open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/b.edu.145.129

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/93861

Exercise in the Early Jesuits’ School : Habit Formation and Virtue of Obedience in their Constitutions (1558) and Plan of Studies (1599)

日本語

ἄσκησις

2024-12-25

Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University

Bulletin of Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University

145

129-145

Jesuits’ spiritual exercises have been regarded as the culmination of the discipline since ancient philosophy by some philologists (e.g., Paul Rabbow). In the context of the history of education, many scholars have argued that the Jesuits contributed to the founding of modern schools (e.g., Philippe Ariès). This article intends to grasp these two aspects of the early Jesuit, which have tended to be analyzed separately in previous studies, in a coherent manner by focusing on the Latin words exercitium or exercitatio. This attempt also responds to the following question: What exercise actually is, and how is it integrated into modern schools? The treated texts are Spiritual Exercises (1548) by Ignatius de Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuits; Constitutions (1558), which set out the main rules of the Jesuits; and Plan of Studies (1599), which established the regulations of their schools. The ancient Greek words ἄσκησις and μελέτη were used in the context of habit formation in the texts of Plato, Pseudo-Plutarch, and Clement of Alexandria. Exercitium was not only a Latin translation of those words but also their equivalent, and it was carried over into the writings of Cicero and Thomas Aquinas. At the same time, the monastic concept of exercitium, which was based on obedience to a superior, was combined with habit formation through Modern Devotion. Ignatius de Loyola inherited this tradition, and in his Spiritual Exercises, he compiled the arts of Christian exercises into a detailed and rational program for structuring the life of novices. Next, the Constitutions and Ignatius’ Letters were analyzed. It must be emphasized that the Jesuits repeatedly assert that their distinctive virtue is that of obedience (virtus obedientiae). Jesuits’ educational works were conducted with the pastoral aim of helping the souls (animas juvare), and exercitium or exercitatio was defined as a means of forming Christian habits (Christiani digni mores), aiming to acquire the virtue of obedience. Finally, the Plan of Studies (1599) clearly states that it aimed to train young people with flexible minds toward Christian habits. By analyzing the various types of exercitatio centered on the exercise of memory in the Plan of Studies from this perspective, it is suggested that an extremely detailed curriculum was organized with the aim of instructing students in virtue of obedience. It can be said that this study has paved the way for the historiography of education as the arts of exercises.

紀要論文

Version of Record

1882-1669

AA12219452