formula of the Institute
After the story of one person, in the
autobiography
 And the life of the group; with one
incident of that life: the deliberation
 We have the first sketch of the SJ, prima
SJ summa
 1539, November, approval verbally by the
pope


1540: Bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae
(“On the Supremacy of the Church
Militant”)
Formal approval
1540 – 1556: Ignatius writing the
constitutions
1550: Bull Exposcit Debitum (“The Duty
F
o requires”)

r
m
a
l
a
p
p
r
o
v
a
l
The formula is the rule of the Society; it
corresponds to what the legislation of the
old religious orders called the Rule. The
Society endorsed this view in GC V (15931594), XXVII (1923) and XXXI (196566).
 Ignatius: ‘this Rule of Ours’. A kind of
Sketch of ‘our profession’, the principal
features of the Institute. The formula are
explained in the Constitutions.

Significance of the Formula
• The Constitutions and Comp. Norms,
IJS, 1996, p.3-14.
•W.Barry, p. 9 – 14, 2005, third ed.
•A. de Jaer, p.7-8, 10, 2001
•Aldama, A commentary on the formula
of the Institute, 1990