Brief Notices

Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Małgorzata. The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 2007. Pp. xx, 226. $34.95 clothbound. ISBN 978-0-826-34102-0.)

The icon of the black madonna may be a significant metaphor for our time. In an era of rapid transition, the ancient African "dark mother" is manifested in dark-woman divinities of the earth, notably the black madonna. To those confronting potential environmental disaster, the dissolution of institutions, and war, the black madonna offers hope, as the values of compassionate justice, equality, and nonviolent transformation are associated with her image.

The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation is an impressive study by Ma/lgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba. The author grew up in Poland, home of the wondrous black madonna of Czestochowa. Her childhood gave her a firsthand knowledge of the many black madonnas in eastern and central Europe. In recent years, Oleszkiewicz Peralba has taught in the southwestern United States, where the black madonna Guadalupe is venerated as the madrina of Latin America, particularly in Aztlán.

The author brings the enthusiasm for her subject from her childhood, coupled with a serious scholar's methodologies, to this study of popular religion and transformation. She describes the ways in which the black madonna's image weaves together popular Catholicism, Amerindian traditions, African orisa worship, and eastern and central European and Iberian cultures, as well as the emergence of the "great mother" figure in Latin America. She also discusses how, like Joan of Arc, the black madonna has served as a nationalist symbol, a figure of resistance against tyranny, and a representation of empowerment for women.

More than 150 illustrations enhance the book, emphasizing the black madonna's ubiquity from the artworks of high culture to the corn dollies of the Slavic tradition. This pathbreaking study ranges from the caduceus and voodoo altars crowned by serpents and Yoruba rituals to Tanit of Carthage, the black-woman divinity; to the tree of life; and to the black madonna portrayed in trees.

Colombo, Emanuele. Convertire i musulmani: L'esperienza di un gesuita spagnolo del Seicento. (Milan: Bruno Mondadori. 2007. Pp. xi, 175. €14,00. ISBN 978-8-861-59072-4.)

Tirso González de Santalla, the thirteenth superior general of the Society of Jesus, is best known for his repudiation of the Jesuits' traditional probabilism. Elected on the third ballot with a majority of only one vote, he prevailed over the other candidates only because Pope Innocent XI, unsympathetic to probabilism, indicated that he wanted him as general. Otherwise González, who had never held a position of authority in the Society until that time, would not have been considered. Although he had taught theology at Salamanca, his previous career had been principally preaching at popular missions in Spanish cities and towns, where he achieved exceptional success. One aspect of that career is the fascinating subject of Colombo's book—González's attempts at converting Muslim slaves resident in Spain.

In seventeenth-century Spain, especially in Madrid and Andalusia, there was a small Muslim minority, most of which was of foreign origin—captured in the corsair wars, for instance, or from raids in North Africa. González made this population almost his specialty and just before his election as general published Manuductio ad conversionem Mahumetanorum, his instruction for preachers who wanted to do the same. The book was reprinted several times and as late as 1937 commended to Jesuits by W/lodimir Ledóchowski, the superior general. Although it uses traditional polemics and apologetics, it differs from other treatments of the subject in that Gonzalez grounds the book in his own experience.

Besides dealing with a subject relevant for Christian-Muslim dialogue today, this impressive book is emblematic of two related trends. The first is the increasing crescendo of historical interest in the Jesuits, especially during the past decade. The second is the lead now taken by a generation of young, well-trained Italian scholars such as Colombo in that phenomenon...