[2] During his novitiate, under novice master Jan van den Berg (Latinized "Bargius"), Makeblijde would have been expected to go through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola thoroughly, to meditate for one hour each day, and to experience practical work in the hospitals, infirmaries, catechism classes and kitchens attached to Jesuit houses.
[2] On 5 October 1588 he made his vows as a member of the order, and in 1589 he began teaching at the Jesuit college in Bruges, being transferred to Ypres the following year.
In 1597 his first work was published in Leuven by Jan Maes: Cort onderwijs van acht oeffeninghen (Short instruction of eight exercises), a collection of prayers and teachings for the young.
[2] From 1605 to 1607 he was attached to the Jesuit house in Antwerp, where Carolus Scribani was rector, and the theology professors were his Leuven classmates Heribertus Rosweyde and Jan van Gouda.
[2] His catechism classes had to be stopped in 1617, and the schout (sheriff) of Delft raided his secret evening sermons five times that year, but without capturing Makeblijde.
[2] The States General of the United Provinces passed a law on 26 February 1622, proclaimed in Delft on 13 March, giving Jesuits six days to leave the Republic.