Oxford University Press has published English translations of six sermons by Jesuit missionary António Vieira. Mónica Leal da Silva and Liam Brockey edited and translated António Vieira: Six Sermons. Vieira was born in Portugal in 1608 and worked in both Europe and Brazil as a Jesuit, long remembered for his sermons on “social and spiritual […]
April 2018: Vieira’s Sermons Now Available in English Read More »
In 1540, Francis Xavier joined Simão Rodrigues in accepting the offer of the Portuguese king to serve as a missionary in Asia. Xavier took the place of Nicolás Alonso de Bobadilla, the man originally selected to travel with the Portuguese ambassador to Portugal. On March 15, before leaving Rome, Xavier wrote and signed the following
Three Documents on Departure for India, Francis Xavier (1540) Read More »
Grupo de Espiritualidad Ignaciana (the Ignatian Spirituality Group) has published a new collection of writings by the first Jesuits. Escritos esenciales de los primeros jesuitas. De Ignacio a Ribadeneira includes writings on doctrine and spirituality by Ignatius and his nine companions in Paris as well as other early Jesuits–such as Francis Borgia, Jerónimo Nadal, Juan Alfonso de
April 2018: New Essential Writings of the First Jesuits Available Read More »
The Jesuit Historiography Online features four new essays, all available in Open Access: — Moreno Bonda, “History-Writing and the Philosophy of Language: A Proposal for the Periodization of Early Modern Jesuit Historiography.” — Róisín Healy, “Jesuits in Germany—Post-Restoration.” — Teodora Shek Brnardić, “From Acceptance to Animosity: Trajectories of Croatian Jesuit Historiography.” — Chantal Verdeil, “The
April 2018: New Open Access Essays Available Read More »
On April 12, the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies presents a scholarly colloquium on the Chinese Rites Controversy. Hosted in collaboration with Burns Library of Boston College, the colloquium features presentations by Elisa Frei and Eugenio Menegon. Frei, a fellow at the Institute, and Menegon, a collaborative scholar at the Institute and an associate
April 2018: Colloquium on Chinese Rites Controversy Read More »
Paschase Broët was born into a wealthy family in Northern France in roughly 1500. He traveled to Paris in 1532 to begin his university studies, where he met Ignatius of Loyola, Jean Codure, Pierre Favre, Claude Jay, Simão Rodrigues, and Francis Xavier. These seven men made the same vows together in a Montmartre church in
On the Difficulties of Early Missionary Work, Paschase Broët (1545) Read More »
The following is an excerpt of a manuscript by Jerónimo Nadal on the spirit and practice of prayer. It is unclear if Nadal merely wrote this text (with assistance from Diego Jiménez) or delivered it, but Nadal edited it in 1561 or 1562. The selections below articulate Nadal’s contention that a Jesuit must reconcile a
Prayer: Especially for Those of the Society, Jerónimo Nadal (1561) Read More »
In December 1551, Ignatius had his secretary Juan Alfonso de Polanco write to Antonio Araoz, the provincial of Spain, about the Society’s rapidly developing educational apostolate. What resulted was a concentrated epitome of the early Society’s thinking about this enterprise. Polanco swiftly covers issues of “method” (founding, administration, faculty, structure, content), and “advantages,” both for
Ignatius on the Society’s Involvement in Studies (1551) Read More »
In the 1740s, Feodosii Smorzhevskii, a Russian hieromonk in Beijing, reported to his superiors on the work of Jesuit missionaries in China. Both the Russian Orthodox and Catholic missionaries attempted to navigate the labyrinthine world of the Qing imperial court. In the selection below, the Russian hieromonk reveals—in vivid detail—the precarious position of Christians in
On Jesuit Missionaries in China, Feodosii Smorzhevskii (1746) Read More »
The official Directory of the Spiritual Exercises was published in 1599. The directory was the culmination of study and experimentation through commissions over the course of four generalates. A committee appointed by the Fifth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1593-94) appointed the committee that ultimately produced the official directory. To mark the occasion,
On the Employment of the Spiritual Exercises, Claudio Acquaviva (1599) Read More »
