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In-Depth Information
up in the heretical movements of the day. A
similar rebuff during a pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem led him to complete his studies,
secure ordination as a priest at Venice in
1537, and place himself along with a new
band of followers under the personal
authority of the pope. In 1541 his spiritual
confraternity was confirmed as a religious
order under the designation of the Society
of Jesus, with Ignatius as head, or general,
of the order.
Later identified with the struggle that
was now developing between the Catholic
Church and the Protestant Reformation,
the Jesuits, as they were commonly known,
were at first intended by Ignatius for work
in the foreign missions, and they played a
major part in the introduction of Catholi-
cism to Japan, India, and B RAZIL . Ignatius
agreed, at first reluctantly, to accept the
additional special task of educating the
social and intellectual elite of Catholic
Europe with the result that Jesuit second-
ary schools and universities became widely
diffused and increasingly influential.
Much has been made of the Jesuits' mili-
tary model of organization, and their ene-
mies inevitably asserted that they followed
a secretive policy to subvert rival organiza-
tions and influence secular governments, as
well as adhering to the doctrine that “the
end justifies the means.” None of these
characterizations correspond to the think-
ing of Ignatius as revealed in the Spiritual
Exercises, which are the fullest expression of
his own religious feelings and commit-
ments. The Constitutions that he drew up
for the governance of the order and have
remained its basic foundation ever since his
time offer little evidence of authoritarian
impulses. Far from exercising autocratic
rule over the thousand-member order that
grew within a dozen “provinces” in Europe
and overseas, Ignatius seems to have
remained both humble and committed to
his early acceptance of Christ as his per-
sonal model of life. Due to declining health
he sought to resign his leadership in 1551,
but his followers insisted that he must not
leave them, and he continued as general
until his death.
Ignatius was canonized in 1622, and on
the 300th anniversary of that occasion he
was proclaimed universal patron of religious
retreats. As Saint Ignatius of Loyola his
name has been given to churches, schools,
and universities all over the world.
immigrants in Portugal
For centuries Portugal was a country that
exported its people. During the imperial era
they traveled to the far corners of the world,
as traders and fighters in Asia, as settlers in
B RAZIL , and, in the last decades of the Sala-
zar regime, as colonial “planters.” There
was also, particularly in the latter half of
the 20th century, an exodus to other Euro-
pean countries in search of employment.
Even the United States welcomed a modest
flow of Portuguese expatriates. Since the
C ARNATION R EVOLUTION of 1974 the move-
ment has been reversed. Among the causes
of this shift have been the relative improve-
ment in the domestic economy, offering
increased job opportunities and a sense of
general optimism generated by the restora-
tion of democracy. The granting of inde-
pendence to the African colonies after the
prolonged fighting of the 1960s and early
'70s placed the Portuguese residents of
those colonies in an impossible situation.
There was no serious prospect of remaining
in an African environment that had become
 
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