Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues

906 Pages·1929·19.932 MB·English

by  Alphonsus Rodriguez, Joseph Rickaby

PRACTICE OF PERFECTION AND
CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
JOHN GR~FFIN, ROEHAMPTON

FATHER ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ, S.].
PRACTICE OF PERFECTION
AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
tf /- ~/~ {~t· ;-
. BY 1/11.-
~
ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ
.au>
!/
OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS I
. DONE INTO ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST
TIME DIRECT FROM THE SPANISH
BY
JOSEPH RICKABY
OF THE SAME SOCIETY
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME ONE
TREATISES I-XI
LONDON. THE MANRESA PRESS: ROEHAMPTON. 1929
IMPRIMI POTEST:
HENRICUS KEANE, S.].,
Praep. Provo Angliae.
LONDINI, DIE II FEBRUARII, 19~9.
IMPRIMATUR:
+
FRANCISCUS,
Episcopus Menevensis.
13 FEB., 1929.
" There is no doctrine, however·good in itself, that may not
be made bad use of by one who does not know how to apply
it properly."
No hay doctrina par buena que sea de que no pueda uno
usar mal 5i no la sabe aplicar como conviene.
TR. viii.,CH. go. /1"'~~-IZ
L
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
TRANSLATOR'S PREPACE
i\.LPHO~SUS RODRIGUEZ (not to be confounded with his
~anoni~~d namesake, a Jesuit laybrother) ~~~~9I!!=c,~
YCillCicl01idi~152~, entered th~Society?f,jesus in 1546,
~nd di~d;-;>Ir~b~~~~EYl"=!§!9~,,~'B~tfor~C:;~~O'~srt'to Rome,
where he sat in the Fifth General Congregation of the
Society, h~~~P~}2!~hi,§"whol~.lif~!!_!_~P§lj.g,~ tea~Jling Moral
Theology, gov~.rni9-La..,,,CQUeg~a§.EectQx,,.,~.£!h2g_a~m"
M_e:ts,.!er of Novices atld ~pir!.!t:1a)"fatherand 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 Comnlunity at least every fort-
S
night, and I having been engaged in that office for more /L
~...r
than forty years, addressing as well the novices as their
Seniors in Religion, I have gathered together much I~C
matter which my Superiors thought it would be for the
service of God for me to revise and put in order."
The first cotnplete 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 th~
text in putting the somewhat rugged Spanish into an
elegant Louis Quatorze garb. His loose renderings, and
more besides, passed into the English translation. Cor
rections 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. Inmyvenerationfor thequaint
old seventeenth century version, still read amongst us, I
x TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
endeavoured to base my work upon that, instead ofdoing
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 inourday,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 Scrip-~~
ture, and some of the stories which ar,e historically in-~~
accurate. On reflection however we prefer to leave them
as they are; they profess to be but illustrations of the
lesson.s 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.
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•