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Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues
by Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J.
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ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ (not to be confounded with his
canonized namesake, a Jesuit laybrother) was born at
Valladolid in 1526, entered the Society of Jesus in 1546,
and died 20 February, 1616. But for one visit to Rome,
where he sat in the Fifth General Congregation of the
Society, he spent his whole life in Spain, teaching Moral
Theology, governing a College as Rector, acting as Master
of Novices and Spiritual Father and composing this work.
It came out in three parts, all which appeared together
in 1609. Of its composition he tells us himself: "It
being the custom in our Society for an Exhortation to be
addressed to the Community at least every fortnight, and
I having been engaged in that office for more than forty
years, addressing as well the novices as their Seniors in
Religion, I have gathered together much matter which my
Superiors thought it would be for the service of God for
me to revise and put in order."
The first complete English translation came out in 1699.
The anonymous translator has recently been identified as
Sir John Warner, S.J., Bart. Father Warner, most
unhappily, overlooking the original Spanish, translated
the French version of Regnier des Marais. Des Marais took
considerable liberties with the text in putting the
somewhat rugged Spanish into an elegant Louis Quatorze
garb. His loose renderings, and more besides, passed into
the English translation. Corrections were made in the
Kilkenny edition of 1809; but never to this day has the
baleful influence of Des Marais been wholly eliminated.
It has cost the present translator a world of toil and
trouble. In my veneration for the quaint old seventeenth
century version, still read amongst us, I endeavoured to
base my work upon that, instead of doing what I was
ultimately forced to do, translating straight from the
Spanish. The translation has been revised throughout by a
native Spaniard, who is also a competent English scholar.
To him I return my hearty thanks. I have borne in mind,
and beg my reader to bear in mind, that I am a Translator
only, and not an Editor.
It has been Rodriguez's good fortune in our day, laudari
a laudato viro. Writing to the Heads of Religious Orders
on the training of their young religious, His Holiness
Pius XI. says, 19 March, 1924 : "Most useful to read
through and study will be the writings of St. Bernard,
and of the Seraphic Doctor St. Bonaventure, as also of
Alphonsus Rodriguez. So far from the virtue and efficacy
of these works having failed and become exhausted by
lapse of time, it seems to have grown and increased"
(Acta Ap. Sedis, vol. 16, p. 142). The temptation has
been great to correct or explain here and there some of
the forced or even untenable applications of Holy
Scripture, and some of the stories which are historically
inaccurate. On reflection however we prefer to leave them
as they are; they profess to be but illustrations of the
lessons he desires to teach. Some day we may see an
historico-critical edition of this classic work; for the
Ejercicio de Perfeccion y Virtudes Cristianas is a
classic; and we present it as Rodriguez wrote it, our one
object being to produce an English translation as
accurate as possible.
It is presumed that no one will read Treatise xxiii. on
Manifestation of Conscience, in ignorance of the new
Canon Law, Canon 530 [1917 Code].
In references to the Psalms, since they are generally so
short, only the number of the Psalm, as, found in the
Vulgate, has been given.
Joseph Rickaby, S.J.
Easter, 1929
-------
Alonso (Alphonsus) Rodriguez[1] in the Catholic
Encyclopedia (1913).
Joseph Rickaby[2] in the Wikipedia.
Alonso Rodriguez' Ejercicio: A Neglected Classic[3] by
John Patrick Donnelly, S.J. (1980), via JSTOR.
References
1. http://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/alonso-rodriguez (link)
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rickaby (link)
3. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2540029 (link)
Date Published: 2014-03-18 16:23:40
Identifier: PPCV-Manresa
Item Size: 1119460497
Language: eng
Media Type: texts
# Topics
catholic
christian
religion
jesuit
spiritual
formation
manual
novice
asceticism
religious order
priest
brother
community
church
virtue
esteem of spiritual things
perfection of ordinary actions
purity of intention
union and fraternal charity
prayer
presence of God
examination of conscience
conformity to the will of God
mortification
modesty and silence
humility
temptations
inordinate affection for kindred
sadness and cheerfulness
The Passion
Holy Communion and Mass
Society of Jesus
religious state
vow of poverty
chastity
obedience
observance of rules
manifestation of conscience
fraternal correction
Ignatius of Loyola
ignatian
spirituality
saints
Desert Fathers
orthodoxy
Divine Grace
Holy Spirit
discernment
spiritual exercises
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