Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal Volume 8 Number 2 Article 2 2019 Another Ignatian History: Including Women in the Story of Jesuit Mission Julia A. Dowd University of San Francisco,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.regis.edu/jhe Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Dowd, Julia A. (2019) "Another Ignatian History: Including Women in the Story of Jesuit Mission," Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal: Vol. 8 : No. 2 , Article 2. Available at: https://epublications.regis.edu/jhe/vol8/iss2/2 This Scholarship is brought to you for free and open access by ePublications at Regis University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal by an authorized administrator of ePublications at Regis University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Dowd: Another Ignatian History Another Ignatian History: Including Women in the Story of Jesuit Mission Julia A. Dowd Director of University Ministry University of San Francisco
[email protected] Abstract Orientation programs at Jesuit universities often include a review of the life of Ignatius. What is missing from the official history of Ignatius are the stories of the women with whom he lived and worked, who contributed financially, politically, and emotionally to Ignatius’ formation and that of the early Jesuits. What is also missing is a critical feminist analysis of the historical context out of which Ignatius, the Spiritual Exercises, and the Society of Jesus were born. In this article, I argue that women provided essential scaffolding to bolster Ignatius’ identity and vocation, and likewise contributed to the early establishment and pastoral work of the Society, and that the Spiritual Exercises were a means through which this collaboration happened.