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  • Ignatius of Loyola, Letters and Instructions
  • Joseph A. Munitiz S.J.
Ignatius of Loyola, Letters and Instructions. Edited by Martin E. Palmer, S.J.; John W. Padberg, S.J.; and John L. McCarthy, S.J. [Series I: Jesuit Primary Sources in English Translations, No. 23.] (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources. 2006. Pp. xxxii, 732. $40.95 clothbound, ISBN 978-1-880-81067-0; $30.50 paperback, ISBN 978-1-880-81068-9.)

The number of letters written or commissioned by St. Ignatius of Loyola is enough to daunt any translator: probably some 7000 exist, and 6800 have already been given a critical edition in the Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu. Moreover, as they were written in more than one language (mainly Spanish and Italian, but also in Latin) and often in a convoluted style—Ignatius seems to have thought in subclauses—only selections have appeared in translations. Significant editions are Maurice Giuliani’s Ignace de Loyola, Écrits (Paris, 1991), which contains 231 letters, and Hugo Rahner’s Saint Ignatius Loyola, Letters to Women (Freiburg, 1956), which includes eighty Ignatian letters written to women and a number of replies.

With the 369 letters selected and translated by the late Martin Palmer, the Institute of Jesuit Sources provides the widest overview so far of this essential source. John Padberg refers in his introduction to the great variety of topics apparent in the corpus of letters: “personal, political, social, educational, financial, and religious concerns” (p. vii), requiring alterations of tone adapted to the social classes addressed (from popes and kings to female friends). He concludes: “What has been assembled here comes with the hope that they will be an aid to understanding Ignatius in his undoubted complexity and his equally undoubted greatness” (p. xiv). Perhaps equally striking is the light these letters shed on the early Jesuit order. It is the letters of spiritual direction and friendship that predominate, along with many addressed to Jesuits that illustrate the cura personalis and the pastoral policies cultivated by Ignatius. Very striking are his thoughts on education.

However, readers should not turn to this volume hoping to pursue any particular line of investigation with any depth: obvious examples are Ignatius’s [End Page 591] relations with women (only 33 of the letters selected by Rahner can be found here), his financial dealings, and his social preoccupations. Missing from the volume is any reference to Bertrand’s groundbreaking study La politique de S. Ignace (Paris, 1985). This study of the correspondence of Ignatius is largely devoted to the latter’s appraisal of the social world of his time; it lists 142 letters dealing with financial matters and includes only six in the volume. However, there is a good selection of the letters classified by Bertrand as théoriques: little treatises dealing with a variety of problems (nearly half of the 100 listed by Bertrand are translated).

At the death of Palmer, John Padberg, with the help of John McCarthy, took over the editing of this work; he added helpful introductions to the letters, and McCarthy compiled an excellent index. In some ways this volume can only be a pointer to further work, but, like so many signposts, it will remain indispensable.

Joseph A. Munitiz S.J.
Oxford, UK
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