"In nomine patris". The Struggle Between an Indipeta, his Father, and the Superior Generals of the Society of Jesus ( ca. 1701 – 1724)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2018
- Journal Title:
- Chronica mundi
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- Language:
- Abstract:
This essay examines the fascinating relationship between a Jesuit, his biological father, and his “spiritual” father in order to better understand a critical aspect to the histories of Catholic missions and of the Society of Jesus—namely, how Jesuits were subjected to complex negotiations, within and outside their religious order, that determined whether they would serve as missionaries. In the early eighteenth century, Ignazio Maria Romeo was a Sicilian Jesuit who longed for the China mission, writing about his desire in many Litterae Indipetae to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Rome. Just when the appeals finally seemed successful, his father, the Marquis degli Magnisi, unexpectedly and secretly wrote the Superior General, essentially demanding his son not be sent. Ignazio suspected his father’s intervention, but he continued with his increasingly passionate requests, eventually proclaiming himself satisfied to be sent to any place other than his Sicilian college. At the end, no longer tolerating his situation he stated a desire to resign from the order, which caused a scandal due to his family’s prominence. Within this triangle of correspondents, each of man fought for what he believed was best: Ignazio to escape from his dull and suffocating reality, the Marquis to not let his son depart and risk his life, and the Superior General to diplomatically avoid definitive pronunciations and to maintain hope for all involved. The sources for this story are Ignazio’s Litterae Indipetae, the Marquis’s letters to the Superior General, and a document that historians have largely ignored: the Epistulae Generalium, the answers from Rome.
- Who (Jesuits):
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Publisher URL:
- Other link:
- Page Range:
- 107-123
- ISSN:
- 2239-7515