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Starting from the concepts, “proximities and immobilities”, we reflect upon and analyze the writing of two Italian missionaries who moved between the ‘Cinquecento’ and ‘Seicento’ where special mobility (territorial expansion of the Catholic orb) and conceptual immobility (fascination, suspicion and fear of the new) converge. We concentrate on the writings of Alessandro Valignano through his missionary manual and Matteo Ricci’s letters as they proceed to decipher alterities by means of the conceptualization of “the barbarian” and the language of “others”.

One of the apostolic fields in which the Society of Jesus was involved since its foundation in 1540 was the missiones ad gentes [missions among non-Christians], which produced a constant flow of European missionaries to other continents. Specifically, the Jesuit provinces of Spain sent many missionaries beyond their borders, creating administrative units that were initially dependent on the metropolis and later became autonomous Jesuit territories. There are many partial studies of many of the realities related to the Jesuit missions; We now intend to take a brief historical overview to illustrate this centrifugal trend in Spain within the Jesuit sphere, both in the old Society (before its suppression by Pope Clement XIV in 1773) and in the contemporary one (since its restoration by Pope Pius VII in 1814). To this end, we will briefly review demographic and geographical data, which provide overall figures and territorial configurations throughout the history of the Society of Jesus.

In 1593, the Society of Jesus adopted the Spanish statutes of purity of blood which Saint Ignatius and his successors had opposed since the foundation of the Society. European nationalism was on the rise and is partly responsible for the decision. How and why the Society did changed its policy on such a delicate matter? And why on that particular year? In France, opposition to Spain was a big argument of the party supporting Henri IV and it was a common slur that Spaniards were «all Jews». In 1590, graffiti was found written on Paris wall: ‘Pereat Societas Iudaica cum gente ibera’. In Spanish ruled Portugal, it was very convenient to foster anti-converso feelings in order to oppose Spain. In Spain itself, the party pushing for discrimination felt it got top political support. In Italy moreover, there had been for over twenty years a growing dissatisfaction against Spanish superiors. Father General Acquaviva used this heterogeneous coalition to secure his grip on power. The old trick did it again: anti-Judaism was used to crush opposition, ironically, however, in Portugal, Spain and France, Jews were officially outlaws. Nel 1593 la Compagnia di Gesù adottò le leggi spagnole di purezza di razza a cui Sant’Ignazio e i suoi successori si erano opposti sin dalla fondazione della Compagnia. Il nazionalismo europeo, allora in aumento, fu in parte responsabile della decisione. Come e perché la Compagnia di Gesù cambiò la sua politica su una questione così delicata? E perché in quell’anno in particolare? In Francia l’opposizione alla Spagna era un punto fondamentale del partito che sosteneva Enrico IV, tanto che si insultavano gli spagnoli definendoli “tutti ebrei”. Nel 1590 furono trovati alcuni graffiti su alcuni muri di Parigi: “Alla rovina il popolo ebreo e con esso il popolo spagnolo”. Nel Portogallo dominato dalla Spagna era molto vantaggioso promuovere sentimenti anti-converso per contrastare la Spagna. Nella stessa Spagna, il partito che spingeva per la discriminazione sentiva di avere il massimo sostegno politico. Inoltre, da oltre venti anni, in Italia si riscontrava una crescente insoddisfazione nei confronti dei superiori spagnoli. Il Padre Generale Acquaviva, che aveva sfruttato questa eterogenea coalizione per assicurarsi la sua presa al potere, usò nuovamente il vecchio stratagemma: l’antigiudaismo fu usato per schiacciare l’opposizione, ma ironicamente in paesi (Portogallo, Spagna e Francia) dove gli Ebrei erano ufficialmente fuorilegge.

This article examines a decisive yet relatively understudied stage in the canonization process of Francis Borgia, third superior general of the Society of Jesus, by focusing on the remission phase carried out between 1649 and 1655. Although Borgia had been beatified in 1624, the path toward his canonization extended over several decades, shaped by a combination of institutional, political, and procedural factors that slowed its progress. The pontificate of Innocent X marked a turning point, creating favorable conditions for renewed momentum within the Roman Curia. Following authorization by the Congregation of Rites, the remission phase formally commenced in 1649, leading to a series of witness examinations conducted in key Iberian centers—Toledo, Madrid, and Valencia—beginning in 1650. By analyzing the selection of witnesses in each location and the substance of their testimonies, the article sheds light on the strategies employed to consolidate Borgia’s reputation for sanctity and to address juridical expectations in Rome. Particular attention is given to the coordination between local ecclesiastical authorities and the central institutions of the Holy See. The study argues that the efficiency and coherence of this phase, culminating in the issuance of the remission briefs in 1655, played a crucial role in advancing the cause toward its successful conclusion in 1670.

Not long after the order received papal confirmation in 1540, Xavier left Rome for Lisbon at the behest of King John 111, who wanted the Society to evangelize his Asian domains. Measuring 50 by 100 Roman feet (148 by 296 metres), the elaborate, yet temporary octagonal structure featured pyramids, Ionic columns, and a myriad of sculptures. [...]the calls to pursue the canonization of the two formative Jesuits in 1594 and 1608 prompted the production of cultic images, which commemorated and promulgated the renown of Xavier as an affiliate of Ignatius, an exemplary missionary, and a saintly man.11 These representations satished the need for Jesuit models and for the pursuit of the canonization of Xavier, which often overlapped with the cause for the founder Ignatius. While the field has emphasized the Lusophone world, scholars working on Xavier have become myopic and unable to look past certain aspects of the cult and iconography, including the tomb of the missionary in Goa, his relics, and the 1619 cycle of his life at the Professed House in Lisbon by André Reinoso13.

The Gonzaga family promoted, in the early seventeenth century, a visual and devotional program aimed at positioning Blessed Luigi Gonzaga as both a spiritual standard-bearer and a political instrument of their dynasty. A comparative analysis of prints, paintings, and liturgical objects from this period has made it possible to reconstruct the iconographic model that shaped subsequent representations of the young religious. The consolidation of the prototype of his likeness was facilitated by his family circle and enabled the dissemination of his charisma and virtues among the nobility and the Society of Jesus across the territories of the Spanish monarchy and the states of the Italian peninsula. This strategy sought to secure the preeminence of the House of Gonzaga through the canonization of a “family saint,” emulating the practices of other Italian dynasties. The article highlights the pressures exerted by the beatus’s relatives on the Jesuits and the papal court in their efforts to accelerate his canonization. The manuscript and printed sources cited underscore that the principal promoters of Luigi’s sanctity were his brother and sister-in-law, Francesco Gonzaga and Bibiana von Pernstein, although their early deaths curtailed broader dissemination initiatives. The couple, together with other members of the Gonzaga–Tana family, relied on narrative, visual propaganda, and political ambition to hasten the canonization of Blessed Luigi—an event that, nonetheless, would be delayed until 1726. In parallel, the circulation of, and devotion to, the earliest images depicting the Jesuit novice’s likeness brings to light the significant role of female agency in the diffusion of his cult.

Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, Europeans entered East Asia and introduced Catholicism as new maritime routes were opened and global interconnections deepened. Through practice, missionaries gradually developed a strategy of cultural accommodation, seeking converts by integrating into East Asian cultures. Although the cultural traditions of China, Japan, and Korea were broadly similar, there were differences among them, and the process of Catholic accommodation in each country reflected both shared commonalities and distinct particularities. The accommodation strategy initially led to considerable success; however, Catholic activities later posed a challenge to the traditional cultural and social orders of the three countries, and their rulers eventually adopted policies of religious prohibition to varying degrees. By the early nineteenth century, Catholicism had been banned across all three polities. Therefore, the cultural encounter between East and West on the eve of the modern era ended in intense conflict—yet Catholicism never disappeared from East Asia. Rather, it found a foothold in popular society by merging with the “little tradition.” In identifying this accommodation paradox, the article offers the wider study of religion a model of how a foreign faith interacts with an entrenched host tradition, demonstrating that the effectiveness of accommodation may itself generate the conditions of its subsequent prohibition.

In the context of early modern Catholic global missions, the Jesuit strategies for proselytizing Protestant heretics within Europe exhibited operational mechanisms distinct from those employed in overseas non-Christian populations. Focusing on the seventeenth-century Jesuit drama Pietas Victrix, this article examines the process by which drama was forged into an ideological weapon serving the project of constructing legitimacy during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Research demonstrates that Jesuit drama transcended the purely esthetic sphere of literature and art, becoming a propaganda tool that integrated Tridentine dogma, anti-Protestant polemics, and the sacralizing narratives of the Habsburg dynasty. In the play, the Jesuit Nicolaus von Avancini (1611–1686) converts abstract politico-theological ideas into tangible political loyalty through narrative strategies and the coordinated use of multiple art forms, mobilizing sensory spectacle and the affective force of total work of art within the Habsburg court—the empire’s core political arena—to reconfigure confessional identity, contest ideological leadership, and accumulate crucial social legitimacy for both the Habsburgs and the Society of Jesus. This paper contends that Jesuit drama, exemplified by Pietas Victrix, represents a missionary form rooted in Thomistic theology yet highly politicized. By situating the play within the context of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, it demonstrates how drama was forged into a potent ideological weapon for legitimacy contestation. This study provides a case for interpreting how the Jesuits utilized cultural media to participate in power construction and self-representation, thereby refining our understanding of the mechanisms of cultural politics in early modern Europe.

The Society of Jesus is a clerical religious order, but it has incorporated non-sacred members, in different degrees of membership, although not from the beginning. The priests professed members constitute the nucleus of the Society of Jesus, and in concentric circles are the formed coadjutors (spiritual coadjutors, the priests, and temporal coadjutors or brothers, the non-priests), the approved scholastics and the novices. In this article, we present the historical juridical framework of the temporal coadjutors, since they have been and are an important part of the history and life of the Society of Jesus, although they are not sufficiently well known because they are less visible. We study the origin of this grade among the Jesuits, its incorporation and legislation, as well as its subsequent evolution. We have gone through the founding and regulatory documents of the Society of Jesus and the rather scarce bibliography. There has been a great evolution in the profile of the temporal coadjutor since the 20th century in practice, that we briefly describe, but not so much in the legal profile. This publication is a preview of a larger research project on the Jesuit brothers, which is still in progress.