BIBLIOGRAPHY #6: Ignatius & the Catholic Reformation

1. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA & THE EARLY JESUITS: STUDIES

John O’Malley, The First Jesuits (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993) NEW in paperback, $18. Must

reading. It marks such an advance that most previous studies look woefully out-of-date. O’Malley’s great
gift is not just the balance of his historical judgment and the lucidity of his prose, but his ability to put
things in context—to see the forest for the trees. Because the approach is more thematic than chronological,
beginners may also want to consult the works listed below by Dalmases and Bangert to get the basic
sequence of events.

Candido de Dalmases, Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1985)

paperback, $14. Best of the recent biographies of Ignatius. However, Dalmases is by trade an archivist; the
style is not lively, but good precision on matters.

Antonio de Aldama, The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus: an Introductory Commentary, trans. Aloysius J. Owen

(St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1989).

Dauril Alden, The Making of an Enterprise : The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and Beyond: 1540-1750

(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Presss, 1996) hardcover, $75.

William Bangert, A History of the Society of Jesus, 2

nd

ed. (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1986) paperback,

$18. A solid survey.

William Bangert, Jerome Nadal, S.J. (1507-1580): Tracking the First Generation of Jesuits, ed. Thomas M. McCoog

(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992) hardback, $26.

William V. Bangert, Claude Jay and Alfonso Salmeron : Two Early Jesuits (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1985)

paperback, $16.

Paul Begheyn, “Bibliography on the History of the Jesuits,” Studies in the Spirituality of the Jesuits, Vol. 28/1 (St.

Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996).

Philip Caraman, Ignatius of Loyola: a Biography (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1990) paperback, $10.
Philip Caraman, The Lost Empire: the Story of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame,

1985).

Philip Caraman, The Lost Paradise: An Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607-1768 (London: Sidgwick &

Jackson, 19__). If you have seen the movie The Mission, you are familiar with the “reductions” in
Paraguay and the unconventional mission techniques of the Jesuits there. A good survey of the rise and fall
of the “Jesuit republic” forged in the jungles of South America.

Thomas H. Clancy, The Conversational Word of God: A Commentary on the Doctrine of St. Ignatius Loyola

Concerning Conversation (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1979).

Robert Emmett Curran, ed., American Jesuit Spirituality: The Maryland Tradition, 1634-1900, Sources of American

Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1988).

Cándido de Dalmases, Francis Borgia (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 19__) paperback, $18. Borgia was the

3rd general of the Society and imposed his organizational stamp on the Society—for good and for ill.

Francis Edwards, Robert Persons: The Biography of an Elizabethan Jesuit (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources,

1995). NEW.

Harvey D. Egan, Ignatius Loyola the Mystic, Way of the Christian Mystics 5 (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical

Press, 1991) paperback, $15.

Harvey D. Egan, The Spiritual Exercises and the Ignatian Mystical Horizon (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources,

19__) paperback.

Joseph de Guibert, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, trans. William J. Young (St. Louis: Institute of

Jesuit Sources, 1972 / original: 1972) paperback, $15. Dated in many respects, but still recognized as a
classic survey of Jesuit spirituality.

A. Lynn Martin, The Jesuit Mind: the Mentality of an Elite in Early Modern France (Ithaca: Cornell University

Press, 1988).

John C. Olin, ed., Erasmus, Utopia, and the Jesuits: Essays on the Outreach of Humanism (New York: Fordham

University Press, 1994).

Bibliography #6: Ignatius of Loyola

2

John O’Malley, “To Travel to Any Part of the World: Jerome Nadal and the Jesuit Vocation,” Studies in the

Spirituality of Jesuits, Vol. 15, #5 (1983). A fine study of the activist and missionary element within Jesuit
spirituality.

John O’Malley, “Early Jesuit Spirituality: Spain and Italy,” in Christian Spirituality III: Post-Reformation and

Modern, ed. Louis Dupré and Don E. Saliers (New York: Crossroad, 1989) paperback, $20.

D.E. Mungello, ed., The Chinese Rites Controversy: Its History and Meaning (Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1994).
Martin E. Palmer, On Giving the Spiritual Exercises: The Early Jesuit Manuscript Discoveries and the Official

Directory of 1559 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 199_).

Hugo Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 19__ ) paperback. A classic study done back

in the 40s by the brother of the famous theologian Karl Rahner.

Karl Rahner & Paul Imhof, Ignatius of Loyola (London: Collins, 1979). Valuable photos.
Charles E. Ronan, Bonnie B.C. Oh, eds., East Meets West : The Jesuits in China, 1582-1773 (Chicago: Loyola

University Press, 1988) paper, $16.

Andrew C. Ross, A Vision Betrayed : The Jesuits in Japan and China, 1542-1742 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books,

1994) hardcover, $35.

George Schurhammer, Francis Xavier, His Life, His Times, 3 vol. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute, 1973). German

scholarship at its most exhaustive. More than you would ever want to know about Xavier; the definitive
study, best used as a reference work.

Juan Luis Segundo, The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1987) paperback, $20.
Jonathan D Spence, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (reprint: New York: Viking Press, 1994).
Josef Franz Schutte, Valignano’s Mission Principles for Japan, 2 vol. (St. Louis:; Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1980)

From 1573 to 1606 Alessandro Valignano held authority over all the Jesuit missions in the Far East. It was,
in part, his missionary genius that created the successes of the missions in Japan, China, and India.

Joseph Tylenda, Jesuit Saints and Martyrs (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1984).
Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras, Ignatius of Loyola: the Pilgrim Saint (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 199_)

paperback, $12. NEW. Good on Basque background, but unduly sentimental.

2. TRENT & THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION

Martin D.W. Jones, The Counter Reformation: Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe (New York:

Cambridge University Press, 1995). NEW. Brief; a good place to start.

Outram Evennett, The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, ed. John Bossy (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame

Press, 1968) paperback, $8. There are many good books on the Protestant Reformation, but only a few on
the Catholic. This is an exception. Evennett studies how the Catholics reformed themselves through a mix
of reformed piety, new apostolic vision, and new governmental structures. More an interpretative essay
than a historical narrative—so it is essential one has some background on the figures and events he
discusses. Evennett devotes much attention to Ignatius, and his insights into Ignatian spirituality are
unusually poignant. A classic.

John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). An odd, somewhat

eccentric interpretation.

N.S. Davidson, The Counter-Reformation (Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1987) paperback, $10. A good, but

very brief introduction.

Arthur G. Dickens, The Counter Reformation, Library of World Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton, 1968)

paperback, $9. A good survey of the key figures who shaped the Catholic Reform. Fine plates.

Elisabeth Gleason, ed., Reform Thought in Sixteenth Century Italy (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981). A valuable

collection of hard-to-find sources.

William V. Hudon, ed, Theatine Spirituality, Classics of Western Spirituality #87 (New York: Paulist Press, 1996).
Irwin Iserloh, Joseph Glazik, & Hubert Jedin, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, vol. 5 of History of the

Church, trans. Anselm Biggs and Peter W. Becker (New York: Seabury Press, 1980)

Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996) paperback, $20. NEW.
John C. Olin, ed., Catholic Reform from Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent (New York: Fordham University

Press, 1990) paperback, $25. A good collection of hard-to-get sources; valuable intro.

Bibliography #6: Ignatius of Loyola

3

John C. Olin, ed., The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius of Loyola (New York: Fordham University

Press, 1992; reprint of 1969 edition).

David N. Power, The Sacrifice We Offer: the Tridentine Dogma and Its Reinterpretation (New York: Crossroad,

1987).

Richard Rex, The Theology of John Fisher: a Study in the Intellectual Origins of the Counter-Reformation

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 199_) hardback, $60. NEW.

3. TERESA OF AVILA & JOHN OF THE CROSS: STUDIES

Rowan Williams, Teresa of Avila, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (Harrisburg, PA: Morehead Publishing,

1991) paperback, $12. NEW. A fine introductory study to the lively down-to-earth mystic who reformed
the Carmelites. Start here.

Gillian T.W. Ahlgren, Teresa of Avila and the Politics of Sanctity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996). NEW.
Jodi Bilinkoff, The Avila of Saint Teresa: Religious Reform in a Sixteenth-Century City (Ithaca: Cornell University

Press, 1989) paperback, $12.

Joseph F. Chorpenning, The Divine Romance Teresa of Avila’s Narrative Theology (Chicago: Loyola University

Press, 1992).

Ross Collings, John of the Cross, Way of the Christian Mystics, vol. 10 (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1990).
Harvey Egan, Christian Mysticism: the Future of a Tradition (New York: Pueblo, 1984) paperback, $18.
Alastair Hamilton, Heresy and Mysticism in Sixteenth-Century Spain: the Alumbrados (Toronto: University of

Toronto Press, 1992), hardcover. Valuable recent study.

Kieran Kavanaugh, “Spanish Sixteenth Century: Carmel and Surrounding Movements,” Christian Spirituality III:

Post-Reformation and Modern, World Spirituality Series, vol. 18 (New York: Crossroad, 1989) pp. 69-92
NEW in paperback, $20.

Andrew Louth, Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition (New York: Clarendon Press / Oxford University Press,

1983) paperback, $18.

J. Mary Luti, Teresa of Avila’s Way, Way of the Christian Mystics 13 (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1991).
Carole Slade, Teresa of Avila: Author of a Heroic Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995). NEW.
Alison Weber, Teresa of Avila and the Rhetoric of Femininity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990) NEW in

paperback, $15.

4. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, TERESA OF AVILA, & JOHN OF THE CROSS: TEXTS

Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works, Classics of Western Spirituality, Paulist (paperback,

$20). This volume, freshly translated by some of the top Jesuit historians, offers Ignatius’ Autobiography,
which details his conversion and the formation of the early Jesuits. Ignatius’ other classic, The Spiritual
Exercises, should not really be read. It is what it says it is: a gymnastics book for the spirit, and really
should be used under the guidance of a spiritual director. This volume has some good excerpts from
Ignatius’ little-known letters and his Constitutions. For any who might want only Ignatius’ Autobiography,
see the edition by Joseph Tylenda published as Pilgrim’s Journey (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1989)
paperback, $12.

John of the Cross, Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh (New York: Paulist

Press, 1987) paperback, $13. John is perhaps the greatest and most austere analyst of mysticism in the
Catholic tradition. His paradoxical language can be baffling and easily misunderstood by one unfamiliar
with the tradition of ‘negative theology.’ This is a better translation than the widely used one by E. Allison
Peers.

John of the Cross, The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross, rev. ed., trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio

Rodriguez (Washington: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1991) paperback, $18.

Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez

(New York: Paulist Press, 1979) paperback, $13. Teresa is warm and chatty, but is a shrewd analyst of the

Bibliography #6: Ignatius of Loyola

4

interior life. This is perhaps her best work. Once again, this is a better translation than the widely used one
by E. Allison Peers.

Teresa of Avila, The Collected Works of Teresa of Avila, 3 vol., (Washington: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976)

paperback, $18 per volume. See especially vol. 1 which has Teresa’s autobiography (Book of Her Life)
and vol. 2 (Way of Perfection).