Pedro Arrupe

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Pedro Arrupe y Gondra SJ (born November 14, 1907 in Bilbao , † February 5, 1991 in Rome ) was a Spanish religious . From 1965 to 1981 he was the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit order; lat: Societas Jesu ).

Grave with the remains of Father Pedro Arrupe in the church Il Gesù in Rome behind the marble slab (since 1997)

Life

Family and childhood

On November 15, 1907, the day after his birth, Pedro Arrupe was baptized in Bilbao Cathedral. He was the fifth child and the only son of his parents. His mother, Dolores Gondra, the daughter of a doctor, came from the municipality of Mungia not far from Bilbao. His father, Marcellino Arrupe, was an architect. Without being journalistic and politically active himself, he co-founded a daily newspaper, La Gaceta del Norte . His father had a remarkable tenor: "When he sang in the chapel of the Jesuit college, which was located in a neighboring town, all the old people from the area came to hear him." During Holy Week he took part in an eight-day retreat every year.

In retrospect, Pedro Arrupe describes family life as follows: “My family lived very closely together, very calmly, very patriarchal, as far as the Catholic is concerned. I was very happy in the family. There were no problems. We all went to the fair together and there was an atmosphere of complete trust between us. "

And elsewhere Pedro Arrupe reports: “Through the Eucharist and the simple devotional exercises in my parents' house, especially the devotion to the Sacred Heart, my father and mother planted the seed that the Society of Jesus would later develop. Or rather, what the Sacred Heart planted thanks to my parents was later further developed by society. ”From the age of three, he regularly accompanied his father to the Sacred Heart of Jesus procession in Bilbao.

From January 1914, Pedro Arrupe attended the Piarist Middle School in Bilbao.

When Pedro Arrupe was 10 years old, his mother had to undergo an operation. She passed away a few weeks later. His father, who led Pedro to the late mother, said to him: “Pedro, you have lost a holy mother. But always remember that you have another mother in heaven who is even more holy. "

In March 1923, at the age of 15, he became a member of the Marian Congregation of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Bilbao. He wrote this year in the journal flowers and fruits a small contribution on St. Franz Xaver , Japan and the missions.

Medical degree and calling

In 1923 the Basque Pedro Arrupe began studying medicine at the University of Madrid . He is deeply saddened by the death of his father in 1926. He himself reports as follows:

“My father fell ill while I was studying medicine in Madrid; I was eighteen years old then. When I got to Bilbao, he was already half paralyzed. And now, at the moment of his death, the procession of the Sacred Heart passed before his windows. I will never forget his look that met me. It was a community of memories, faith and hope. That touched me deeply. "

In the summer of the same year he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes with his four sisters . The experiences he gained in Lourdes were fundamental for his future life. In an interview with Jean-Claude Dietsch SJ , he described them as follows:

“For me, Lourdes is the city of miracles. I spent about three months there. As a medical student, I was given permission to monitor the work of the control office. In this way I have witnessed three wonderful healings, once in the midst of the believers praying to the Mother of God , and then during the medical examination by atheistic doctors. That was a very deep impression for me, because I had often heard my professors in Madrid - also atheists - speak of the 'deception of Lourdes'. This is where my vocation was born, in this simple and grandiose atmosphere, at the feet of the Mother of God, between the incessant roar of pilgrimage prayers and the gentle murmur of the Gave . "

Due to the knowledge he had gained, he broke off his medical studies and entered the Society of Jesus on January 15, 1927.

Novitiate and priestly formation

He completed his novitiate in the Monasterio de San Ignacio de Loyola near Azpeitia in the province of Gipuzkoa and then began to study philosophy in Oña in the province of Burgos .

Because the Second Spanish Republic banned the Jesuit order in Spain in 1932, Arrupe studied in Marneffe in Belgium and in the Ignatius College in Valkenburg in the Netherlands . Arrupe was ordained a priest in Marneffe in 1936 . He completed the fourth year of theology, which was then usual after his ordination, at the US University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth , Kansas , and then his tertiary in Cleveland , Ohio .

Mission to Japan

Novitiate in Nagatsuka near Hiroshima

From there he was sent by the Order as a missionary to Japan on October 15, 1938 . Shortly after his arrival, he was arrested as an alleged spy in the service of the United States and spent a month in solitary confinement. Until 1940 he studied the Japanese language and worked in a poor district of Tokyo . From 1940 to 1942 he was pastor in Yamaguchi . From 1942 Arrupe worked as a novice master in Hiroshima , where he witnessed the dropping of the atomic bomb . Since he lived in a schoolhouse built from solid stone by German Jesuit brothers, he survived and was able to set up an emergency hospital with the novices. As reported by Father Helmut Erlinghagen SJ , who had lived in the novitiate in Nagatsuka (4½ km from Hiroshima) since January 1945 , the house was built in the Japanese style as a wooden house , but with solid cross supports. In 1954 he became vice provincial, after the elevation of Japan to the province of the Jesuit order, in 1958 the first provincial.

Superior General SJ

When the 27th Superior General of the Order, Jean Baptiste Janssens , died in 1964, the General Assembly of the Order in 1965 elected Pedro Arrupe as the 28th Superior General on May 22nd. He experienced his election to general as

“Another reason to strengthen in me the veneration of the heart of Jesus, it is a source of extraordinary graces for one's own sanctification! I need them now more than ever, because these graces are not only indispensable for me personally, but are also for the benefit of society as a whole and the souls associated with it. "

In this role, with his charisma and great personal piety, he steered the order through the years of upheaval after the Second Vatican Council , which brought the order a serious crisis.

His last years

He held this office until his stroke in August 1981. At this point Arrupe had already tried to convene a general congregation of the Order for the election of a successor. However, this delayed Pope John Paul II , who instead appointed the Jesuit Paolo Dezza as a personal delegate to head the order. Arrupe himself, marked by illness, was no longer able to exercise the office. A general congregation could only be convened in 1983; this elected Peter Hans Kolvenbach as the new superior general; Arrupe was among the first to congratulate.

Pedro Arrupe died in Rome on February 5, 1991 at the age of 83 .

Beatification process

The process of beatification for Pedro Arrupe opened in July 2018.

Quote

In the Catholic prayer and hymn book, Praise of God , there is the following quote from Pedro Arrupe under song No. 474:

A person's maturity is most evident in the service he renders in the community.

Fonts

  • Yo viví la bomba atomíca . Ediciones Studium de Cultura, Madrid 1952 (Reprint: Ediciones Mensajero, Bilbao 2010, ISBN 978-84-271-3147-7 ).
  • As a missionary in Japan . Hueber, Munich 1967.
  • Our testimony must be credible. A Jesuit on the problems of the Church and the world at the end of the 20th century . With a foreword by Karl Rahner. Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern, 2nd edition 1981.
  • Experiences with the Eucharist . Kanisius-Verlag, Freiburg im Üechtland 1982, ISBN 3-85764-127-4 .
  • In the service of the gospel. Selected writings by Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus (1965–1983) . Published by Hans Zwiefelhofer . Erich Wewel, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-87904-138-5 .

literature

  • Martin Maier : Pedro Arrupe. Witness and prophet (= Ignatian impulses, vol. 24). Echter, Würzburg 2007.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. a b c Gianni la Bella, Martin Maier (Ed.): Pedro Arrupe, Superior General of the Jesuits. New biographical perspectives . Freiburg 2008, p. 16
  2. a b c d e f Pedro Arrupe: My way and my faith. An interview with Jean-Claude Dietsch SJ . Ostfildern 1983, pp. 49, 62 and 63. From the French by Lotte von Schaukal. Original title: Itinéraire d'un Jesuite , Paris 1982.
  3. Martin Maier: Pedro Arrupe - Witness and Prophet . Würzburg 2007, p. 11.
  4. Martin Maier: Pedro Arrupe - Witness and Prophet . Würzburg 2007, p. 12.
  5. Pedro Arrupe: My way and my faith. An interview with Jean-Claude Dietsch SJ . From the French by Lotte von Schaukal, Ostfildern 1983, pp. 24-25 (first edition: Itinéraire d'un Jesuite , Paris 1982).
  6. Pedro Arrupe: My way and my faith. An interview with Jean-Claude Dietsch SJ . From the French by Lotte von Schaukal, Ostfildern 1983, p. 11 (first edition: Itinéraire d'un Jesuite , Paris 1982).
  7. Denis Blackledge: Pedro Arrupe SJ: Rooted in Christ . In: Jesuits & Friends, Issue 103 (Summer 2019), p. 20.
  8. Helmut Erlinghagen: Hiroshima and us. Eyewitness accounts and perspectives. Frankfurt am Main 1982. p. 9
  9. ^ Ignacio Iglesias SJ : Pedro Arrupe - Contributions to his inner biography. In: Gianni La Bella / Martin Maier (eds.): Pedro Arrupe. Superior General of the Jesuits. New biographical perspectives. Freiburg im Breisgau 2008. p. 580
  10. ^ Hacia la beatificación del padre Arrupe . Comunicación Loyola, July 11, 2018, accessed September 19, 2018 (Spanish).
  11. Gotteslob , Catholic prayer and hymn book. Published by the (arch) bishops of Germany and Austria and the bishop of Bozen-Brixen. Katholische Bibelanstalt GmbH Stuttgart 2013. p. 522
predecessor Office successor
Jean Baptiste Janssens Superior General of the Society of Jesus
1965 - 1983
Peter Hans Kolvenbach