Images of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Pope Paul III
Title
Images of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Pope Paul III
Description
Spanish artist Juan de Mesa created this print in 1610, and it features three images from the life and death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola as part of a larger series on the life of Ignatius. Ignatius experienced a deeply spiritual conversion experience while convalescing from wounds sustained in war with the French.
He is most well-remembered for the foundation of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, whose members have come to be described as “God’s soldiers.” In addition to standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Jesuits required a special promise of obedience to the pope, thus establishing the order as one of the fiercest defenders of the Catholic Church and the most diligent in spreading the faith in places near and far (Wiesner-Hanks, 256).
In the upper right corner of this print is the scene of Ignatius receiving papal approval for the Society from Pope Paul III in 1540. As the Council of Trent and ensuing Catholic Reformation picked up steam in the coming years the Jesuits came to be heavily associated with the papacy as they sent priests covertly into Anglican England and evangelized in faraway nations like Japan. This image demonstrates the centrality of the papacy in the Catholic faith which emerged after the Reformation, as well as the zeal the various popes had for spreading Catholicism and their authority far and wide across the globe.
He is most well-remembered for the foundation of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, whose members have come to be described as “God’s soldiers.” In addition to standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Jesuits required a special promise of obedience to the pope, thus establishing the order as one of the fiercest defenders of the Catholic Church and the most diligent in spreading the faith in places near and far.
In the upper right corner of this print is the scene of Ignatius receiving papal approval for the Society from Pope Paul III in 1540. As the Council of Trent and ensuing Catholic Reformation picked up steam in the coming years the Jesuits came to be heavily associated with the papacy as they sent priests covertly into Anglican England and evangelized in faraway nations like Japan. This image demonstrates the centrality of the papacy in the Catholic faith which emerged after the Reformation, as well as the zeal the various popes had for spreading Catholicism and their authority far and wide across the globe.
He is most well-remembered for the foundation of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, whose members have come to be described as “God’s soldiers.” In addition to standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Jesuits required a special promise of obedience to the pope, thus establishing the order as one of the fiercest defenders of the Catholic Church and the most diligent in spreading the faith in places near and far (Wiesner-Hanks, 256).
In the upper right corner of this print is the scene of Ignatius receiving papal approval for the Society from Pope Paul III in 1540. As the Council of Trent and ensuing Catholic Reformation picked up steam in the coming years the Jesuits came to be heavily associated with the papacy as they sent priests covertly into Anglican England and evangelized in faraway nations like Japan. This image demonstrates the centrality of the papacy in the Catholic faith which emerged after the Reformation, as well as the zeal the various popes had for spreading Catholicism and their authority far and wide across the globe.
He is most well-remembered for the foundation of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, whose members have come to be described as “God’s soldiers.” In addition to standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Jesuits required a special promise of obedience to the pope, thus establishing the order as one of the fiercest defenders of the Catholic Church and the most diligent in spreading the faith in places near and far.
In the upper right corner of this print is the scene of Ignatius receiving papal approval for the Society from Pope Paul III in 1540. As the Council of Trent and ensuing Catholic Reformation picked up steam in the coming years the Jesuits came to be heavily associated with the papacy as they sent priests covertly into Anglican England and evangelized in faraway nations like Japan. This image demonstrates the centrality of the papacy in the Catholic faith which emerged after the Reformation, as well as the zeal the various popes had for spreading Catholicism and their authority far and wide across the globe.
Creator
Juan de Mesa (1583-1627)
Source
Sterfbed van Ignatius, Karel van Mallery, naar Juan de Mesa, 1610, from Rijksmuseum. Original image here.
Date
1610
Contributor
Matthew Walsh
Rights
Public Domain, with full license available here.
Citation
Juan de Mesa (1583-1627), “Images of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Pope Paul III,” HIST 139 - Early Modern Europe, accessed May 6, 2025, https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/129.