The Positive Impact of the Italian Jesuits Movement in America

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Jesuit Movement
The Jesuits’ Contribution to America
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The Italian Jesuits Movement is religious movement that was started by St. Ignatius in the sixteenth century. At the time of its start, it had few members who later invited more people to join them as they prepared to extend their mission of spreading the gospel. The recruits knew nothing in regard to the principles of the Jesuits; they were referred as brothers though some were elderly. They were later to become priests after gaining some experience in spreading the gospel and all that pertained to this movement.

The Jesuit Movement

According to McKevitt, the members of this group took vows of chastity, obedience and poverty. This was because they wanted to be Christ-like through imitating what Jesus Christ did in his time. In nineteenth century, there was a contradiction on how far the Jesuit could enjoy life and materials.

The Italian Jesuits were not for the idea of fully denying themselves some of the materials, however they listened to John Henry one of their superiors when he visited them and explained to them why they were to enjoy life less. This movement also considered choosing not to marry as a higher step of choosing to serve God more as they had wished and they valued this despite the alternative advice they were given by the Protestants and non-believers.

The Jesuits’ Contribution to America

Education

The Italian Jesuits contributed a lot while traversing America; they preached to Native Americans who later joined them to work as missionaries and were placed in responsibility positions over the parishes that were opened as a result of the large numbers of converts that were gained.

The Italian Jesuit assisted in modifying the American culture through creating awareness on arts and related areas that the Americans did not know or knew very little about. This brought about a dramatic change not only in America but also in other parts of the world in the 1960s.

Through music, theater, creative writing and visual arts, the Jesuits were able to increase the awareness of the Americans on the significance of art in the society. More to this, their actions were gaining popularity hence paving a way for them as they embarked on evangelism (Udias 1).

According to Malley, the Jesuits started some primary and secondary schools and colleges; these were crucial in civilization at this period of time. The studies in these learning institutions became influential to the people since they addressed pertinent issues in the then society; one of the issues was the place of females in the society. These schools enrolled those who were willing to join the mission work and also those who were willing to develop other careers.

The Jesuits were determined to educate the Native Americans and they spent most of their time in classes to fully assist those who were willing to learn (Malley 1). According to McKevitt, through getting involved in teaching colleges such as Georgetown College, the Jesuits had invented a way to educate the natives on what they believed in. This was also reshaping the culture of East and West America due to the introduction of new ideas that were not present earlier.

The Italian Jesuits had a great positive impact as teachers since they spent most of their life in classroom teaching Americans though they were also committed to priesthood duties. Their impact on education was felt during this time due to the fact that they had flown in from Italy to America in large numbers to deliver quality education to the Native Americans.

Empowering the Women

According to McKevitt, St Ignatius the founder of the Jesuit movement was devoted towards empowering women. The Jesuits too had to follow this; they therefore took every opportunity during their interaction with the people to advocate for women rights.

They even integrated nuns and sisters in the teaching programmes and also in running of the learning institutions. This made even the Native Americans to change their perceptions and attitudes towards women since the Jesuits were highly respected and obeyed and thus their opinion in regard to women was equally respected.

Industrial Development

It has been noted that due to the Mexican war, the Italian Jesuits shifted to the west and while there they became investors through activities such as farming, mining and ranching. This contributed positively towards the upgrading of the industrial sector hence improvement of productivity in this region. Through this they became the role models for the natives who joined them in the investment activities.

This also attracted many immigrants from different areas to this region. According to Ronda, these expatriates reshaped the boundary culture through establishment of churches, press, hospitals and colleges that integrated America with Europe and other neighboring countries. The Jesuits instructed the native converts on farming and also on irrigation skills and also coaching them on the catholic beliefs (Ronda 1).

Civilization of the Society

According to Ronda, the Jesuits used simple gifts to lure the natives and later talk with them about the word of God. The Jesuits also appointed converted natives into positions of captains and these captains helped the Jesuits in preaching to other natives. This approach was viable in ensuring easy interaction with the natives though it was later faced out after they had completed their mission of ensuring that the Native Americans knew about Christianity.

Through the Jesuits enduring criticism and hostility, the society was learning from them the virtues that they were to have as Christians. According to Ronda, they were to observe high sense of brotherhood despite the challenges that they were encountering. This forced the Native Americans to embrace Christianity as well as holding their traditional religious practices that were of great value to them.

Though the Jesuits had theological conflicts with the native religious leaders, they used intellectual confrontations until they prevailed. Such lessons were crucial to the society since they were to behave the same once they were converted to believe in the new ways of the Jesuits. Tranquility was to ensure that development was achieved in a short while.

According to McKevitt, the Jesuits had extensively travelled before settling in the United States; they had encountered many cultures and different languages and this gave them a chance to interact faster with the natives. They were also able to accommodate the multicultural America and this helped them in teaching later as they established schools. On the other hand, the natives were also willing to learn from the Jesuits since they had integrated well.

McKevitt highlights that church leaders were competing among themselves to acquire the immigrants’ services in the absence of the native ministers. This was to a greater extent beneficial to the Jesuits movement since these church leaders were to join them in disseminating their message. In the long run, the whole society was to benefit by hearing the gospel since they were most likely to listen to their own people more than they would have done to the Jesuits who were just but foreigners (McKevitt 1).

According to Judd, Jesuits movement through their practices in America protected the Native Americans from being enslaved by the Portuguese and the Spanish.

They were secure since Jesuits were condemning such acts and therefore it became challenging for their mission of enslaving others to prevail. This was a positive impact towards the native society since they benefitted through the protection that Jesuits provided; they also accepted the teachings of the Jesuits since they were considering their message as liberating and of great value (Judd 1).

O’Malley highlights that, as Jesuits were involved in teaching in the Native American schools, they came up with a dictionary since they had learnt many languages hence becoming easier for them to translate from one language to the other, for example, from Japanese to Portuguese. This was an advantage to the natives since they were also to be well educated without language barrier which would have hindered their learning (O’Malley 1).

Conclusion

Today, the Jesuit movement is still carrying out their work especially in education; they still operate in high schools, colleges and universities in various parts of the world. They are still advocating for human rights and social justice for all in the whole world. The work that the movement did long time ago is still relevant and one can easily trace where some of the practices came from especially in Latin America.

Works Cited

Judd, Peter. Four American Ancestries: White, Griggs, Cowles, Judd, Including Haring, Phelps, Denison, Clark, Foote, Coley, Haight, Ayers, and Related Families. New York, N.Y: P.H. Judd Press, 2008. Print.

McKevitt, Gerald. Italian Jesuits in the American West, 1848-1919. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007. Print.

O’Malley, John. How the First Jesuits Became Involved in Education. Boston College, 2012. Web. <https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/top/church21/pdf/HowtheFirstJesuitsBecameInvolvedinEducation.pdf>.

Ronda, James. “The European Indian: Jesuit Civilization Planning in New France.” Church History, 41.3 (1972): 385-395. Print.

Udias, Augustin, and Stauder William. The Jesuit Contribution to Seismology. Sesmological Society of America, 1996. Web. <https://www.seismosoc.org/inside/eastern-section/jesuit-contribution-seismology/>.

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