Saint Cicero and the Jesuits

Over the past decade various historians have examined the consequences of Ignatius Loyola's decision to involve his newly approved Society of Jesus in various educational enterprises on the order's self-identity and ministries. The first Jesuits emphasized the importance of spiritual conversation, preaching, and reconciliation, horizontally and vertically. In this monograph Dr Maryks argues that Jesuit interest in classical learning, especially the works of Cicero, a consequence of...
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Over the past decade various historians have examined the consequences of Ignatius Loyola's decision to involve his newly approved Society of Jesus in various educational enterprises on the order's self-identity and ministries. The first Jesuits emphasized the importance of spiritual conversation, preaching, and reconciliation, horizontally and vertically. In this monograph Dr Maryks argues that Jesuit interest in classical learning, especially the works of Cicero, a consequence of their roles as teachers, prompted them to re-examine their own concepts of conscience and confession, leading them to increasingly abandon traditional concepts of putting the demands of the law above the calls of their own conscience. Within a generation Jesuits had abandoned the tutioristic approach which they had inherited. By integrating concepts of theology and classical humanism, this book offers a compelling account of how diverse forces could act upon a religious order to alter the central beliefs they held and promulgated.