Familial Metaphors and Their Limits: The Dynamics of Correction in the Society of Jesus in the Seventeenth-Century Province of Aragon

Abstract

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus employ familial metaphors to create emotional bonds between members and to create disciplinary responsibilities, both between fathers (superiors) and sons (rank and file members) as well as among brother Jesuits. Familial charity and love became the guiding principles for the order’s disciplinary procedures, which became routinized as the order grew. As evidenced by correspondence between Rome and the province of Aragon, paternal and fraternal correction frequently used one-on-one advice to encourage improvement and bring about change. Beyond private counsel, more public penances, often performed in the refectory, offered visible repentance and helped define acceptable standards of comportment for all members of the community. By the seventeenth century, general congregations added measures, like transfers to other colleges or houses, to encourage Jesuits to reflect on and modify their negative behavior, even if they did so prior to their departure from the order.