FOREWORD
Most people
visualize saints in niches on altars or on pedestals in church. They are as
colourful as they come, with shining haloes. Their demeanour and gestures evoke
public devotion. Their popularity lies in the favours received through their
intercession than in the inspiration they offer through their heroic lives of
faith and commitment. They tend to remain as statues, frozen in time, rather
than real-life figures.
In the
Society, all Jesuits will have read the “lives” of our saints at least once
through the novitiate. For some the reading was a mere formality on the
time-table. The simplified biographies were often too romantic to be convincing,
or too dense to absorb. At recreation we recalled anecdotes or joked about an
odd saintly behaviour. And since we were instructed to choose a “role-model”, we
zoomed in on one of our three popular “boy saints” – Aloysius, Berchmans,
Stanislaus – for worthy emulation.
How many Jesuits, I wondered
found it important or necessary to re-read the “Lives of saints” in later years?
Perhaps some do recall a few pious facts, at least about the more popular saints
on their feast days. After publishing “Profiles on Holiness – Brief
Biographies of Jesuit Saints” (2003),
I realized that there still is interest in our saints, but many of our
“extraordinary” saints remain in the shadows.
After
completing the manuscript of “Profiles on Holiness”, I was drawn into
deep reflection. I had observed that all our saints were exemplary men of
their times. Tracing their histories, I found a consistency in how they
interpreted Ignatian values, expressed the essence of the Spiritual Exercises,
and lived out the spirit of the Magis, as contemplatives in action, with a
preferential option for the poor and marginalized – for the greater glory of
God. They were dynamic men, far removed from their painted images that we are
accustomed to see on pedestals. Our 51 saints and 150 blessed were, men of their
times, no doubt, but their lives offer inspiration for men of all time. Their
spirit is still alive.
Fr General
Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, after perusing the copy of “Profiles in Holiness”
that I had presented him, wrote: “It was a book such a
s this that
God chose to transform a soldier seeking earthly glory into a Saint who founded
a whole army to live and to work for the greater glory of God. May this book,
which presents our Saints in the most practical way, not only enrich our
liturgies, but also inspire our young people to heights of heroism and sanctity,
making the Good News of Jesus Christ come alive in today’s generation and into
the future.”
Some time ago I had completed
the manuscript of the Jesuit Supplement to the Missal. It included a few
lines about our saints on their feast days. The draft was sent to Rome for approval by the
Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship. In the meantime, Fr General issued a
new Jesuit Liturgical Calendar which comes into effect from Advent
2013.
While re-arranging my manuscript to keep things ready for publication as soon as
we get the official text from Rome, it struck me to prepare a new Lives of
Jesuit Saints that would not be as bulky as “Profiles”, or as succinct as the
introductions I have in the Missal. The outcome is Saints Without Paint.
This
handbook contains biographies of Jesuit saints, arranged according to the
revised Liturgical Calendar of the Society of Jesus .By “saints” we include our
“Blessed”, who are just a step away from canonization, and nothing will change
in their biographies except the title.
The
biographies are comprehensive but concise, and inspirational more than
informative. The saints are revealed in their stark reality. They do not appear
as painted statues on pedestals, but colourful and dynamic human beings, hearts
throbbing with unconditional love. There are also short essays on other feasts
of the Society.
Saints Without Paint
is user-friendly and straight-forward. It takes only a few minutes to go through
each biography. The purpose of this book is to help you discover that our saints
are people you can relate to. Like St Ignatius, you, too, may discover sparks in
them to kindle a fire within you.
“SAINTS WITHOUT PAINT”?
In the early years of this
millennium I decided to write a book on the biographies of Jesuit saints. I was
expecting to collect an array of haloed men who would fuel my zeal for prayer
and penance. But I was taken for a ride – literally! I had to traverse
precarious paths, up and down menacing peaks, paddle boats made of skin,
confront cannibals and animals, brave scorching sun and wintry winds, get soaked
in mud… you get the picture!
Most of the anecdotes in the lives of our saints, couched in the idiom of their
times, could easily be catalogued under modern-sounding labels: Evangelization,
Dialogue, Fight for Justice, Option for the Poor, Liberation Theology, Social
Apostolate, Lay Collaboration, Outreach to refugees and social outcastes,
Evangelization among the high castes, Ecumenism… Mass-media and Communications,
Networking.
Incredible? Anyone with a perceptive eye can tell that our saints are not all
plaster and paint, and everything quaint, but men strong as steel, hearts filled
with love and zeal! They were “Men for others”. They kindled fires, explored
geographical and spiritual frontiers, served the marginalized, the oppressed,
the poorest of the poor. They were ecology-conscious, catalogued flora and
fauna, and preserved natural habitats. They lived inculturated lives and
enhanced cultures different from their own. Our saints were pioneers in a
variety of fields. They lived out their vision and mission, sans labels!! AMDG!
What I found most amazing was the lucidity by which their tales were told. None
of them stood on pedestals, while many of them walked barefoot in the streets.
They shunned the sheen of their haloes to expose their traumas, travails, and
trials. Though some were revered as holy men, there were many others who had to
face jealousy, rejection, lack of cooperation or sympathy from their own
community, or the Superiors, or their priestly fraternity. Some of them kept
“spiritual diaries” which revealed their interior struggles with temptations in
the sexual or spiritual fields. No paint there, but bare-bodied exposures. I
have highlighted these by indenting the relevant paragraphs.
They were heroic, iron-willed, fearless, uncompromising men, both young and
aged. They looked into the eyes of their tormentors with compassion and
forgiveness before their own eyes were gouged out. They joked with their hangmen
at the time of death. They did not dither under excruciating torments but sang
praises to the Lord – not because they were crazy (though they were occasionally
thought to be so), but because they were committed to God’s will. They were men
on fire.
An outstanding characteristic of each and every one of these holy Jesuits was
their uncompromising attachment to the Society. All acknowledged their
indebtedness to it, several expressed their unworthiness of belonging to it.
Several faced internal conflicts, with superiors or within their own community –
jealousy, opposition, interference – but they never lost faith in the Society or
in the mission given them. Some were not given ministries of their choice, or
preferred something else, or even felt frustrated, but persevered till the end
nevertheless. They each provide us insights on how to live out our vocation to
this least Society! They model for us what it means in practice to “live under
the banner of the Cross”, to follow Christ “clearly, nearly, dearly”, to have
true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. While many have a rough exterior – hard on
themselves so as to remain firm on their convictions and mission – they
developed tender, loving, compassionate hearts for others, especially the
downtrodden and dejected.
Every saint – believe it or not – has some deep message for us even today – only
if we are prepared to listen and learn with open minds. There is no paint to
cover up their lights and shadows. They appear as they are, with all their
saintliness and humanity.
Updated April 2014
SAINTS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
1. St Joseph de Anchieta
2. St Robert Bellarmine
3. St John Berchmans
4. St Jacques Berthieu
5. St Andrew Bobola
6. St Francis Borgia
7. St John de Brito
8. St Peter Canisius
9. St Peter Claver
10. St Claude La Colombiere
11. St Peter Faber
12. St Aloysius Gonzaga
13. St Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga
14. St Ignatius of Loyola
15. St Francis Jerome
16. St Stanislaus Kostka
17. St John Ogilvie
18. St Joseph Pignatelli
19. St Bernardine Realino
20. St John Francis Regis
21. St Alphonsus Rodriguez
22. St José María Rubio
23. St Francis Xavier
China
24. St Modeste Andlauer
25. St Paul Denn
26. St Rémy Isoré
27. St Lèo Ignatius Mangin
England and Wales
28. St Edmund Arrowsmith
29. St Alexander Briant
30. St Edmund Campion
31. St Philip Evans
32. St Thomas Garnet
33. St David Lewis
34. St Henry Morse
35. St Nicholas Owen
36. St Robert Southwell
37. St Henry Walpole
Japan
38. St John de Goto
39. St James Kisai
40. St Paul Miki
New France (Canada/North America)
41. St John de Brebeuf
42. St Noël Chabanel
43. St Anthony Daniel
44. St Charles Garnier
45. St Rene Goupil
46. St Isaac Jogues
47. St Gabriel Lalemant
Paraguay
48. St John del Castillo
49. St Roch González
50. St Alphonsus Rodriguez
Poland
51. St Melchior Grodziecki
52. St Stephen Pongrácz
Non-Jesuits Collaborators
53. St Pedro Calungsod [Philippines]
54. St Jean de la Lande [N. America]
55. St Mark of Križevciz [Poland]
56. St Mary Zhu Wu [China]
There are 147 Blessed, including one Jesuit candidate.
