Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-18
TRAINING OF A JES UT.

NeW 1OIk Sldie. 10 stulS DutlulHS
 when it is completed, will be trans ated at Frederick. There will be
 carried on the system of training which the Society of Jesus considers
 necessary to qualify men for fellow ship with the followers of St. Igna- tius of Loyola.
 Of all the schools and colleges ln the state, the military college at
 West Point not excepted, the disci-
 pline at this school will be the most severe. The life of a Jesuit novice IS
 a hard one. From the morning lobla- tion to God,- at 5:30 o'clock, until
 lights out" at IO at night. the rou- tine of the novitiate covers multl-
 tude of requirements, ranging from
 washing the breakfast dishes Ia the
 kitchen to conversing in Latin after
 supper, and maps out day that IS full of duties and activities, and gov
 ernS all with discipline that IS unex-
 ampled in rigidity.
 To become full-hedged Jesuit is infinitely more difficult than to be-
 come minister in any of the Prot estant denominations, nor is the
 course of training for a secular
 Catholic priest to be compared with that through which d novice must
 pass before being admitted into the
 membership of the, Society of Jesus. The application for admission to the
 novitiate must first of all pass sue cessfully an examination of an un-
 usually difficult and searching nature, designed to determine the likelihood of his becoming useful member or the society. Upon arriving at the no,
 vitiate, after passing this preliminary
 examination, he is kept for a week or ten days separate from the other no- vices. The rules of the society are put in his hands and he has an Opp0rtun-
 ity to acquaint himself fully with the
 nature of the life upon which be pro-
 poses to enter. For a short time he Is
 put in retreat and Kept in perfect sl- lence, in order that he may mediate upon what he has learned.
 Sometimes an applicant discovers
 during this probation that he has not the courage to enter upon the life of the Jesuit, but all who are still of the
 mind to do so at the end of the trial
 are received as n0vices, clad in the
 Jesuit habit of black, and enter upon
 the routine of the nOvitiate. They rise
 at 5:30 o'clock in the morning, make q
 short visit to the chapel at 6, in order to make their morning oblation to God and from to make their meditation
 which is consideration of brief lec- ture delivered by the master of nov ices, and is supposed to end with some
 good resolutions and n prayer by the
 novice that he may be able to keep it
 during the ensuing day, At 6:55 the bell rings for mass, which occupies half an hour. The next quarter of an
 hour is devoted to reconsideration of the meditation, and then comes break fast, which lasts until S:30, when the
 noyices, must settle to their. desks. for a half hours reading of "Rodri-
 guez .on Christian Perfection.,
 At@9 an instruction in the rules is given by the master of novfces, after
 which they have to make their beds
 and arrange their. cells, and when this
 is done to perform a certain amount
 of manual labor--dnsting, sweeping,
 washing, dishes, sometimes cleaning
 and scrHbbing and other menial of fees. At 10:15 they have to learn by heart for a quarter, Of an hour, some portion of the. rules of the society, or prayers, psalms or Hymns. After this
 they have some free time, during
 which they may walk in the grounds, pray in the chapel, or read some life of the saints or other spiritual work At 11:30 they assemble for outdoor | manual work, which consists of fschop- ping and saving wood for fuel,
 sweeping up leaves, weeding the flow CT beds, or some similar labor. At 12:80 they return to the shouse, and at
 12:40s the bell ssufnnfons them to chapel, where they spend fifteen min- Ites in prayer and in examining their consciences as to how they have done l the various duties of the morning, all of which they are required to per- form in silence.
 The dinner bell rings at 1 o'clock and all repair to the refectory. After l dinner short visit is made to the chapel, and an hour of recreation foi-
 lows The occupations of the after
 noon are a repetition of thosesof the earlier part of the day, save that on three days of the week walk of about two hours has to be taken in companies of two or three. No one is
 allowed to choose his companions, but the master of noyices arranges the va
 rious companies. At a second med | itation of half an hour has to be made in the chapel after which the recital | of some prayers and some free time | bring them on to supper at 7:30. After | this they have an hours recreation, during the first half of which Latin has, to be spoken. At comes night prayers in the chapel; then fifteen mlnuleS spent III Ines preparation or | their meditation. for the following
 morning, and after final examination
 of conscience on their. performance of the duties of the day all lights are put out at ten o'clock,
 In Catholic countries the Jesuit nov ice is sent out for about thirty days to beg aims in the streets, and when
 possible he must spend about the same length of time in a hospital, | nursing the sick, dressing their | wounds, making their beds, etc. A | month is spent in the kitchen, dur l ing which the novice has to pare pc tatoes, wash dishes, grind coffee and l perform any other menial duties as- l signed by the cook. whom the novice l has to obey implicitly. as for the time 1 being his superior. He has also ito l take recreation during this month with the lay brothers and to conduct him. l self as one of them.
 During one month in his first year every novice has to make what is called the long retreat. It consists of l thirty days. occupied exclusively in | prayer, meditation and similar en- l ployments. Three recreation days are | allowed during the retreat, which are l spent in long walks. Except during | these three days there is no time of | recreation, and silence has to be kepr | R,,;,a < ts4 x