A General Theory

of the Jesuit Educational

Leadership

PUG - Diploma in Leadership and

Management, 21 novembre 2020
Jesuit Leadership
Jesuit Education
Jesuit education, both its
theory and practice are
rooted in the life and
spiritual vision of Ignatius
of Loyola, founder
(together with a group of
friends in the Lord) of the
Society of Jesus.
 Basic Sources of Jesuit Heritage
To begin to understand
the mind and heart of
Ignatius and of the founding
fathers, we must turn
to a number of basic sources:
 The Autobiography
 The Spiritual Exercises
 Letters
 Spiritual Diary
where that spiritual vision
is distilled and articulated.
Immanence and Instrumentality
 Two concepts of Ignatian spirituality strongly influences
Jesuit vision: immanence and instrumentality

 The idea of the immanence of God in creation leads

Ignatius to understand that it is through human
experience of the things of the world that God is found

 Thus, education is placed as a means to develop students'

consciousness of the end for which they were created

 The Ignatian perspective stresses that a career is not the

final purpose of human life. The prime relation is to God,
and all other things assume a necessarily instrumental
character in light of this, including education
 The Ideal of Jesuit Education
The ideal of Jesuit education
is simply the Christian ideal:
thus, Constitutions make
very clear that the Society
of Jesus is impelled to the
work of education from an
apostolic motive since it
believes that sound
schooling can conduct men
to salvation
 Epistemological
Options
The Ministry of Teaching
Jesuit Education

Spiritual Exercises
Cura personalis
GRATIS
Ignatian Pedagogy
PIETAS ET ERUDITIO
Basic Documents of the
educational vision (1)
The educational vision of
Ignatius was incarnated in
two basic documents:
The Constitutions of the
Society of Jesus
written by Ignatius himself
(1547-1551) and the
Ratio Studiorum
that was published in 1599
 The Ratio Studiorum
 The Ratio Studiorum of 1599
consists of 30 sets of rules
which cover every aspect of
administration and teaching in
a typical Jesuit institution

 Jesuit schools expanded

rapidly after the initial
foundation in Messina in 1548,
Ignatius saw a need for some
sort of uniformity. In many
regions of Europe, the Jesuits
had a virtual monopoly on
secondary education
 Characteristics of Jesuit education
according to the Ratio Studiorum
 The ultimate purpose of Jesuit
education to develop in the
individual a deep sense of love of
God and service to the neighbor
 An integration of the intellectual,
moral, and spiritual aspects of
education, to produce both solid
learning and Christian virtue
 A stress on formation rather than
on information, the development of
character as well as the
development of abiding skills and
habits of thinking
 A stress of method and order; students
are taken where they are, grounded and
drilled in fundamentals, and then
advanced in orderly progression to more
and more complex material
 Students are required to be active in
their own education
 An emphasis on the humanities
 An emphasis on developing eloquentia
perfeca or the ability:
 to think critically
 to speak forcefully
 to write persuasively and gracefully
Basic Documents of the
educational vision (2)
 Basic Documents of the
educational vision (3-4)
 The Characteristics of Jesuit Education, 1986
 Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach, 1993
 Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st
Century (2019)
FOR FURTHER READING ON jesED
 P.H. Konvelbach S.J., “Pietas et eruditio”, in Gregorianum (2004), 6-19
 an English summary is provided

 G. Codina, S.J., “A Century of Jesuit Education (1900-2000)”, in

Jesuits: Yearbook of the Society of Jesus, Rome 2000
 a web-file is provided

 V. Duminuco, S.J. (ed.), The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum: 400th Anniversary

Perspectives, New York 2000

 M. Tripole, S.J. (ed.), Promise Renewed: Jesuit Higher Education for a

New Millennium, Chicago 1999
Ignatian tools for a reading of our
times of change and live within it!

The principle of flexibility [Sp Ex 4]

Particular and Daily Exam [Sp Ex 24-43]
A typical Ignatian Insight on the dynamic of the wish