Jan Roothaan

Joannes Philip Roothaan ( born November 23, 1785 Amsterdam, † 8 May 1853 in Rome ) was the 21st General of the Society of Jesus.

Life

The origins of the Roothaan family are in Frankfurt am Main. From there they emigrated to Amsterdam, where she converted from the Protestant to the Catholic faith. Roothaan was the son of a surgeon Matthias Egbert Roothaan and his wife Marie Angela Ter Horst. He attended high school, which he successfully completed 16 years in Amsterdam. He then moved there on the Athenaeum illustrum, a kind of private college to Prof. Jacob van Lennep.

On June 30, 1804 Roothaan entered the Order and began his novitiate in Daugavpils. On June 21, 1806 he passed the profession and worked until 1809 at the local high school. Then Roothaan studied at the Academy of Polotsk religious philosophy and theology.

In January 1812 Roothaan was ordained a priest and was appointed as such in the same year as a professor of rhetoric at the order's College Pusza. In the years 1816-1820 he worked at the college in Orsha. In March 1820, all members of the Order from Russia were reported.

His twelve -week exodus took place in Brig, Valais Canton to an end. There Roothaan was a lecturer of a new activity. After various administrative tasks was summoned him with effect from June 22, 1823 Head of the College in Rome.

When the 20th General of the Order, Aloysius Fortis on January 29, 1829, died, the General Assembly of the Order on July 9, 1829 Joannes Phillipus Roothaan 21 General of the Society.

The most important task in his new office was the stabilization of the Order, which was allowed only in 1814 by Pope Pius VII again. This he tried to achieve in the first place by an appreciation of the role of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, as was never known in the original Society of Jesus. For this purpose, he bought an annotated edition of the retreat, which also contained a new Latin translation parallel to the traditional Latin version, which much more closely adheres to the Spanish original text. During the Revolution of 1848 Roothaan had to leave Rome. This fact, he used to visitation throughout much of Europe.

It was not until the end of January 1850 Roothaan could return to the Mother House of the Order. After a long illness Roothaan died on 8 May 1853 at the age of 67 years. His successor was Pierre Jean Beckx.

Since Joannes Phillipus Roothaan stood among large sections of the population in the reputation of a saint, in 1927 was launched a beatification in the Vatican.