for November 14
In Memory of
Pedro Arrupe SJ

You may never have heard the name Pedro Arrupe, or maybe you just have a vague memory of someone mentioning him. But among Jesuits and their followers, Pedro Arrupe is as familiar as any household name. So I’d like to tell you something about him because he was born on this day, November 14^th, in 1907.

If you Google his name, Wikipedia provides a good synopsis of his fascinating life. He was of Basque lineage. That’s the fiercely independent region in northern Spain where St. Ignatius Loyola was born at the end of the fifteenth century, a connection to the founder of the Jesuits of which Pedro was quite proud. He grew up in Spain and studied for a future career in medicine, but prematurely concluded his medical studies when he entered the Society of Jesus at 20 years of age. It was a politically tumultuous time in Spain. When the Society was expelled from Spain by the Republican government in the early 1930’s, Pedro completed his studies as a Jesuit in northern Europe and then in the United States, where he was ordained to the priesthood and earned a doctorate in Medical Ethics.

Jesuit superiors consented to his request and sent him as a missionary to Japan. He arrived in Japan just in time to witness the start of World War II and was immediately arrested as a suspected spy. After a short but brutal imprisonment, which included solitary confinement and the imminent threat of execution, he was released and continued his missionary work in Japan. It was at the very end of the war that Pedro endured a life-changing event, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Jesuit novitiate was located on the outskirts of that tragic city on that fateful day, and Pedro was serving as the “Master of Novices.” After the bomb exploded, Pedro, utilizing his early medical training, cared as well as he could for the many victims. No one was prepared for the effects of radiation poisoning that led to so much excruciating suffering and so many horrible deaths.

After the war, Pedro’s reputation among the Jesuits grew to the point that in 1965 he was elected the Superior General of the Society of Jesus. The Second Vatican Council was just drawing to a close, so it fell on Pedro’s shoulders to bring the spirit of the Council to the Jesuits, many of whom—like so many members of the Church—were resistant to the changes ushered in by the Council.

I met Pedro Arrupe only once in my life, by chance, in an elevator. I was a young Jesuit, and of course intimidated to be in the presence of the top Jesuit in the Society. He was a short man, slight of build with a very sharply pointed nose, wide eyes and a disarming smile. As a Jesuit all during his sixteen year tenure as Superior General, I heard much about “Father General,” because Pedro was always stirring the Society. Frankly, it struck me as excessive the way Pedro was so idolized. It seemed that he had a program or a proposal to meet every challenge. Only later did I come to appreciate how great a man he was. If you are close to any Jesuits or to a Jesuit apostolic work, you should know how much of Pedro has rubbed off on all of us Jesuits and those we serve.

Let me mention just three of the many contributions that are part of Pedro’s legacy. First, Pedro Arrupe stimulated and guided the Society to respond to the needs of the poor. In 1975 the Jesuits held what is called a General Congregation, which functions something like a convention to set future policy for the Jesuit order. Pedro guided a document through the Congregation that led the Jesuits, especially in Latin America, to work in practical ways with the poor. The story is widespread within the Society that Pedro, while vigorously promoting the document, warned that this commitment would inevitably lead to the death of many Jesuits. As we know, as we prepare for the celebration of the 31^st anniversary of the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador, his prediction came true. But the hostility to the Jesuit declaration was not confined to sources outside the Church. The Vatican too, under Pope John Paul II, expressed severe misgivings about Liberation Theology and how some Jesuits were embracing it. Tension between Pedro, representing the Society, and Vatican officials plagued much of Pedro’s tenure as General Superior. If Pedro is ever beatified by the Church, his humility and loyalty to the Church in the face of such internal hostility will go down as a sign of his sanctity and a black mark against the leading Vatican officials at the time.

One of Pedro’s greatest accomplishments could not be more timely for us today. In 1980, the world was facing the tragic plight of Vietnamese boat people fleeing their war-ravaged homeland. Pedro recruited over fifty Jesuit provinces to respond and mount a global humanitarian response by founding what became known as the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Over time and up until our own day, the JRS is actively working with refugees around the world.

A third important contribution Pedro made to the Church and the Society was in the area of spirituality. The Vatican Council had called for religious communities to recover the spirit of their founders and the original charism that had inspired the community from its beginning. Many religious orders had become stultified and moribund, and the Jesuits were not entirely immune from such a debilitated condition. This was especially true of the Society’s practice of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. Pedro oversaw the recovery of the authentic spirit of the Exercises that led to a rediscovery of the depths of Ignatius’ spiritual teachings. For Pedro, this was not just an organizational or academic reform, but a project he led by the witness of his own life by entering into and embracing all the challenges and graces of the Exercises. There is a touching scene that took place at another General Congregation in 1990. At the time, Pedro was suffering the effects of a debilitating stroke and was approaching his own death. He was wheeled into the hall where the Congregation was being held and a statement, composed by Pedro himself, was read aloud. It was the last public statement of Pedro’s life and summarized the way that he had lived:

More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.

Father Pedro Arrupe died on February 5, 1991.

—Fr. Walter F. Modrys SJ