and in many passages of the Ratio Studiorum it is expressly stated that the Superiors are empowered to make these changes, according to the demands of time and place. Thus the teaching of the Jesuits varies considerably in different countries, without necessitating any change in the Order's legislation on education.
A biographer of the founder of the Society says with reference to the educational system of the Order: "It is a plan which admits of every legitimate progress and perfection, and what Ignatius said of the Society in general, may be applied to its system of studies in particular, namely, that it ought to suit itself to the times and comply with them, and not make the times suit themselves to it."[1] The advice of St. Ignatius is undoubtedly of vital importance to the Order, if now and in future it wants to do the work for which it was instituted. In fact, the versatility of the Jesuits has become proverbial and a reproach to the Order; they are said to be so shrewd and cunning that, among those hostile to the Order, the very word "Jesuit" has come to mean the incarnation of craft and subtlety. Is it probable that the Jesuits on a sudden have utterly forgotten the all-important injunction of their founder? Is it probable that they who are said to be most ambitious and most anxious of success, have so little suited themselves to the times, as to leave their method of teaching unchanged for centuries? Is it possible that the men who, as Davidson says, had such "a clear insight into the needs of their times" do not adapt their system to the needs of our age? Or is their system not capable of being suited to modern times? This indeed is the favorite objection raised
- ↑ Genelli, Life of St. Ignatius, part II, ch. VII.
