Art, Controversy, and the Jesuits: The Imago primi saeculi (1640) ed. by John W. O'Malley, S.J. (review)

At a sales price of $120, this 771-page, richly illustrated, folio book is a steal. It will be avidly read by Jesuits and Catholics and emblem scholars, in fact by anyone with more than a passing interest in historicity and the religious experience. It should make us all rethink what we believed about the Imago. There is a huge bibliography on the Jesuits, but the Imago primi saeculiof 1640 is probably the richest emblematic work ever produced by the Society of Jesus, and its engravings count among the finest produced anywhere. In an important sense it enables us to understand how the Jesuits understood themselves and their order. With its original 952 pages the Imagowas and remains a formidable book. What emblem scholars may not always have realized is that about 80% of the original Latin book is unillustrated prose. Its publication created a controversy, and its detractors were ardent in their condemnation of the book, which in their view glorified the Jesuit order.

It is no secret that there was considerable opposition to the success of the Society of Jesus, which was phenomenal. That opposition could be doctrinal, but also political. In one sense it is understandable that the Belgian Jesuits should have composed the Imagoto celebrate the centenary of their order. The unbiased observer will need to decide whether the book essentially serves God, humankind, or the Society. What decides that question will go far beyond what the Flanders Jesuits may have written. The rhetoric and erudition of the texts must also be considered when looking at the emblems in the Imago.

The Society was established under a pope and in 1773 was suppressed under another pope, although the extent to which religious or political considerations were paramount in the papal decision to suppress the order will likely continue to divide historians for some time.

It is known that the Jansenists of the day were vehemently opposed to the Society. And it must have been received as a personal blow to Jesuits to learn that the order had been suppressed in France in 1764 through a combined effort of Jansenists, French politicians, and the negative views of Ignatius's own alma mater, the theological faculty of Paris. For a long time, the opposition of the monastic orders had been growing.

This book, edited by John O'Malley, S.J., was written by contemporary scholars. The editor himself contributed the introduction and the first chapter on "The Imago:Context, Contents, and Controversy." Here O'Malley provides a masterful account of the book and the controversy it sparked.

This is followed by "The Frontispiece and Opening Emblem. A Translation" by Michael C. J. Putnam. Next comes "Classicism and the Baroque: The Imago primi saeculiand its Detractors" by Marc Fumaroli. This brings us to the heart of the opposition to the Imago. Fumaroli begins by discussing the terms "classicism" and "baroque," as well as "Asianism" and "Atticism" (pp. 57–58). He argues that the Council of Trent was geared to a "worldly and learned elite" (p. 59), a view that may not sit well with some historians today. Fumaroli highlights the Jesuit desire to reach the masses, recognizing the need to arouse "surprise and admiration" (p. 60). It is hardly surprising that the Imagopraises such Jesuit saints as Ignatius himself, Francis Xavier, Aloysius Gonzaga, and Stanislaus Kostka. But the treatment of India, Japan, and China almost seems cavalier when one recalls the many Jesuit martyrdoms and the eradication of Christianity in Japan during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.

As a partial answer to the detractors, Fumaroli points to the unequivocal statements in the Imagotexts that the book is a tribute to God and Christ, although it does celebrate the Society of Jesus (pp...