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The Intellectual Pedigree of the Virtue of Magnanimity in the Jesuit Constitutions

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The Intellectual Pedigree of the Virtue of Magnanimity in the Jesuit Constitutions journal of jesuit studies 2 (2015) 451-470 brill.com/jjs The Intellectual Pedigree of the Virtue of Magnanimity in the Jesuit Constitutions Kevin Spinale S.J. Boston College [email protected] Abstract The article traces the development of the virtue of magnanimity in Aristotle, Cicero, and Thomas Aquinas in order to assess John O’Malley’s claim that Section 728 of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus represents a paraphrase of section i.66 of Cicero’s On Duties. For Aristotle, the virtue represents individual’s striving for greater virtue and honor. In Cicero, the virtue takes on Stoic characteristics and is tempered with justice and concern for the common good. Thomas Aquinas links the virtue to hope in initiating great enterprises and accomplishing great virtue in accord with God’s will. Ignatius uses magnanimity to indicate a virtue that synthesizes Cicero’s atten- tion to the common good and Aquinas’s notion of hope in God’s providence. Ignatius combines this synthesis with his own inclination to take that which is excellent in others and generously incorporate it into the Society’s work in magnify- ing God’s glory. Keywords magnanimity – Aristotle – Cicero – On Duties – Aquinas – Ignatius – John W. O’Malley – Jesuit Constitutions – superior general – virtue Introduction During the course of his address to the students of Jesuit schools of Italy and Albania in June 2013, Pope Francis urged his audience to recognize the impor- tance of the virtue of magnanimity, that is, “having a great heart, having great- ness of mind; it means having great ideals, the wish to do great things to © Spinale, 2015 | doi 10.1163/22141332-00203004 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 4.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 01:10:07AM via free access <UN> 452 Spinale respond to what God asks of us.”1 Francis concluded his written remarks with the following blessing: “The Lord is always close to you, he picks you up when you fall and impels you to develop and to make ever loftier decisions, ‘con grande ánimo y liberalidad,’ with magnanimity. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.”2 The Spanish phrase he employs comes from Annotation 5 of Ignatius of Loyola’s (1491–1556) Spanish original of the Spiritual Exercises.3 Francis’s spoken remarks that day included this definition of magnanimity: “[T]he key point in the education we Jesuits give – for our personal development – is magnanim- ity. We must be magnanimous, with a big heart, without fear; always betting on the great ideals.”4 Magnanimity represents a complex concept at the heart of ancient and medieval accounts of virtue. It is, for the most part, a non-biblical concept that is modified by various thinkers throughout the Western tradition. Magnanimity appears in two rather significant parts of the two documents that establish and define the Jesuit charism—the Spiritual Exercises and the Constitutions. Francis quotes from Ann. 5 of the Exercises, which denotes the proper underlying dis- position of the entire retreat—a disposition that carries through from the Principle and Foundation, to the elements of election, to the Suscipe in the Contemplatio ad obtinendum amorem.5 Magnanimity also appears in sec- tion 728 of the Constitutions. It is one of the core qualities of the ideal superior general of the Society of Jesus. In several places, John O’Malley has argued that section 728 represents a paraphrase of Cicero’s account of magnanimity in section i.xx.66 of his De officiis.6 Indeed, there are many points of correspondence 1 “Address of Pope Francis to the Students of the Jesuit Schools of Italy and Albania,” Paul vi Audience Hall, Friday, June 7, 2013 (available at www.vatican.va). 2 Ibid. 3 Annotation 5: “al que recibe los exercicios, mucho aprovecha entrar en ellos con grande ánimo y liberalidad con su Criador y Señor, ofreciéndole todo su querer y libertad, para que su divina majestad, así de su como todo lo que tiene se sirva conforme a su sanctísima volun- tad.” Ejercicios Espirituales, trans. Manuel Iglesias (Collegeville, mn: Liturgical Press, 2006), 10. 4 “Address of Pope Francis to the Students of the Jesuit Schools of Italy and Albania.” 5 Several scholars argue something to this effect, including Michael Ivens in his commentary on the Exercises (Herefordshire: Gracewing, 1998), 6; as well as Howard Gray’s Alpha Sigma Nu Society address, “Ignatian Honor,” (March 5, 2011). 6 John O’Malley, “Jesuit History: A New Hot Topic,” in America 192, no. 16 (2005), http://ameri- camagazine.org/issue/530/article/jesuit-history-new-hot-topic; O’Malley, “Jesuit Spirituality: The Civic and Cultural Dimensions,” Review of Ignatian Spirituality 35 no. 1 (2005): 37–44, here 40–42; O’Malley, “The Pastoral, Social, Ecclesiastical, Civic, and Cultural Mission of the Society of Jesus,” in O’Malley, Saints or Devils Incarnate? Studies in Jesuit History (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 37–52, here 47; O’Malley, “Saint Ignatius and the Cultural Mission of the Society of journal of jesuitDownloaded studies from 2 Brill.com09/29/2021 (2015) 451-470 01:10:07AM via free access <UN> The Intellectual Pedigree of the Virtue 453 between Cicero’s ideas presented in Book I of De officiis and the Ignatian orien- tation of magnanimity, that is, as Pope Francis defines it, a big heart open to great things. There are also points of correspondence between Cicero and wider elements of Ignatian spirituality. And, indeed, section 728 reads like a paraphrase of De officiis i.xx.66. However, to reduce the Ignatian concept of magnanimity evident in the Exercises and the Constitutions to a paraphrase of Cicero’s presentation of the virtue is to ignore the rich synthesis of classical and medieval thought that underlies its Ignatian usage. Furthermore, such emphasis on the coherence of Renaissance ideas with the ideas of Juan Alfonso de Polanco (1517–1576), Jerónimo Nadal (1507–1580), and Ignatius, neglects the modifications or inflections built into magnanimity by Ignatius and his com- panions. In the founding documents that are attributed principally to Ignatius, magnanimity entails generous surrender of one’s talents to service of God; an indifference that does not intimate Stoicism; accurate and reflective self knowledge so as to initiate grand undertakings; confidence in God’s help; and a redirecting of honor and glory to God. Incorporating Cicero’s ideas, Thomas Aquinas presents magnanimity as a part of fortitude that involves confidence and hope. Finally, magnanimity consists in readiness to recognize excellence evident in others. Magnanimity, because it orients Ignatius or the superior general or the rank and file Jesuit toward great things, encompasses the intellectual and cultural resources of secular culture in initiating the great enterprises that will ensure the greater glory of God. Therefore, beyond simply a restatement of Ciceronian concepts, Ignatian magnanimity both embodies a synthesis of ancient and medieval thought and names the very inclination toward such a synthesis—as Pope Francis declares—a big heart open to great ideals. Aristotle on megalopsychia (μεγαλοψυχια) Aristotle’s account of megalopsychia or greatness of soul centers upon extraor- dinary virtue. Aristotle situates megalopsychia in the category of virtues of character, that is, those virtues which arise out of habituation. For Aristotle, human happiness “is equivalent to living well and acting well” (ne i, 4; 1095a).7 Jesus,” in O’Malley, Saints or Devils Incarnate?, 257–97, here 255; Robert Maryks, Saint Cicero and the Jesuits. The Influence of the Liberal Arts on the Adoption of Moral Probabilism (Burlington, vt: Ashgate, 2008), 77. 7 In an effort to be precise, I include the book, section citation, and the Bekker numbers. I use Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Roger Crisp (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); journal of jesuit studies 2 (2015) 451-470 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 01:10:07AM via free access <UN> 454 Spinale The human good entails, precisely, activity of the soul in accordance with vir- tue (ne i, 7; 1098a). Aristotle’s ethics combine a universal standard (virtue con- sists in the mean between excess and deficiency) with the relative aspect of the circumstances of each moral agent. Aristotle summarizes his basic structure of virtues in this way: “Virtue, then, is a state involving rational choice, consisting in a mean relative to us, and determined by reason – the reason, that is, by ref- erence to which the practically wise person would determine it” (ne ii, 6; 1107a). Any human being can become angry or spend money, but doing such things “in relation to the right person, in the right amount, at the right time, with the right aim in view, and in the right way – that is not something anyone can do, nor is it easy…[t]his is why excellence in these things is rare, praiseworthy, and noble (καλον)” (ne ii, 9; 1109a). The magnanimous or great-souled individual, who excels in all virtue, is rare, praiseworthy, and noble. For Aristotle, greatness of soul or magnanimity (megalopsychia) implies vir- tue on a grand scale (ne iv, 3; 1123a32). He writes, “A person is thought to be great-souled, if he thinks himself worthy of great things – and is indeed worthy of them” (ne iv, 3; 1123b1). The great-souled person is extreme as virtue itself is an extreme. However, magnanimity is a mean between the excess of vanity— claiming honor when one is not worthy of it—and the deficiency of smallness of soul (micropsychia), that is, not claiming the honor one is due (ne iv, 3; 1123b12–15).
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