On Being a Jesuit Reader

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A. , J.D., Esq., Coif

©Copyright 2010 by Anthony J. Fejfar

In Jesuit formation, the typical course of study, at least in theory, is that the

Jesuit cantidate goes to undergraduate school, typically at a Jesuit University and then

enters the Jesuit Novitiate as a Novice in one of the Jesuit Provinces. The Novitiate is

not the seminary, rather, it involves the formation of the novice in Jesuit Religious Life.

The Jesuit Novitiate involves prayer, volunteer ministry work, classes involving the

Jesuit Constitutions, spiritual retreats, and certain long experiences outside the Novitiate

which are sort of Jesuit adventures. After the Novitiate, the Novices take temporary

vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). The

Novices are now Scholastics, and typically spend two years studying philosophy, and

three years teaching in a Jesuit High School, and then 4 years seminary training to be a

Priest, at a Jesuit Seminary. After Ordination to the Priesthood, many Jesuits then do

graduate work and obtain a Doctoral Degree in an academic area in which they intend to

teach and do research and writing. During the early 40’s of age, each Jesuit is required

to go through the Tertianship process. In Tertainship, what typically happens is that the

Jesuit’s temporary vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience are dispenses or cancelled,

and the Jesuit must consider what final vows to take, if any. Some Jesuits leave the

Order at this point. One school of thought is that a Jesuit cannot take a final vow which

was one of the original temporary vows. Thus, many Jesuits take a celibacy vow rather

than the original chastity vow. Additionally, if the Final Vow or Perpetual Vow is taken
to the Pope, then the Jesuit is eligible to be a Jesuit Superior or Novice Master. Now,

what is not typically known, is that a Jesuit Novice, during the first semester in the

Novitiate, can take a Perpetual Vow to the Pope, and skip the whole formation process.

However, such a Jesuit must have some Office in the Church, so that it is required that

the Jesuit Novice who takes such a Vow must be a Lay Reader. Under Canon Law, a

Lay Reader is entitled to say a Private Mass as a lay person, and function as a Priest,

under the standard of “Great Need.” Now, the sophisticated Jesuit Novice takes a

Perpetual Vow which gives him the maximal amount of freedom as a Jesuit. The Vow

often taken, is: “I vow to serve Jesus Christ as my Liege Lord and Saviour, in

perpetuity, Amen.” At this point, the Jesuit Novice is now a Jesuit Reader, and is a fully

formed Jesuit. Typically, the Jesuit Reader would then go to graduate school and then

be placed as a Jesuit Professor at a Jesuit University. Thus, the Jesuit Reader Scholar is

not subject to the censorship rules for Jesuits found in the Jesuit Constitutions, which

operate under an Obedience Vow. Finally, there is also some thought that since the

Jesuits were reconstituted in the 1830’s, it is not permissible for a Jesuit to be a Roman

Catholic, after Tertainship. Thus, the Jesuit Reader would typically be considered to be

an Episcopalian Catholic, Freeman Anglican Reader, and thus, technically not Roman

Catholic. In fact, after taking the Perpetual Vow to serve Christ, under Episcopalian

Catholic Canon Law (House of Stuart), the Jesuit Reader would be consider to be a

member, as his primary religious order, of the Knight Templar, of the Holy Cross of

Jesus Ressurected (The Anglican Templars). As you may know, the Roman Catholic

Templars were disbanded during the Medeival Period by the Pope at that time.