JESUIT RATIO STUDIORUM OF 1599
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Letter of Transmission of the Ratio of 1599
Rules of the Provincial
Common Rules of Professors of the Higher Faculties
Rules of the Prefect of Lower Studies
Rules for Written Examinations
Laws for Prizes
Common Rules for the Teachers of the Lower Classes
Rules of the Scholastics of the Society
Instruction for Those Engaged in the Two-Year Review of Theology
Rules of the Academy
Notes to the Translation
The highest authority in the Jesuit Order is the General. He is elected in a General Congregation composed of delegates representing the whole Order in a ratio of three delegates from each of the territorial divisions into which the Order is divided. He holds office for life. Next in line of authority are the Provincials, each of whom has under his charge the Jesuit institutions and members of a given territory or province. A Provincial’s term of office is usually limited to six years. Directly under the Provincial are the Rectors, who individually have jurisdiction over single institutions. This unchanging Christian aim is enunciated time and again in Jesuit documents; for instance in the Fourth Part of the Constitutions, “Since the end of the Society and of its studies is to aid our fellowmen to the knowledge and love of God and to the salvation of their souls . . .“ So too in “The teachers should make it their express purpose, in their lectures when occasion is offered and outside of them, too, to inspire the students to the love and service of God our Lord, and to a love of the virtues by which they please Him.” Translations in George E. Ganss, S.J., Saint Ignatius’ Idea of a Jesuit University (Milwaukee, Wis.: Marquette University Press, ) This aim, stated in the first of the Rules of the Provincial, appears in the first of the Rules of the Rector: “The rector’s first concern should be the spiritual development of the young men committed to his care”; in the first of the Rules of the Prefect of Studies: “so that those who attend our schools will, to the greater glory of God, make the greatest possible progress in development of character, literary skills, and learning”; in the first of the Common Rules of Professors of the Higher Faculties: “It will be the set purpose of the teacher . . . to inspire his students to the love and service of God and to the practice of the virtues which He expects of them”; and in the first of the Rules of the Prefect of Lower Studies: “that our students may advance in uprightness of life as well as in the liberal arts.” Such a religious purpose did not, however, prevent or distract the Jesuits from pursuing the immediate objective of leading their students to excellence in learning: praestans rerum scientia. They knew that in order to form the Christian they must first form the man, that is, develop all the powers and potentialities of the individual. This involves, if it is to be successful, not only the training of the mind, but the shaping of the student’s spirit, the cultivation of his religious sense and his sense of values.
2 Therefore, the Jesuit teacher, besides possessing even the best possible teaching aims, must help in creating in the school a Christian atmosphere (with the active influence of the Sodality [see Note ]), in providing guidance and counseling to his pupils, and most of all by giving an example of apostolic dedication. St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, saw a close link between the formative value of the humanities and the arts of communication. In a letter to the famous Jesuit theologian, James Laynez, Juan de Polanco wrote in the name of Ignatius that “many learned men, because they lack this formation, keep their knowledge to themselves. They miss the chief end which they should have attained with their knowledge, that of being useful to their neighbor. Others, no doubt,
communicate their knowledge, but not with the same authority and profit which would result if they possessed the faculty of making themselves understood, and could thus make their ideas as clear and intelligible to their audience as they are clear and intelligible in their own minds.”
3 A Scholasticate is a seminary for Jesuit students who are pursuing studies in philosophy and theology. Scholastics are Jesuit students who, after completing the novitiate, are pursuing higher studies prior to ordination and final vows. A professed house was intended primarily as the living quarters of the professed members of the Order. It was not to have either property or regular income. “Extern students” was a term used to distinguish lay students from Jesuit or other ecclesiastical students. It included both day students and boarders. The edition of the Ratio was reprinted at Mainz in , at Naples and Tournon in , and at Rome in and In the Roman reprint of , Rule , nn. - of the Provincial, regarding theology and philo- sophy, was somewhat revised, according to Decree of the Seventh General Congregation of the Order, - Cf. Institutum Sotietatis Jesu (Florence, ), II, - We have followed the revised version of Rule in the translation. In all other respects the reprint was identical with that of . The rule of the Provincial leaves it to his discretion to decide what studies the Jesuit students, in view of their age and talent, are to pursue, and to remove from those studies anyone who proves unequal to them. The rule recommends that he assign to the study of moral theology those who, because of age or other reasons, are unable to progress in higher studies, and that he see to it that others also apply themselves to the study of moral theology, so that the Society may have a sufficient number of qualified confessors. Cf. Insti- tutum Societatis Jesu (Florence, ), III, - Teaching, namely, the grammar classes or the Humanities. Profession is the grade in the Order to which those priests are admitted who take the three solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, plus a fourth vow of special obedience to the Pope. This the decree of the Sixth General Congregation (Decree in Institutum Societatis Jesu, II, ) states that those who possess exceptional talent in the classical languages and have taught them with outstanding success for a number of years, may be promoted by the general either to the profession of the four solemn vows or of three solemn vows.
4 The same exception is to be made for those who have labored fruitfully in the Indian missions and have mastered the Indian languages. The Constitutions says that generally speaking admission to the profession of four vows should be based on completion of four years of theological studies, followed by the final examination described in Rule of the Provincial. There may be occasion, however, to make an exception in the case of those who, before entering the Society, have had adequate training in canon law or who possess other notable gifts which might compensate for lack of training in theology. Judgment is to be left to the general. The Constitutions reads: “To teach how to read and write would also be a work of charity if the Society had enough members to be able to attend to everything. But because of the lack of members, these elementary branches are not ordinarily taught.”
5 In the early Jesuit schools the rule was not easy to put into effect. The townspeople and some of the principal benefactors made vigorous appeals to start or continue the elementary studies. Ignatius, however, insisted on the observance of the rule, and gradually the classes were eliminated. It should be emphasized that the Jesuits did not disparage elementary schooling, as is sometimes inferred. Ignatius gave the precise explanation: the Society did not have sufficient manpower to take up every worthy cause. It was already committed to large-scale missionary activity (a primary ministry) both at home and in pagan lands, and between and the middle of it had undertaken an extensive educational apostolate by establishing thirty-three secondary schools in Sicily, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, France, and Germany. When the first Jesuit schools were established in the middle of the sixteenth century, the Doctrinale of Alexander de Vila Dei, the favorite Latin grammar of the Middle Ages, had gradually been replaced by the Commentarii Grammatici of Jan van Pauteren, commonly known as Despauterius. It was introduced into practically all the Jesuit schools. It was not long, however, before such strong criticism of Despauterius was voiced that several Jesuits undertook to provide a grammar more suitable to their schools.
6 The first was that of Father Hannibal Coudret while he was teaching at Messina. It was used widely and several times reprinted, but was never officially adopted by the Society. Father André des Freux (Frusius), at the request of Ignatius, published a grammar in , but it did not meet with approval. Neither did the grammar of James Laynez, written in Latin prose instead of in the usual metrical form. Finally, in , the grammar of the Portuguese Jesuit, Emmanuel Alvarez, appeared in Lisbon. Its title was De Institutione Graxnmatica Libri Tres. Of the three divisions of the grammar, the first dealt with etymology, the second with syntax, and the third with prosody. Innumerable copies were quickly printed in the various countries where the Jesuits had schools. Nevertheless, even this grammar was severely criticized as being too long and containing too many scholia or appendices. The upshot was that a revision of Alvarez, by Father Horace Torsellini, was published in Rome in It contained so many changes in structure, rules of syntax, and annotations that it bore only superficial resemblance to Alvarez. So the schools were given the choice of using the original Alvarez or the Roman substitute.
7 An important part of the training of young Jesuits has always been a period of several years spent in the teaching of boys in Jesuit secondary schools. This period normally follows the completion of their philosophical studies. Though it serves as a temporary break in the intensive study of the humanities and philo- sophy, its chief value lies in the formation of character and growth in intellectual and religious maturity. In the United States this experience originally embraced a five-year period. The duration was reduced to three years. Exceptions to the rule of requiring teaching experience are noted in this Rule and in the two following rules. Thus the normal progression in Jesuit training is two years of novitiate, two years of humanistic studies (somewhat modified today), three (now two) years of philosophical studies, three years of teaching experience, three years in the study of theology, ordination to the priesthood, a fourth year of theology, and a third year of probation, called “ter- tianship.” The third year of probation, or “tertianship,” is the final year in the Jesuit’s formation and has for its aim the renewal and deepening of the religious spirit.
8 Lay brothers, or temporal coadjutors, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but are not ordained to the priesthood. Apart from the priesthood, they enjoy the same vocation as all other members of the Society of Jesus. They perform a wide variety of functions, as buyers, supervisors of workmen, accountants, master carpenters, technical experts, mechanics, teachers, according to their talent and training. On the “expurgation” from classical authors of what might poison an immature boy’s soul while perfecting his Latinity, the Jesuits followed the advice of St. Ignatius, expressed in a letter of June, : “A boy’s first impressions which are often strongest and remain for long years have a definite influence for good or ill in after life. Hence, the books put into his hands must be such as exert a good influence, or at least they must not be such as would surely expose him to moral corruption.” In accord with this advice, Ignatius commissioned Father Andre des Freux to prepare expurgated editions of Horace, Martial, and Terence. In reply, des Freux said that he found no difficulty in preparing editions of Horace and Martial, but that Terence was taxing his ingenuity because the poison was often in the very structure and argument of his works. Father des Freux did prepare an expurgated edition of Martial, edited after his death by Father Edmond Auger. It went into eighteen editions. There is no record that he published an expurgated Horace. Ignatius banned the works of Terence from Jesuit classrooms in More than a century later Father Joseph de Jouvancy published expurgated editions not only of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, but also of Terence. Cf. Carl Sornmervogel, S.J., Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus (Paris: Picard, -), III, Col. for des Freux; IV, Cols. - for de Jouvancy. Renaissance educators like Vegio, Aeneas Sylvius, and Vives were equally emphatic on the need for expurgating many of the Latin classics. The recent comment of Father John W. Donohue, S.J., is relevant: “For although those teachers (the early. Jes- uit) were less enthusiastic about wide and relatively unrestricted reading than we are, they had perhaps a greater respect for the power of books. Since they believed that great books could shape intelligence and hence influence character by reason of the interplay between mind and heart, they also believed that an evil book can corrupt. And unless one assumes that reading and study can make a difference, there is little point in educating.” The limitations of this rule should be noted. It does not sanction free adaptation. Ignatius and his successors insisted on preserving certain essential aims and principles which places, times, and persons should not be allowed to change. Even the revision of the Ratio “was approached with the greatest reverence for a system which was drawn up by men of the highest competence, after lengthy consultations, and approved by nearly two centuries of successful operation.” Ratio Studiorum, , prefatory letter by the General of the Society of Jesus, Father John Roothaan. Cf. G. M. Pachtler, S.J., Ratio Studiorum et Institutiones Scholasticae Societatis Jesu per Germaniam olim vigentes, collectae, concinnatae, dilucidatae (Berlin: A. Hofmann, l-, II. Adaptations raise these stubbornly recurring questions: Adaptations to achieve what purpose? Is the purpose a Jesuit one? If so, are the means appropriate and adequate? Adaptations certainly have taken place in the past and will continue to take place as need dictates. The revised Ratio of is an instance. That revision preserved the distinctive and timeless Ignatian aims, but it did not sufficiently adapt the changeable to the new educational demands. Father Roothaan stated in his preface that after some years of trial a more permanent modern Ratio would be undertaken. It was never accomplished. A very recent adaptation was begun in the Thirty-first General Congregation, S.J., convened after Vatican II, which spent more than five months examining in the light of the Constitutions every phase of Jesuit life and discussing and evaluating each of the varied Jesuit activities: education (secondary and university), scholarship and research, the missions, the social apostolate in today’s dimensions, the relations between Jesuits and the laity, the Spiritual Exercises, the mass media, modern atheism and unbelief.
9 The necessary adaptations are to be determined in the spirit of the Constitutions and with Ignatian wisdom. The Jesuits have always given prominence to disputations, debates, discussion and, in secondary schools, to a variety of class and interclass contests. In the Constitutions, Part IV, Ignatius states the purpose of these instruments: “that the intellectual powers may be more fully exercised.” In the same chapter he emphasized that there should be fixed times to discuss and debate the subject matter of the humanities. This exercise of intellectual powers is the motive underlying the several rules in the Ratio concerning disputations, contests and debates; for instance, Rule of the Common Rules of Professors of the Higher Faculties and Rule of the Common Rules for the Teachers of the Lower Classes. Besides, in the initial edition of the Ratio a lengthy chapter was devoted to disputations in theology, philosophy, the humanities, and even grammatical studies. To quote from the statement on philosophy and theology: One masters philosophy and theology, “not so much by listening to lectures as by engaging in disputation; for disputation provides a real test of how much a student understands of what he wrote in his notebook and how much profit he gained from private reflection. What seemed crystal clear in the seclusion of one’s room will often be found worthless in the give and take of disputation. Yet, when one is hard pressed by an opponent, he is forced to call upon all the strength and vigor of his mental powers. As a consequence, he will think of arguments in rebuttal that would never have come to mind in the quiet and ease of his study.” Pachtler, op. cit., II, Rules and refer to the “Instruction.” The practice of speaking and writing Latin by young Jesuits was stressed principally for four reasons: In the Ratio Latin was the dominant subject in the curriculum; the practice of speaking Latin in the classroom was to be strictly observed except in the lower classes in which the pupils were still learning the fundamentals of Latin.
10 Rule of the Common Rules for the Teachers of the Lower Classes; Latin sermons, orations and addresses occupied a prominent place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Latin was still the language of scholarship, as witness, for example, the nine large volumes of Sommervogel’s Bibliotheque (op. cit.) of Jesuit publications in philo- sophy, theology, literature, history, mathematics, and astronomy. See also Rule of the Rules of the Provincial. This regulation is probably the earliest public recognition in educational history that special preparation is necessary for effective teaching. The preliminary Ratio made the point that if prospective teachers have not learned the techniques of good teaching beforehand, they will be forced to learn them afterwards at the expense of their students and of their own reputation. Besides, teachers often take it amiss if they are corrected after they have adopted a fixed method of teaching and may thus persist in their mistaken ways. Pachtler, op. cit., II. But the origin of this regulation goes back to the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola. When the Roman College (now the Gre- gorian University) was opened Ignatius decided that it should become the center for training future Jesuit teachers for the schools which were being established in many European countries. So he brought to the Roman College the more promising among the young Jesuit students. Eleven came from Messina, others from Spain, Portugal, Louvain, Germany, and Italy. At the same time he staffed the college with the most gifted professors of the Order. The purpose he had in mind was to form the younger students in sound pedagogical prin- ciples by observing the teaching methods of their professors and by having the methods explained to them. Thus what they had learned at the Roman College would through them become operative in other Jesuit schools. Ignatius’ letter on his project for the Roman College is in Monumenta Ignatiana, Ser. I, IV. They would thus be considered merely “auditors.” The theatre played and still plays a conspicuous role in the history of Jesuit education. The limitations set by Rule of the Rector are sufficiently stringent to obviate abuses. In the early Jesuit centuries, “only rarely” was interpreted to mean three or four times a year.
11 The themes were taken from sacred history, the Latin and Greek classics, the foreign missions, lives of the saints, and local traditions. A dictinctive feature of these comedies and tragedies was that the majority were written by the Jesuit professors themselves. Many were published (cf. Sommervogel, op. cit., passim) and were thus reproduced in many of the schools. In our century and in the United States usually one three-act play is produced each year; sometimes three one-act plays. Secular themes predominate, though religious or ethical plays are occasionally staged, such as The Trial of Edmund Campion, Barabbas, Twelve Angry Men. The educative purpose of these dramatic performances in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries were stated by Jacobus Pontanus (Spanmüller), S.J.: The clever acting of poor students on the stage often moves the wealthy to help them; the plays bring renown to the teachers and to the school; they can be excellent means for exercising the memory; they are a great help to students in mastering Latin; they inculcate lessons of virtue. Cf. Progymnasinatum latinita- tis sive dialogorum Libri VI, Liber I, Progymnasma centesimum: “Actio Scenica.” (Padova, ), p. The Rule of the rector prescribes that he should frequently and in a friendly manner confer with his teachers and generously provide for their needs whether of body or of mind. If he finds that anyone is troubled by temptation, especially if it is of serious consequence, he should either himself or if necessary through others, offer every possible help, so that a suitable remedy may be applied without delay. Institutum Societatis Jesu, III. First in rank among extracurricular activities in Jesuit schools was the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its purpose was to foster filial devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. There were pious congregations of students at Genoa and at Perugia, but the sodality founded at the Roman College by the Belgian Jan Leunis, then a teacher in a class of grammar, was to be named as the head and mother of all present and future sodalities in Jesuit schools throughout the world. It was dedicated to the Annunciation of Our Lady. It is probable that the sodality had a relationship to the academies, because the academies were extracurricular activities limited to the leaders in both academic and spiritual enterprises (cf. Rules of the Academy). The greatness of the sodality and the key to its spread was its dedication to an ever deeper interior life, to prayer and self-mastery, and to an active social apostolate.
12 After Vatican II the sodality was given a new name: Christian Life Communities. These Communities are still, as was the original sodality, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and they are worldwide just as the Jesuit schools and universities are worldwide. The rules presented here are those of the prefect of higher studies in a college or university, whereas the Rules of the Prefect of Lower Studies correspond to those of the principal of a modern high school or secondary school. The prefect of higher studies had general supervision of both the higher and the lower studies. The office of Chancellor dates from medieval times. Normally the Chancellor had the authority, under pope or king to grant degrees. He was below the Rector Magnificus and above the dean. These comprehensive disputations or “acts,” covering the whole range of theological subject matter, were reserved for special occasions and were held in public, usually before a distinguished audience. They were quite different from the disputations held weekly or monthly in private. The four divisions of theology were based on the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, which had three parts, the second of which is subdivided into two, so that in sum there are four divisions.
13 St. Thomas held that the Blessed Virgin in the first instant of her conception was not exempt from original sin. According to him, she was not endowed with sanctifying grace because, like all men, she was redeemed by Christ (Summa Theologica, III). The more common teaching was that the Blessed Virgin was endowed with sanctifying grace in the first instant of her existence in virtue of the anticipated merits of Christ. It was this teaching that was defined as a dogma of the Church by Pius IX. For St. Thomas the solemnity of a vow con- sists in a kind of consecration or blessing of the person who takes the vow. The more common opinion is that a vow is solemn if it is accepted as such by the Church. In other words, the term “solemn” is a technical and not a substantive expression.. The catalogue of questions here referred to is a selection of topics from St. Thomas’ Summa Theologica. Some are to be treated in class, others are to be omitted or treated elsewhere or left to be taken up by other teachers of philosophy or theology. The catalogue is in Pachtler, op. cit.. It would serve no useful purpose to include it in this translation. A preferable title would be “Rules of the Professor of Moral Theology,” since principles as well as cases are studied. Such is the title in the re- vision of the Ratio. The humanities and the natural sciences are the principal subject matter of the first two years of the American College of Arts and Sciences. Averroes was a Spanish-Arabian philosopher, - The Alexandrists were philosophers of the Renaissance, who adopted the explanation of Aristotle’s De Anima of Alexander of Aphrodisias. Both the Averro- ists and Alexandrists were condemned by the fifth Lateran Council, under Leo X, for their false doctrines, especially regarding the immortality of the soul.
14 These emblematic compositions, and similar devices, such as hieroglyphics, enigmas and epigrams, were widely cultivated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are mentioned frequently in the Ratio. Pontanus describes the emblem thus: “Pictura quidem, tamquam corpus, poesis tamquam animus est: fitque ut emblema non possit non esse gratum, in quo et aures dulci carminum numero delectantur, animi pascuntur, et oculi pictura recreantur.” Jacobus Pontanus, S.J., Institutio Poetica (Ingolstadt, ), Ch. LII. See also J. B. Herman, S.J., La Pedagogie Des Jesuites Au XVIe Siecle (Louvain, ). In the Ratio, the Rules of the Teacher of Rhetoric lists emblematic compositions as subject matter for class contests, and Rule includes them among the more recondite exercises to be substituted on the weekly holidays for the usual reading of an historical author. The method “other than the Roman” was that of the original grammar of Emmanuel Alvarez. Cf. above, note This Rule , through, establishes norms for the smaller schools which, in the beginning, might have few teachers and grades. Either the school would eventually develop into the five grades, lowest grammar through rhetoric, or would be abandoned. This system of promotions made it possible for a bright and industrious youngster to spend no more than half a year or a semester in the lowest and middle grammar grades, thus completing two years in one. Such promotions were facilitated by the fact that the subject matter of each grade was to be completed in the first semester and repeated by way of review in the second semester (cf. above Rule). It should be noted, too, that since according to the rule of the Provincial (q.v.) the annual vacations in the grammar classes were limited to one or two weeks, the first semester was in reality longer in time than the second semester. At the end of Rule reasons are given for limiting “promotion during the year” to the lowest and middle grammar classes. On the compendium of Cyprian Soarez, see above, Rule of the Common Rules for the Teachers of the Lower Classes, and Rule of the Rules for the Teacher of Humanities. Rules to describe the written examination, while Rules to describe the oral examination which followed upon evaluation of the papers submitted in the written examination. See also Rules for Written Examinations. The disputations referred to in this rule were to be held in the grammar classes and in the classes of humanities and rhetoric.
15 There are special rules for these academies at the very end of the Ratio. It should be noted that the accomplishment of some or all of the purposes of the various academies could not but profoundly influence the standard of work done in the classroom itself, as almost anyone can testify who has presided over the modern counterparts of the old academ- ies, often split up now into classical, literary, debating, dramatic, and scientific clubs. The censor (sometimes called monitor) was to a certain extent the custodian of external discipline. As the rule specifies, the office was public, so that as Father Aquaviva, the Jesuit General, wrote, “A proper understanding of the rule will show that as the censorship is a public office, no odium or dissension should arise from it.” Pachtler, op. cit., II, p. The office of censor was established by statute at the University of Paris and was in effect in Sturm’s Strasburg Gymnasium, in Cordier’s College de Guyenne, at Winchester, at St. Paul’s in London, in the systems outlined by Brinsley, Hoole, and other English school-masters, and as late as the nineteenth century in the public schools at Shrewsbury and Rugby. Cf. Farrell, op. cit., pp. - In the Jesuit schools it was in effect as late as the eighteenth century and then disappeared. The Jesuits preferred to follow the princi- ple that observance of rules “will be better secured by the hope of honor and reward and the fear of disgrace than by corporal punishment” (Rule of the Common Rules for Teachers of the Lower Classes). Yet as St. Ignatius remarked, discipline must be maintained. He told parents in Italy that for this one of three things was to be done: the boys were either to be admonished verbally, or punished (though never whipped), or sent away from the school. Since he forbade the Jesuit teachers to punish their pupils, he recommended in his Constitutions (Part IV ) that a corrector be employed. The corrector was generally taken for granted in the sixteenth century and attention was directed to the qualities he should possess to fulfill his office satisfactorily. For instance, the French Jesuits enumerated these qualities: “He must be of mature age, pious, dignified, advanced in studies, carefully obedient to the college authorities, and content ordinarily to remain in the school and to keep aloof from the students.” MS Judicium P. Joannis Bleusii, folio , quoted in Farrell, op. cit., pp. - A reference to fiery tempers and student customs in the sixteenth century. Christian doctrine was studied mainly from the catechism of St. Peter Canisius in Germany or that of St. Robert Bellarmine, both of which had been translated into many languages. It should be explained that in correcting themes while the students were doing other tasks the teacher was not pilfering time from a class period to do his paper work. He was really alternating class with “study hall.” He was probably with the students all day long. This rule is repeated in Rule of the teacher of Rhetoric and in Rule of the teacher of Humanities and of the three grammar classes. The Jesuits have always exalted the role of the teacher. Yet they were well aware of the difficulty of the teaching art and of the fact that not many have the essential endowment of the great teacher, the gift of inspiration. Hence they laid down a teaching technique which they believed would lead the teacher by successive steps to “create the mental situation and stimulate the imminent activity of the student.” The technique was called the prelection. Its aim was to help the teacher to prepare his students for successful out-of-class study. He would explain to them the Latin or Greek assignment, first reading it aloud, slowly and distinctly, then linking its content with that of the previous lesson, and commenting, to the extent he thought necessary, on vocabulary, structure, syntax, figures of speech, and any special points of interest or difficulty.
16 In the initial stage of reading Latin or Greek the prelection would be more detailed, cover only a few lines, and include exactitude in rendering the passage into the vernacular. As students passed to the next years, there would be question and answer dialogue about uncommon words and phrases, difficult sentence structure, and more delicate shades of meaning. Gradually, especially in the classes of Humanities and Rhetoric, the prelection dealt less with vocabulary and syntax and more with ideas and expression. There would be pertinent discussion of classical allusions, of history, manners and morals, of the developing theme of a speech, poem or historical work, of the force and fitness of the author’s style, and of artistic reproduction. All the time the teacher would demand more of the students and give less of his own help and direction. His principal aim was to prepare his students how to grapple with an assignment or problem, to understand clearly what the author was saying and how he was saying it; in a word how to study effectively so as to arrive step by step at mastery of successively more advanced subject matter. It should be noted that during the prelection the students were not to take notes but were to follow the teacher’s ex- position closely. At the close of the prelection, or sometimes during it, the teacher might dictate the few points he felt were needed for prompting the memory in out-of-class study. The teacher, as the Ratio warned, was not to belabor the obvious, omitting details that were no longer required, and accommodating the explanation to the grade and proficiency of the class. Generally, the prelection was to occupy no more than ten or fifteen minutes. The prelection, as described here, deals with the classical studies in the grammar classes and the classes of Humanities and Rhetoric. But, as the Ratio made clear, it was to be applied and adapted to the teaching of philosophy and theology and, by implication, to any subject. Pachtler. Intimately connected with the prelection were both repetition and written exercises. Repetition. was fourfold: immediately following the prelection, on the day following the prelection, usually recited to the decurions in the presence of the teacher, who might intervene to question some of the students, a review of the week’s prelections, often in the form of a concertatio (contest), a month’s review prior to the year-end promotion. The aims of the repetitions were drill in vocabulary and syntax in the lower grammar classes, accuracy in stating and exemplifying rules, detection of student weaknesses, organization of material already studied, suggestion of questions or topics for further study.
17 Written Exercises. Rule of the Common Rules for the Teachers of the Lower Classes directs that prose composition be handed in daily, except on Saturday, by pupils in the three grammar classes, and daily, except on the weekly holiday and on Saturday, by pupils in Humanities and Rhetoric. Poetry was to be written twice a week and a Greek prose composition once a week. This written work was done partly during school hours and partly at home. The Rule gives directions for assigning the written work and Rules to deal with the method of correcting it. The purpose of the frequent exercises in composition was to help the students attain a real command of the Latin language; an ability, namely, not only to read but to write and speak (Rule ) Latin correctly, fluently, and even elegantly. Cicero was the chief and, in the beginning, the only model to be imitated--in his letters, essays, and orations. This imitation of Cicero, however, was not to be servile, since it aimed ultimately at self-expression. For instance, Rules of the Teacher of the Highest Grammar Class states that after the pupils have made some progress in composition, they should, once a, month, write a completely original essay, And Rule of the Rules of the Teacher of Humanities specifies that “usually once a week . . . the pupils should write from their own resources.” A good many years before even the experimental Ratio was written, James Ledesma, in his “De Ratione et Ordine Studiorum Collegii Romani,” wrote that by the time students reached the class of Humanities they would have had practice in composing proprio marte. He then outlined ten types of exercises to be written as original essays. Monumenta Paedagogica. These various types are repeated almost verbatim in Rule of the Rules of the Teacher of Rhetoric in the Ratio.
18 When the Jesuits went to Messina, in Sicily, to open their first school, they knew of course from experience that the instinct to excel, to out distance, is universal in human nature. They soon found that it is manifested most spontaneously in games and in play. Well and good. But they wondered whether this common instinct could not be used constructively in the classroom. Their experiment with it at Messina was so successful that one after another of the thirty-five Jesuit secondary schools adopted emulation as an essential element in their teaching technique. And so eventually the Ratio emphasized honorable rivalry, honesta aemulatio, as “a powerful incentive to studies.” Gilbert Highet aptly interprets this use of rivalry when he says that the Jesuits “treated it not as a method of making the boys learn, but as a way of helping them to learn by bringing out their own hidden energies.” [The Art of Teaching (New York: Vintage Books, ), p. l.] This rivalry was individual, group and interclass. It entered into the class recitation, conducting repetitions, and the public correction of written work. It included disputations and debates, contests within a class and between classes nearest to each other in grade, competition within a class for leadership, awarding of prizes for best results in Latin and Greek composition, both prose and poetry, and awards for general excellence in studies. The values of emulation in education have, of course, been challenged and denied. The Little Schools of Port-Royal and the Jansenists, who viewed human nature as essentially corrupt, banned every form of competition in the classroom as well as on the playing field. A century later, Rousseau in his Emile, said: “It is very strange that ever since people began to think about education they should have hit upon no other way of guiding children than emulation, jealousy, envy, vanity, greediness, base cowardice, all the most dangerous passions . . . .“ In the United States, the Progressive Education Movement condemned rivalry in favor of cooper- ation. In many schools, dominated by the Progressive ideology, rivalry was forbidden. The fact is, as as widely recognized today, that both rivalry and cooperation are valuable and compatible. It is the teacher’s duty to be on his guard lest this honorable rivalry degenerate into ill will, jealousy or greed. In Jesuit schools today, though emulation is not as intensive as it was in the schools of the sixteenth century, it is still an important factor, in and out of class, “as a powerful incentive to studies.” In the sixteenth century the classes in Jesuit grammar schools were often very large, numbering above .
19 The reason for this situation was that the almost immediate public esteem won by the schools brought a flood of insistent demands from parents to admit their sons to these schools. The Jesuits could not or did not sufficiently resist these demands and soon found their manpower spread too thin. The solution hit upon was to divide the large classes in- to groups of ten with a captain, chosen from among the better students, as leader of each group. The captains assisted the teacher by hearing the memory lessons within their group (reciting their own lesson to the teacher), collecting the written exercises, and performing other as- signed duties. The captains were changed every two weeks or every month. Evidently this device worked well; for it was continued for many years and was incorporated into the successive editions of the Ratio. It will be observed that the first rule for every teacher, from Rhetoric to the lowest grammar class, defines the scope or objective of the class. This provided a clear organization of successive objectives to be attained by the student. It also provided a norm for the early promotion of better students within the year. The introduction of erudition into the Ratio first occurs in Rule of the Rules of the Teacher of the Highest Grammar Class, which directs that in the prelection the teacher should “briefly comment on the myth- ology, history and general erudition that may be suggested by the passage.” The class of Humanities includes erudition among the objectives to be achieved. The purpose of erudition is here stated to be “a means of stimulating interest and relaxing the mind.” In Rule erudition is called for “to the extent that the passage covered in the prelection requires it.” The class of Rhetoric makes much more extensive use of erudition. This class, says the first rule, is concerned mainly with the art of Rhetoric, the refinement of style, and erudition. Erudition is described as comprising “the study of historical events, ethnology, the authoritative views of scholars and wide sources of knowledge.” But it is to be employed “rather sparingly according to the capacity of the students."
20 The Rule states that “toward the end of the year local custom may favor the substitution of some new author whose richness of erudition and variety in subject matter attracts interest.” However, the Ratio warns the teacher that though he should bring in appropriate allusions to history and fable, to Roman antiquity, to men and morals, he was to do this briefly, with the view to clarifying the matter at hand. He should in general indicate the sources to which the students may go for a fuller investigation and deeper knowledge of these matters, if they wish. Thus it will be evident that the teacher passes over certain matters of erudition, not because he is uninformed about them, but because at the moment they are foreign to his purpose. Cf. T. Corcoran, S.J., Renatae Litterae Saeculo A. Chr. XVI in Scholis Societatis lesu Stabilitae (Dublin: The National University, ). See also Herman, op. cit., p. , and Farrell, op. cit. This warning was not meant to disparage the use of erudition, but rather to place formation and information in their proper perspective in the Jesuit system. The values of erudition are that it broadens and enriches the students’ knowledge of ancient civilization and of the great Greek and Roman writers, relaxes the mind and relieves the tedium of constant contact with the classical text itself, and in this way helps sustain interest in achieving the primary aim of the teaching. This aim was that by an intensive study of the classical author the students would come to understand exactly what he was saying and how he was saying it. This would normally lead to appreciation and imitation. In each of the sets of rules for the teachers of the several classes divides the school day into successive periods and exercises. This results in a good deal of repetition which may seem uncalled for. It may be said in justification that the Ratio was in good part a handbook for teachers, who were expected to follow carefully the rules of their respective classes. The format of Rule is noticeably similar in all the classes. There are minor differences in prescribed exercises in each of the grammar classes and some major differences in the classes of Humanities and Rhetoric. The full title of the Rhetoric was De Arte Rhetorica libri tres ex Aristotele, Cicerone et Quinctili- ano Deprompti. The author, Father Cyprian Soarez was a Portuguese Jesuit. The first edition was published at Coirnbra, Portugal, in . Thereafter in- numerable editions were printed until the middle of the eighteenth century. Cf. Sommervogel, op. cit., Vol. VII, coll. ff.
21 It was a well-arranged compendium of the oratorical precepts of Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian. The edition of was translated into English by Lawrence J. Flynn, S.J., under the title of The De Arte Rhetorica of Cyprian Soarez, S.J.: A Translation with Introduction and Notes. The University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, accepted it as a doctoral dissertation in August, The dissertation is available from University Micro- films, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Pub. No. , An abstract of the dissertation is in Dissertation Abstracts, Vol. XVI, No. available from the same source. The Roman method was the revision of the grammar of Emmanuel Alvarez by Father Horace Torsellini. Either Alvarez or the Roman revision by Torsellini could be used as each school decided. The decree in regard to following the doctrine of St. Thomas is Decree of the Fifth General Congregation. Institutum Societatis Iesu (Florence, ), II. It is incorporated in Rule of the Rules of the Provincial, and in Rule of the Rules of the Professor of Scholastic Theology.
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