Of the Renovation of Vows Practised in the Society, and of the Fruit Meant to Be Gained Thereby

WE read of our first fathers that, having met together in Paris on the day of the Assumption of our Lady, they went to the church of the same Queen of Angels, which is called Montmartre, that is, Martyrs’ Mount, which is one league from Paris, and there, after having confessed and received the Most Holy Sacrament of the body of Christ our Redeemer, they made a vow to leave on a day that they appointed all that they had, without retaining more than the necessary journey-money for the journey to Venice. They also made a vow to employ themselves in the spiritual improvement of their neighbor; and to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, on condition that, once they had reached Venice, they should wait a whole year for an opportunity of embarking, and if they found such in the course of that year, they should go to Jerusalem, and having arrived they should endeavor to stay, and live always in those Holy Places; but if they could not find a passage in a year’s time, or if after visiting the Holy Places they were unable to remain in Jerusalem, in that case they would go to Rome and, prostrate at the feet of the sovereign pontiff, the vicar of Christ our Lord, they would offer themselves for his holiness to dispose of them freely, wherever he would, for the good and salvation of souls. And these same vows they renewed again in the two following years on the same day of the Assumption of our Lady, in the same church, and with the same ceremonies. This was the origin of the renovation of vows, as practised in the Society before profession.

In the Fifth Part of the Constitutions, speaking of this renovation, our Father says: “This renovation of vows is not taking up a new obligation, but a calling to mind and confirmation of an obligation already undertaken.” It is a repetition and confirmation of what is done, with satisfaction and rejoicing, as a sign and testimony that we do not find it irksome, nor repent of it, but rather are so glad and satisfied that we render many thanks to God for the favor that He has done us in taking us for His own and giving us grace to make this offering; and if we had not made it and had not offered ourselves, we would make it now and offer ourselves anew to God; and if there were a thousand worlds to leave for God, we would leave them all for His* love; and if we had a thousand wills and hearts to give Him, we would give them all and offer them afresh. It is in this manner, with this joy and satisfaction, that this renovation should be made, and so it will be of great value and merit; for as complacency in sin committed and evil done is a new sin and offense against God, and deserving of new punishment, so satisfaction and complacency in a good thing done is very good and very pleasing and meritorious in the sight of His Divine Majesty. In the measure in which the doing was good, the complacency in the thing done is also good.

Coming down now more to particulars, our Father says that this renovation is made for three objects. First, for an increase of devotion, for this renovation is a source of no small but very great devotion, as is the experience of those who prepare for it well. Secondly, to awaken in us the memory of the obligation that we have contracted to God, that so we may be animated to go on carrying out what we have promised, endeavoring every day to grow in virtue and perfection. Thirdly, to steady us more in our vocation; for, as it is a remedy against all temptations to make acts of the contrary virtue, since maladies are cured by their contraries, so in resistance to inward stirrings of discontent or disgust, wherewith the devil sometimes assails us on various occasions that occur throughout the year, it is a great support to renew our vows. For thereby the enemy is weakened and loses heart to attack us with the like temptation; and if there has been any weakness on our part in the past, it is thereby made up even with advantage, for by it the soul is furthered in perfection.

Virtue and perfection is very uphill work to our depraved nature; for so great is the weakness and misery to which we are reduced by sin and so great the inclination which we have to what is imperfect and evil that, though sometimes we start our spiritual exercises with fervor, thereafter we come little by little to grow slack and relax the fervor with which we began, and return to our imperfection and tepidity; we are like the weights of the clock, that are always tending to go down. As our flesh is by nature taken from the earth, so it is always drawing us down thereto. Therefore it is appropriate to take certain times of refreshment, so that, if we were on the way to a fall, we may reverse our course. So our Father would have us particularly to take this refreshment twice a year by means of this renovation. So holy Mother Church has instituted two seasons in the year as two periods of refreshment to put new spirit into her children to begin to serve God, making a fresh start in fervor, to wit, Advent and Lent. Our Father in like manner would have us particularly twice a year refresh the memory of the offering that we have made to God and of the end for which the Lord has drawn us to religion, that we may renew ourselves therein and begin with fresh energy and fervor to aim at that to which the Lord has called us. And to that end he instituted such solemn celebrations as these in the Society, and that is the good that we should endeavor to get from them.

Not only at these times, but every day, our Father Francis Xavier used to say that we should make this renovation. In the “Collations of the Fathers” we read that the holy Abbot Paphnucius did so. Father Francis Xavier used to say that he had hardly found any means more efficacious, or defense stronger, for religious against the temptations of the devil and the flesh than the renewal of one’s three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He advised its being done every morning after meditation, so to arm us against our enemies, and also after evening prayer. If we do not practise it so frequently as that, that is a good devotion which some have of doing so every time they communicate, and often to take account of themselves how they keep these vows, and whether there is anything that their conscience reproaches them with on that score.

The better to enable us to gain the end of this renovation, besides other corporal penances that are practised, such as abstinence and discipline, there goes before it in the first place a previous recollection of some days, during which we cease from our occupations and give ourselves more to prayer and spiritual exercises. In the second place there comes each one’s giving an account of his conscience to the superior. Although this is done frequently during the year, it is then done with greater exactness, and comprises all the last six months. This is one of the substantial observances that we have in the Society, and we shall treat of it afterwards. The third thing previous to renovation is a general confession made by each renovant to any confessor that he shall choose out of those appointed for that purpose. This is an old custom of the Society, and we have a rule about it.

These means are very proper for the end proposed. For each one, making a review of all his faults, comes to know his improvement or falling-off in spirit. He looks and considers whether he has improved more in the last six months than in the six months preceding; and this comparison and juxtaposition of the present time with the time preceding helps much to make a person ashamed of himself if he sees that he is not improving, and to bring him to start afresh with new energy, since it was for no other end that he came to religion. Moreover, looking at his faults all together and, as they say, in cold blood, a man knows what passion wars upon him most and what humor is most predominant in him, and so he may take to heart and resolve upon the remedy, making his particular examen on that point. Moreover, as all this is seen and considered at this time of renovation of vows, when a man takes in review the mercies and benefits that he has received from God, and in particular his call to religion, and sees himself on the one hand so much bounden, and on the other that on his part there has been nothing but faults, he humbles himself before our Lord, and is moved to amend himself and make a fresh start henceforth. Contrary set upon contrary, like white upon black, comes out and strikes observation much more. Contrast the amount that you have received, and the amount of what God has done for you, with the amount of what you have done for Him; see what your receipts are and what your disbursements, and you will see what reason you have for shame and self-humiliation. What has resulted from such frequentation of sacraments, from so many penances and mortifications, from so much meditation, from so many examens, so many discourses and exhortations, so much spiritual reading? Into what abyss has all this gone? What is the profit that you have made of it? In this way each one should consider his faults when he prepares to give in his account and make his general confession, taking care to look and examine right well what is the outlet whereby all his fortune has streamed away and gone, to make sure of finding a remedy for it in future.