assiduity possible, unless a man takes a natural interest in the subject which he has to study or teach. True, the Jesuit is told by his Institute to do everything from a supernatural motive; still in the special field of studies "great success is hardly possible if one possesses no natural liking for such work," as a distinguished living Jesuit used to tell the younger members of the Order.
Different documents of the Society state the same principle most emphatically. We have heard that those men were to be appointed as teachers of mathematics, who were especially fitted for this task, and who felt an inclination and a liking for this branch.[1] A second document says: "Those should be chosen who, all other things being equal, are superior to all others in talent, diligence, inclination for these subjects, and in the method of teaching. ... For it happens sometimes that some, proficient enough in other branches, are not mathematicians, be it for want of study or of natural talent for this branch."[2] The same principle was, of course, applied to other subjects. Father Nadal had laid it down as a general rule of the Prefect of Studies, to see that all the younger members of the Society receive a solid general training, and that special talents should be diligently cultivated. "He must take pains to discover what talent our young men have, and endeavor to advance them accordingly. If one is fitted for the study of rhetoric, see that he is
- ↑ "Necessarium etiam videtur, ut praeceptor habeat inclinationem quandam et propensionem ad has scientias praelegendas." In the treatise: Modus quo disciplinae mathematicae in scholis Societatis possent promoveri. See Monumenta Paedagogica, p. 471.
- ↑ De re mathematica instructio. (Mon. Paed., p. 476.)
