ABSTRACT BY VIRTUE OF THE SENSES: IGNATIAN AESTHETICISM AND THE ORIGINS OF SENSE APPLICATION IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE GESÙ IN ROME by Robert John Clines This thesis examines the nature of sense perception within the Church of the Gesù in Rome in the 1580s. I investigate the various ways in which worship within the Gesù employed sense perception as a method of facilitating devotion. In this vein, the use of preaching, visual arts, architecture, and music individually and collectively demonstrate that Jesuits were keenly aware that stimulating the senses would result in a more emotional and mystical form of devotion. For this investigation, the original sacristy manual of the Gesù is employed to reconstruct the liturgy. Linking this to sense perception, the long-standing tradition of the application of the senses within the Society of Jesus is explored. Also, this thesis analyzes how this tradition created a uniquely Ignatian liturgy in the Gesù that, while conforming with the Tridentine Church, was grounded in Ignatius’ beliefs that one could come closer to the divine through the senses. BY VIRTUE OF THE SENSES: IGNATIAN AESTHETICISM AND THE ORIGINS OF SENSE APPLICATION IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE GESÙ IN ROME A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History by Robert John Clines Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2009 Advisor__________________ Wietse T. de Boer Reader___________________ P. Renée Baernstein Reader___________________ Charlotte Newman Goldy Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v Introduction: the Jesuits, Worship, and the Gesù ............................................................................ 1 Chapter One: Liturgy and the Fine Arts in the Gesù..................................................................... 16 Chapter Two: The Spiritual Exercises , Nadal’s Adnotationes , and the Liturgy in the Gesù ........ 31 Chapter Three: The Jesuit Collegio and the Gesù: Educating the Senses ..................................... 43 Conclusion: The Gesù and the Applicatio Sensuum ...................................................................... 55 Appendix I: Figures ....................................................................................................................... 58 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 69 ii List of Figures 1 Figure 1: Facade of the Church of the Gesù, Rome. ..................................................................... 59 Figure 2: Floor plan of the Church of the Gesù, Rome. ................................................................ 59 Figure 3: Angels’ Chapel, Church of the Gesù, Rome.................................................................. 60 Figure 4: Federico Zuccaro, Seven Archangels in Adoration of the Trinity (1600). Panel, Angels’ Chapel, Church of the Gesù, Rome. ............................................................. 61 Figure 5: Chapel of Santa Maria della Strada, Church of the Gesù, Rome. ................................. 62 Figure 6: Jerome Nadal, Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia . Frontispiece. .................... 63 Figure 7: Jerome Nadal, “Evangelicae Historiae Imagines,” of Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia . Frontispiece. .............................................................................. 63 Figure 8: Jerome Nadal, “The Annunciation of the Virgin,” Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia . .................................................................................................... 64 Figure 9: Jerome Nadal, “The Night of the Nativity of the Lord,” Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia. ................................................................................................ 65 Figure 10: Jerome Nadal, “The Circumcision of Christ,” Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia. .................................................................................................... 66 Figure 11: Jerome Nadal, “Christ Approaching Jerusalem on Palm Sunday,” Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia. .......................................................................... 67 Figure 12: Jerome Nadal, “The Solemn Procession into the City,” Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia. ................................................................................................ 68 1 All images of the Church of the Gesù were retrieved from Chiesa del Gesù di Roma, “Visita Virtuale della Chiesa,” http://www.chiesadelgesu.org/html/d_visita_virtuale_it.html . All images from Jerome Nadal’s Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia were retrieved from Joseph MacDonnell, S.J., Gospel Illustrations: A Reproduction of the 153 Images Taken from Jerome Nadal’s 1595 book, ADNOTATIONES ET MEDITATIONES IN EVANGELIA (Fairfield, CT: The Fairfield Jesuit Community, 1998). iii Dedicato alle vittime del terremoto in Abruzzo, di cui l'ospitalità per sempre rimarrà nel mio cuore. iv Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to my advisor, Wietse de Boer, whose continual support, encouragement, and enthusiasm for this project created a collegial and enjoyable academic environment. His guidance over the past two years is beyond thanks. I would also like to acknowledge my thesis readers, Renée Baernstein and Charlotte Newman Goldy, for their efforts in this endeavor and their enthusiasm for the project as it has evolved. I also would like to thank J. Blake Vaughan for his help with reading drafts and discussing possible avenues of research. Thanks are also due to Andrew R. Casper for his assistance with foreign terms related to artwork and architecture. I am also indebted to Paul V. Murphy for his assistance in uncovering important sources for this work as well as his collegiality and guidance. Thanks as well to Cynthia Caporella, whose dirty work in the Roman archives and conversations over the years have enabled this project to truly flourish. Beyond the thesis itself, I would also like to thank Francesco Cesareo, Mark Lewis, S.J., and Santa Casciani for their guidance as I decided to become a historian. Also, I am forever grateful for my loving family, especially my mother and father, who have supported the development of this project from beginning to end. I also thank other colleagues and friends who contributed to this project, whether they realize it or not. Lastly, I thank the love of my life, Jolene, for her support in the completion of this project. Her confidence in me has enabled me to believe in myself, and thus, this project. v Introduction: the Jesuits, Worship, and the Gesù A few notes on the things that are usually done during the year in our Church of Rome - Liturgical Manual for the Church of the Gesù (1584) 1 Inaugurated in 1584, the Church of the Gesù soon became the center of Jesuit worship in Rome. The Society’s mother church came to play a central role within a rapidly expanding, world-wide missionary order. Because of its centrality and visibility, the church contributed to the order’s religious, cultural, and political activities. In this thesis, I seek a new understanding of this contribution by examining the ritual order introduced in the earliest years of the Gesù. The Jesuits relied on a liturgy integrated in, and in turn supplemented by, the church’s architecture, its decorative programs, and its musical repertoire. Together, they aimed at an integrated experience of body and soul, which rested on Jesuit notions about the senses. This introductory chapter will outline the earliest history of the order, its first stable churches and forms of worship. Subsequently, I will summarize the plans, construction, and earliest history of the Gesù. Thirdly, I will provide an overview of the source materials used in this thesis. Fourthly, I examine two historiographical debates surrounding the early Jesuits. Finally, I will present the analytical approach I will use in examining Jesuit ritual practice in the Gesù. 1. The Society of Jesus, its mission, and its churches The founder of the Jesuits, a Basque nobleman named St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491- 1556), originally envisioned traveling to the Holy Land to spread the Gospel. But in his early years, Loyola hardly seemed likely to found a religious order. In his early life, he was a worldly courtier and soldier. He was a typical representative of his class, fighting in the services Emperor Charles V, enjoying the spoils of his accomplishments. 2 However, it was the battlefield that would initiate his spiritual conversion. Injured as the French laid siege to Pamplona in 1521, “unless he felt improvement… [Ignatius] could be counted as dead.” 3 Once it was clear he would recover, Loyola asked for his usual readings, tales of chivalric knights and courtesans. However, the only readings available were two works that would forever change his life. Presented with the 1 Cynthia Caporella, “ Instructions and Observations of Our Church for the Entire Year : A Translated Edition of a Roman Jesuit Liturgical Manual From 1584-1585” (PhD diss., Kent State University, 2006), 62. Hereafter Instructions and Observations . 2 Thomas M. Lucas, ed. Saint, Site, and Sacred Strategy: Ignatius,