Holy Cross Celebrates 200th Anniversary Since the Restoration of the Jesuits

Yearlong series of events in remembrance and celebration of Jesuit history and identity

Holy Cross is marking the year 2014 with a series of events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuits.

Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was dissolved in the late 18th century, an age when many European heads of state, imbued with growing nationalist sentiment, opposed a very international Society of Jesus. But on Aug. 7, 1814, Pope Pius VII signed a decree authorizing the restoration of the Jesuits everywhere.

Aware of the fact that without that decree there very likely never would have been a College of the Holy Cross, the College will offer, in both spring and fall semesters of 2014, a variety of events in remembrance and celebration of Jesuit history and identity.

Jesuit institutions around the globe have made plans to celebrate the anniversary.

“I wish to invite every Jesuit, all our collaborators, every community, apostolic work, Region and Province of the Society [of Jesus] to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Restoration of the Society in 2014. … The better we remember our history and the more deeply we understand it, the better we will understand ourselves and our identity,” said Very Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., superior general of the Jesuits.

Commemoration Highlights

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Spring Semester 2014

• Dinand Library book exhibition, “Foundation of a Collection: Early 19th-Century Books”
• Faculty seminar of Jesuit history, moderated by Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history, and Janine Shertzer, Distinguished Professor of Science in the physics department. Focus will be on Jonathan Wright’s “God’s Soldiers”
• Mar. 13: The McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture presents “The Jesuit Suppression” with Robert Maryks, visiting scholar at the Jesuit Institute, Boston College
• Apr. 9: Faculty and staff reception and presentation regarding Jesuits and Australia. This event is open only to members of the Holy Cross community. Hogan Campus Center, Suite A, 4 – 5:30 p.m., RSVP required.
• May 23: The College will bestow an honorary degree upon Rev. John W. Padberg, S.J., director and editor of the St. Louis-based Institute of Jesuit Sources. Read more about the 2014 honorary degree recipients.

Fall Semester 2014

• Dinand Library book exhibition: “The Restoration as Before and After: Jesuit missions to Native Americans and The First Jesuits of Holy Cross”
• Nov. 13: “Eloquence for Everyone: The Past, Present and Future of Eloquentia Perfecta in Jesuit Higher Education” — Cinthia Gannett, associate professor of English at Fairfield University, will provide an overview of the multi-century aim of Jesuit humanistic education, eloquentia perfecta, consider the present status of educating for eloquence, and prompt a discussion on ways that faculty, curricula, programs, and the broader educational culture at Holy Cross can engage the aim of eloquence in the 21st century. Gannett is currently co-editing a collection of essays, “Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Rhetorical Studies.” Respondents will be Holy Cross professors Patricia Bizzell, John E. Brooks, S.J., Professor in the Humanities, and Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history. Rehm Library, 4:30 p.m.
• Nov. 16: Special observance of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 El Salvador martyrs
• Nov. 23: World premiere of original music “Mass in Honor of Pope Francis,” commissioned by the College and composed by Christopher Willcock, S.J., one of the world’s leading Catholic composers of liturgical music. St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, 3 p.m.

Related Information

• Jesuit Restoration 1814