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The Jesuits in Russia have joined all those celebrating the jubilee of canonization of St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier – or in one case desired and had long planned to celebrate but were impeded to do so because of the current situation in the country. Here are the stories. 

Moscow 

On Sunday, March 6, the Moscow Jesuits anticipated the jubilee of our fellow Jesuits' canonization. Archbishop Pavel Pezzi celebrated a solemn Mass and dedicated his homily particularly to St. Francis Xavier's missionary spirit. Many Catholics came to give homage to the relics of our saints (St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, and others). After the Mass, in these times of trouble and danger, when we need communication, the Jesuit community enjoyed the possibility of having lunch with the archbishop in our apartment. 

Novosibirsk 

In July 2010, Father General Adolfo Nicolas gifted the Novosibirsk Cathedral in the person of Bishop Joseph Werth SJ with the precious relics of St. Ignatius. Inspired by such a gift, Bishop Werth then promised Fr. General that the portrait of St. Ignatius would soon hang in the Cathedral.   

With the beginning of the Ignatian Jubilee year last May, the Jesuits in Novosibirsk decided to make good on that promise made over twelve years ago.  Bishop Werth commissioned a copy of Peter-Paul Rubens' 1622 painting of St. Ignatius for one of the niches of the church interior. The painting was finished only one week before the 400th anniversary of St. Ignatius' canonization.  It had not been planned that the painting would be unveiled for this event; however, by God's Providence, the painting which originally was made for the original canonization in 1622 was now being used to celebrate the 400th anniversary!   

On March 13th, 2022, in an unusually full cathedral, as it had not been experienced since the beginning of the pandemic, the gathered community from Novosibirsk and representatives from Tomsk celebrated the canonization of St. Ignatius.  Fr. Janez Sever, SJ delivered a special homily and Bishop Werth along with the Regional Superior, Fr. Boguslaw Steczek, SJ blessed the painting.  As a remembrance of this event and to further highlight this moment of light and hope, especially in view of our current challenges in Russia and Europe, all were given a prayer card. 

Tomsk 

In Tomsk, we have been preparing for the Ignatian Jubilee Year for a long time. There were commemorative homilies in our parish, there were lessons dedicated to Ignatius in our school and there were plans for other events for specific dates. For Lent with the help of Jesuits and lay persons from other cities and countries we are individually accompanying parishioners in four weeks of the Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life. (We will give more information about this in the next issue because it is a work in progress). For the conclusion of the Jubilee Year on July 31st, we have scheduled the Tomsk Ignatius Loyola Catholic Festival (it’s a big parish feast open for everybody).   

On March 12, 2022, on the 400th Anniversary of the canonization of Ignatius and Xavier, the Tomsk State Philharmonic was to hold a concert entitled “The Turbulent Life of Ignatius Loyola.” Sadly, the concert so carefully planned and prepared did not take place, because of the war. The day before the concert, the Philharmonic - on whose building huge posters informing about the concert had been hanging for many days - informed us that our concert had been cancelled (formally postponed). The reason turned out to be a letter from a group of citizens who wrote: “we believe that such events should not be organized at this time. Our Philharmonic should not organize concerts that promote values alien to us. We are concerned about this, and we demand that it be stopped.” Thus - as we well know, not for the first and probably not for the last time - values universal to humanity and Christianity were considered "foreign". We are praying for peace (daily rosary in our church), we are continuing our ministries, and we are waiting for better times. And the turbulent life of Ignatius Loyola continues... 

(Prepared by Stephan Lipke SJ, Janez Sever SJ, Wojtek Urbanski SJ) 

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