The novice’s suitcase
September is, at least in recent decades, the month of the entry into the novitiate of aspiring members of the Society of Jesus. Today we welcome the 2020 novices and those in their second year, dedicating to them a column precisely on entry into the novitiate, the first stage of life in the Society of Jesus.
The cue was given to us, indirectly, by Eriprando Bottagisio, a Jesuit.
During the tidying up of the Jesuit’s personal file, a particular document was found: a list of what the young aspiring novice had brought with him when he entered the novitiate on 25 November 1870.
The date differs from today’s entry dates, since in the past entry could take place between the summer and the month of December, some entered even earlier or soon after, especially if they were apostolates who wished to enter the Company following the urgency of their vocation.
So let us see what a young Jesuit, one hundred and fifty years ago, carried in his suitcase when he entered the novitiate.
The list is divided into two parts, clothes and books.
Among the former are listed:
– The overcoats one winter and one college uniform,
– trousers and 2 waistcoats,
– a neckerchief, a collar, a pair of dummies (for the wrists)
– 13 white handkerchiefs
– a hat and a cap
– underwear: 4 pairs of underwear, 5 shirts, 5 pairs of socks
– two pairs of shoes
Several books stand out among the books:
– Manual of the Sacred Heart and Devotion to the Sacred Heart
– Life of Blessed Margaret and The Patriarch St. Ignatius
– Manual of the Souls in Purgatory
– A dictionary of Greek and a dictionary of German
– A grammar of the French language, one of Greek and a German anthology
– The Delights of Piety and The Victorious Vocation and The Spiritual Operettas
The presence of texts and scholastic tools, such as the vocabularies and grammar books, and that of the collegiate uniform indicate that Eriprando had his vocation during his school years, probably at a Jesuit college, and that he therefore entered the novitiate at a young age, he was in fact 17.
We briefly know the salient dates of Eriprando Bottagisio’s life in the Company. He was born on 11 November 1853 in Bardolino, in the province of Verona, entered the novitiate in 1870 in the Veneto Province of Milan, of which he was to become a member, was ordained a priest but did not take his last vows, as he died while still young on 30 November 1886, at the age of just 33.
Who knows what books the young novices entering the novitiate these days will have brought with them?
We wish them a good entrance and a long journey in the Society of Jesus.
Maria Macchi
