The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
THE TRAINING OF Jesuit
The Discipline the Severest Known
to Any Calling.
Routine of the Novitiate to BE Open
ed at ST. Andrew, n. Y-Bow the
fore Him Is Tested-How the Day
Is Spent IS silence for Candidates.

FREDERICK, Nd, Jan 19.-Under con-
struction at st. Andrew on-the- Hudson,
near Poughkeepsie, is the future home of
novel addition to the educational in
situations of New York State. To this
building, when it is completed, will be
transferred the Jesuit Noyitiate now sit
uated at Frederick. There will be carried
on the system of training which the So
ciety of Jesus considers necessary TO
qualify men for fellowship with the fol-
lowers of st. Ignatius of Loyola-
OF all the schools and colleges in the
State, the Military Academy at West Point
not excepted, the discipline at this school
Will be the most severe. The life of the
Jesuit novice is hard one. From the
morning oblation to God at $50 O'Clock
until lights out" at 10 at night the
routine of the novitiate covers multi
tude of requirements ranging from wash
ing the breakfast dishes in the kitchen to
conversing in Latin after supper and maps
out day that is full of duties and ac-
tivities, and governs all with a discipline
that is unexampled in rigidity.
To become a full-fledged Jesuit is in
finiteiy more difficult than to become
minister in any Protestant denomination,
nor is the course of training for secular
Catholic priest to be compared with that
through which novice must pass before
being admitted into the membership of
the Society of Jesus. The applicant for
admission to the noyitiate must first OF
all pass successfully an examination of
an unusually difficult and searching ma
ture, designed to determine the likelihood
of Ii S becoming a useful member of the
society Upon arriving at the novitiate,
after passing this preliminary examina
ton, he is kept for a week or ten days
separate from the other novices. The
rules of the society are put into his hands
and he has an opportunity to acquaint
himself fully with the nature OF the life
upon which he proposes to enter. For
short time be is put in retreat and kept
in perfect silence, in order that he may
mediate upon what he has learned.
Sometimes an applicant discovers dur
ing this probation that he has not the
courage to enter upon the life of the
Jesuit, but all who are still of mind to
do so at the end of the trial are received
as novices. clad in the Jesuit habit of
black and enter upon the routine of the
novitiate. They rise at $3.50 o'clock in the
morning make a short visit to the chap
ell at in order TO make their morning
oblation to God, and from to 7 make
their meditation. which is a consideration
of novices, and is supposed to end with
some good resolution and n prayer by the
novice that he may be able to keep it dur
ing the ensuing day. AT 500 the bell
rings for mass, which occupies half an
hour. The next quarteTsof an hour is de-
voted to a reconsideration OF the medita-
ton. and then comes breakfast, which
lasts until $50, when the novices must
settle to their desks for a half hours
reading of Rodriguez on Christian Per-
lection"
At an instruction in the rules is given
by the master of novices, after which
they have to make their beds and arrange
their cells, and when this is done to per-
form a certain amount of manual labor
busting. sweeping. washing dishes. some
times cleaning and scrubbing, and other
mental offices. At 1915 they have to learn
nv heart for a quarter Of an hour. some
norton 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 1880 they as
semble for outdoor manual work. which
consists of chopping and saving wood teT
fuel sweeping up leaves. wedding the
flower beds, or some similar laDor- AT
1890 they return to the house, and at
12:4O the bell summons them to chapel,
where they spend fifteen minutes in
nrayer and in examining their consciences
as to how they have done the various du-
ties of the morning all OF which they are
required to perform in silence.
The dinner bell rings at l o'clock and all
repair to the refectory. After dinner
short visit is made to the chapel. and an
hour of recreation follows. The oceupa-
lions OF the afternoon are repetition OF
those of the earlier part Of the day. save
that on three days Of the week q walk Of