The star-crossed saints of Seville: typology of secular and sacred in early modern Catholicism

Greenwood, Jonathan E.

doi:10.1080/02666286.2018.1521697

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“…54 Given the canonization campaign to which the Jesuits were deeply committed at the time the autobiography was published, sidereal metamorphosis as a poetic metaphor suggests Ignatius of Loyola's deiformity.55 It is no coincidence that he and other founders of religious orders were depicted as signs of the zodiac in the wake of the beatification festivities of 1610 in Seville. 56 The depiction of Ignatius as a constellation-he was identified with Aquarius in reference to his tearful spirituality-is a form of catasterism, that is, the transformation of a hero into a star or constellation. At the same time, the emblematic representations were relevant for the personal deification of the self and prompted the beholder to engage in an imitatio Ignatii, alluding to issues at the very core of Jesuit spirituality.…”

Section: Sidereal Metamorphosis or Becoming Like Godmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Per aspera ad astra”: Starry Heavens and Sidereal Metamorphosis in Jesuit Emblematics

Zierholz

2023

J. Jesuit Stud.

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This article sheds new light on a series of Jesuit emblems, from both spiritual and cosmological perspectives, in which stars and starlit night skies figure prominently. The starting point is Ignatius of Loyola’s preferred devotional exercise, as Pedro Ribadeneyra recounts: the contemplation of stars. Given Ignatius’s importance in this exercise, they are recurring motifs in Jesuit emblematics. Considering this exercise in the context of the classical definition of human beings as contemplators of heaven, I will provide an interpretive framework based on anthropology, epistemology, and ethics. I argue that stellar imagery draws on three closely intertwined key elements: firstly, the idea that God reveals himself through nature. Secondly, that knowledge of God is mediated by sight but achieved by reason, and finally, that the divine nature of stars and heavenly bodies made them worthy models to ponder and imitate. Stars mediate access to the knowledge of God and, as a poetic metaphor for deification, provide a model for cultivating one’s soul and conforming it to the divine. This article is part of the special issue of the Journal of Jesuit Studies on Jesuit emblems and emblematic edited by Walter S. Melion.

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Section: Sidereal Metamorphosis or Becoming Like Godmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Per aspera ad astra”: Starry Heavens and Sidereal Metamorphosis in Jesuit Emblematics

Zierholz

2023

J. Jesuit Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The star-crossed saints of Seville: typology of secular and sacred in early modern Catholicism

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

“Per aspera ad astra”: Starry Heavens and Sidereal Metamorphosis in Jesuit Emblematics

“Per aspera ad astra”: Starry Heavens and Sidereal Metamorphosis in Jesuit Emblematics

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