The exercises are divided into four series of meditations techni cally called "weeks," each of which may last as long as the di rector considers necessary. The first week is the foundation, and has to do with the consideration of the end of man, sin, death, judgment and hell. After the soul has been purified from sin, the second week treats of the kingdom of Christ, and is meant to lead the soul to make an election of the service of God. The third and fourth weeks are intended to confirm the soul in the new way, to teach how difficulties can be overcome, to inflame it with the love of God and to help it to persevere. Most of the latest critics give 1548 as the date when the book received its final touches. Ignatius wrote originally in Spanish, but the book was twice trans lated into Latin during his lifetime.
In 1547 Ignatius tried to resign the generalship of his Society and again in 155o, but the fathers unanimously opposed the pro ject. One of his last trials was to see in 1556 the new pope Paul IV., wishing to reform certain points in the Society that Ignatius considered vital. He said : "If this misfortune were to fall upon me, provided it happened without any fault of mine, even if the Society were to melt away like salt in water, I believe that a quar ter of an hour's recollection in God would be sufficient to console me and to re-establish peace within me." He never dreamed of putting his Society before the church nor of identifying the two.
In 1556 Ignatius grew very weak and resigned the active govern ment to three fathers, Polanco, Madrid and Natal. Fever laid hold of him, and he died somewhat suddenly at Rome on July 31, 1556, without receiving the last sacraments. He was beatified in 1609 by Paul V. and canonized in 1628 by Gregory XV. His body lies under the altar in the north transept of the Gesil in Rome.
The character of Ignatius was naturally impetuous and en thusiastic, but became marked with great self-control as he gradu ally brought his will under his reason. He developed a sovereign prudence which nicely adjusted means to the end in view. He im pressed on his followers the doctrine that in all things the end was to be considered, but he never countenanced so perverted an idea as that the end justified the means, for with his spiritual light and zeal for God's glory he saw clearly that means in themselves unjust were opposed to the very end he held in view. As a ruler he displayed the same common sense. Obedience he made one of his great instruments, yet he never intended it to be a galling yoke. His doctrine on the subject is found in the well-known letter to the Portuguese Jesuits in 1553, and if this be read carefully together with the Constitutions his meaning is clear.
There was in his temperament a peculiar mixture of conserv atism and a keen sense of the requirements of the day. In intel
lectual matters he was not in advance of his contemporaries. While he did not reject any approved learning, he abhorred any intellec tual culture that lessened piety. Bartole, the official biographer of Ignatius, says that he would not permit any innovation in the studies ; and that, were he to live 5oo years, he would always re peat "no novelties" in theology, in philosophy or in logic—not even in grammar. Ignatius felt that the revival of learning had led many away from Christ ; intellectual culture must be used as a means of bringing them back.
The literature connected with the Spiritual Exercises is also large. The editio princeps is that of Rome 2548. There is also a good Latin text in vol. 3 of the Avignon edition of the Constitutiones (183o). See also J. P. Roothaan, Exercitia spiritualia S.P. Ignatii de Loyola, cum versione litterali ex autographo Hispanico (Namur, 1841) ; I. Diertins, Historia exercitiorum S. P. Ignatii de Loyola (Freiburg, 2887) ; The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Spanish and English, with commentary by J. Rickaby, 2925) ; The Spiritual Exercises (Eng. trans. with commentary by W. H. Longridge, 2919) ; and P. Watrigant, La Genese des exercises de Saint Ignace de Loyola (republished from Les Etudes, May–Oct. 2897).
The letters appeared in incomplete form in Cartas de S. Ignacio de Loyola (6 vols., 1874-89). The Constitutiones were published in Latin and in Spanish at Madrid 1892. See also Monumenta historica Soc. Jesu, ed. Rodeles (36 vols., 2894 seq.) and Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus (2nd ed., 1890 seq.).