JESUITS IN ANTWERPTo our chaplain Reverend father J.M. Theyskens s.j., Association of English-speaking Catholics, 1958ST IGNATIUS INSTITUTE, Antwerp: The Society of Jesus had been officially approved by Pope Paul III in1540. In 1573, some Jesuits, helped by rich Spaniards, opened in Antwerp a school and a chapel, they werecomparatively soon to be expelled from. Not for very long though. After the seizure of Antwerp by AlexanderFarneze in 1585 they returned, bought back their one time property, reopened the school and transformed it intoa college which soon became known far and wide: students flocked to it from everywhere: Among them PeterPaul Rubens, his brother Philip, and Nicholas Rockox who was to become burgomaster of Antwerp. Such wasthe success of the Jesuits in Antwerp at that time and such the demand for their priestly ministrations, that in1614, they bought new grounds on which they built a church and a residence. Those grounds were what is nowthe Conscienceplein, that church was what is now the Church of St. Charles Borromeo, and that residence wasthe Town library; with this difference, however, that the church of St. Charles Borromeo was then known as theChurch of St. Ignatius. As a matter of fact, this church was the very first church in the whole of Christendomdedicated to St. Ignatius and dedicated to him by the senate and the people of Antwerp. Above the mainentrance, under the monogram of the Society of Jesus I.H.S., the words of that dedication are still quite legible:"Beato Ignatio Loyolae, fundatori Societatis Jesus, senatus populusque Antverpiensis grato animo dedicavere",To blessed Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the senate and the people of Antwerp havededicated (this temple) as a token of their gratitude. St. Ignatius was beatified in 1609 and canonised in 1622.With its magnificent facade and its tower with Doric and Ionic columns, this church is a very beautiful exampleof the so-called Jesuit or baroque style. The inside ...