Włodzimierz Ledóchowski’s Call for Cura Personalis: Humanist Roots and Jesuit Distinctiveness in Education

Abstract

The value of cura personalis has enjoyed a meteoric rise in usage in the last few decades and is now considered emblematic of the Jesuit philosophy of education. The meaning of this expression, though, is still ambiguous. The first to use this expression was Father General Włodzimierz Ledóchowski, who adopted it when addressing the colleges and universities run by the Jesuits in the United States in 1934. Ledóchowski claimed that a culture of the person was deeply enrooted in the spirit of the Society of Jesus, and particularly in the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola. This paper aims to provide the necessary historical background to Ledóchowski’s usage of the expression “cura personalis” and show how both humanist and Ignatian roots made this expression successful within the Jesuit educational scenario.

Keywords

• cura personalis
• ignacy loyola
• włodzimierz ledóchowski
• pedagogika jezuicka