Peter Faber

Peter Faber was one of the first companions of Ignatius of Loyola and a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was born in 1506 to a peasant family in the village of Villaret, in the Duchy of Savoy (now Saint-Jean-de-Sixt in the French Department of Haute-Savoie). As a boy, he was a shepherd in the high pastures of the French Alps. He had little education, but a remarkable memory; he could hear a sermon in the morning and then repeat it verbatim in the afternoon for his friends. Two of his uncles were Carthusian priors. In 1525, Faber went to Paris to pursue his studies. He was admitted to the Collège Sainte-Barbe, the oldest school in the University of Paris, where he shared his lodgings with Francis Xavier. There Faber's spiritual views began to develop, influenced by a combination of popular devotion, Christian humanism, and late medieval scholasticism. Faber and Xavier became close friends and both received the degree of Master of Arts on the same day in 1530. At the university, Faber also met Ignatius of Loyola and became one of his associates. He tutored Loyola in the philosophy of Aristotle, while Loyola tutored Faber in spiritual matters. Faber wrote of Loyola's counsel: "He gave me an understanding of my conscience and of the temptations and scruples I have had for so long without either understanding them or seeing the way by which I would be able to get peace." Xavier, Faber, and Loyola all became roommates at the University of Paris and are all recognized by the Jesuits as founders of the Society of Jesus. Faber was the first among the small circle of men who formed the Society of Jesus to be ordained. Having become a priest on 30 May 1534, he received the religious vows of Ignatius and his five companions at Montmartre on 15 August. Upon graduation, Ignatius returned to Spain for a period of convalescence, after instructing his companions to meet in Venice and charging Faber with conducting them there. After Loyola himself, Faber was the one whom Xavier and his companions esteemed the most. Leaving Paris on 15 November 1536, Faber and his companions rejoined Loyola at Venice in January 1537. When war between Venice and the Turks prevented them from evangelizing the Holy Land as they planned, they decided to form the community that became the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order. Recalled to Rome in 1540, Faber was sent to Germany to uphold the position of the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms and then at the Diet of Ratisbon in 1541. He also founded several Jesuit colleges in Germany and Spain, and participated in important theological debates with Protestants and Catholics alike. He was known for his gentle and compassionate approach to spiritual direction, as well as his skillful use of the Spiritual Exercises, a series of meditations, prayers and other contemplative practices developed by Ignatius for spiritual growth. Faber also kept a spiritual diary called Memoriale, which records his inner thoughts, feelings, desires and discernments as he traveled across Europe. It is considered a valuable source for understanding his spirituality and personality, as well as the early history of the Jesuits. Faber died in Rome on 1 August 1546 at the age of 40, after suffering from a fever. He was buried in the church of Our Lady of the Way in Rome, but when the church of the Gesù was being erected in 1569 on the site of the former church, Fr. Faber’s remains and those of other early Jesuits were reinterred. Faber was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1872 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2013. His feast day is celebrated on 2 August. He is regarded as a patron saint of spiritual directors and retreatants, as well as a model of ecumenical dialogue and pastoral ministry.