish priests. Their way of life therefore sat somewhere between ordinary Christian existence 'in the world', and the formation of an ecclesiastically recognised religious order. From this point, several different loose forms of community emerged. On

1150-433: The "good spirit" and the other from the "bad spirit". Ignatius' book is not meant to be used by the retreatant but by a director or spiritual guide. Each day the exercitant uses the material proposed by the director for four or five hour-long periods, each followed by a review of how the period went. The exercitant reports back to the spiritual director who helps interpret the exercitant's experiences and proposes material for

1200-574: The 21st century. The first printed edition of the Spiritual Exercises was published in Latin in 1548, after being given papal approval by Pope Paul III . However, Ignatius's manuscripts were in Spanish, so this first edition was in fact a translation, although it was made during Ignatius's lifetime and with his approval. Many subsequent editions in Latin and in various other languages were printed early on with widely differing texts. Archival work on

1250-523: The Brethren provided pastoral care and spiritual counsel to the sister houses, and at least some of the Brethren engaged in preaching. Groote's message of reform had also been aimed at clerics and priests, some of whom had joined the Brethren. In addition, though, under the leadership of Radewyns, in 1387 some members of the Deventer house set up a new community at Windesheim , near Zwolle , and adopted

1300-481: The Catholic Church or a Catholic institution is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola The Spiritual Exercises ( Latin : Exercitia spiritualia ), composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations , contemplations , and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola , a 16th-century Spanish Catholic priest, theologian , and founder of

1350-568: The Common Life, outlines the concepts of Modern Devotion, based on personal connection to God and the active showing of love towards Him (e.g., in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar or during mass ). It influenced a number of Saints such as Thérèse of Lisieux and Ignatius of Loyola . Though the members of Devotio Moderna also wrote in their native language, which was IJssellands , a written language which stood in between Middle Dutch and Middle Low German , The Imitation of Christ

1400-482: The Devotio Moderna entered Spain and were known in the early 16th century, and influenced the approaches to Christian meditation . Garcias de Cisneros the abbot of the abbey of Montserrat was influenced by the Devotio Moderna and his book Ejercitatorio de la vida spiritual , i.e. "exercises for the spiritual life" became one of the primary sources for the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola . Ignatius used both of these techniques in his Spiritual exercises:

1450-699: The English-speaking world. Puhl translated directly from studies based on the original manuscripts. After recovering from a leg wound incurred during the Siege of Pamplona in 1521, Ignatius made a retreat with the Benedictine monks at their abbey high on Montserrat in Catalonia , northern Spain , where he hung up his sword before the statue of the Virgin of Montserrat . The monks introduced him to

1500-525: The Sisters of the Common Life, and may eventually have become Third Order Franciscans or Augustinian nuns. Among male followers, the movement was given impetus after Groote's death in 1384 by Florens Radewyns (who had become a priest based on Groote's advice). He gathered like-minded laity and clergy into houses of communal living, eventually known as the Brethren of the Common Life , which numbered 41 by

1550-677: The authentic text of the Spiritual Exercises was undertaken at the initiative of the 19th century Jesuit Superior General Jan Roothaan , who himself published a translation and notes from the original manuscripts of St. Ignatius. The culmination of this work was a "critical edition" of the Exercises published by the Jesuit order in 1919, in the Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu series. A critical edition from 1847 that incorporates Roothaan's studies can be found online. An authoritative Spanish-Latin text, based on

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1600-510: The conversion of some of the houses of Brothers to this new form of religious life. By the end of the 15th century, there were almost 100 houses (84 of them male) in the Chapter of Windesheim. The movement faced opposition from clergy and laity at times, both during its early years under Groote's leadership and under Radewyns' later expansion. Much of this suspicion was similar to that directed at other new forms of religious devotion developed in

1650-457: The course of an academic year or through two consecutive summers. During this time, the Jesuit in formation, called a "tertian", will undertake an apostolic placement of teaching or service. The tertian will also return to study the history and foundational documents of the Society, study of ascetical theology, and undergo a thirty-day silent retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola . This organization-related article on

1700-466: The critical edition, was published in Turin by Marietti, in 1928. This was edited by the editor of the critical edition, and included convenient marginal numbers for every section, which can be found in all contemporary editions (and inline in this article). An English translation by Louis J. Puhl, S.J., published in 1951, has been widely used by Jesuits, spiritual directors, retreat leaders, and others in

1750-452: The crown jewel of the "devotio moderna", which however gave little grounding for an apostolic spirituality, an omission Ignatius later tried to supply in his Constitutions with its focus on labor in the Lord's vineyard. He also spent much of his time praying in a cave nearby , where he practiced rigorous asceticism. During this time Ignatius experienced a series of visions, and formulated

1800-400: The early 16th century. The majority of members in these communities were priests or candidates for the priesthood (clerics); the few lay brothers, the familiares , usually carried out the menial tasks of cooking, cleaning and tailoring. These communities did not take vows, but led an austere life of penance, prayer, spiritual reading and work, most often the copying of manuscripts. In addition,

1850-466: The fundamentals of his Spiritual Exercises . He would later refine and complete the Exercises when he was a student in Paris. The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius form the cornerstone of Ignatian Spirituality : a way of understanding and living one's relationship with God in the world as practiced by members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Although he originally designed them to take place in

1900-426: The habit and rule of St Augustine. Although living a cloistered life under vows, the new community kept many of the practices and spiritual values of the teaching of Groote and Radewyns. From 1395, a monastic union was set up around Windesheim; this new confederation grew quickly, and was joined both by older Augustinian communities (including, famously, Groenendaal in 1413), as well as new foundations, and sometimes

1950-614: The houses of the Brethren, including the founding homes of Deventer and Zwolle, had disappeared by 1600. In Roman Catholic areas, some of the brother houses and houses of the Windesheim Congregation survived until they fell victim to the secularisations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most important members of the Windesheim Congregation in Germany, St. Marienwolde in Frenswegen, held out until 1809 when

2000-525: The movement likely stem from the Congregation of Windesheim , though it has so far proved elusive to locate the precise origin of the movement. Broadly, it may be seen to rise out of widespread dissatisfaction with the Church (both in terms of the structure of the church and the personal lives of the clergy) in 14th-century Europe. Geert Groote (1340–1384) was among many in being highly dissatisfied with

2050-530: The next day. Ignatius observes that God "deals directly" with the well-disposed person and the director should not give advice to the retreatant that might interfere with God's workings. After the first week Ignatius recommends a form of contemplation which he calls "application of the senses." For this you “place yourself in a scene from the Gospels. Ask yourself, "What do I see? What do I hear? What do I feel, taste and smell?” The purpose of these Exercises

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2100-505: The one hand, various types of life for the female Devout were formed. Especially from the 1390s under the leadership of John Brinckerinck, one of Grote's early converts, the Sisters of the Common Life spread across the Netherlands and into Germany (with eventually about 25 houses in the former and about 60 houses in the latter). There were also many homes (mostly small and needy) inspired by the movement that were never formally attached to

2150-493: The period, such as beguine and beghard movements. Also, the strong resemblance to the monastic life of the daily routine among the Brethren provoked accusations from the mendicant orders that the Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life were starting a new mendicant order, in violation of the Fourth Lateran Council 's prohibition of new orders in 1215, and without taking vows. The simplicity and devotion of

2200-445: The setting of a secluded retreat , during which those undergoing the exercises would be focused on nothing other than the Exercises , Ignatius also provided a model in his introductory notes for completing the Exercises over a longer period without the need of seclusion. The Exercises were designed to be carried out while under the guidance of a spiritual director , but they were never meant only for monks or priests: Ignatius gave

2250-502: The spiritual exercises of Garcias de Cisneros , which were based in large part on the teachings of the Brothers of the Common Life , the promoters of the " devotio moderna ". From Montserrat, he left for Barcelona but took a detour through the town of Manresa , where he eventually remained for several months, continuing his convalescence at a local hospital. During this time he discovered The Imitation of Christ of Thomas à Kempis ,

2300-493: The state of the Church and what he perceived as the gradual loss of monastic traditions and the lack of moral values among the clergy. He sought to rediscover certain pious practices. Devotio Moderna began as a lay movement; around 1374, Groote turned his parental house in Deventer into a hostel for poor women who wished to serve God. Though similar to beguine houses, this hostel, and later communities of what came to be called

2350-403: The state officially dissolved it. The last canon, Gerhard Tobbe, left Frenswegen in 1815. Four cornerstones of the Brethren of the Common Life and its associated devotio moderna were: There was a widely followed movement within the Devotio Moderna traditions that frowned upon pilgrimages. The Imitation of Christ (c. 1418), often attributed to Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471), a Brother of

2400-564: The time, and its great subsequent influence. In the early 15th century, even before the Protestant Revolution, Devotio Moderna was fading due to many Christians wanting more "pomp and ceremony in processions". In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the institutions of the Devotio Moderna declined rapidly. In Protestant territories, both the brother houses and the monasteries were dissolved. Most of

2450-501: The tradition of "methodical prayer" which arranged exercises day by day and week by week. Groote's On four Kinds of Matter for Meditation included mental imagery, as well as methodical approaches as an element of meditation. Centuries earlier, Hugh of Saint Victor and Guigo II had produced structured methods for Christian meditation , but their approaches were less systematic. The methodical approach of Devotio Moderna towards prayer and meditation found significant following within

2500-626: The work of Gerard Groote , and flourished in the Low Countries and Germany in the 15th century, but came to an end with the Protestant Reformation . It is most known today through its influence on Thomas à Kempis , the author of The Imitation of Christ , a book which has proved highly influential for centuries. This movement largely believed in austerity for Christians at every level, from clergy to layman, and many followers of Devotio Moderna frowned upon such things as church-led celebrations of certain events. The origins of

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