Rare copies of "The Spiritual Exercises" On Display In New Orleans

History of Jesuits in La. on display
Saturday, August 11, 2007
By John Pope
Staff writer of the Times Picuyne

A panoply of documents, photographs and artifacts tracking the history of the Jesuits in Louisiana is on display in Loyola University's Monroe Library to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus.

The display on the library's third floor, in the Special Collections and Archives, is open to the public throughout the 2007-08 academic year. Among the pieces on display are the document creating the province, photographs of Jesuit priests who were in New Orleans in 1907, silver pieces from local churches and two rare copies of "The Spiritual Exercises" by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the order's founder. The book constitutes the Society of Jesus' spiritual foundation, said Joan Gaulene, a spokeswoman for the exhibit.

A province is the order's organizational unit. The Society of Jesus, the religious order that runs Loyola, has been active in Louisiana since the colonial period. Of the 10 Jesuit provinces in the United States, the New Orleans province, which contains 10 states and stretches across the South from New Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, is the biggest, Gaulene said.

The library is on Calhoun Street between Cromwell Place and Loyola Street. Its hours are listed at library.loyno.edu/hours/monroe.htm.

Original article (here)