Summary of January Work #1

Summary of January Work #1The work has been slow during the month of January due to traveling, but I was able to review some articles and give some presentations:

I. Currently Reading the Doctoral Thesis of Fr. BonacciI wrote a month ago: Sunday, December 30, 2007 Looking at the Marian Presence in the life and works of the Saints I will read this article to see the method and style that Bonacci used to study the "marian presnece in the life and works of St. Ignatius. It will perhaps give me ideas for establishing my own method.

Bonacci, Louis A. The Marian Presence in the life and works of Saint Ignatius Loyola: from private revelation to spiritual exercises--the cloth of Loyola's allegiance. Dayton, Ohio, University of Dayton, International Marian Research Institute, Rome, Pontifical Theological Faculty "Marianum", 2002.

A. He gives an analysis of the Marian Presence in the Ignatian Sources. I find this very helpful and have noted his process. Any help in this area, "analysis of sources" is needed. I have no experience in doing this and could use further assistance and resources to review.

B. The Historical research of the Marian Presence during the time of Ignatious is also a good resource. Since I am doing general overview of six saints, I will not be doing such a through review, but again the method is good for me to know and I desire to see how others have managed this piece.

C. In his review of Early Research on the Marian Presence in Ignatian Tradition, I found his conclusions helpful and provided a quick overview of the research. This is very good and I will need to do something similar and simple! I will be dealing with primarily "modern" saints but still there is "pious hyperbole" and it has to be dealt with to understand the real presence and influence of Mary in the life of the saints.

D. Chapter five dealt with the more recent research on the Marian Presence. I would like to have more examples of the Intra-texual approach and int interdisciplinary approach.

E. I found chapter five complicated and need to read it again to understand his conclusions.

F. Finally, in the opening statement of his conclusions he writes:"The analysis of the Marian presence in the Ignatian Sources confirmed the Medieval aspects of Ignatian spirituality embedded in the life and writings of St. Ignatious Loyola. At Loyola and Arevalo, the atmosphere was in tune with Spanish affection for devotion to Mary and was manifest in terms of artifacts and attitudes passed on to Inigo and eventually in the life and works of Ignatius. " pg 291 He continues on and gives what seems to me a pretty clear and relatively simple summary of the Marian presence in the life and works of St. Ignatious of Loyola.

G. For me, this thesis gave me much insight on the process of seeking the "Marian Presence and Marian Thread" in the life and time of a saint or blessed. I will be focusing primarily on Pope John Paul II himself and on a select bunch from his new blesseds and canonized.