Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

of board games or gambling, though gambling for money was officially

discouraged.The fact that theSyllabusexplicitly forbade students from

bringing to class ‘arms, daggers, knives or other such things’ might help

put in context the society from which they came and the dangers to per-

sonal safety for which they had to be prepared on their journeys to and

from school.

One other feature of the school day, perhaps the most important one

in the eyes of the Jesuits, was the spiritual development or religious train-

ing of the students. The Council of Trent had underlined the importance

of Catholic education as a means of consolidating the membership of

the church against the influence of reformers. The Jesuits saw them-

selves as dedicated officers of the Counter-Reformation, and they took

a special vow of obedience to the Pope. In the context of their schools,

therefore, they were particularly conscientious in following the Triden-

tine model of religious instruction based on a catechism. The professor

of rhetoric assumed this responsibility as a special feature of classes on

Saturday. Teachers introduced each class with a prayer, and even external

students were encouraged to ‘confess their sins at least once a month,

and to be present at the daily sacrifice of the Mass at the appointed hour

and at the sermon on Holy Days.’The students were also invited to

become members of various confraternities, which met as religious clubs

within the school. This was one of the ways in which they helped cultivate

prayers to and special veneration of the Virgin Mary, including praying

the rosary.Finally, the students went on a week-long retreat once each

year, under the guidance of theSpiritual Exercisesof Saint Ignatius of

Loyola.

Descartes named one of his most famous essaysMeditations,in which

he is often said to have given a special place to a form of pure thinking that

contrasts with the deceptive illusions of the imagination. TheExercisesof

Saint Ignatius, however, relied very much on the imagination to represent

scenes from the life of Christ, to reflect on the Christian’s life as a journey

toward God; and they systematically invoked the senses as a starting point

foracquiring an appreciation or understanding of spiritual realities. The

Exercisesare divided into four principal sections, called ‘weeks’, and some

of these in turn are divided into ‘days’. Many exercises begin with an

imaginative representation of a scene from the life of Christ. For example,

the first exercise in the first week offers the following guidance to the

retreatant: