II-B THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AND THEIR DECLARATIONS #

¹PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTIONS #

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1. ²Although God our Creator and Lord is the one who in his Supreme Wisdom and Goodness must preserve, direct, and carry forward in his divine service this least Society of Jesus, just as he deigned to begin it;³and although on our own part what helps most toward this end must be, more than any exterior constitution, the interior law of charity and love which the Holy Spirit writes and imprints upon hearts;⁴nevertheless, since the gentle disposition of Divine Providence requires cooperation from his creatures, and since too the vicar of Christ our Lord has ordered this, and since the examples given by the saints and reason itself teach us so in our Lord,⁵we think it necessary that constitutions should be written to aid us to proceed better, in conformity with our Institute, along the path of divine service on which we have entered.

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2. ¹Moreover, while the consideration which comes first and has more weight in the order of our intention regards the body of the Society as a whole, whose unity, good government, and preservation in wellbeing for the greater divine glory are primarily in view,²nevertheless, inasmuch as this body is made up of its members, and what occurs first in the order of execution pertains to the individual members, in regard to their admission, progress, and distribution into the vineyard of Christ our Lord, See C-141³it is from this consideration that we shall begin, with the help which the Eternal Light will deign to communicate to us for his own honor and praise.¹

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²The purpose of the Constitutions is to aid the body of the Society as a whole and its individual members toward their preservation and increase for the divine glory and the good of the universal Church;³they ought therefore, besides being singly and as a whole conducive to the purpose just stated, to possess three characteristics:⁴First, they should be complete, to provide for all cases as far as possible.⁵Second, they should be clear, to give less occasion for scruples.⁶Third, they should be brief, as far as the completeness and clarity allow, to make it possible to retain them in the memory.⁷For the better realization of these three characteristics, the more universal and summary Constitutions will be presented in a handier form, so that they may be observed inside and shown to externs when that is expedient.⁸But in addition to them, we have thought it wise in our Lord to compose also these Declarations and observations. They possess the same binding force as the other Constitutions, and can give more detailed instruction to those who have charge of the other members about some matters which the brevity and universality of the other Constitutions left less clear.⁹The Constitutions and the Declarations both treat of matters which are unchangeable and ought to be observed universally: but they must be supplemented by other ordinances which can be adapted to the times, places, and persons in different houses, colleges, and employments of the Society, although uniformity ought to be retained among all the members as far as possible.¹⁰These ordinances or rules will not be treated here, except by remarking that everyone ought to observe them when in a place where they are observed, according to the will of whoever may be his superior.¹¹To return now to the subject matter treated here, the order of these Declarations will correspond to that of the Constitutions, part for part and chapter for chapter, whenever something in a chapter needs to be explained.¹²This will be indicated by a letter in the margin of the Constitutions, and corresponding to this will be the same letter in the text of the Declarations. Thus we shall proceed in an orderly fashion, with the help of him who as the Most Perfect and Infinite Wisdom is the beginning of all order.¹DECLARATIONS ON THE PREAMBLE

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A. ²It is usually good, especially in the order of practice, to proceed from the less to the more perfect: for what is first in the order of execution is last in the order of consideration, since such planning first considers the end and then descends to the means to attain it.³Accordingly, we shall organize all the following Constitutions under ten principal parts:⁴Part I. The admission to probation for those who desire to follow our Institute.⁵Part II. The dismissal of those who do not seem suitable for it.⁶Part III. The care of those who remain and the fostering of their progress in the spiritual life and in the virtues.⁷Part IV. The instruction in learning and other means of helping the neighbor for those who have made progress in the spiritual life and virtue.⁸Part V. The incorporation into the Society of those who have been thus instructed.⁹Part VI. What those who have been incorporated must observe in regard to themselves.¹⁰Part VII. What should be observed in regard to our neighbors, when the workers are distributed and employed in the vineyard of Christ our Lord.¹¹Part VIII. What pertains to keeping those thus distributed united with one another and with their head.¹²Part IX. What pertains to the head and to the government which descends from him to the body.¹³Part X. What pertains in general to the preservation and increase of the entire body of this Society in its well-being.¹⁴This is the order which we shall follow in the Constitutions and the Declarations, looking to the end which we all seek, the glory and praise of God our Creator and Lord.