After entering the order, he owned nothing, and he had no power to depart if he repented.

But the General could cashier him by a stroke of the pen, condemning him to destitution in every land where Jesuits held sway, and to suspicion in every land where Jesuits were loathed.

Before the end of two years, the novice generally signed an obligation to assume the vows.

He was then drafted into the secular or spiritual service.

Some novices became what is called Temporal Coadjutors; their duty was to administer the property of the Society, to superintend its houses, to distribute alms, to work in hospitals, to cook, garden, wash, and act as porters.