LOYOLA.
The Great Educators
Edited by NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
LOYOLA
AND
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF
THE JESUITS
BY
THE REVEREND THOMAS HUGHES
Of the Society of Jesus
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1892
COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
PREFACE.
In the following work on the Educational Systemof the Jesuits, I have endeavored to present a criticalstatement of the principles and method adopted in theSociety of Jesus. The effort to explain the sources,process of development, and present influence of thesystem within and without the Order, has made ofthe first part a biographical and historical sketch, havingfor its chief subject the person of the Founder;while the details and the pedagogical significance ofthe various elements in the method appear, in thesecond part, as a critical analysis of the Ratio Studiorum.
The educational literature which treats of this systemis very extensive. Various estimates and conclusionshave been arrived at, on the merits of documentsfrequently referred to, for an exposition of themeaning and philosophy of the system. Hence, withthe view of facilitating a clear and comprehensivejudgment on the subject, I have thought it not inadvisableto quote accurately from such documents,omitting none which bore upon the matter, if onlythey were within reach. It so happens that, at present,a large number of the sources, regulations, andcommentaries, heretofore rare and altogether outof reach, have been rendered easy of access, beingembodied in the great work, Monumenta GermaniæPædagogica, which is already beyond its tenth volume.viThree of the volumes so far issued are uponthe Jesuit System; they have been compiled by thelate Rev. G. M. Pachtler, S. J. If the three or fourvolumes, which still remain to be issued by the Rev.Bernard Duhr, S. J., had been available, they too couldhave been laid under contribution for examples andillustrations. But perhaps the theme will appearsufficiently illustrated as it is.
Besides the original documents, I have used no lessauthentic an exponent than that which the maximof law approves: Consuetudo, optima legis interpres,"Custom, which is the best interpreter of law."
While all that is oldest and most authentic has thusbeen made use of in explaining the Ratio Studiorum,the actual condition of pedagogics to-day is new, andso is the state of the question involved. Hence, tosatisfy the requirements of the present, reference hasbeen made not exclusively either to the customs orthe learned documents of a former age.
In a word, the object aimed at has been to indicatethe chief traits which are characteristic of the system,and which may be suggestive in the developmentof pedagogical science. Whether such an object hasbeen attained, so as to meet many questions whichmay possibly arise, and to satisfy the desire whichactually exists, it will be for others to decide.
THOM