Religious Communities for Men
Chapter 9
:

The Helpers of Christ the King

Our main goal is the conversion of sinners by the preaching of the Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.

St Ignatius receiving the exercises from Our Lady in Manresa

We are fighting the same battle as Archbishop Lefebvre, in cooperation with the Society of St Pius X.

The formation of our future priests is done at the seminary of Ecône, but our brothers are formed at our house (2 years of noviciate) in Caussade. The same applies for the sisters. They are before all serving the retreats, helping at the sacristy, and doing all the habitual work respectively reserved to brothers and sisters in all religious communities.

383rd retreat

We can not give a more powerful text recommending the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius than an extract from the Encyclical Mens Nostra of Pope Pius XI in 1925.

Now it is recognized that among all the methods of "Spiritual Exercises" which very laudably adhere to the principles of sound Catholic asceticism one has ever held the foremost place and adorned by the full and repeated approbation of the Holy See and honored by the praises of men, distinguished for spiritual doctrine and sanctity, has borne abundant fruits of holiness during the space of well nigh four hundred years; we mean the method introduced by St. Ignatius of Loyola, whom we are pleased to call the chief and peculiar Master of "Spiritual Exercises" whose "admirable book of "Exercises" ever since it was solemnly approved, praised, and commended by our predecessor Paul III of happy memory, already to repeat some words we once used, before our elevation to the Chair of Peter, already we say "stood forth and conspicuous as a most wise and universal code of laws for the direction of souls in the way of salvation and perfection; an unexhausted fountain of most excellent and most solid piety; as a most keen stimulus, and a well instructed guide showing the way to secure the amendment of morals and attain the summit of the spiritual life."

And in very deed, the excellence of spiritual doctrine altogether free from the perils and errors of false mysticism, the admirable facility of adapting the exercises to any order or state of man, whether they devote themselves to contemplation in the cloisters, or lead an active life in the affairs of the world, the apt co-ordination of the various parts, the wonderful and lucid order in the meditation of truths that seem to follow naturally one from another; and lastly the spiritual lessons which after casting off the yoke of sin and washing away the diseases inherent in his morals lead a man through the safe paths of abnegation and the removal of evil habits up to the supreme heights of prayer and divine love; without doubt all these are things which sufficiently show the efficacious nature of the Ignatian method and abundantly commend the Ignatian meditations.

The community house in Caussade

Rev. Father Jean Jacques Marziac
Maison St. Joseph
Le Treillou
82300 Caussade
France

Tel: [33] 5 63 93 00 88

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