Religious Education in Brazil

1958 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-170
Author(s):  
Alceu Amoroso Lima
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Cultural Formation ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Education In Brazil

Religious education in Brazil can be conveniently divided into four phases or periods:I. 1553-1759II. 1759-1891III. 1891-1931IV. 1931 to the present.During this early period religious education in Brazil was, practically speaking, in the hands of the Society of Jesus.The movement known as the Counter-Reformation attached great importance to cultural formation. Three great personalities of the sixteenth century dominate this intellectual renascence which can rightly be called Catholic humanism. They are St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, in Spain; Thomas More, the excellent Hellenist and sociologist, in England; and St. Angela Merici in Italy, who founded the Congregation of the Ursulines, dedicated especially to the education of women.

scholarly journals The Portrait of Matteo Ricci

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-464
Author(s):  
César Guillen-Nuñez
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Chinese Science ◽  
Matteo Ricci ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola

This article discusses a rather unusual portrait that depicts the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), to be found today in the Gesù church in Rome. When it was first exhibited it aroused such excitement among Jesuits that it was displayed next to the portraits of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. At an uncertain date, a small inscription was attached to the frame with Ricci’s name, his years of birth and death, and a statement that the painting had been exhibited in the vestibule of the Gesù residence in 1617, but that its artist was unknown. Although the painter’s name was disclosed as that of the Chinese-Macanese Jesuit brother You Wenhui (alias Manuel Pereira) in an account by Sabatino de Ursis soon after Ricci’s death, both the painter and his work have remained practically ignored by most researchers. This article studies the portrait and its creator from an art-historical perspective in much greater detail than previously. Stylistic and iconographic influences of Chinese Ming portraiture observable in the style of the work are identified, as are features from late sixteenth-century Counter-Reformation portraits. Certain aspects of Ricci’s contributions to Chinese science are also discussed, along with a number of contemporary theological arguments that tell us much about the nature of the portrait, its subject, its creator, and its deep spiritual significance.

Personal Discernment and Dialogue. Learning from ‘the Other’

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Michael Barnes SJ
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
The South ◽  
Ignatian Spirituality ◽  
Michel De Certeau ◽  
Personal Interactions ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola

This article considers the theme of discernment in the tradition of Ignatian spirituality emanating from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). After a brief introduction which addresses the central problematic of bad influences that manifest themselves as good, the article turns to the life and work of two Jesuits, the 16th C English missionary to India, Thomas Stephens and the 20th C French historian and cultural critic, Michel de Certeau. Both kept up a constant dialogue with local culture in which they sought authenticity in their response to ‘events’, whether a hideous massacre which shaped the pastoral commitment and writing of Stephens in the south of the Portuguese enclave of Goa or the 1968 student-led protests in Paris that so much affected the thinking of de Certeau. Very different in terms of personal background and contemporary experience, they both share in a tradition of discernment as a virtuous response to what both would understand as the ‘wisdom of the Spirit’ revealed in their personal interactions with ‘the other’.

Las Yslas de Esperar en Dios: The Jesuit Mission in Moro 1546–1571

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-606
Author(s):  
John Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Jesuit Missionaries ◽  
Mission Field

The numerous and voluminous reports and letters which the Jesuits wrote on the Moro mission, as on all their missions in Asia, are perhaps of less interest to us now for what they reveal of the methods adopted by the Society of Jesus in this remote corner of their mission field or the details they contain about the successes and failures of individual missionaries, than for the wealth of information they provide on the islands where the Jesuits lived and the indigenous societies with which they came into contact through their work of evangelization. In other words, it is not theprimary purpose of this essay to analyse the Jesuit documents with a view to reconstructing the history of the Moro mission in narrative form but rather to glean from them some of the informationthey contain about the social and political conditions in Moro during the forty years or so in the sixteenth century when both the Jesuit missionaries and the Portuguese were active in the regio Because the Jesuits were often in close touch with local rulers and notables, whether or not they succeeded in converting them to Christianity, and because they lived among their subjects for long periods, depending upon them for the necessities of life and sharing their hardships, their letters and reports often show a deeper understanding of the social, economic and political conditions of the indigenous societies and, one suspects, give a more accurate and measured account of events and personalities than do the official chroniclers and historians of the time, most of whom never ventured further east than Malacca and who in any case were chiefly concerned to glorify the deeds of the Portuguese and justify their actions to the world.

Imperial Policy and Church Income: The Sixteenth Century Mexican Church

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Hennessey Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Church Finance ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
New Research

The long-traditional view of the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish America as a monolithic, wealthy, and all powerful institution has been gradually modified by successive studies over the last thirty years. From these examinations emerges the picture of a complex institution characterized by diversity, and internal conflict. New research continues to enlarge and clarify understanding of the Church's role as an institution of the Spanish empire.What follows will, in highlighting the colonial Church's relationship to the Spanish crown, add to this view of it as a complex and diverse institution. An examination of crown policy with regard to Church finance in the sixteenth century shows that the episcopal hierarchy of the Mexican colonial Church had a subordinate relationship to the crown in the era of the Counter Reformation. Rather than a strong Church influencing the crown, what emerges is the portrait of a relatively weak, dependent institution, supported by the king. The secular church hierarchy had only enough power to carry out its function and serve as a counterpoint to the religious orders, not enough to achieve financial independence on its own. The basis for this relationship lies in the patrimonial nature of Castilian government and its dominant position over the Church hierarchy because of the Patronato Real.

Jesuit Theater and Drama

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Wetmore
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Audience Member ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Educational Theater ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Didactic Theater

The historic Jesuit theater represents two centuries of didactic theater in which the Society of Jesus, following both the organizational instructions andSpiritual Exercisesof founder Ignatius of Loyola, used theater to inculcate virtue in both performer and audience member while teaching Latin, dance, poise, rhetoric, oratory, and confidence to the students who performed. Jesuit spirituality is inherently theatrical, and conversely Jesuit theater was intended to also be highly spiritual. The dramaturgy and scenography was spectacular and designed to draw audiences who would delight in them and learn the moral lessons the Jesuits hoped to teach while simultaneously drawing them away from a corrupt public theater. This essay considers Jesuit drama and theater in four key aspects: (1) Jesuit spirituality and performative practice; (2) the historic Jesuit educational theater of early modern Europe; (3) Jesuit drama in the missions outside of Europe; and (4) contemporary Jesuits involved in theater.

Jesuits and Islam in Early Modern Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 348-378
Author(s):  
Emanuele Colombo
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jesuit Missionaries ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Willingness To Engage

This chapter discusses Jesuit narratives of Islam and the Jesuits’ approaches to Muslims in early modern Europe. It argues that the Jesuits’ interaction with Islam was a key component of the Society’s identity, despite the fact that the order was not celebrated for the success of this interaction. It explores the desire of Ignatius of Loyola and the first Jesuits to convert Muslims; the history of Muslims who converted to Catholicism and joined the Society of Jesus; the Jesuits’ tension between a polemical attitude and a missionary approach to Muslims; and, finally, the Jesuits’ willingness to engage Islam and their attempts to study Arabic during this period. The chapter sheds new light on the presence of Islam in early modern Europe and helps our understanding of views that also influenced early modern Jesuit missionaries overseas, most of whom undertook their formation in Europe.

scholarly journals Jesuits in Spanish America before the Suppression

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-108
Author(s):  
Robert H. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Educational Activities ◽  
Papal States ◽  
Urban Institutions

Abstract From the late sixteenth century until their expulsion in 1767, members of the Society of Jesus played an important role in the urban life of Spanish America and as administrators of frontier missions. This study examines the organization of the Society of Jesus in Spanish America in large provinces, as well as the different urban institutions such as colegios and frontier missions. It outlines the spiritual and educational activities in cities. The Jesuits supported the royal initiative to evangelize indigenous populations on the frontiers, and particularly the outcomes that did not always conform to expectations. One reason for this was the effects of diseases such as smallpox on the indigenous populations. Finally, it examines the 1767 expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories. Some died before leaving the Americas or at sea. The majority reached Spain and were later shipped to exile in the Papal States.

scholarly journals Co się stało z konfessyjonistą? Dzieje leksemu w polszczyźnie

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219
Author(s):  
Paulina Michalska-Górecka
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of

The history of the lexeme konfessyjonista shows that the word is a neologism that functioned in the literature of the sixteenth century in connection with religious documents/books, such as the Protestant confessions. Formally and semantically, it refers to Confessio Augustana, also to her Polish translations, and to the Konfesja sandomierska, as well as konfessyja as a kind of genre. In the Reformation and Counter-Reformation period, the word konfessyja was needed by the Protestants; the word konfessyjonista was derived from him by the Catholics for their needs. The lexeme had an offensive tone and referred to a confessional supporter as a supporter of the Reformation. Perhaps the oldest of his certifications comes from an anonymous text from 1561, the year in which two Polish translations of Augustana were announced. The demand for a konfessyjonista noun probably did not go beyond the 16th century, its notations come only from the 60s, 70s and 80s of this century.

Jesuits in Colonial Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Colonial Latin America ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jesuit Order

The Jesuits have impacted the history of colonial Latin America as have few other religious orders. Founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and a group of companions, the Society of Jesus defined its profile from the beginning as an order devoted to apostolic activity, especially through missions, and education, which led it to promote new forms of preaching and teaching. Its expansion in the world coincides with the Catholic Counter-Reformation fostered by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), in which the Jesuits had a decisive participation. The growth and expansion of the order in Latin America was rapid and continuous. The first Jesuits arrived in Brazil in 1549, in Peru in 1568, and in Mexico in 1572, and they soon became involved in the main religious, social, economic, and political activities of each region. They founded numerous colleges and residences in the most important cities and dozens of missions, or reducciones, villages among the indigenous populations living on the so-called borderlands of the colonial domains of Spain and Portugal. The several Jesuit establishments in Latin America were territorially organized into provinces, which maintained constant and fluid communication with the headquarters of the order in Rome, where its highest authority, the superior general, resided. Demands by local governments, an increase in the number of operarios, and an expansion of the political and ecclesiastical jurisdictions led to the establishment of new Jesuit provinces in the 17th century, most especially that of Paraguay, which became one of the most famous in Latin America. Each province was staffed by both priests and coadjutor brothers (lay Jesuits who had not completed their training) from different European countries, mainly Spain, as well as Creoles and mestizos born in America. Both internally and externally, the writing of documents of different types served as a central instrument of communication and government of the various Jesuit establishments. This abundance of documents produced is why the corpus of research of the Jesuit order in Latin America is profuse.

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