A RECOMMENDATION BY OUR REV. FATHER PROVINCIAL
Rev. Dear Father:
It gives me pleasure to say a few words in praise of the new book of Fr. Charles Coppens on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Any new power that will help us to use these spiritual arms of St. Ignatius more effectively deserves the hearty approval of every Jesuit. The volume is intended for the use of Ours only, and will be found of great service in conducting retreats or in giving the Triduums that take place twice a year before the renovation of vows.
The customary meditations are well arranged, are solid, and at the same time practical. The points are proposed very clearly so as to be readily remembered.
I bespeak for this volume the good will of all of Ours, and trust it may be of great help to a more effective giving of the exercises and be in the hands of all.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
A. J. Burrowes, S.J.
PREFACE
The Text of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, as translated into English from the Spanish Autograph, and edited for private circulation by Rev. John Morris, S. J., is printed in a small volume of only 125 pages. That little work contains all that the Saint composed in the Grotto of Manresa, and he never afterward wrote any additions to the text. But in explaining his Exercises to his first companions, and to others who made the retreat under his direction, he would adapt the details to their characters and the various circumstances. His followers did the same, without writing further additions or commentaries on the original text; they followed in their practice the traditional method as it had come to them from their saintly founder.
In the course of time, as was natural, considerable departures from the first process took place, some of which induced the danger of gradually losing the very spirit of the original Exercises. Among the learned men of our Society who labored most successfully to check such tendency, one of the most distinguished was the Father General John Roothaan, who in 1834 addressed a circular letter to all his subjects, earnestly warning them against this peril. At the same time he furnished them a masterly work on the original Spanish and Latin texts, which he accompanied with a most valuable commentary.