Novena in honour of St Ignatius of Loyola

We deem it our privilege to share with you the highlights of the Novena in honour of our founder, St Ignatius, whose feast is celebrated on July 31. St Ignatius' gifts of Discernment (the art of choosing between the good and better) and the 'Spiritual Exercises' to the Church continues to make more and more people free and happy each day.

We are aware that this is a creative Novena which we would like to call a “Novena of Persons” the ‘persons’ being some of our brother Jesuits who, we believe, have imbibed deeply, and lived, the Spirit of our founder and father St Ignatius. Very specially his passionate love for Jesus, and his obsession for the Greater Glory of God.

Caesar Baronius in his funeral oration in 1600 said: “we behold the leafy branches, the fruit and the stem that is the Society of Jesus. But the root lies buried in the earth. And who is that root, our Father Ignatius, who lies buried in this spot beneath the earth.”

It is our prayer that, as we reflect on the lives of these genuine sons of Ignatius, we will grow in love for them and for the Society, and that we will deepen our gratitude for the incredible privilege of having these great men as our brothers and companions; grateful especially for the privilege of belonging to the Society that bears the sweet name of Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour.

I day: St Stanislaus Kostka

II day: St Francis Xavier

III day: St Peter Claver

IV day: St Peter Canisius

V day: St Edmund Campion

VI day: St John de Brito

VII day: St Joseph Pignatelli

VIII day: Fr Pedro Arrupe

IX day: St Ignatius Loyola

Prayer for the Spirit of Generosity: Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous, teach me to love and serve thee as You deserve; To give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to look for reward, save that of knowing that I do Your Holy Will. Amen.