P. Irénée Hausherr SJ, an Alsatian Jesuit and recognised scholar of Eastern Christian spirituality, was a pioneer in this field of research in the 1920s and 1930s at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, structuring it as an autonomous discipline. He studied fundamental themes of asceticism and mysticism, with particular attention to prayer, spiritual paternity and hesychasm in the Greek Fathers and Byzantine authors. A scholar of patristics and spiritual theology, he dedicated himself to the study of representative figures such as John the Solitary, Evagrius Ponticus, Maximus the Confessor and others.
In 1972, during a spiritual retreat for the Benedictine nuns of the Blessed Sacrament of Rosheim, he delivered fifty homilies, which have been published in their original language and commented on in this article. Based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, the homilies offer spontaneous reflections on Scripture and bear witness to the pastoral commitment of the Jesuit priest that went beyond the academic sphere.
Hausherr combined a deep spirituality with a rigorous scientific method. His diaries reveal humility, sensitivity and Marian devotion, expressing his deep desire for silence and prayer. Hausherr accepted with resignation the misunderstandings he sometimes encountered. In continuity with the patristic tradition, his legacy is based on the intimate union of theology and Christian life.
