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Jesuit History, Tiruvadanai (2026)

23/12/2025

24 DECEMBER
CHASTE NUPTIALS OF OUR MOTHER AND ST. JOSEPH
The celebration of the marriage of Our Mother to St. Joseph has been kept for a long time as a festival in Sens, France. Their marriage took place on Mount Sion. Mary wore a beautiful
blue wedding dress which had been prepared for her by her relatives. St. Joseph in utter simplicity wore a long cloak and a robe of grey material. Many friends were at the wedding feast; also, some of Mary’s Temple teachers and school companions. When the celebration was over, Mary and Joseph left for their home in Nazareth; this home had been given to Mary by her parents as a part of her inheritance. Those who had not been able to attend the feast welcomed the new couple home. When these had departed, Mary was for the first time alone with Joseph. In deep humility Joseph spoke to Mary, “My dear spouse, although I am unworthy of you, I thank God that he has chosen me for your husband. Consider me your servant; what you want and I will do it.” Mary said, “My master I am fortunate that God has given me you as a husband, but I must tell you what is in my heart. Our Creator has manifested His mercy in planning that we serve Him together. I beg you help me fulfil the vow of chastity which I made to God. In all other things, I will be your servant.” With a look of joy, Joseph spoke freely, “Mary, my heart is glad to hear your feelings on this subject. When I was twelve years old, I made a like promise to God to serve Him in perpetual virginity. With His grace, I will be your faithful companion; I beg you to consider me chaste and pure.” Joseph continued his work as a carpenter. Each year Mary and Joseph renewed these promises and spent the anniversary day in prayer and recollection as much as they could. What a commemoration it must have been on the twenty-fourth of December, the eve of Christ’s birth!

23/12/2025

24 DEC SAINT OF THE DAY
THE TRADITION OF THE CRECHE
One common way today of transmitting the memory of the birth of Jesus is through the tradition of the creche. St. Francis Assisi is credited with having created the first creche in history. When Francis went to the Holy Land he had gone to Bethlehem and, bringing home with him the memory of the Town where the Saviour was born, he then reproduced the scene of the Nativity on the famous Christmas Eve in Greccio. Francis prepared a manger with hay, had an ox and a donkey brought there, and then had a Holy Mass celebrated in front of it, before a large crowd of people who had come from all over the region. His love for the Solemnity of Christmas and his devotion to the image of the Nativity found its highest inspiration in the Mystery of the Incarnation, where he recognized the humbleness and poverty of the birth of the Messiah. Francis saw this, the renewal of oneself in the sacrament of the Eucharist, where Jesus descends each day through the hands of the priest. On Christmas Eve, in 1223, Francis prepared the Eucharistic celebration, requesting assistance from his friend Giovanni Velita to represent the scene of the Child’s birth in Bethlehem. The Holy Night came and Francis along with the Friars and several faithful went to the place where the manger had been set up with hay, a donkey and an ox. Some sweet words were preached by Francis, and then a vision of the Child appeared on the hay. The miraculous event stirred up the animals and moved the hearts of many who felt themselves touched by what had happened. Through this action the saint wanted to make it easy for the faithful to understand the Mystery of the Incarnation.

22/12/2025

23 DECEMBER
OUR MOTHER OF ARDILLIERS, ANJOU, FRANCE
Our Mother of Ardilliers has a statue, a fountain and a Church dedicated to Our Mother at Saumur in Anjou, France. The fountain was said to have been used in ancient times for pagan sacrifices. Crowds of people are attracted to the shrine and its name is illustrious throughout France, for there Our Mother cures many maladies for her devotees. The image represents Mary in pity holding in her arms her Divine Son, lifeless, His head supported by an angel. It is sometimes called Our Mother of Pity. The miracle wrought in connection with this image caused the er****on of a small arch above the spring. The waters were found to have healing powers. In 1553 a Chapel was built and dedicated. Devotion to Our Mother became widespread as many miracles occurred.

22/12/2025

23 DEC SAINT OF THE DAY
B NICHOLAS FACTOR (1520-1583)
Nicholas was born in Valencia, Spain. As a child, he already manifested signs of his future sanctity. He fasted three times a week and gave the food he did not touch to the poor. His father was busy making plans for his son but Nicholas saw the path of God’s commandments and he resolved to enter the Order of St Francis. After his studies, he was ordained a priest and sent to preach and convert the Mohammedans. With the blessing of obedience, Nicholas cheerfully took up the task assigned him, and he was rewarded with remarkable success. Despite his austerities his complexion always remained ruddy, and he was affable and cheerful in his association with others. God permitted him to read the hearts of men, and on several occasions, he showed them the seriousness of their sins, and dissuaded them from carrying out their godless design. He also had great success in various positions in the order itself, as novice master, guardian, definitor, and confessor to the Poor Clares of Madrid and Valencia. Rich in merits, Nicholas was finally called home to receive his heavenly reward. Because of the great crowds who gathered to view the body, it lay in state for ten days in the Church. A pleasant odour emanated from it, and it remained as flexible as the body of a living person. Three years after his death, King Phillip II of Spain wished to see it again, and it was found to be still incorrupt. Because of the many miracles wrought at his tomb, Pope Pius VI beatified Nicholas Factor in 1786.

22/12/2025

TODAY IN SJ HISTORY
23 DEC 1758
Sebastian Jose de Carvalho, ascending Inquisitor-General ordered a strict search for arms and ammunitions at the Jesuit College in Lisbon.
Portugal Assistancy was composed of seven provinces (Portugal, Brazil, Maranhao, Goa, Malabar, Japan, and China), being the largest and most scattered administrative territory under Jesuit jurisdiction. The Jesuits were especially committed to the missions overseas and to science and colleges, being responsible for the education of about twenty thousand students in continental Portugal alone. During the anti-Jesuit campaign, hundreds of printed and manuscript works portraying the Jesuits as sinful, ambitious, and dishonest were circulated all over Europe. The most important and most widely diffused books published in this period were the anti-Jesuit catechisms. Published in 1757, on the feast day of St. Francis Xavier, accused the Jesuits of disobeying the Treaty of Madrid, and of creating a powerful republic that comprised thirty-one villages and more than one hundred thousand indigenous, enslaved for commercial motives. Despite being published as an anonymous work was authored by Pombal, who guaranteed its massive circulation both in Europe and in the Portuguese empire. Shortly after the royal assassination attempt in 1758, Jose de Carvalho printed a thirty-two-page booklet accusing the Jesuits of being morally relaxed and of supporting tyranny and ordered a strict search for arms and ammunitions at the Jesuit College in Lisbon. These two catechisms were especially relevant in the construction of the Portuguese anti-Jesuit myth, and the implication in the royal assassination attempt ended up being the proximate cause for the Jesuit expulsion in 1759.

21/12/2025

22 DECEMBER
OUR MOTHER OF CHARTRES, FRANCE (1935)
Our Mother of Chartres is a beautiful Gothic style Cathedral located in Beauce, France. The student’s pilgrimage to Chartres started in 1935 with a group of fifteen young men and girls of the Sorbonne, who sacrificed their Pentecostal holidays in prayer to the Holy Spirit and to Mary. They marched to the shrine in the Chartres pilgrimage and prayed in common as did their predecessors. The next year there were 36 who went, and in the following year 150. The numbers increased, until in 1948 about 6,500 students formed their line of march to Mary. In making the Chartres pilgrimage, these young people help to give France a new birth of devotion to Mary; something new and spotless has been born as in the warmth of Bernadette, the Cure of Ars, Vincent de Paul re-lighted in the hearts of young moderns. France must now place her hope in youth, the youth of France and the youth of the Church, through Our Mother of Chartres.

21/12/2025

22 DEC SAINT OF THE DAY
B JACOPONE OF TODI (1230-1306)
Jacomo was born in the northern Italian city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and married a pious, generous lady named Vanna. His young wife took it upon herself to do penance for the worldly excesses of her husband. One day Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo, attended a public tournament. She was sitting in the stands with the other noble ladies when the stands collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her shaken husband was even more disturbed when he realized that the penitential girdle she wore was for his sinfulness. On the spot, he vowed to radically change his life. Jacomo divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Secular Franciscan Order. Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as a fool. After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked to be received into the Order of Friars Minor. Because of his reputation, his request was initially refused. He composed a beautiful poem on the vanities of the world, an act that eventually led to his admission into the Order in 1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance, declining to be ordained a priest. At the age of 68, Jacopone was excommunicated and imprisoned. Although he acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was not absolved and released until Benedict XI became Pope five years later. He had accepted his imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of his life more spiritual than ever, weeping “because Love is not loved.” During this time, he wrote the famous Latin hymn, Stabat Mater, Sorrowful Mother. On Christmas Eve in 1306, Jacopone felt that his end was near. Like St. Francis Assisi, Jacopone welcomed “Sister Death”. When he finished the song , he died as the priest intoned the “Gloria” from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From the time of his death, Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a Saint.

21/12/2025

TODAY IN SJ HISTORY
22 DEC 1642
At London, the martyrdom of Fr. Thomas Holland (1600-1642). After his sentence, he declared himself a Priest and a Jesuit and said that he was ready to lay down his life 100 times and more for the Faith. He gave two gold crowns to his ex*****oner.
Holland, the son of a landed gentleman, was born in Sutton in the County of Lancashire. He was educated in the College of St. Omer, France, and Valladolid, Spain in 1621. He made his religious profession into the Society of Jesus at Watten, Flanders, Belgium and ordained in 1624 at Liege, Belgium. He was Parish Priest at Ghent, Prefect of St. Omer and Spiritual co-adjutor till 1634. He returned to England in 1635 to minister to convert Catholics, living on the run and using false names due to government persecution. He was skilled in disguises, spoke flawless French, Spanish, and Flemish, and could fool many. Arrested in London in 1642 for the crime of priesthood. He refused to cooperate with the trial proceedings, was convicted of being a Priest, and sentenced to die. While awaiting ex*****on, he ministered to other prisoners. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1929.

20/12/2025

21 DECEMBER
OUR MOTHER OF ST. ACHEUL, AMIENS, FRANCE
The Church containing the shrine of Our Mother of Acheul, was located near Amiens. Saint Firmin converted many to the True Faith and baptized three thousand men. The early Church, built around the year 300, contained the remains of the martyred saint Acheul. The shrine of Our Mother of Acheul is noteworthy for a singular miracle of an apparition which occurred during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The celebrant, after the consecration, saw a hand appear from within a luminous cloud and the hand of Christ take the Sacred Host and drop it into the chalice. Some of the faithful present
likewise witnessed the same thing; a certain sceptic was brought to his knees in humble acceptance
of the fact that the Holy Sacrifice is truly the same as that of Calvary.

20/12/2025

TODAY IN SJ HISTORY
21 DEC 1577
The year’s mind of Fr. Juan de Polanco, SJ (1517-1577) Secretary to the Society in its first years, very dear to St. Ignatius. He was the most influential in the drawing up of the Constitutions.
Polanco was Spaniard, born in 1517 in Burgos, in an esteemed and wealthy noble family. Still very young he went to Paris for the sake of study, then to Rome. There his father provided for him a respected position at the Vatican so that he could afford a luxurious life. After three months he made Spiritual Exercises with Ignatius. He gave up his position and changed the splendid palace of the Pope for the miserable ramshackle dwelling of the Jesuits near S. Mary dei Astalli. At the age of 24, he joined the Society of Jesus. His father was shocked. It came to the breaking off his connection with the parents' house. For several years there was no correspondence. Never again he visited the dwelling of his relatives in Burgos. After a longer time it came to reconciliation. By his talents and virtues Polanco won the complete confidence of the Order's Founder, but also large influence on the internal structure of the Society of Jesus up to the fourth Generalate. In 1547, Ignatius made him to his Secretary. He was nine years long the right hand of the Order's Founder, who gave him his whole confidence. Also under the two successors of Ignatius, i.e. Fr. Diego Laynez and Fr. Francis Borgia, Polanco remained for further 17 years Secretary - until 1573. By his skill and reliability, his erudition and knowledge of languages, his persistent working power, and his correct and loyal kind he rendered the Order invaluable services. To the Spanish written constitutions, Polanco made a Latin translation which was then examined and recognized in 1558 by the First General Congregation.
The General had four assistants. One of them was the General's secretary. Polanco had held that post also under Laynez and Borgia. To relieve the General, an aid was given to him, a so-called admonitor. That office too had been entrusted to Polanco during the Generalate of Laynez and Borgia. Soon after Borgia's death Polanco was replaced as Secretary by Antonio Possevino. Now he found time for his literary work. A biography of Ignatius was due, and above all the completion of the indispensable reading for the early history of the Society of Jesus. These detailed annual reports cover the years 1537 to 1556 in six strong volumes. The untiring activity was hard on his health. The attacks of fever increased, coughs and disturbed circulations in the legs became persistent. He died on December 21st 1576.

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