By Therese Fink Meyerhoff and Tracey Primrose Henry Nolf grew up in Belgium hearing stories of Fr. Peter J. De Smet. Father De Smet was a renowned Jesuit missionary whose impact is still felt a century and a half after his death, but Henry’s stories don’t come from history books; they were family lore. Father …
Following in the Footsteps of a Trailblazing Jesuit Read More »
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Jesuits’ arrival in St. Louis in 1823, historian Ellen Skerrett has uncovered stories of “Ours,” some that have been forgotten, others never known. The Missouri Jesuits’ encounter with American life in all its complexity is a transnational adventure story. Thousands of Jesuit priests and brothers devoted their …
Recovering the Stories of “Ours” Since 1823: Missouri Province Legacy Read More »
By Ignatius Plato Megan Gilmore is passionate about history and the role archives can play in preserving it. With an academic background in both journalism and history, she finds rediscovering lost bits of the past an invaluable tool for storytelling. Gilmore recently completed an internship with the Jesuit Archives and Research Center (JARC), where her …
Preserving the Story of Fr. Anderson E. Bakewell and the Society of Jesus Read More »
Five years is the blink of an eye in the nearly 500-year life of the Society of Jesus. It feels like just yesterday that the province announced the opening of the Jesuit Archives & Research Center in St. Louis, but in fact, the JARC, as it is known familiarly, opened to the public in April …
Jesuit Archives & Research Center Marks Fifth Anniversary Read More »
Fr. Ed’s gentle guidance helped Bill maintain his spiritual sobriety — the interior stability he needed as he struggled to keep up with the demands that AA’s growing popularity placed upon him.
by Fred Kramer Fred Kramer is a former counselor and teacher at De Smet Jesuit High School. In the following article, he offers a bit of conjecture about a piece of fiction that a young Ignatius of Loyola might have read. Most people associated with the Jesuits know the story of Ignatius’s conversion after suffering …
The Wounded Ignatius: A Saint Empowered by the Secular Read More »
By Therese Fink Meyerhoff “Since Maria …” It’s a phrase one hears often when talking to people on Puerto Rico, much like “before Katrina” when speaking to New Orleanians. Life on Puerto Rico is marked as “before Maria” and “since Maria,” referring to the Category 4 hurricane that struck the island on Sept. 20, 2017. …
Five Years after Hurricane Maria: Recalling the Impact on Puerto Rico Read More »
By Jerry Duggan On June 29, 1922, the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus opened a novitiate in Grand Coteau, La., a tiny town in southwestern Louisiana, replacing one in Georgia that had been destroyed by fire seven months prior. A century later, Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province (which was …
By Jerry Duggan Nearly 500 years after the founding of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier are widely revered and respected. It wasn’t always so. This March 12 marks the 400th anniversary of both saints’ canonizations. It turns out there’s a story there, one I had the privilege of hearing …
Papal Politics and the Canonization of Ignatius and Francis Xavier Read More »