Missioning

Saint lgnatius and his first companions wanted the serve the universal Church where its needs was the greatest. They thought that the Pope, as chief shepherd of the Church, would know best where and what that might be. The result was the famous fourth vow of the professed members of the Society, whereby the professed pledged to obey the supreme pontiff inregard to whatever missions the latter might choose the give them.

How this was eventually worked out in the Society's Constitutions and its accompanying Declarations is the tale that Fr. de Aldama traces in this book. He brings his usual amazing knowledge of the manuscript material and of the Constitutions themselves to bear on his task. The result is a brilliant presentation of the notion of "send-ing" in the life of the Society of Jesus, and of the rold of the fourth vow in the formation of the Society as religious orver int he Church.