A concern with perceptions of holiness and saint-making has underscored much of my recent scholarship. A little more than a decade ago my attention was drawn to festivities celebrating Teresa of Avila when I discovered a detailed description of the apparato created for her 1614 beatification ceremonies held in the church of S. Maria della Scala in Rome. The church, I soon learned, was the headquarters of the Italian branch of Teresa’s Discalced Carmelite Order, which the papacy had charged with founding missions in Persia. Over the years, my initial concern with Teresa’s Roman festivities grew to encompass those in other Italian centers and in Persia and India.
This book is the culmination of a long intellectual journey made possible by many institutions and individuals whom I am most pleased to thank. Much of my research was carried out in Rome, especially at the Archivio Della Casa Generalizia Dell’Ordine Dei Padri Carmelitani Scalzi. I am deeply grateful to Father Angelo Lanfranchi, OCD, Archivista Generale, and Dr. Marcos Argüelles García, Assistente Archivio Generale, for their expertise and generosity. Father Óscar I. Aparicio Ahedo, OCD, former Archivista Generale, kindly introduced me to the archive at the beginning of my project. I am also indebted to Dr. Alberto Bianco, Director of the Archivio della Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, and to the staffs of the Archivio di Stato in Rome and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. In addition, as a Research Fellow at Boston College’s Jesuit Institute in 2012–13, I was able to exchange ideas with many knowledgeable colleagues and to travel abroad regularly. I extend my thanks to the late T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, former Director of the Jesuit Institute, and Tomeu Estelrich, former Assistant Director. In 2018, a Research Fellowship from the Renaissance Society of America supported archival work on the Asian missions.
I wrote the book during the Covid pandemic when libraries and archives were closed. The following scholars generously came to the rescue by providing scans of articles and books, their own photographs, and their perspectives on thorny issues: Paolo Aranha, Stefano De Mieri, Simon Ditchfield, José Ferreira, Alison C. Fleming, George L. Gorse, Rachel Miller, Franco Mormando, Miguel Navarro García, Rosalind Rothwell, Sara Rulli, Saverio Sturm, Kelli Wood, and Alessandro Zuccari. I have also benefited from the expertise of Kathryn Brush, Daniele V. Filippi, Giulia Silvia Ghia, Ingo Herklotz, Helen Hills, Fernando Loffredo, Alexander Nagel, Ruth S. Noyes, Steven F. Ostrow, Giancarla Periti, Jorge Tárrego-Garrido, and Helen Wagg. I am grateful to Martine C. Barnaby for her excellent graphic design work that helps bring to life my reconstructions of decorative programs and processional routes. I had the pleasure of walking the
Several scholars have helped me hone my ideas over the years. Cristelle Baskins, with whom I co-chaired the session “Italy, Persia, and Early Modern Globalism” at the 2014 College Art Association conference, has been a stimulating interlocutor ever since and read early drafts of several chapters of this book. Simon Ditchfield read the entire first draft and offered helpful suggestions and insights. Above all, I thank Barbara Wisch for sharing her considerable knowledge, for her tireless, exacting comments on various iterations of the manuscript, and for her unflagging enthusiasm for the project as it took shape.
It has been a pleasure to work with Aryan van Dijk, Francis Knikker, Ivo Romein, and Yael Isaacs at Brill, who masterfully guided the project along. I appreciate greatly the astute comments provided by the two anonymous readers. Giorgio Caravale, Ralph Keen, and J. Christopher Warner, editors of the series Catholic Christendom, 1300–1700, deserve special thanks. In particular, Chris Warner provided judicious suggestions as well as keen attention to detail as the production phase approached.
I thank all wholeheartedly for their thoughtful contributions. Any mistakes that remain are my own.