Saint Ignatius Quotes
It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey.
Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions. Edited by John W. Padberg et al., Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996, p. 415.
This passage was one of those used by Christian apologists for slavery. Critics of some Christian churches point to this passage as illustrating the lack of morality in traditional Christianity when it same to fundamentals such as human slavery. In this particular quotation, the slave master is likened to Christ. Ironically, it was Christian abolitionists in England and the United States who saw other passages of the New Testament and the Gospel of Christ as disapproving of slavery and those Christians where among the most effective of the abolitionists.
Ignatius of Loyola, venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Basque Catholic priest and theologian, who together with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first Superior General at Paris in 1541. The Jesuit order is dedicated to teaching and missionary work. Its members are bound by a special (fourth) vow of obedience to the sovereign pontiff to be ready to fulfill special papal missions. The society played an important role during the Counter-Reformation.
