Note 6 — JESUIT MISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

This fruit and this consolation are most evident in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius,6 which are explained through most of the year in our college. The principal citizens make their retreat there, and in the solitude of that retirement God speaks to them within their hearts; and marvelous results have been seen in various persons, in whom has been established a tenor of life so Christian that they may be called the religious of the laymen—in their minds those eternal truths, on which they meditate with seriousness, remaining firm, for the orderly conduct of their lives. The students in the college of San Joseph have their own society, which meets every Sunday, in which they perform their exercises of devotion and have their exhortations, during the course of the year. Every Sunday the Christian doctrine is explained to the boys in the school, and some example [for their imitation] is related to them; and they walk in procession through the streets, chanting the doctrine. The Indian servants of the college have their own assembly, conducted in a very decorous manner, with continual instruction in the doctrine. Every Saturday an address in Tagálog is given to the beatas who attend our church; they have their own society, and exercise themselves in frequent devotions, furnishing an excellent and useful example to the community. Every year they perform the spiritual exercises; and the topics therein are given to them in Tagálog, in our church, by one of Ours. Many devout Indian and mestizo women resort hither on this occasion, to perform these exercises, in various weeks, for which purpose they make retreat in the beaterio during the week required for that; and even Spanish women, including ladies of the most distinguished position, perform their spiritual exercises, and the topics for meditation are assigned to them in our church. This practice is very beneficial for their souls, of great usefulness to the community, and remarkably edifying to all.