Mens Nostra

Encyclical of Pope Pius XI

on the Promotion of the Spiritual Exercises
December 20, 1929
To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other
Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic
See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.
You all of you know, assuredly, Venerable Brethren, what
was Our mind andOur purpose when, at the beginning of the
year, We proclaimed to the wholeCatholic world an
extraordinary Jubilee to commemorate the anniversary of the
day on which, having received the consecration of the
priesthood, We offered the divine Sacrifice for the first time,
fifty years ago. For as We solemnly declared in the Apostolic
Constitution "Auspicantibus Nobis,"published on January 6th,
1929,(1) we were moved to this partly by the purpose of
calling Our beloved children, the great Christian household
entrusted to Our heart by the Heart of the most merciful
God, to share in the joy of their common father and to join
with us in rendering thanks to the Supreme Giver of all good.
But, besides this, we were moved by the sweet hope, which
pleased us greatly, that when with fatherly liberality we
unlocked the treasures of heavenly graces entrusted to our
dispensation, the Christian people would make use of this
happy opportunity to the strengthening of faith, to the
increase of piety and perfection, and the faithful reformation
of private and public morals in the most joyful fruit of peace
and pardon obtained from God, the peace of all severally and
of the whole society might be confidently expected. And
these hopes have not been falsified. For the pious
enthusiasm with which the Christian people welcomed the
promulgation of the Jubilee did not grow cold as time went
on. On the contrary, we saw it daily waxing stronger, by the
help of God, who brought such things to pass as will make
this year, a veritable year of salvation, memorable in days to
come. We, for our part, have had abundant cause for
rejoicing, since we have seen, on many sides, such noble
advance in faith and piety; and we have enjoyed the sight of
such a multitude of our most dear children whom we have
been enabled to receive, right willingly, into our home, and
to press, most lovingly, to our heart. And now, while we
strive very earnestly to express our heartfelt gratitude to the
Father of mercies for the many and rich fruits which He has
vouchsafed to bring forth in the course of this year of
expiation, our pastoral solicitude moves us and impels us to
draw from these auspicious beginnings greater and abiding
advantages, to provide for the happiness and well-being of
each and all, and the good estate of society. Now, while we
were considering how, or in what way, such fruits can be
best secured, we thought how Our predecessor Leo XIII, of
happy memory, proclaiming a Holy Year on another
occasion, exhorted all the faithful in very weighty words,
which we ourselves repeated in the aforesaid Constitution
Auspicantibus Nobis, urging them "to recollect themselves a
little and to run their thoughts, now immersed in the earth,
to better things."(2)
2. In like manner we recalled Our Predecessor Pius X of holy
memory, who, after ceaselessly promoting sacerdotal
sanctity both by word and by example when he was keeping
the fiftieth year from ordination to the priesthood, addressed
a most pious "Exhortation to the Catholic Clergy,"(3) replete
with precious and most choice lessons by which the edifice of
the spiritual life is raised to no mean altitude.
3. Accordingly following in the footsteps of these Pontiffs,
We have deemed it fitting to do somewhat in like manner
Ourselves, and establish something most excellent, which
will, we trust, prove a source of many rare advantages to the
Christian people, We are speaking of the practice of the
"Spiritual Exercises", which we earnestly desire to see daily
extended more widely, not only among the clergy both
secular and regular, but also among the multitudes of the
Catholic laity; and it is Our pleasure to bequeath this to our
beloved children as a memorial of this Holy Year. And we do
this the more gladly at the end of the fiftieth year since Our
first offering of the Divine Sacrifice. For nothing can be more
pleasing to us than the recollection of the heavenly graces
and the unutterable consolations which we have often
experienced when occupied in the "Spiritual Exercises"; and
of the diligence we devoted to the sacred retreats, marking
our priestly course, as it were, by so many stages; of the light
and the impulse that we drew from them, enabling us to
know the divine will and to fulfil it; and lastly of the labour
therein bestowed, in the whole course of our priestly life, on
instructing our neighbours in heavenly things, and that so
fruitfully and successfully, that we may rightly conclude that
a singular resource for the eternal salvation of souls is set in
the "Spiritual Exercises".
4. And, in very deed, Venerable Brethren, the importance for
more than one reason; the utility and the opportuneness of
Sacred Retreats, will be readily recognised by any one who
considers, however lightly, the times in which we now live.
The most grave disease by which our age is oppressed, and
at the same time the fruitful source of all the evils deplored
by every man of good heart, is that levity and
thoughtlessness which carry men hither and thither through
devious ways. Hence comes the constant and passionate
absorption in external things; hence, the insatiable thirst for
riches and pleasures that gradually weakens and
extinguishes in the minds of men the desire for more
excellent goods, and so entangles them in outward and
fleeting things that it forbids them to think of eternal truths,
and of the Divine laws, and of God Himself, the one
beginning and end of all created things, Who, nevertheless,
for his boundless goodness and mercy, even in these our
days, though moral corruption may spread apace, ceases not
to draw men to himself by a bounteous abundance of graces.
Now, if we would cure this sickness from which human
society suffers so sorely, what healing remedy could we
devise more appropriate for our purpose than that of calling
these enervated souls, so neglectful of eternal things, to the
recollection of the "Spiritual Exercises"? And, indeed, if the
"Spiritual Exercises" were nothing more than a brief
retirement for a few days, wherein a man removed from the
common society of mortals and from the crowd of cares, was
given, not empty silence, but the opportunity of examining
those most grave and penetrating questions concerning the
origin and the destiny of man: "Whence he comes; and
whither he is going"; surely, no one can deny that great
benefits may be derived from these sacred exercises. But
pious retreats of this kind do much greater things than this,
for since they compel the mind of a man to examine more
diligently and intently into all the things that he has thought,
or said, or done; they assist the human faculties in a
marvellous manner; so that the mind becomes accustomed,
in this spiritual arena, to weigh things maturely and with
even balance, the will acquires strength and firmness, the
passions are restrained by the rule of counsel; the activities
of human life, being in unison with the thought of the mind,
are effectively conformed to the fixed standard of reason;
and, lastly, the soul attains its native nobility and altitude, as
the holy Pontiff St. Gregory declares in his "Pastoral," by a
concise similitude: "The human mind, like water, when shut
up around, is gathered up to higher things; because it seeks
that from which it descended; but when it is left loose, it
perishes; because it spreads itself uselessly on lowly
things."(4) Moreover, as St. Eucherius Bishop of Lyons
wisely observes; when exercising itself in these spiritual
meditations; "the mind rejoicing in the Lord is stirred up by a
certain stimulus of silence; and grows by unutterable
increments."(5) And not only so, but it also acquires that
"heavenly nourishment," concerning which Lactantius says
"for no food is sweeter to the mind than the knowledge of
truth";(6) and according to an ancient author, who long
passed as St. Basil, it is admitted to "the school of heavenly
doctrine and the discipline of the divine arts"(7) wherein
"God is all that is learnt, the way by which we are directed,
all that whereby the knowledge of the supreme truth is
attained."(8) From all this it clearly appears that the
"Spiritual Exercises" avail both to perfect the natural powers
of man; and further, and more specially, to form the
supernatural or Christian man. Now, certainly in these days
when so many impediments and obstacles are raised against
the true sense of Christ, and the supernatural spirit, wherein
alone our holy religion consists; when Naturalism, which
weakens the firmness of faith, and quenches the flames of
Christian charity, holds dominion far and wide; it is of the
greatest importance that a man should withdraw himself
from that bewitching of vanity which obscureth good things
(9) and hide himself in that blessed secrecy, where, cultured
by heavenly teaching, he may form a just estimate, and
understand the value of human life devoted to the service of
God alone; he may abhor the turpitude of sin; he may
conceive the holy fear of God; he may clearly see unveiled
the vanity of earthly things; and, stirred up by the precepts
and the example of Him who is "the way, the truth and the
life,"(10) he may put off the old man(11) may deny himself,
and with humility, obedience, and voluntary chastisement of
self, may put on Christ and strive to attain to the "perfect
man," and to that absolute "measure of the age of the fulness
of Christ,"(12) whereof the Apostle speaks; nay, more, may
endeavour, with all his soul, to be able to say himself, with
the same Apostle: "I live now not I; but Christ liveth in
me."(13) By these degrees, indeed, the soul goes upward to
consummate perfection, and is most sweetly united to God
by the help of divine grace, which is obtained in greater
abundance, during these days, by more fervent prayers, and
more frequent reception of the sacred mysteries. These
things, assuredly, Venerable Brethren, are singular and most
excellent, and far surpassing nature; and in obtaining them
alone are to be found the quiet, and happiness, and true
peace for which the human mind longingly thirsts; and which
the society of today, carried away by the heat of temptations,
vainly seeks in the hungry quest of uncertain and fleeting
goods, and in the tumult of a perturbed life. On the other
hand, we are clearly taught that in the "Spiritual Exercises"
there is a wonderful power of bringing peace to men and of
carrying them upwards to holiness of life; which has been
proved by daily experience in former ages, and perhaps yet
more clearly in our own: for we can hardly number those
who, being duly exercised in a sacred retreat, come forth
from it "rooted and built up"(14) in Christ; filled with light,
heaped up with joy, and flooded with that "peace which
surpasseth all understanding."(15) Moreover, from this
perfection of life, which is manifestly obtained from the
"Spiritual Exercises"; besides that inward peace of the soul,
there springs forth spontaneously another most choice fruit,
which redounds to the great advantage of the social life:
namely that desire of gaining souls to Christ which is known
as the Apostolic Spirit. For it is the genuine effect of charity
that the just soul, in whom God dwells by grace, burns in a
wondrous way to call others to share in the knowledge and
love of that Infinite Good, which she has attained and
possesses And, now, in this our age, when human society is
in so much need of spiritual graces; when the foreign
Mission fields, which "are white already to harvest"(16)
demand, more and more, the care of apostles adequate to
their need; and our own regions, likewise, require elect
bands of men, of the secular and regular clergy, as faithful
dispensers of the mysteries of God; and compact companies
of pious laymen, who, united to the Apostolic Hierarchy by
close bonds of charity, may help it with active industry, by
manifold works and labours devoting themselves to the
Catholic Action. And We, Venerable Brethren, being taught
by history, regard these sacred retreats for exercises as
upper chambers raised by God, wherein any one of generous
mind, supported by the help of divine grace, illuminated by
eternal truths, and exhorted by the example of Christ, may
not only see clearly the value of souls, and be inflamed with
the desire of helping them, in whatsoever state of life, he
sees, on careful examination, he is called to serve his
Creator; but many likewise, learn the ardent spirit of the
apostolate, its diligence, its labours, its deeds of daring.
5. Furthermore, our Lord often made use of this method in
forming the preachers of the Gospel. For the Divine Master
Himself, not content with having spent long years in the
domestic retreat of Nazareth, before he shone forth in full
light before the nations, and taught them heavenly things by
his word, chose to spend full forty days in desert wilderness.
Nay more, in the midst of his evangelical labours, he was
wont to invite his Apostles to the friendly silence of retreat:
"Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little,"(17) and
when he left this earth of sorrows to go to heaven, he willed
that these same Apostles and his disciples should be polished
and perfected in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, where for
the space of ten days "persevering with one mind in
prayer"(18) they were made worthy to receive the Holy
Spirit: surely a memorable retreat, which first foreshadowed
the "Spiritual Exercises"; from which the church came forth
endowed with virtue and perpetual strength; and in which, in
the presence of the Virgin Mary Mother of God, and aided by
her patronage, those also were instituted whom we may
rightly call precursors of the Catholic Action.
6. From that day, the use of the "Spiritual Exercises" if not
under the same name and in the modern manner, at least in
substance, "became familiar among the primitive
Chirstians,"(19) as St. Francis of Sales taught, and as
appears from clear indications in the writings of the holy
Fathers. For it is thus St. Jerome exhorts the noble lady
Celantia "Choose to thyself a suitable place, remote from the
noise of the household, whither thou mayst betake thyself as
a haven. Let there be there so much care in divine readings,
such frequent turns of prayers, such steadfast thought of
things to come, that thou mayest redeem the occupations of
other hours by this vacation. We do not say this to withdraw
thee from thine own: nay, rather we say it that thou mayst
learn there and meditate how thou shouldst show thyself to
thine own: nay, rather we say it that thou mayst learn there
and meditate how thou shouldst show thyself to thine
own."(20) And St. Peter Chrysologus Bishop of Ravenna, in
the same age as St. Jerome urges the faithful with this
famous invitation: "We have given a year to the body, let us
give days to the soul...Let us live to God a little who have
lived the whole time to the world. Let the divine voice sound
in our ears: let not the noise of the household confuse our
hearing...Being thus armed brethren and thus instructed let
us declare war on sins...secure of victory."(21) But as time
went on men were still held by the desire of placid solitude
wherein away from witnesses the soul might give attention;
nay more, it is found that in the most turbulent ages of
human society men athirst for justice and truth were the
more vehemently urged by the Divine Spirit seek the solitude
"in order being free from bodily desire they might more often
be intent on the divine wisdom in the court of the mind
where all the tumult of earthly cares being silent, they may
rejoice in holy mediations and eternal delights."(22) Now
after God in his supreme providence had raised up many men
in his Church, abundantly endowed with supernal gifts an
conspicuous as masters of the supernatural life who set forth
wise rules, approved ascetical methods, whether from divine
revelation, or from their own practice, or from the
experience of former times; by the disposition of Divine
Providence like manner, the "Spiritual Exercises", properly
so called were given to the world by the work of the
illustrious servant of God St. Ignatius of Loyola—"a
treasure," as is called by that venerable man of the Order of
St. Benedict, Louis of Blois, whose opinion is cited by St.
Alphonsus Liguori in a very beautiful letter "On making the
"Exercises" in solitude"—"A treasure which God has set open
for his Church in these last ages, and for which abundant
thanksgiving should be rendered to Him."(23)
7. From these "Spiritual Exercises", whose fame spread very
rapidly in the Church, many drew a stimulus to make them
run with more alacrity in the paths of sanctity. And among
these was one most dear to Us on many grounds, the
Venerable St. Charles Borromeo, who as we have mentioned
on another occasion, spread their use among the clergy and
the people;(24) and by this care and authority enriched them
with appropriated rules and directions; and what is more,
established a house for the special purpose of cultivating the
Ignatian meditations. This house, which he called the
"Asceterium", was, so far as we know, the first among the
many houses of this kind, which, by happy imitation have
flourished everywhere. For as the estimation of the
"Exercises" grew continually greater in the Church, there
was a marvellous multiplication of these houses, which may
be called most opportune places of entertainment, set in the
arid desert of the world, wherein the faithful of both sexes
are separately recreated and refreshed with spiritual
nourishment. And, indeed, after the cruel carnage of the war,
which has so bitterly troubled the human family, after so
many wounds inflicted on the spiritual and civil prosperity of
the peoples, who can count the vast number of those who
having seen the fallacious hopes they cherished fail and fade
away, clearly understood that earthly things must give place
to those of heaven, and, by the most present aid of the Divine
Spirit, fled to seek true peace of mind in holy retreats? Let
all those remain as a manifest proof, how, whether drawn by
the beauty of a more holy and more perfect life, or tossed by
the turbid tempests of the time, or moved by the solicitudes
of life, or beset by the frauds and fallacies of the world, or
fighting against the deadly plague of Rationalism, or allured
by the fascination of the senses, withdrawing themselves into
those holy houses, have tasted again the peace of solitude,
all the sweeter to them because of the heavy labours they
have borne, and meditating on heavenly things, have ordered
their life in accordance with supernatural lessons.
8. We, therefore, Venerable Brethren, rejoicing in these
happy beginnings of a noble piety, and seeing in its further
extension a powerful help against the evils that assail us;
must, at the same time, endeavour, as far as in us lies, to
second the most sweet counsel of the Divine Goodness; so
that this secret calling, breathed by the Holy Spirit into the
minds of men, may not be deprived of the much-desired
abundance of heavenly graces. Moreover, We do this the
more willingly because We see what has already been done
by Our Predecessors. For, long since, this Apostolic See,
which had often commended the "Spiritual Exercises" by
word, taught the faithful by its own example and authority,
converting the august Vatican temple into a Cenacle for
meditation and prayers; which custom We have willingly
received, with no small joy and consolation to Ourselves. And
in order that we may secure this joy and consolation, both
for ourselves and for others who are near us, We have
already had arrangements made for holding the "Spiritual
Exercises" every year in the Vatican.
9. We know well, Venerable Brethren, how much store you
also set by the "Spiritual Exercises"; for you gave yourselves
to them before you were adorned with the fulness of the
Priesthood; and often afterwards, in company with your
Priests you have sought them anew in order to refresh your
souls with the contemplation of heavenly things. This
excellent practice, assuredly, is deserving of our solemn and
public commendation. And we commend, likewise, no less
warmly those bishops, whether of the Eastern or of the
Western Church, who, as we know, have sometimes come
together, with their own Patriarch or Metropolitan, to make
a pious retreat adapted to their offices and duties. We hope
that this luminous example, so far as circumstances allow,
may be followed with sedulous emulation. And perchance
there would be no great difficulty in this if a retreat of this
kind were instituted on the occasion of one of those synods
which all the Prelates of an ecclesiastical province celebrate
"ex officio", whether to provide for the common salvation of
souls, or to deliberate on those things which the conditions
of the time seem to require. And, indeed We ourselves had
determined to do this, with all the Bishops of Lombardy,
during the brief space of our rule over the Metropolitan
Church of Milan; and, without doubt, we should have
accomplished it, in that first year of office, if the inscrutable
decrees of Divine Providence had not disposed otherwise of
our lowliness. Wherefore, We are well assured that those
priests and religious men who, anticipating the law of the
Church, in this matter, already frequented the "Spiritual
Exercises" will, hereafter, use this means of acquiring
sanctity with yet greater diligence, now that they are more
gravely bound to it by the authority of the sacred Canons.
10. For this reason We earnestly exhort all priests of the
secular clergy to let the faithful see them following the
"Spiritual Exercises", at least in that modest measure which
the Code of Canon Law prescribes for them:(25) and let them
approach and fulfil the exercises with an ardent desire of
their own perfection, so that they may obtain that abundance
of the supernatural spirit, which is very necessary for them,
if they would secure the spiritual advantage of their flock,
and win a multitude of souls to Christ. For this was the path
trodden by all those priests who, burning with zeal for the
salvation of souls, were foremost in guiding their neighbours
on the way to holiness, and in educating the clergy; as may
be seen, to take a recent example, in B. Joseph Cafasso, to
whom We ourselves decreed the honours of the blessed in
Heaven. For it was the constant custom of this most holy
man to labour assiduously in the "Spiritual Exercises", in
order that, by this means, he might better nourish his own
sanctity, and that of other ministers of Christ, and might
know the heavenly counsels. And once, when he came forth
from a sacred retreat, gifted with divine light, he clearly
showed this same path to a younger priest, whose confessor
he was; and he followed it up to the highest summit of
sanctity. This was the blessed John Bosco, whose name is
beyond all praise. As for those who, under whatever title,
serve within the bounds of religious discipline; since they are
commanded by law to make the sacred exercises every year
(26) there can be no doubt that they will bring from these
sacred retreats an abundance of heavenly goods for which,
as each one needs, they may draw draughts of greater
perfection, and all the graces enabling them to run the way
of the evangelical counsels with alacrity. For the annual
"Exercises" are the mystical "tree of life"(27) by which both
individuals and communities may live in that fame of
sanctity, in which every religious family must needs flourish.
Nor should the priests of the Clergy, secular and regular,
think that the time spent on the "Spiritual Exercises" tends
to the detriment of the apostolic ministry. On this matter, let
them hear St. Bernard, who did not hesitate to write thus to
the Supreme Pontiff, Blessed Eugene II, whose master he
had been: "If thou wouldst belong wholly to all, after the
manner of him who became all things to all men; I praise thy
humanity, provided it be full. But, how is it full when thou art
excluded? Thou also art a man: therefore, that the humanity
may be whole and full, let it gather thee also into the bosom
which receives all: else, what will it profit, if thou gain all,
and lost thyself? Wherefore, when all have thee, be thyself
one of them that have. Remember, I say not always, I say not
often, but at least sometimes, to render thyself to
thyself."(28)
11. With no less care, Venerable Brethren, would we have
manifold cohorts of the Catholic Action polished or cultivated
fitly by the "Spiritual Exercises". With all our power, we
desire to promote this Action; and we cease not, and will
never cease, to commend it; because the co-operation of the
laity with the apostolic hierarchy is exceedingly useful, not to
say necessary. And, indeed, we can hardly find words to
express the joy we experienced, when we learnt that special
series of sacred meditations were established almost
everywhere, for the cultivation of these pacific and strenuous
soldiers of Christ and in particular for bands of young
recruits. For while they crowd to this course, in order that
they may be found more ready and more prompt to fight the
battles of the Lord, they will find there not only the helps
enabling them to express the form of the Christian life more
perfectly in themselves, but may also, not rarely, receive in
their hearts the secret voice of God, calling them to the
sacred offices, and to work for the salvation of souls, and
urging them on to the full exercise of the apostolate. This is,
indeed, the glowing dawn of heavenly goods, and in a short
time it will be followed and completed by a perfect day; if
only the practice of the "Spiritual Exercises" is yet more
widely extended and is propagated with prudence and
wisdom among the various associations of Catholics and
chiefly those of younger members.(29)
12. Now, even as in this age of ours, temporal goods and the
various advantages flowing from them, together with a
certain measure of wealth, have been extended somewhat
freely to workmen and others hiring out their labour, thereby
raising them to a happier condition of life, it must be
ascribed to the bounty of the provident and merciful God,
that this treasure of the "Spiritual Exercises" also has been
scattered abroad among the common mass of the faithful so
as to serve as a counterpoise to hold men back, lest borne
down by the weight of fleeting things and immersed in
pleasures and delights of life, they fall into the tenets and
morals of Materialism. For this reason we cordially commend
the works of the "Exercises" which have spring up already in
certain regions, and the exceedingly fruitful and opportune
"Retreats for Workmen," together with the associated
sodalities of Perseverance; all which, Venerable Brethren,
We recommend to your care and solicitude.
13. Now in order that the joyful fruits we have mentioned
may flow forth from these sacred "Exercises", these must
needs be made with due care and diligence. For if the
exercises are performed merely for the sake of custom, or
tardily, and with hesitation, little or no advantage will be
derived from them; wherefore before all things it is
necessary that the mind, assisted by solitude should devote
itself to the sacred meditations, leaving aside all the cares
and solicitudes of daily life. For as that golden book, the
"Imitation of Christ", clearly teaches: The devout soul makes
progress in silence and in peace."(30) For this reason,
although we regard those meditations as worthy of praise
and pastoral approval in which many make the exercises
together in public—for these have received many blessings
from God—still we most strongly recommend those "Spiritual
Exercises" which are made in private, and are called
"closed." For in these a man is more easily separated from
intercourse with creatures and concentrates the dissipated
powers of his soul on God himself and on the contemplation
of eternal truths.
14. Moreover, "Spiritual Exercises", truly so-called, require a
certain space of time for their fulfilment. And though, by
reason of circumstances and persons, this may be reduced to
a few days, or extended to a whole month; nevertheless it
should not be curtailed too much if one wishes to obtain the
benefits promised by the "Exercises". For even as the
salubrity of a place can only contribute to the health of the
body of one who stays there for awhile, so the salutary art of
sacred meditations cannot effectively benefit the spirit
unless it spends some time in the "Exercises".
15. Lastly it is of great moment for making the "Spiritual
Exercises" properly and deriving fruit from them that they
should be conducted in a wise and appropriate method.
16. Now it is recognised that among all the methods of
"Spiritual Exercises" which very laudably adhere to the
principles of sound Catholic asceticism one has ever held the
foremost place and adorned by the full and repeated
approbation of the Holy See and honoured by the praises of
men, distinguished for spiritual doctrine and sanctity, has
borne abundant fruits of holiness during the space of well
nigh four hundred years; we mean the method introduced by
St. Ignatius of Loyola, whom we are pleased to call the chief
and peculiar Master of "Spiritual Exercises" whose
"admirable book of "Exercises"(31) ever since it was
solemnly approved, praised, and commended by our
predecessor Paul III of happy memory,(32) already to repeat
some words we once used, before our elevation to the Chair
of Peter, already we say "stood forth and conspicuous as a
most wise and universal code of laws for the direction of
souls in the way of salvation and perfection; an unexhausted
fountain of most excellent and most solid piety; as a most
keen stimulus, and a well instructed guide showing the way
to secure the amendment of morals and attain the summit of
the spiritual life."(33) And when at the beginning of Our
pontificate satisfying the most ardent desires and vows of
sacred Prelates of almost the whole Catholic world from both
Rites in the Apostolic Constitution "Summorum Pontificum",
given on July 22, 1922, We declared and constituted St.
Ignatius of Loyola "the heavenly Patron of all "Spiritual
Exercises", and, therefore, of institutes, sodalities and bodies
of every kind assisting those who are making the "Spiritual
Exercises","(34) we did little else but sanction by our
supreme authority what was already proclaimed by the
common feeling of Pastors and of the faithful; and what
together with the aforesaid Paul III, our illustrious
Predecessors Alexander VII,(35) Benedict XIV,(36) Leo XIII,
(37) had often said implicitly, when praising the Ignatian
meditations, and what all those who, in the words of Leo XIII,
had been most conspicuous "in the discipline of ascetic, or in
sanctity or morals," during the last four hundred years(38)
had said by their praises and yet more by the example of the
virtues which they had acquired in this arena. And in very
deed, the excellence of spiritual doctrine altogether free
from the perils and errors of false mysticism, the admirable
facility of adapting the exercises to any order or state of
man, whether they devote themselves to contemplation in
the cloisters, or lead an active life in the affairs of the world,
the apt co-ordination of the various parts, the wonderful and
lucid order in the meditation of truths that seem to follow
naturally one from another; and lastly the spiritual lessons
which after casting off the yoke of sin and washing away the
diseases inherent in his morals lead a man through the safe
paths of abnegation and the removal of evil habits(39) up to
the supreme heights of prayer and divine love; without doubt
all these are things which sufficiently show the efficacious
nature of the Ignatian method and abundantly commend the
Ignatian meditations.
17. It remains, Venerable Brethren, in order to guard and
preserve the fruit of the "Spiritual Exercises" which we have
been praising and to revive its salutary memory that we
should earnestly recommend a pious custom which may be
called a brief repetition of the "Exercises" namely a monthly
or trimestrial recollection. This custom which, to borrow the
words of Our Predecessor of holy memory, Pius X, "We gladly
see introduced in many places"(40) and flourishing especially
in religious communities and among pious priests of the
secular clergy we earnestly desire to see adopted by the laity
also. For it would prove a real benefit more especially for
those who are prevented by the cares of their family from
using the "Spiritual Exercises". For these recollections might
supply in some measure the advantages to be derived from
the "Spiritual Exercises". In this manner, Venerable
Brethren, may these "Spiritual Exercises" be extended
everywhere through all the orders of Christian society and if
they are diligently performed a spiritual regeneration will
follow. Piety will be enkindled, the forces of religious will be
nourished, the apostolic office will unfold its fruit bearing
branches, and peace will reign in society and in the hearts of
all.
18. When the heavens were serene and earth was silent and
night lay on the world, in secret, far from the crowd of men,
the Eternal Word of the Father, having assumed the nature
of man, appeared to mortals, and the heavenly regions
echoed the heavenly hymn, "Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace to men of good will."(41) This praise of
Christian peace—the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of
Christ—setting forth the supreme desire of Our Apostolic
heart to which all our aims and our labours are directed,
nearly touches the minds of Christians who withdrawn from
the tumult and the vanities of the world in deep and hidden
solitude have pondered on the truth of faith and the example
of Him who brought peace to the world and left it as a
heritage: "My peace I give to you."(42)
19. This peace truly so called We wish for you from our
heart, Venerable Brethren, on this very day on which by the
Divine bounty the fiftieth year of Our Priesthood is
completed, and as the sweet festival of the Nativity of Our
Lord Jesus Christ approaches, which may be called the
mystery of peace approaches, we with fervent prayer
supplicate for that gift for him who is hailed as the Prince of
Peace.
And with our mind raised by these thoughts a joyful and firm
hope as an omen of divine gifts, and as a pledge of Our
affection to you, Venerable Brethren, and to your clergy and
people—that is, to all our most beloved Catholic family—We
impart the Apostolic Benediction most loving in the Lord.
Given at St. Peter's Rome, on the twentieth day of December,
1929, the eighth year of Our Pontificate.

Endnotes
1. Acta Apost. Sedis, vol. XXI, (1929), page 6.
2. Litt. Encycl. "Quod auctorifate", 22 Dec., 1885; Acta Leonis XIII, vol.
II, pp. 175 ss.
3. Exhortatio ad clerum catholicum: "Haerent animo", 4 Aug., 1903;
"Acta Sanctae Sedis", vol. XLI, pp. 555-577.
4. S. Greg. M. Pastor L. 3 adm. 15. (Migne P. L. tom. 77, col. 73)
5. S. Eucher. "De laud. eremi." 37. (Migne P. L. tom. 50, col. 709)
6. Lactant. "De falsa relig." L. 1, c. 1. (Migne P. L. tom. 6, col. 118)
7. S. Basil M. "De laude solitariae vitae," initio. ("Opera omnia.
Venetiis," 1751, tom. 2, p. 379).
8. Ibid.
9. Wisdom IV, 12.
10. John XIV, 6.
11. Romans XIII, 14.
12. Ephesians IV, 13.
13. Galatians II, 20.
14. Colossians II, 7.
15. Philippians IV, 7.
16. John IV, 35.
17. Mark VI, 31.
18. Acts I, 14.
19. S. Franc. Sal. Traite de l'Amour de Dieu, L. 12, c. 8.
20. S. Hieronym, Ep. 148, ad Celant. 24. (Migne P. L. tom. col. 1, 216.)
21. S. Petr. Chrysolog. serm. 12. (Migne P. L. tom. col. 186).
22. S. Leo Magn. serm. 19. (Migne P. L. tom. 54, col. 18.)
23. S. Alf. M. de Liguori, "Lettera sull' utilita degli Esercizi in
solitudine." Opere ascet. (Marrietti, 1847), vol. 3, pag. 616.
24. Const. Apost. "Summorum Pontificum", 25 Juillet, 1922; Acta Apost.
Sedis. vol. XIV (1922), p. 421.
25. Cod. Iur. Can. can. 126.
26. Cod. Iur. Can. can. 595, pr. 1.
27. Genesis 11., 9. 28. S. Bern. "De consider." L. 1. c. 5. (Migne P. L.
tom. 182, col 734.)
29. Cfr. "Ordine del giornodi Mons. Radini-Tedeschi," nel Congr. Cattol.
Ital. an. 1895.
30. "De Imit." Chr., L.I., c. 206.
31. Brev. Rom. "in festo S. Ign." (31 Iul.), lect. 4.
32. Litt. Apost., "Pastoralis officii," 31 Iul., 1548.
33. "S. Carlo egli Esercizi spirituali di S. Ignazio" in "S. Carlo Borromeo
nel 3 Centenario della Canonizzazione," 23 Sett., 1910, pag. 488.
34. Const. Apost., "Summorum Pontificum," 25 Iul., 1922; "Acta Apost.
Sedis," vol. XIV (1922), pag. 420.
35. Litt. Apost. "Cum sicut," 12 Oct., 1647.
36. Litt. Apost., "Quantum secussus," 20 Mart., 1753; Litt. Apost.,
"Dedimus sane," 18 Maii, 1753.
37. Epist., "Ignatianae commentationes," 8 Febr., 1900; Acta Leonis
XIII, vol. CII, pag. 373.
38. Ibid.
39. Epist. Apost. Pii PP. XI, "Nous avons appris," 28 Maii 1929, ad Card.
Dubois.
40. Exhort. ad Cler. Cathol., "Haerent animo," 4 Aug., 1908, "Acta
Sanctae Sedis," vol. XLI, pag. 575.
41. Luc. II, 14.
42. Io XIV, 27.