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This Month in Jesuit Catholic History

October 18

Alaska Day. It is transferred to the USA from Russia on this day, in 1867. Jesuits advised Seward to make the purchase.

1550. The first Jesuit is appointed to be Rector/President of a University as Peter Canisius is elected to that office at the University of Ingolstadt (for a six month term).

1553. A theological course was opened in our college in Lisbon. 400 students were at once enrolled.

1574. The opening of the first Jesuit College in Mexico, SS. Peter and Paul.

1604. Collegio Santa Fe Opens in Bogota, Columbia, the oldest in Columbia and the third oldest in the Americas, after Lima and Mexico.

1605. In Spain died Father John Rico, a most eloquent preacher. St. Alphonsus Rodriguez once told him he would suffer in Purgatory for preaching in the polished Castilian tongue: thenceforth the Father never used Castilian.

1646. The martrydom of St. Isaac Jogues at Auriesville, NY.

1904. “Saint Louis University Day” at the World’s Fair, the culmination of the school’s diamond jubilee celebrations.

1932. Weston College is given a charter, Pontifical Status, and thus allowed to grant ecclesiastical degrees.

1977. Harry Sievers, S.J. + historian of Indiana, and biographer of William Henry Harrison.

October 19

John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and companions, martyrs, Memorial.

1604. Aloysius Gonzaga is beatified, while his mother was still alive.

1646. Jean de la Lande, S.J. +.Jesuit Brother, donne, companion of Isaac Joques.

1930. Leopold Fonck, S.J. + Austria. He wrote on Scripture and the life of Christ, and was the first director of the Biblical Institute in Rome.

1934. Response of Fr. General Ledochowski against the abuse of taking off the cassock on mountain trips.

1936. Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary of State and future Pope, visits Wernersville Novitiate with Mrs. Brady.

1952. Joseph Husslein + St. Louis. Sociologist, and expert on the social encyclicals. He founded the School of Social Service at St. Louis University and served as its Dean from 1930-37.

1975. Maria Theresa Ledochowska is beatified by Pope Paul VI. She was the brother of Fr. General Vlodimir, and is called the Mother of Africa because of her missionary concern.

October 20

1618. John Berchmans, on his way to Rome after first vows, learns that his father, recently ordained a priest, had died. He wrote to his family that it “surprised and pained me very much that you did not take the trouble to inform me of his passing.”

1763. In a pastoral letter read in all his churches, the Archbishop of Paris expresses his bitter regret at the suppression of the Society in France. He describes it as a veritable calamity for his country.

1873. At Rome, all the Society's houses were by royal decree appropriated by the government. Father General, P. Beckx, left the house at an early hour to be spared the trial of appearing before the Giunta Liquidatrice (Commission of Suppression).

1934. Alma College, California, is blessed and dedicated.

1945 Jacques Van Ginneken, S.J. + founder of the Grail Movement which he founded in 1921.

1997. The opening of Alberto Hurtado University in Chile. October 21

1568. Robert Parsons, later a convert, was elected Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He resigned this fellowship in 1574. He accompanied Fr. Campion to England in 1580 and then in exile labored for the Church in his native land.

1622. Emmanuel Ortega + in Peru. Missionary in South America and companion of Jose Ancieta.

1866. Gerard Manley Hopkins is received into the Roman Catholic Church by Newman.

1948. Novitiate is opened in the Belgian Congo.

October 22

1642. Charles Raymbault + French missionary, the first to die in Canada. He is buried next to Samuel Champlain.

1861. Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, the Novitiate of the English Province from 1854-1861, was opened as a College.

1870. In France, Garibaldi and his filibusters drove the Jesuits from the Colleges of Dole and Mont Roland.

1986. Frances Xavier Weiser, S.J. +. Writer, on liturgy and church feasts. Also wrote a book for youth that sold one million copies, and was translated into forty languages, The Light on the Mountain.

October 23

1550. Borgia arrives in Rome with retinue of 20-25, from Gandia.

1767. At Santiago, Chile, the members of the Society, kept prisoners in the College since August 26th, were led forth to exile. In all 360 Jesuits of the Chile Province were shipped to Europe as exiles.

1767. In Spain an unusual decree was issued by the royal council forbidding prophecies about the return of the Society to Spain.

1926. Fr. Felipe Millan, S.J. called the Damien of Cullion leper colony in the Philippines, died. He had also been a Master of Novices.

1933. Maurice de la Taille, S.J. + in Paris. He taught theology at the Gregorian and wrote Mysterium Fidei .

1944. A NYTimes story reports in a dispatch from Stockholm that all 117 clergy are to be included in the draft except Jesuits, who are "declared unfit to bear arms for Germany."

1958. Raoul Plus, S.J. + spiritual writer.

1988. Joseph McBride, S.J. + promoter of canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

October 24

Anthony Claret, bishop. Optional memorial. The Founder of the Claretians. He joined the Society of Jesus as a priest but left the novitiate four months later for health reasons. He died on this day in 1870 in political exile in France.

1604. At Coimbra died Father Jerome Carvahlo. He gave six hours daily to prayer, and made 100 genuflections a day. Our Lady bade him not to fear Purgatory, as she was the consoler of the afflicted souls there.

1618. John Berchmans sets out from Flanders to Rome as a scholastic. He will reach Rome on December 31st.

1759. 133 Jesuits banished from Portugal are put on shore at Civita Vecchia. They are kindly received by Pope Clement XIII and by religious communities, especially the Dominicans.

1964. The death of Archbishop Aston Ignatius Chicester, S.J. missionary to Rhodesia. He died while attending the Second Vatican Council.

1982. Daniel O’Connell + in Rome. He had been Director of the Vatican Observatory from 1952-70, and President of the Pontifical Academy of Science.

1997. Thomas Anchanikal (A.T. Thomas) disappears in Hazaribag, India, age 46. He was a defender of the dalits (lower caste)

October 25

1567. The Arrival in Rome of St. Stanislaus Kostka, where he was admitted into the Society by St. Francis Borgia.

1572. Edmund Daniel is martyred at Cork. He is the first Jesuit martyred in Europe.

1950. Letter of Fr. General Janssens orders some books removed from libraries in houses of formation, including works of DeLubac, Bouillard, Danielou, and deMontcheuil. This is a follow up of Humani Generis.

1970. Edmund Campion is canonized.

1975. P. Louis Dumas, S.J. is killed in Beirut, Lebanon.

1982. Pope John Paul II visits the Gregorian University and attends a symposium on Matteo Ricci. He praises him for his vision and his approach to the people and culture of China. 

October 26

1546. The First Province of the Society is established, the Portuguese Province, with Simao Rodrigues as Provincial.

1554. Princess Juana, the daughter of Charles V, is admitted to the Society in an exceptional way and with the obligation of complete secrecy. She takes vows. She would die as a Jesuit scholastic with her vows.

1556. In Rome the death of Fr. Andrew Frusius. He translated the Spiritual Exercises into Latin, and this was the first book printed by the Society.

1574. Amentally disturbed Jesuit, Gerhard Pesch, murders three Jesuits at the Jesuit College in Cologne. The Rector, minister and one regent.

1644. In Maryland Father Andrew White was seized by some English invaders, carried off prisoner to London, imprisoned, then sentenced to banishment.