What is "suscipe"

Suscipe is the Latin word for ‘receive.’

It also has a special significance for those of the Roman Catholic faith, as the name of a prayer which begins with this word in the Latin mass. (This is common; for instance the first word of the Introit of the Mass for the Dead is "Requiem", and the entire mass is commonly known as The Requiem.)

While the Suscipe is often mistakenly identified as having its origins as the title of a prayer written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, in the early sixteenth century incorporated into the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, the Suscipe actually has a prior origin going back to monastic profession, in reciting Psalm 118. Ignatius relies on this prior tradition. This article in its present state focuses mainly on Ignatius' Suscipe prayer.

Ignatius wrote that the ‘spiritual exercises’ is the name given to every way of preparing and disposing one’s soul to rid oneself of all disordered attachments, so that once rid of them one might seek and find the divine will in regard to the disposition of one’s life for the good of the soul. The Exercises are a set of meditations, prayers, and mental exercises to be carried out over a four-week time period, most appropriately on a secluded retreat.