Peter Favre and Friendship

Description

Blessed Pierre (Peter) Favre, one of the “First Companions,” that is, one of the original member of the Society of Jesus. He, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier enjoyed a very close friendship, which began at the University of Paris, where the three were roommates. It is unfortunate that Favre (sometimes rendered as “Faber”) is not as well known as Xavier; his life, while less “adventurous” than Xavier’s is just as inspiring and is probably more easily related to that of contemporary Catholics. And among all the Jesuits it was Favre, said Ignatius, who was the most adept at giving others the Spiritual Exercises. Here is a meditation on the friendship between the three men.
With his talent for friendships, St. Ignatius Loyola enjoyed close relations with a large circle of friends. (That is one reason for his enthusiasm for writing letters.) Indeed, the earliest way that Ignatius referred to the early Jesuits was not with phrases like “Defenders of the Faith” or “Soldiers of Christ,” but something simpler. He described his little band as “Friends in the Lord.”
Friendship was an essential part of his life. Two of his closest friends were his college roommates, Peter Favre, from the Savoy region of France, and Francisco de Javier, the Spaniard later known as St. Francis Xavier.
The three met at the Collège Sainte-Barbe at the University of Paris, then Europe’s leading university, in 1529. By the time they met Ignatius, Peter and Francis were already friends sharing lodgings. The two had studied for the last few years for their master’s degrees; both were excellent students. And both had heard stories about Ignatius before meeting him: the former soldier was a notorious figure on campus, known for his intense spiritual disciplines and habit of begging alms. At 38, Ignatius was much older than Peter and Francis, who were both 23 at the time. And his path to the university was more circuitous. After his soldiering career, his recuperation and his conversion, he had spent months in prayer trying to discern what to do with his life.