Abstract
The first four (out of eight) books of Daniello Bartoliâs (1608â85) officially commissioned Istoria della Compagnia di Gesù, dedicated to Asia, were devoted to recounting the miraculous deeds of Francis Xavier (1506â52). A century after his death, and thirty years after his canonization, Xavier was still an influential role model for all the Jesuits (especially those who desired to become missionaries in the âIndiesâ). Bartoli was a supreme stylist (Giacomo Leopardi later called him âthe Dante of baroque proseâ), and his talents were stretched to their limits by the imperative to celebrate Xavierâs miracles in ways that still accorded with the instructive genre of history. This article examines how Bartoli deployed his sources, which included not only previous biographies of the saint by João de Lucena and Orazio Torsellini, but unpublished letters and, most significantly, the report prepared for his canonization (the Relatio Rotae).
Introduction
This article explores how arguably the most important Jesuit writer and historian described and celebrated arguably the most important Jesuit missionary. The latter was Francis Xavier (1506â52), one of the first companions of Ignatius of Loyola (c.1491â1556) and a founding father of the Society of Jesus. The former was Daniello Bartoli (1608â85) who, despite never leaving the Italian peninsula, played a fundamental role through his many publications to make the missionary endeavor of the Society of Jesus known to a wider audience.1 After introducing Bartoli and the monumental volume of his History on Asia (1653), published just over a century after the papal approval of the Society of Jesus (1540), this article considers some of the sources Bartoli employed to draft these eight books, four of them devoted to Xavierâs life and deeds. Bartoli used not only printed books but also manuscripts, because he lived next to the Jesuit archives and was familiar with almost everything then written about his religious order.
The main question addressed in this article is Bartoliâs modus operandi: how did he use his sources? During the second half of his life and until his very death he was a very busy writer, who complained about how much distress this work caused him. Two examples show how Bartoli always tried to be the best historian he could, even if his religious agenda inevitably shaped his approach to the sources. He was writing about Xavier, a celebrity who had recently been canonized and whose miracles had been established as authentic. Moreover, Bartoli did not write as an educated hobby, but had been commissioned by the superior general of his order. It would have been impossible for him not to mention certain episodes that, today, seem not âhistoricalâ (or credible) at all. This notwithstanding, he deployed only what were regarded at the time as verified sources, and sometimes suspended his judgement about sensitive issues. More than twenty thousand Litterae indipetae are currently preserved in the Roman archive of the Society of Jesus.2 Jesuits who wanted to be sent to the overseas missions forwarded them to their superiors general, before (1580sâ1774) and after the restoration of the order (from 1815 until recent times). The most important missionary model for the majority of petitioners was the so-called âApostle of the Indies,â Francis Xavier, who is the focus of this paper.
In 1622, magnificent festivities were organized by the Society of Jesus around the world, not only in Europe but in every overseas Jesuit residence.3 Aspiring missionaries documented how âthe whole world and the Society of Jesus are celebrating in the best way they can the feasts in honor of our glorious saints Ignatius and Xavier.â4 The canonization had a relevant impact on many young Jesuitsâ lives, since their âdesire of the Indies [â¦] which for some time was numb, almost deadâ was thereafter âmost notably rekindled.â5 The Society of Jesus never lacked aspiring missionaries, a fact largely due to figures such as Bartoli and Xavier.
Daniello Bartoli and His Asia
Daniello Bartoli was born in Ferrara in 1608.6 He attended Jesuit schools, joined the order in 1623, and continued with his studies (and also taught): logic, physics, metaphysics, philosophy, humanities, rhetoric, and finally theology. In 1636, he was ordained priest and started preaching in several Italian cities. He was also an admired stylist, and, after some successful publications, he was called in Rome by Superior General Muzio Vitelleschi (1563â1645), who appointed him as the official historian of the first century of the Society of Jesus. He started his career as an author when he was almost forty years old and henceforth rarely left the eternal city. After a short time as a rector of the Collegio Romano, from then on, he devoted his time mostly to writing until the end of his life (he died at the age of seventy-six), and he published extensively on the most different topics: history, rhetoric, geography, even science (hearing, thunder, air pressure, and ice were among his favorite topics). Like many confrères, when he was a student, Bartoli had applied for the overseas missions several times. In 1633, addressing Vitelleschi, Bartoli shared his desire to âspend all my struggles, and a thousand lives if I had them, for the propagation of the holy faith, in the places where I can find more dangers and more chances to suffer and die in hard work, or to be killed by it.â7 He listed as his favorite destinations Japan, England, China, and India.
The geographical preference of this typical early modern candidate was confirmed and institutionalized in his magnum opus that became the reference point for describing the Societyâs work to both religious and lay public: the Istoria della Compagnia di Giesù. Having applied several times but never obtaining the desired permission, Bartoli had to transfer his passion for the missions into the history of the Society of Jesus he was appointed to write.8 His Istoria was printed over several decades: Asia from 1653 on (eight books, with the addition of The Mission to the Great Mogòr of Father Rodolfo Acquaviva in 1653), Japan in 1660 (five books), China in 1663 (four books), England in 1667 (six books) and Italy in 1673 (four books).
His work required the greatest effort also because, as a historian living in Rome, Bartoli had the great advantage (or burden) of proximity to the immense quantity of sources present in the Jesuit archives.9 He read manuscript letters and accounts, litterae annuae, canonization trials, and the comments made to them by the various parts involved. According to the doyen of Bartoli scholarship, Josef Wicki (1904â93), the Jesuit historian âcarefully read, studied and excerpted all the sources available to him.â He had also another unique advantage: the periodic, in person accounts of âconfreres who traveled to Rome from the East as procurators or with other offices, and he occasionally makes reference to them.â10
This article focuses on the Asian books of the History of the Society of Jesus. The first half of Asia was dedicated to Bartoliâs hero, Xavier. This is clear from a qualitative point of view, but also from a quantitative one: a statistical analysis of the words Bartoli used in these books confirms that Xavier recurs the most.11 Bartoliâs Asia starts from the very first years of the Society of Jesus in the Eastâeven before the order was approved by Pope Paul iii (r.1534â49) in 1540, because Xavier left as soon as he was appointed to do so by his friend Ignatius and the king of Portugal. The first four books reach Xavierâs death (1552), and the last part chronologically extends until 1570. Bartoliâs books were, above all, read within the Society of Jesus and the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Francesco Grungo (d.1730), for instance, explained in 1717 that he felt âparticularly inspired by the Lord [â¦] while I was reading [â¦] of the labors, imprisonment, and martyrdomâ described by Bartoli in his Asia.12 In this case Bartoli had succeeded in his goal, which was to persuade by appealing, above all, to the emotions.13 The Jesuit however did not limit the readership to only his confrères, because his works were well known even amongst lay people, who in the early modern period displayed a sustained interest in such exotic and edifying topics.14 Furthermore, Bartoli was not the first to write about Xavier, who had died almost a century before the publication of Asia, and was canonized twenty-three years before: several Jesuits and a few laymen had already celebrated his life. The most important printed sources included several biographies, written by the Jesuit preacher Francisco Pérez (1515â78),15 Xavierâs companion on the field Manuel Teixeira (d.1590),16 the Italian Latinist Orazio Torsellini (1545â99),17 and the Portuguese preacher João de Lucena (1549â1600).18
Other, more general, books were employed to shed light on the first years of the Society of Jesus in Asia, necessarily focusing on Xavier in many pages. Their authors were Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1533â1603),19 Francesco Sacchini (1570â1625),20 and Sebastião Gonçalves (c.1555â1619).21 Also non-Jesuits wrote about Xavier, because Maffei based his account on a manuscript copy of the Peregrinaçam by Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509â83), a Portuguese traveler and sponsor of the Jesuit missions in the East whose book novel-cum-travelog was published only in 1614.22 Finally, another fundamental source were the canonization trials, which took place from 1613 to 1616 in different locations: in Asia in Goa, the Fishery Coast, Kochi, Malacca, Bassein; and in Europe in Rome, Pamplona, and Lisbon. Parts of the process were already available in print, such as in the work by Giacomo Fuligatti (1577â1653), while others were consultable in their manuscript form.23
Bartoli had a wide audience and others had told this story before, but he was different because of how he used his sources. Two particularly rich examples drawn from the Asian books will clarify his modus operandi. In general, when the Jesuit described these territories, âhis longing for adventure realize[d] the most compelling pages,â also âthanks to a subject matter of extraordinary splendor.â24 The Istoria constantly highlighted the Societyâs thirst to engage with new geographical realities. Bartoliâs fascinating descriptions of the journeys made by missionaries overseas indissolubly linked discoveries and explorations with what was still a young order thereby fulfilling its providential vision. Bartoli knew that a Jesuit had to act in his own world and time. To travel had always been a distinguishing feature of the Jesuit vocation: it was the concretization of the mobility and detachment required to all of its members, ready to be sent anywhere in the world (as their fourth vow proclaimed), but at the same time also willing not to go on mission to the Indies, in obedience to the superior general.
First Case-Study: Xavier and Foreign Languages
The third book of Asia focused on Xavierâs deeds in Japan and his coming back to India (1549â51). Bartoli first introduced Japan geographically and then in human terms: what its people looked like, what were their customs, and how the empire was organized politically and religiously. On August 15, 1549, Xavier landed in Kagoshima, a town located at the southwestern tip of the island of KyÅ«shÅ«; Bartoli describes the missionaryâs first impressions and the local environment. The eighth chapter deals with âXavierâs apostolic gift of tongues.â25 Xavier was very happy about his new goal and had good expectations (his previous experience in India had not been very productive or satisfactory, by comparison). The Japanese language is defined âBarbarianâ by Bartoli,26 but this adjective was not necessarily negative, referring to anything unknown. Ironically, Japanese people called all Europeans âSouthern Barbariansâ (nanbanjin). Xavier was âold,â27 thus learning a new language was a difficult task for him. He had to âreturn to the condition and simplicity of a child.â28 For this expression, Bartoli went direct to the original source, because the same words can be found in Xavierâs first letters from Japan to his excited and curious confrères.29
âGlossolaliaâ meant that, according to Bartoli and his hagiographers, Xavier could, on the one hand, speak the language of the people he had in front of him while, on the other, be understood by people everywhere he went, even if there were those present who spoke different languages.30 Bartoli knew very well that Xavier himself claimed the contrary in his letters, where he complained about his frustration and labors in being understood. Nonetheless, Bartoli could not resist including such a charming (and at that point famous) miracle; stating that, if Xavier did not mention it, he did so just out of zeal and modesty.31 Bartoli added âsuch and so many proofsâ of this gift, and two popes also testified it as an authentic sign of Xavierâs similarity to the first Christian missionaries.32 To support this argument, Bartoli quoted almost ad verbum the bull of canonization of August 6, 1623.33
Bartoli employs then a very important source: the report (Relatio Rotae) compiled from the trials by the three senior judges of the highest court of the Roman curia, the Rota, so that the case for canonization could be more easily considered by the members of the Congregation of Rites and Ceremonies (which since 1588 had been given responsibilities in this regard) and by the pope himself.34 This account is an unpublished, Latin manuscript of 179 pages. It played a fundamental role in Xavierâs canonization process and was compiled at Pope Paul vâs (1550â1621) request. It summarizes the depositions from both the ordinary and remissorial trials (1556â57 and 1613â16) made by witnesses of Xavierâs life and deeds. A whole chapter of the Relatio Rotae was dedicated to the gift of tongues: âDe dono linguarum.â35 Bartoli carefully transcribed and translated this section, which reported the testimonies of fourteen eye-witnesses. Some of them were still alive and testified also in the second (remissorial) phase of the canonization. Manuel Fernández, for instance, was eighty at the time of the second (apostolic) phase of the collection of depositions in Tuticorin (1616) and remembered events from fifty years before.
Returning to Bartoliâs description of Xavierâs activity, his personality had left everybody astounded. After listening to his speeches and understanding everything, more and more people repeated what they heard and spread this exploding news everywhere. For some of them it was sufficient to know this message to convert, before or not even meeting the future saint. On this point, Bartoli reported what was confirmed by witnesses of the Relatio Rotae,36 and speculated that if Xavier stopped in certain places for a longer time, after learning about this gift of his, ânot one single gentile would be left,â because everybody would have converted.37 The missionary enjoyed such widespread success even though, as Bartoli noted, Xavier never learned languages âin a normal way.â Bartoli attempted to justify this shortcoming estimating that there were âat least thirty nations there [in Asia], whose languages are so difficult to grasp that it is quite impossible for any man to practice them if he does not study them for many years, never being able to speak them eloquently and gracefully.â38
Furthermore, Xavier was not a scholar or a linguist, andâin generalâearly Jesuits were not researchers, explorers, or anthropologists: they were missionaries, and their only goal was to convert.39 Even if the way to reach that result passed through intermediate steps (like the study of languages), the goal remained the same, nonetheless. In the case of Xavier (the first and only missionary in many places), he was clearly very busy in his apostolic activities and constantly on the move. He would not have had time to study grammar and practice conversation: this was explicitly stated in the Relatio Rotae, from where Bartoli drew with the utmost accuracy.40 Finally, Xavier lived in Asia for about ten years but stayed in most places just for a couple of weeks or months. In Japan he resided for longer, two years, which were still not sufficient to learn this non-western language.
In his chapter on this subject, Bartoli employed some classical sources as well. The Jesuit had a deep knowledge and understanding of classical patristic literature, and the phenomenon of glossolalia had been widespread (it was believed) in those first years of Christianity.41 Bartoli quoted in these cases directly in Latinâwhich was not frequent for him, since he usually translated everything in Italian, also from Portuguese and Spanish sources. There is an irony here, because Bartoli was so well-versed in languages while his hero Xavier was not. However, in general, if Bartoli could access a source in his native language, he did so: this is the case with the Life of Xavier by Lucena, used by Bartoli in its Italian translation from the original Portuguese. Bartoli did not have any difficulty with Latin however, and for the classical quotation on glossolalia his intermediary source was once again the Relatio Rotae, where it mentioned the Gospel of John,42 Augustine of Hippo (354âc.430),43 and Cyprian (210âc.258).44 Bartoli concluded with a final quotation from the Relatio, translating it into Italian; this way he closed neatly the original âapostolic circleâ starting with Jesusâs disciples and ending with the first Jesuits and Xavier himself.45
Second Case-Study: Xavier and the Missed Opportunity of China
Chapters eleven and twelve of the fourth book of Asia focus on Xavier as a victim of criticism by an official, who was the âworldlyâ reason for him not to ever reach China.46 Xavierâs âarch-enemyâ was, in Bartoliâs eyes, Ãlvaro de AtaÃde (d.1554), one of Vasco da Gamaâs sons, captain of Malacca from 1551. Lucena and several witnesses who testified at Xavierâs canonization trials agree with him.47 Don Ãlvaro hosted Xavier on his ships on many occasions and was to help him on his last trip, to the Chinese mainland. He was supposedly Xavierâs âvery close friend,â and to him the future saint confided âwhat he had in his heart, that is the embassy to the emperor of China.â48 AtaÃde was in the ideal position to support this enterprise, but acted as the âvillainâ of the situation: âwith a false semblance of joy, and with pompous words [â¦] increasing his promises and offers, [seemingly] sparing nothing [â¦] just for the sake of pretence.â49
AtaÃde owed Xavier a great deal. First of all, only through Xavierâs intercession did he receive a very important patent letter from the viceroy.50 Xavier also gave him âother extraordinary offices and advantages.â51 Finally, the future saint assisted AtaÃde when he was âseriously sick in soul and body.â52 The problem with AtaÃde was that he was driven by âenvy and interestâ and recognized none of the debts he had accumulated with Xavier. Bartoli trusted in Lucenaâs narrative but are the latterâs words to be taken for at face value?53 Bartoli did not doubt it, and on the basis of Lucena and Gonçalvesâs reports, also noted, how Ãlvaro felt hatred and envy not only for Xavier, but for other people as wellâlike the humble local merchant named Diego Pereira.54
Bartoliâs explanation of these diplomatic complexities are somewhat caricatured and based mainly on these two previous accounts: he showed no interest in analyzing the situation from a âpoliticalâ point of view, because in his eyes everything was ascribable to AtaÃdeâs wickedness. It was because of this that the landing of Pereiraâs ship was maliciously interpreted by the Javanese population as an attempt to invade Malacca. AtaÃde spread the news that this was the case, while on the contrary the Javanese were busy with their own battles, and the merchants who arrived in Malacca did not have belligerent intentions. The situation escalated, and there was the risk of bloodshed. It was Xavierâs turn to intervene.
At the beginning of chapter twelve, Bartoli depicted Xavier in his attempts to do everything in his power on earth but also above, asking for help from God, to change AtaÃdeâs scheming mindâin vain.55 The missionary had been in Asia for ten years and never, until then, had he used his title of âapostolic nuncioâ out of humility.56 This modesty is praised by Bartoli on the basis of what was affirmed by the judges of the Rota, who claimed that Xavier was âkeeping his authority like a sword in its scabbard.â57 Xavier himself talked about this title with the utmost respect and parsimony, but it had finally come the time to use itâor, in Bartoliâs words, âunsheathing or, if threatening was not enough, [using it] to wound.â58
Hypocrite, arrogant, faker of dignities that were not proper for a scoundrel like him, partisan of a swindler, merchant, ambitious, drunken [â¦] one could hear [AtaÃde] from the windows of his palace talking loudly in spite of the excommunication, and in vituperation of the saint, saying that if he [Xavier] had such a great desire to stand out among idolatrous peoples, why did he not go to Brazil, or to Monomotapa, where he would not lack a field to earn a name? Xavier should have left China to him [AtaÃde], for he would know how to get more gold, than Xavier [â¦] souls.61
Mendes Pintoâs version significantly reports the two same geographical destinationsâBrazil and Africaâas synonymous with âundesirableâ or at least less prestigious missionary fields than the Chinese empire. The more AtaÃde offended Xavier, the more his servants took courage and imitated him, in such an outrageously vulgar way that Bartoli could almost not keep his narrative balance describing âhow many [â¦] shameful filthy words and rude deedsâ were directed at Xavier. Bartoli saw AtaÃdeâs servants as âscum for their vile condition,â who childishly wanted to be âeven more insolent [just] to earn the masterâs favor.â62
Bartoli was apparently not exaggerating: during the trial held at Kochi, contemporary eye witnesses confirmed that for Xavier it was not even possible to go out, because every time he put a foot out of his door, he was assaulted by verbal insults.63 Xavier himself was troubled at this point: he confided to a confrère that, in the ten years he spent in Asia, he had never been persecuted in this way, not even by âgentiles [â¦] or Moors [Muslims].â64 This sentence does not appear in Xavierâs letters, but is an oral testimony which can be found in one written by the aforementioned Jesuit, Francisco Perez, to Ignatius of Loyola. Bartoli trusted Perezâs testimony because he was working with Xavier at the time.
Xavier kept calm and never reacted; he just showed concern about AtaÃdeâs soul. Although Don Ãlvaro is clearly âthe villainâ in Bartoliâs narration, it was Xavier who left Malacca blaming just himself. Bartoli ended the chapter with Xavierâs magnanimous exemplum, and with a long quotation from another letter, this time addressed to the Jesuit Diego Pereira (d.1570?). Xavier stated how it was only âthe enormity of my foolishness that prevented God from wanting our presence in China [â¦] all the fault lies in my sins alone; so many and so serious, that they not only harmed me, but your interests as well.â65 He referred here to the âembassyâ that Pereira planned to send to the Chinese emperor and never took place.
Bartoliâs last words focus on AtaÃde and the curse he was approaching, a very common narrative strategy in the Histories of the Society of Jesus. As Xavier complained in another letter: âI am sorry for his [AtaÃdeâs] misfortunes, because he is going to pay much more than he imagines.â66 This prediction is also present in Torsellini and, unsurprisingly, it did not lie: AtaÃde was deposed soon after (1554) and forcibly put on a ship destined for Portugal as a prisoner.67
Conclusions
Even if seventeenth-century historical narratives were not subject to peer review like today, Bartoli has generally been considered more a master of Italian language than of history.68 Today, it is Bartoliâs interest in the supernatural, wonders, and miracles which strike the reader.69 He looked for these elements not only in Xavierâs case, as this article has demonstrated, but throughout his entire book. Since its meaning was self-evident to him from its etymological root in mirariâan occasion for astonishment and amazementâperhaps he never felt the need to define it.70
While it is true that Bartoli should not be judged according to later standards of what makes an âhistorian,â nonetheless we should not be blind to some of the pitfalls of his approach, since they balance the positive assessment made above. In the case of the canonization trials, for instance, Bartoli paid the greatest attention to them, consistent with his purpose to âdraw our information from people who were not simply present at the events personally but were actors and part of them.â71 These trials collected testimonies by witnesses who had been in direct contact with Xavier, and all of them were under oath. Some of these spoke a few years later (1556â57), while others sixty years later (1613â16). Especially in the second case, the witnesses were quite confused about places, dates, and names. Nonetheless, the Relatio Rotae and the other documents related to Xavierâs canonization were fundamental to the success of his cause, and Bartoli had to manage them in an appropriate way. On the one hand, he could not ignore them: to do so was clearly not acceptable as the âofficial historianâ of the Society of Jesus. On the other hand, Bartoli could also not show skepticism on what they proclaimed: all these testimonies have been declared authentic by the witnesses themselves, the Rota, and the Roman authorities.
The fact that Bartoli sometimes dared to show a certain bemusement and reported dissenting notes about the most wondrous episodes signified his âprofessional ethicsâ as a historian. For instance, the first chapter taken into consideration in this essay was entirely devoted to the gift of tongues. Many testimonies supporting this miracle were collected, however, Bartoliâs first sentences were by Xavier himself, putting his glossolalia in a dubious light. Xavier stated in his letters (which Bartoli knew very well) that, while in Japan, he felt âlike a statue, mute and deaf.â72 Moreover, Bartoli added that even if Xavier was blessed with that gift, âthis was not ubiquitous. He did not miraculously start talking the language of every country he put a foot on, but this happened only when God invested him with this apostolic spirit.â Xavier was the first one staying humble, because âhe never expected [took for granted] any miracle.â73
As for Bartoliâs modus operandi, there is no proof he ever had an assistant or a secretary: he researched and wrote by himself, and his autograph notebooks seem to confirm it. Before composing Asia, indeed, he filled pages and pages of notes with the sources and quotations he planned to use. These notes are now preserved in an autograph booklet appropriately called Selva (literally: forest).74 Most of the notes are crossed out, indicating Bartoli used every reference, working in a particularly methodical and organized wayâremarkable also given the absence of the assistance of todayâs electronic tools. Bartoli was not only efficient but also fast: as soon as he started working on the Histories of the Society of Jesus, the volumes were published rapidly, one after another. Asia, for instance, was printed just a few years before and soon after two other works by Bartoli, the lives of Ignatius and Vincenzo Carafa (1585â1649).
Bartoli does not need any defense and his work cannot be judged from a modern historiographical perspectiveâfirst of all, because Bartoli himself âdid not self-identify as an historian.â75 When engaging with his work, however, one must recognize many characteristics that are appreciated also in todayâs historians. The first one is an extraordinary curiosity and erudition, as the most various subjects of his publications testify. Bartoli had familiarity with Italian, Latin, Portuguese, and Spanishâwhich were fundamental to narrate such an eventful and global history. As the example of the Relatio Rotae in Asia well demonstrates, he preferred to access (and quote) sources in his own language; if this was not possible, Romance languages did not constitute any obstacle for him. Similarly, he tried to consult printed books if he could but, if the source was available only as a manuscript, Bartoli was ready to browse them page by page to find the desired quotation. He had knowledge also of archival documents and accessed them regularly, even if reading them was for sure more difficult and time consuming than dealing with printed sources. His last, remarkable quality was in fact that he did not get discouraged by the extent of his task. The History of the Society of Jesus should have covered all the territories in which the Ignatian order tried to establish a mission: the other European countries (not only Italy), the Near East, but also the Americas. Such an endeavor was unrealizable during a short, human lifetime.
Thank God, I reached the end of this long and tormented (as it will seem to some, and to me for sure was) endeavor of endless reading of writings. I will not have suffered in vain, however, if I obtain what I declared in the first pages as one of my goals in writing the histories of the first century of the Society of Jesus. This was to give an account of what we did to help souls, serve the Church, exalt the name and glory of Godâthe cornerstone of our order, whose aim is to reach the perfection and salvation of our souls, and those of the others.76
He accomplished that for sure, and much more.
No âItalyâ existed during the early modern period, but the substantive and adjective are here used when referring to the current peninsula, and most specifically to the Jesuit assistancy (territorial division). The author wishes to thank Alessandro Arcangeli and Seth Meehan for their support during the revision of this article, and Simon Ditchfield for his invitation to contribute to this issue and for the precious advice and assistance given in the final stages of preparing this article for publication.
Litterae indipetae have recently become a very popular subject in Jesuit Studies. The Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College is developing an online database, with the final goal of a free publication of all of them (https://indipetae.bc.edu). One of the first scholars who briefly wrote about indipetae was Edmond Lamalle, âLâarchivio di un grande ordine religioso: LâArchivio Generale della Compagnia di Gesù,â Archiva Ecclesiae 24â25 (1981â82): 89â120; for a table with their precise distribution in the Roman Archive, see Aliocha Maldavsky, âPedir las Indias: Las cartas âindipetaeâ de lo jesuitas europeos, siglos xviâxvii, ensayo historiogrà fico,â Relaciones 33, no. 132 (2012): 147â81; for further bibliographical data, see Emanuele Colombo and Marina Massimi, In viaggio: Gesuiti italiani candidati alle missioni tra Antica e Nuova Compagnia (Milan: Il Sole 24 Ore, 2014).
On the festive apparati in European cities, see Ralph Dekoninck, Maarten Delbeke, Annick Delfosse, and Koen Vermeir, âPerforming Emotions at the Canonization of Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier in the Southern Low Countries,â in Changing Hearts: Performing Jesuit Emotions between Europe, Asia, and the Americas, ed. Yasmin Haskell and Raphaële Garrod (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 187â210.
âil mondo tutto, et in particolare la Compagnia nel miglior modo, che sà et può, và celebrando le feste delli gloriosi nostri Santi Ignatio et Francesco,â Ottavio Lanzavecchia, Alessandria, May 8, 1622 (Rome: Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu [henceforth arsi], Fondo Gesuitico [henceforth fg] 736, 358).
âquel desiderio antico dellâIndie [â¦] per qualche tempo sopito, et quasi morto hora viene dalli medesimi Santi notabilissimamente ravvivato,â arsi, fg 736, 358.
On Bartoliâs life and work see the excellent entry by Alberto Asor Rosa in the Dizionario biografico degli italiani [henceforth dbi] 6 (1964). Cfr. Simon Ditchfield, âBaroque around the Clock: Daniello Bartoli SJ (1606â85) and the Uses of Global History,â in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 31 (2021): 49â73; Bruno Basile, ââLâAsiaâ del Bartoli,â Lettere italiane 36, no. 3 (1984): 301â18; Mario Brutto Barone Adesi, âDaniello Bartoli storico,â Rivista di storia della storiografia moderna 1, no. 1 (1980): 77â102; Denise Aricò, âMartiri e storiografia in lettere inedite di Daniello Bartoli,â Studi secenteschi 38 (1997): 57â105.
âil desiderio che sempre in me è cresciuto da che dieci anni sono mi venne, non è di mutar paese, ma di spender ogni mia fatica, e mille vite se tante nâhavessi, per la propagatione della Santa fede, e dove pericoli maggiori, e maggior occasione vi è di patire, e morir neâ stenti, o esser ammazzato per questo effetto, là più mi sento, colla Divina gratia, animato ad andare; sia il Giapone, lâInghilterra, la Cina, il Mogor; o qualsivoglia altro paese,â Parma, May 16, 1633 (arsi, fg 739, 239).
Between 1627 and 1635 Bartoli wrote at least five indipetae, all preserved in arsi, fg 738 (7, 189, 179, 239, and 363). On his frustrated missionary vocation, see the introductions to Bartoli, La Cina: Libro i, ed. Bice Garavelli (Milan: Bompiani, 1975) and that to Istoria della Compagnia di Gesù: DellâItalia [henceforth Italia], ed. Biondi Marino (Florence: Olschki, 1995).
On Bartoliâs modus operandi, see also Adriano Prosperiâs introduction to the recent critical edition of Asia, xxiâlxxxi, Bartoli, DellâIstoria della Compagnia di Giesù: LâAsia [henceforth Asia, and always referring to volume 1], ed. Umberto Grassi and Elisa Frei, 2 vols. (Turin: Einaudi, 2019). On the genesis of this first critical edition, see Asia, lxxxviâlxxxix. This essayâs findings draw upon the research this author undertook for the apparatus of this critical edition, based on Josef Wickiâs preliminary notes (see below).
âalle ihm erreichbaren Quellen sorgfältig gelesen, studiert und exzerpiert hat. Dazu kommen noch Mitbrüder, die aus dem Osten als Prokuratoren oder wegen eines anderen Titels damals nach Rom reisten [â¦] Bartoli weist gelegentlich auf zeitgenössische Berichte hinâ (Josef Wicki, âVorarbeiten für eine geplante kritische Ausgabe der Asia des P. D. Bartoli SJ,â Aufsätze zur Portugiesischen Kulturgeschichte 18 [1983]: 202â43, here 211). Wicki published some notes on his edition of Asia (unfinished, but on which he extensively worked) in a second article as well: âVorarbeiten für eine geplante kritische Ausgabe der âAsiaâ des P. D. Bartoli SJ, â Aufsätze zur Portugiesischen Kulturgeschichte 20, no. 92 (1988): 72â114.
The software used was Voyant (freely available at https://voyant-tools.org). The most commonly recurring words in Asia are âSaverioâ (424 times), âsantoâ (287), âtantoâ (261), âDioâ (257), and âGoaâ (207).
âhò avuto particolar inspiratione dal Signore [â¦] legendo [â¦] le fatiche, prigionia, e martirio [â¦] che racconta il Padre Bartoli nella sua Seconda parte dellâAsia,â Palermo, May 16, 1717 (arsi, fg 750, 486).
Simon Ditchfield, âThe Limits of Erudition: Daniello Bartoli SJ (1680â1685) and the Mission of Writing History,â Proceedings of the British Academy 225 (2019): 218â39, here 228.
See for example: Donald Lach and Edwin Van Kley, eds., Asia in the Making of Europe, three volumes nine parts (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1965â94), ad indicem under âJesuits.â One of his later admirers was the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi (1798â1837), who defined him in 1821 as âthe Dante of baroque proseâ (Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone, 2 vols. [Milan: Mondadori, 1953], 1:886â87).
Published by Wicki in âDas neuentdeckte Xaveriusleben des P. Francisco Pérez S. I. (1579),â Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu 34 (1965): 36â78.
Annotações nas cousas da Vida do P. Mestre Francisco que se hão de emendar no livro dellas que foy pera Roma no anno de 1580, published in Monumenta Xaveriana, ex autographis vel ex antiquioribus exemplis collecta [henceforth mx], 2 vols. (Madrid: Augustinus Avrial, 1899), 2:815â918.
Orazio Torsellini, Vita del b. Francesco Saverio il primo della Compagnia di Giesù, che introdusse la s. fede nellâIndia, e nel Giappone, scritta in lingua latina, & in sei libri divisa dal r.p. Oratio Torsellini della detta Compagnia (Florence: Giunti, 1605).
Bartoli accessed his work in Italian: João de Lucena, Vita del B. P. Francesco Xavier [â¦], trans. Lodovico Mansoni (Rome: Bartolomeo Zannetti, 1613).
Giovanni Pietro Maffei, Historiarum Indicarum libri xvi; Selectarum item ex India epistolarum libri iv (Cologne: Officina Birckmannica, 1590).
Francesco Sacchini, Historiae Societatis Iesu, vol. 2 (Cologne: Sumptibus Antonii Hierati, 1621); vol. 3. (Rome: Typis Manelfi Manelfij, 1649); vol. 4 (Rome: Typis Dominici Manelphij, 1652); vol. 5 (Rome: Ex typographia Varesij, 1661). On Sacchini, see the entry by Alessandro Guerra in dbi 89 (2017).
Sebastião Gonçalves, Primeira parte da história dos religiosos da Companhia de Jésus e do que fizeram com a divina graça na conversão dos infieis a nossa sancta fee catholica nos reynos e provincias da India Oriental, ed. Josef Wicki, 3 vols. (Coimbra: Atlântida, 1957â62).
Fernão Mendes Pinto, Peregrinaçam de Fernam Mendez Pinto, 4 vols. (Lisbon: Livraria Ferreira, 1908â10). Cfr. The Travels of Mendes Pinto, trans. Rebecca D. Catz (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1989).
Giacomo Fuligatti, Compendio della vita dellâapostolo dellâIndia s. Francesco Saverio della Compagnia di Giesu, raccolto da varie, & approvate istorie, e dalli processi fatti per la sua canonizatione dal p. Giacomo Fuligatti della medesima Compagnia (Rome: Bernardino Tani, 1637).
âaspirante missionario e la sua nostalgia di avventura depositano le pagine più avvincenti, appagate letterariamente da una materia di straordinaria suggestione,â as Marino Biondi points out in his introduction to Italia, 38.
Asia, 251ff. All the translations into English are by the author. See also the article by Rachel Miller in this special issue.
âquel barbaro favellare,â Asia, 251.
âgià in età ,â Asia. At the time however, Xavier was only forty-three years old, and not fifty-two as Bartoli erroneously believed.
âornando a condizione e semplicità fanciullesca,â Asia.
All letters by Xavier are edited in Georg Schurhammer, ed. Epistolae S. Francisci Xaverii aliaque eius scripta [hereafter ex], 2 vols. (Rome: Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu [hereafter mhsi], 1944). On November 5, 1549, Xavier frankly admitted that âwe are like children in learning the languageâ [agora nos cumple ser como mynynos en aprender la lengua], ex, 2:201.
On Xavierâs gift of tongues, see the acute analysis of Georg Schurhammer, Franz Xaver: Sein Leben und seine Zeit, 2 vols. (Freiburg: Herder, 1955), 2/I:443n150. On the real interchanges in Japan, see Urs App, âSt. Francis Xavierâs Discovery of Japanese Buddhism: A Chapter in the European Discovery of Buddhism,â The Eastern Buddhist: New Series 30, no. 1 (1997): 53â78; 30, no. 2 (1997): 214â44 and 31, no. 1 (1998): 40â71. The Relatio Rotae (see below), nonetheless, confirms how âomnes alios aliarum nationum in suis quoque linguis intellexisse eumâ [every person from every country was able to understand Xavier in his own language] (100).
âchi ode il Saverio dire di se medesimo, châegli era una statua dâuomo senza favella, e che imparava a cinguettar giapponese per apprendere il linguaggio, conosca quello châegli era senza altro miracolo che del suo zelo, che così il faceva rimbambire,â Asia, 252.
âDel che quante e quali pruove di fede indubitata se ne abbiano, io mâho riserbato a dimostrarlo qui, come in luogo più acconcio, tutto unitamente,â Asia.
mx, 2:709â10.
Relatio Francisci Sacrati Archiepiscopi Damasceni, Io. Baptistae Coccini Decani, Io. Baptistae Pamphilij Rotae Auditorum, facta Smo. Dno. Nro. Paulo Papae Quinto, super Sanctitate et Miraculis P. Francisci Xaverii Societatis Iesu: Ex processibus super illius canonizatione formatis extracta [henceforth rr], in arsi, Postulazione Generale, S. Franciscus Xaverius, 30, n. 1.
rr 98 and following; see also mx, 2:46â47.
rr 98; see also mx, 2:546â47: âpropter hoc multi convertebantur, quia hoc habebant pro magno miraculoâ [many people converted because of this, for they thought this was a big miracle]. On the same topic, see also rr 99â100, and mx, 2:385.
ânon vi sarebbe rimaso un sol gentile, che non si fosse renduto alla fede che predicava,â Asia, 253.
âvâha per lo meno trenta nazioni di linguaggi fra loro tanto difficili a prendersi, châegli è affatto impossibile che uomo possa farsene pratico altro che per istudio di molti anni, e né pur mai giungerà a parlargli speditamente e con la leggiadria propria di ciascuno,â Asia, 254.
As Ditchfield points out, citing Luke Clossey: âWe need to remember that Jesuit authors were not anthropologists manqué, but labourers in the vineyard of the Lord whose absolute priority was the saving of soulsâ (Baroque around the Clock, 58). Cfr. Luke Clossey, Salvation and Globalization in the Early Jesuit Missions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 8.
âné le grandi e continue occupazioni, che gli distraevan la mente in altri affari, gli concedevano perciò agio né tempo,â Asia, 254. In this case, the rr (101) attests that âFuerit occupatus in aliis rebus, ita ut non potuerit dare operam linguae addiscendaâ [(Xavier) was busy in many things, he could not invest time and effort to learn new languages].
On critics on the gift of glossolalia, see note 30 above.
John 7:15 and rr, 101.
Augustine, In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus, 29, 2, and rr, 101.
Cyprian, Sermo de Spiritu Sancto (it was not possible however for the author to identify the precise location of Bartoliâs quotation), and rr, 103.
âIddio avea inviato questo suo servo alla salute dellâoriente [â¦] agli apostoli somigliante,â Asia, 255. See also rr, 104.
Asia, 406ff.
Even if Bartoli claims that the real power was held by Francisco Ãlvares (âcapitano maggiore [â¦] Francesco Alvarez, regio uditor generale,â Asia, 406). Ãlvarez testified in Xavierâs process in 1557 (ex, 2:455n7). See also Lucena, Vita, 52.
âin ristretta maniera amico del Saverio [a cui] scoperse a gran confidenza quanto aveva in cuore dellâambascieria allâimperador della Cina,â Asia, 406â7.
âtutto largamente gli offerse. Ma in venirsi al fatto [â¦] operò tutto altramenti da quello che dianzi avea promesso [â¦] con un falso sembiante dâallegrezza, e con pompose parole [â¦] largheggiando in promesse e offerte, senza niun risparmio [â¦] solo per simulazione,â Asia, 407.
âcapitan maggiore del mare,â Asia.
âeziandio certe altre straordinarie preminenze e vantaggi,â Asia.
âmentre era gravemente infermo, nellâanima e nel corpo,â Asia.
âlâinvidia e lâinteresse, in uomo dâanima vile, quale egli era, poteron più che verun altro debito, né di cavaliere né di cristiano,â Asia; see also Lucena, Vita, 652â53.
Asia, 407. See Lucena, Vita, 653, and Gonçalves, História, 1:396â98, mainly used by Bartoli as reference for this section.
âconsigliatosi lungamente con Dio,â Asia, 409.
ânunzio apostolico, ma sempre sotto silenzio e umiltà si nascose,â Asia. See on this topic Wicki, âDer hl. Franz Xaver als Nuntius Apostolicus,â Studia missionalia 3 (1947): 107â30.
âtenendo, come dicono gli uditori della Ruota Romana, la sua autorità , come spada nel fodero,â Asia, 409. On November, 13, 1552. Xavier himself wrote from Shangchuan Island to his confrères that he left Goa after being appointed nuncio (ex, 2:518), and the rr confirms it (64).
âsguainarla, e se il minacciar non bastava, ferire,â Asia, 409. See also Xavierâs letter of June 1552 to the vicar of Malacca João Soares (ex, 2:454â56).
ânunzio in tutti i regni dellâoriente,â Asia, 409.
Asia, 410; see also Gonçalves, História, 1:399; Lucena, Vita, 654; and mx, 2:274 and 286.
âipocritone, superbo, fingitore di dignità che non erano da un ribaldo come lui, partigiano dâun truffatore, mercatante, ambizioso, ubbriaco [â¦] sâudiva fin dalle fenestre del suo palagio parlare ad alte voci in dispetto della scommunica, e in vitupero del santo, dicendo, che sâegli avea tanta voglia di farsi onore fra genti idolatre, perché non andare al Brasile, o a Monomotapa, dove non gli mancherebbe campo da guadagnarsi un nome? Lasciasse la Cina a lui, châegli ne saprebbe cavar più oro, che maestro Francesco col suo Pereira, anime,â Asia, 410. As for Mendes Pintoâs account: âque se fosse ao Brasil, ou a Manamotapa,â Peregrinaçãm, 4:87.
âè incredibile di quanti oltraggi e vergogne di sconce parole e dâatti villani, quegli di d. Alvaro caricassero il Saverio. Gentaglia, oltre che per loro vil condizione, scostumata, spinta anche a maggiore insolenza dallâinteresse di guadagnarsi la grazia del padrone,â Asia, 410.
See for instance Francisco GarcÃa in the process of Kochi (1556â57): mx, 2:284.
Asia, 410; see also the letter by Francisco Perez to Ignatius dated January 21, 1555, stating about Xavier that âmuchas vezes le oý dezir que nunca se vió tan perseguido en toda su vida, aunque avÃa andado entre gentiles [â¦] y morosâ [I (Perez) heard him many times saying that he never felt so persecuted in his whole life, although he was used to walk among gentiles [â¦] and Moors] Josef Wicki, ed. Documenta Indica, 18 vols. (Rome: mhsi, 1948), 3:249.
âlâenormità delle mie scleraggini ha fatto, che Iddio non voglia servirsi di noi nella Cina [â¦] tutta la colpa sia deâ miei soli peccati; tanti e sì gravi, che non a me solo han nociuto, ma per me ancora a voi, aglâinteressi,â Asia, 410â11.
âIo mi condolgo delle sue sciagure, che certamente egli la pagherà troppo più caro che non immagina,â Asia, 411. See also Torsellini, Sancti Francisci, 286; the Portuguese text is to be found in ex, 2:461â462; see also the comment on the Latin version in ex, 2:460.
ex, 2:303n7.
As noticed by Wicki, Vorarbeiten, 1:219â20.
See such works as La Geografia trasportata al morale (Milan: Agostino Mascardi, 1665). Cfr. Ditchfield, âBaroque around the Clock,â 60n34â35.
Wicki, Vorarbeiten.
Asia, 2:121.
Asia, 251. The original source is a letter by Xavier, stating that âaguora somos entre ellos como unas statuas, que hablan y platican de no muchas cosas, y nosotros, por no entender la lengua, nos callamos,â ex, 2:201.
âquantunque egli avesse in ogni paese quellâammirabile dono delle lingue che qui appresso riferirò, ciò però non era perpetuo, sì che al primo toccar châegli faceva alcuna terra di stranio idioma, incominciasse subito a favellarlo miracolosamente; ma ciò era sol quando a Dio piaceva investirlo con quello spirito apostolico [â¦] non aspettando miracoli, se ne faceva umilmente scolare,â Asia, 251.
arsi, Historia Societatis 116, also known as Selva.
Ditchfield, âBaroque around the Clock,â 58.
âmi truovo, la Dio mercè, al termine di questa, qual che nel rimanente sia per parere ad altri, certo a me, per lâinfinito leggere delle scritture, lunga, e travagliosa fatica: ma non affatto inutilmente sofferta, se ne havrò conseguito quel che nel primo foglio, da cui presi a condur lâhistoria della Compagnia fino al suo Centesimo anno, professai essere uno deâ fini che mâinducevano a comporla, cioè, Dar conto dellâoperato da noi in aiuto dellâanime, in servigio della Chiesa, in esaltatione del nome, e della gloria di Dio, al che tutto mostrai essere noi tenuti per Debito dellâIstituto nostro, nel cui Fine inseparabilmente si uniscono, la propria perfettione e salute, e quella deâ prossimi,â Bartoli, Dellâhistoria della Compagnia di Giesú: La Cina; Terza parte dellâAsia descritta dal P. Daniello Bartoli, della medesima Compagnia (Rome: Stamperia del Varese, 1663), 1150.
