Villa Loyola is a centre in

Ignatian spirituality Ignatian spirituality, also known as Jesuit spirituality, is a Catholic spirituality founded on the experiences of the 16th-century Spanish saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The main idea of this form of spirituality comes from ...

run by the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and to ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is the only Canadian French-speaking Jesuit centre outside of Quebec. As well serving as a retreat centre it is also an ecumenical and interfaith conference centre. It is situated on the shore of Long Lake off Municipal Road 80 to the south of Sudbury's urban core.

History

Foundation

Since the restoration of the Society of Jesus in the early nineteenth-century, French-speaking Jesuits ministered to the

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...

population of Sudbury. In the 1960s, the Jesuits had to change their ministries. The creation of

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

in 1960 led to the French-speaking Jesuits in Sudbury to move away from higher education. They handed over Sacred Heart College to the newly created university. The parish that they founded in 1883, Sainte-Anne-des-Pins, was handed over to the diocese. The parish was a local French-speaking cultural centre.Lucien Pelletier,
Les Jésuites de Sudbury vers 1960: une mutation difficile
from ''Revue du Nouvel-Ontario'', 37, 2012, pp. 13-81.

Construction

Villa Loyola was built in 1962 by French-speaking Canadian Jesuits. It occupies an area of 12 acres on the southern shore of Long Lake. It was originally conceived as a retreat house. It offers courses and retreats in

based on the

Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola The ''Spiritual Exercises'' ( la, Exercitia spiritualia), composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society ...

. Retreats are for a weekend, or a week, or for the full 30 days. It also offers training for prayer guides and spiritual accompaniment.Histoire
from VillaLoyola.com, retrieved 2 April 2014

Renovation

In 1996, the centre was renovated and so that it can offer space for seminars and conferences as well as the original program of retreats. It is also a centre for

ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

and

interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...

References

External links