From Inspiration to Invention: Rhetoric in the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus (review)

Over the past twenty years, historians, prompted in part by John W. O’Malley’s The First Jesuits (Cambridge, MA, 1992), have explored the struggles of the first generation of Jesuits as they defined themselves and their role in early-modern Catholicism. Oddly, few historians have shown a comparable interest in the ordinances, rules, and decrees formulated by the same Jesuits in their juridical, canonical conceptualization of this self-understanding. Within a hundred years the succinct Formula of the Institute evolved into a multivolume collection of letters, briefs, bulls, ordinances, rules, and decrees. Such negligence becomes even more astonishing because the Institute of Jesuit Sources has made the Constitutions, Ratio studiorum, and the decrees of the general congregations more accessible in English translations. [May one hope that the different formulae and regulae will be translated before the classically educated generation passes away?] The same institute has published the only commentaries (in English translation) on the Constitutions, specifically the multivolume study by Antonio M. de Aldama, S.J. (1989–99), and Together for Mission: A Spiritual Commentary on the Constitutions of the Society (2001) by André de Jaer, S.J. Both authors, not surprisingly, were more interested in Jesuit understanding and appreciation of the Constitutions than with a historico-critical analysis. De Jaer, following in the venerable footsteps of Joseph de Guibert, S.J., claims a spiritual value for the Constitutions equal to that of the Spiritual Exercises. Indeed, de Jaer suggests the former may be more important for Jesuits because they are proper to the Society whereas the wider Ignatian family share in the Spiritual Exercises. In the monograph under review, the author proposes the perspective of the “academic discipline of spirituality” (p. 2) through the study of argumentation with a specific rhetorical objective.

J. Carolos Coupeau, S.J., wrote his doctoral thesis under the direction of O’Malley at the Weston School of Theology. Currently Coupeau lectures at the Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Gregorian University and edits the online journal Ignaziana. He employs disciplines such as spirituality, history, rhetoric (old and new), hermeneutics, and literary criticism, as he charts the movement from the inspiration behind the Constitutions to rhetorical invention of its audience. Certain themes will interest historians more than others—for example, the delineation of the role of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s secretary Juan de Polanco in the composition of the Constitutions; and the influence of four classic rules, St. Basil’s Asketikon, St. Augustine’s Praeceptum, St. Benedict’s Regula, and St. Francis of Assisi’s Regula et vita, on the Jesuit Constitutions. In a fascinating and important section on the history of the interpretation of the Constitutions, Coupeau posits three distinct phases: postfoundational (1558–1895) with apologetical, critical, and ascetical works; historical interpretation (1900–64); and spiritual interpretation (1964–present). The author’s linguistic abilities allow him to peruse classical Latin commentaries and twentieth-century vernacular tomes. We progress from “a sort of holy founder’s last will, the norm of ascetical life, a set of canons and regulations, and, only recently, as a concrete model for discernment in one’s life” (p. 62) as we move through the three periods.

Coupeau revised and distilled his thesis for this monograph. The finished product is not an easy read, with a density and preference for technical language often to the point of obfuscation. Nonetheless, the book merits attention, but readers should familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in the glossary. Without it, they could get lost amidst charts and diagrams.