Jesuit Pedagogy, 1540–1616: A Reader ed. by Cristiano Casalini and Claude Pavur (review)

The editors of this volume hope it is the first in a series of volumes based on the Monumenta paedagogica, seven volumes in the Monumenta historica Societatis Iesu. This book begins with a table of contents, a timetable of early Jesuit education up to 1613, a list of nine pictures, and ends with an excellent index.

The volume includes an excellent Introduction (pp. 1–33) and thirty documents, each a separate chapter. Each chapter has an introduction almost a page long, which provides readers with information about the topic and its author. The first seven chapters were written in Spanish, all by St. Ignatius of Loyola or his close associates from 1547 until his death in 1556. Thereafter twelve chapters were written in Latin and eleven in Italian. Three of the thirty chapters were written by Germans, one by a Frenchman, all the rest by Italians or Spaniards. Interestingly, after Loyola's death only one of these documents was written by the Jesuit Superior General, that by Claudio Acquaviva in 1613, twenty years later than any other of the thirty documents here published. Acquaviva insisted that Jesuits teaching philosophy should follow Aristotle and those teaching theology should follow Thomas Aquinas. That directive affected Jesuit schools well into the twentieth century.

The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 is Inspirations: its seven chapters deal with the first Jesuit colleges, 1541–1556. Two chapters are by Loyola, three by his secretary Juan Polanco. Part 2 is about Administration. It has nine chapters dealing with the early colleges in Italy. The first important college was at Messina in Sicily, where the Jesuits taught local students from ages roughly fourteen to twenty. The town government and benefactors paid for most of the expenses.

Three chapters deal with the prestigious Roman College. Rome was also the home of the German College, which had many Germans and Hungarians, but the majority were sons of wealthy Italians. Most students there were boarders and had to pay for their upkeep, unlike most Jesuit schools, which had free tuition. Here the Jesuits had to deal with often unruly students twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Chapter 14 looks at similar problems at the Roman College. Imposing discipline was not easy. Chapter 15 examines the plan and order of study at the Roman College, which in many respects was the model for Jesuit colleges through much of Europe. Part 2 closes with a chapter on the Roman Seminary, where the students resisted or ignored the rules of conduct; the Jesuit author of the chapter suggested that the Jesuits should simply leave the school or impose drastic measures on the students.

Part 3, Formation, is the shortest part and covers chapters 17 to 22. Chapters 17, 19, and 20 deal with humanistic studies and values. Chapter 18 deals with spiritual and academic progress. Chapters 21 and 22 deal with doctrinal content and uniformity of doctrine.

Part 4, Teaching Practice, is likely the most interesting for today's readers. Loyola himself wrote chapter 23, on teaching composition. Chapter 24 explains "How to teach children Latin and Greek." Then come chapters of literary studies, mathematics, Hebrew, teaching philosophy, and teaching theology.

I found this book interesting: there was good scholarship and immersion in topics and primary texts I had not thought about. The book was well organized. The main weakness was too much focus on Spain and Italy, too little on Germany and France.