Historia Anglicana ecclesiastica : a primis gentis susceptae fidei incunabulis ad nostra fere tempora deducta, et in quindecim centurias distributa

Duaci : Sumptibus Marci Wyon, Typographi Iurati, sub signo Phoenicis, 1622 $4,400

Folio, 332 X 210 mm . a4, e4, i4, A-4Z4, 5A-5E4. This copy is bound in original full vellum. Historia Wicleffiana eivsdem avctoris”: p. [661]-732./ “Catalogus. Ex Anglico Ioannis Speed Latinva, in quo suo uno aspectu videre est omnium tum monasteriorum …” p. 741-779.

“Shortly after dawn on July 18, 1581, the cry went out: “I have found the traitors!” With a crowbar the false wall at the head of the stairs was torn away, revealing the huddled figures of Edmund Campion and two companions, three priests lately returned to their native England to minister to those resisting the oppression from the new English Church. Their discovery set them upon the path to martyrdom.

Edmund Campion was born on January 25, 1540 into an England of religious and social upheaval. Protestantism had usurped the Catholic Church as the spiritual authority; the dissolution of monasteries and the suppression of Catholic beliefs and believers intensified as land-hungry nobles and men of power continued, in the name of the young, sickly Edward VI, the transformation begun by Henry VIII. Campion was 13 and the most promising scholar at Christ’s Hospital school in London when he was chosen to read an address to Mary Tudor upon her arrival in London as queen in 1553. Campion received a scholarship to Oxford at age 15, and, by the time Elizabeth rose to power (“restoring” Protestantism as the national religion) upon Mary’s death in 1558, he was already a junior fellow.

At Oxford Campion’s erudition, charisma, and charm gained him noteriety; his students even imitated his mannerisms and style of dress. Queen Elizabeth visited in 1566 and for her entertainment was treated to academic displays. Campion, the star of the show, single-handedly debated four other scholars and so impressed the queen that she promised the patronage of her advisor (and one of the principal architects of the Reformation in England) William Cecil, who referred to Campion as the “diamond of England.”

It was the hope of the crown that Campion would become a defender of the new faith which, though favored by the temporal power, lacked learned apologists. Yet even as he was ordained to the Anglican diaconate, he was being swayed toward Rome, influenced in great part by older friends with Catholic sympathies. In 1569 he journeyed to Dublin, where he composed his <History of Ireland>. At this point Campion was at the summit of his powers. He could have risen to the highest levels of fame had he stayed his course. But this was not to be. By the time Campion left Ireland, he knew he could not remain a Protestant.

Campion’s Catholic leanings were well-publicized, and he found the atmosphere hostile upon his return to England in 1571. He went abroad to Douay in France, where he was reconciled with the Church and decided to enter the Society of Jesus. He made a pilgrimmage to Rome and journeyed to Prague, where he lived and taught for six years and in 1578 was ordained a Jesuit priest.

In 1580 he was called by superiors to join fellow Jesuit Robert Parsons in leading a mission to England. He accepted the assignment joyfully, but everyone was aware of the dangers. The night before his departure from Prague, one of the Jesuit fathers wrote over Campion’s door, “<P. Edmundus Campianus, Martyr.>”

Campion crossed the English Channel as “Mr. Edmunds,” a jewel dealer. His mission was nearly a short one: At Dover a search was underway for Gabriel Allen, another English Catholic expatriate who was rumored to be returning to England to visit family. Apparently Allen’s description fit Campion also, and he was detained by the mayor of Dover, who planned to send Campion to London. Inexplicably, while waiting for horses for the journey, the mayor changed his mind, and sent “Mr. Edmunds” on his way.

Upon reaching London, Campion composed his “Challenge to the Privy Council,” a statement of his mission and an invitation to engage in theological debate (see “Classic Apologetics” in this issue). Copies spread quickly, and several replies to the “Challenge” were published by Protestant writers, who attached to it a derogatory title, “Campion’s Brag,” by which it is best known today.

The power and sincerity of the “Brag” is accompanied by a degree of naivete: Campion’s statement of purpose was of no value during his later trial for treason, and the challenge to debate, repeated later in his apologetic work <Decem Rationes>, was as much an invitation to capture. And his capture seemed almost inevitable: Elizabeth had spies everywhere searching for priests, the most sought after of whom being her former “diamond of England.”

Campion and his companions traveled stealthily through the English countryside in the early summer of 1581, relying on old, landed Catholic families as hosts. They said Mass, heard confession, performed baptisms and marriages, and preached words of encouragement to a people who represented the last generation to confess the faith of a Catholic England.

There were close calls. Many homes had hiding places for priests—some even had secret chapels and confessionals—and the Jesuits had to rely on these more than once. Campion took extraordinary risks, never able to turn down a request to preach or administer the sacraments, and more than once he escaped detection while in a public setting.

His fortune changed while visiting the home of Francis Yate in Lyford Grange, which was west of London. Yate was a Catholic imprisoned for his faith who had repeatedly asked for one of the Jesuit fathers to tend to the spiritual needs of his household. Though it was out of the way and the queen’s searchers were reportedly in hot pursuit, Campion was unable to resist the request.

He traveled to Lyford, heard confessions, preached well into the night, and departed without difficulty after saying Mass at dawn. Some nuns visiting the home shortly thereafter were upset to hear they had just missed Campion, and so riders were dispatched to pursuade him to return, which he did. Word of his return reached George Eliot, born and regarded as Catholic but in fact a turncoat in the pay of the queen; he had a general commission to hunt down and arrest priests. Eliot arrived at Lyford with David Jenkins, another searcher, and attended a Mass. He was greatly outnumbered by the Catholics, and, fearing resistance, made no move to arrest Campion. He departed abruptly to fetch the local magistrate and a small militia and returned to the Yate property during dinner. News of the approaching party reached the house, and Campion and his two priestly companions were safely squirreled away in a narrow cell prepared especially for that purpose, with food and drink for three days.

Later Eliot and Jenkins both claimed to have discovered the priests, offering the same story: A strip of light breaking through a gap in the wall leading to the hiding place was the giveaway—both men took credit for noticing it, and each reported being the one to break through the wall. No doubt each sought the credit for capturing the infamous Campion, for no priest was more beloved by the Catholics nor more despised by the crown.

Campion was taken to the Tower and tortured. Several times he was forced to engage in debates, without benefit of notes or references and still weak and disoriented from his

rackings and beatings. He acquited himself admirably, all things considered: a testament to his unparalled rhetorical skills.

His trial was a farce. Witnesses were bribed, false evidence produced; in truth, the outcome had been determined since his arrival. Campion was eloquent and persuasive to the last, dominating the entire procedure with the force of his logic and his knowledge of the Scripture and law, but in vain. He and his priestly and lay companions were convicted of treason on November 14 and were sentenced to death. His address to the court upon sentencing invoked the Catholic England for which he had fought, the Catholic England which was about to die: “In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors—all the ancient priests, bishops and kings—all that was once the glory of England.”

On December 1,1581 the prophecy hanging over his door in Prague was fulfilled: Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered. The poet Henry Walpole was there, and during the quartering some blood from Campion’s entrails splashed on his coat. Walpole was profoundly changed. He went overseas, took orders, and 13 years later met his own martyrdom on English soil. Campion was beatified by Leo XIII in 1886.” by Todd M. Aglialoro Campion

see De Backer-Sommervogel vol II col 589

459G Canisius, Peter (Saint) (1521-1597)

Commentariorum de Verbi Dei Corruptelis tomi duo. Prior de Venerando Christi

Domini Praecursore Ioanne Baptista, Posterior de Sacrosancta Virgine Maria deipara disserit, et utriusque personae historiam omnem adversus
Centuriatores Magdeburgicos aliosq; Catholicae Ecclesiae hostes diserte vindicat. Postrema et Plenior utriusque operis, in unum volumen nunc primum redacti

editio, D. Petro Canisio Societatis Iesu Theologo, tùm Authore, tùm Recognitore.

Accessit index Copiosus, partim locorum Scripturae Sacrae, quae passim tractantur, partim rerum praecipuarum, quae utroque Tomo continentur

[Bound with]

Alter tomvs Commentariorvm de verbi Dei corrvptelis, adversvs novos et veteres sectariorvm errores …
De S. Joan. Baptista. De B. V. Maria

Ingolstadii : Ex officina typographica Davidis Sartorii, 1583

Folio, 8 1⁄2 X 13 inches. Second Edition Numerous full-page woodcut illustrations including one of John the Baptist, the Tree of Jesse with crowned kings and Mary and Child at the top and the key episodes of Mary’s life Bound in 17th century full vellum.

$6,500

“In 1543 [Canisius] visited Peter Faber and, having
made the ‘spiritual exercises’ under his direction,
was admitted into the Society of Jesus at Mainz, on
8 May. With the help of Leonhard Kessel and
others, Canisius, laboring under great difficulties,
founded at Cologne the first German house of that
order; at the same time he preached in the city and
vicinity, and debated and taught in the university.
In 1546 he was admitted to the priesthood. […]
[Canisius] spent several months under the direction
of Ignatius in Rome [in 1547]. On 7 September 1549, he made his solemn profession as Jesuit at Rome, in the presence of the founder of the order.
[Under Ignatius’ direction, Canisius also set up Jesuit colleges in Vienna, Ingolstadt, Prague,
Zabern, Munich, Innsbruck, and Dillingen.] By the appointment of the Catholic princes and the order of the pope he took part in the religious discussions at Worms. As champion of the Catholics he repeatedly spoke in opposition to Melanchthon. The fact that the Protestants disagreed among themselves and were obliged to leave the field was due in a great measure to Canisius. […]

One of Canisius’ most important works, is “Commentariorum de Verbi Dei corruptelis liber primus: in quo de Sanctissimi Præcursoris Domini Joannis Baptistæ Historia Evangelica . . . pertractatur”. Here the confutation of the principal errors of Protestantism is exegetical and historical rather than scholastical; in 1577 “De Maria Virgine incomparabili, et Dei Genitrice sacrosancta, libri quinque” was published at Ingolstadt. Later he united these two works into one book of two volumes, “Commentariorum de Verbi corruptelis” (Ingolstadt, 1583, {the book discussed here} and later Paris and Lyons); the treatise on St. Peter and his primacy was only begun; the work on the Virgin Mary contains some quotations from the Fathers of the Church that had not been printed previously, and treats of the worship of Mary by the Church.

A celebrated theologian of the present day called this work a classic defence of the whole Catholic doctrine about the Blessed Virgin (Scheeben, “Dogmatik”, III, 478) De Backer- Sommervogel vol II col. 674

Aloe Amari sed salubris succi Ieiunium quod in aula ser[enissi]mi utriusque Bauariae Ducis Maximiliani S.R.I. Archidapiferi, Electoris etc. explicavit et latine Scripsit Hieremias Drexelius e Societate jesu.

München : formis Cornelij Leysserij elect. typography & biblipolæ(IS), Lesser, Cornelius 1637 Formis Cornelij Leysserij          $860 (ON HOLD)

Duodecimo, . First Edition A-X12 Y6 The frontispiece depicts angels trying to tempt a hermit with plates of food. The book is bound in full contemporary vellum. Drexel, born on the 15th of August in 1581 entered the Society of Jesus in 1598. Soon after, he became a professor of the humanities and rhetoric at Dillingen. For twenty-three years he was the court preacher to the elector of Bavaria where he wrote this work on fasting . cf.Weiss 817 (1650 edition). He was professor of humanities and rhetoric at Augsburg and Dillengen, and for twenty-three years court preacher to the Elector of Bavaria. His writings enjoyed an immense popularity. Chief among them was his “Considerationes de Æternitate” (Munich, 1620), of which there were nine editions; in addition to these Leyser printed 3200 copies in Latin and 4200 in German. It was also translated into English (Cambridge, 1632; Oxford, 1661;

London, 1710 and 1844) and into Polish, French, and Italian. His “Zodiacus Christianus” or “The Twelve

Signs of Predestination” (Munich, 1622) is another famous book but there seems to have been an edition anterior to this; in 1642 eight editions had already been issued and it was translated in several European languages. “The Guardian Angel’s Clock” was first issued at Munich, 1622, and went through seven editions in twenty years; it was also translated extensively. “Nicetas seu Triumphata conscientia” (Munich, 1624) was dedicated to the sodalists of a dozen or more cities which he names on the title page; “Trismegistus” was printed in the same year and place; “Heliotropium” or “Conformity of the Human Will with the Divine Will” came out in 1627; “Death the Messenger of Eternity” also bears the date 1627. His fancy for odd titles shows itself in other books also. Thus there are the “Gymnasium of Patience”; “Orbis Phaëton, hoc est de universis vitiis Linguæ”. The only work he wrote in German was entitled “Tugendtspregel oder Klainodtschatz” (Munich, 1636). He has also a “Certamen Poeticum”; Rosæ selectissimarum virtutum”; “Rhetorica Coelestis”; “Gazophyacium Christi”. There are in all thirty-four such books. Other works are “Res bellicæ expeditionis Maximiliani” (1620), and some odes and sermons.

His writings on the eternal truth, the virtues and the Christian exemplar were popular; hundreds of thousands of copies of his works were printed. By 1642 in Munich alone, 170,700 copies of his works had appeared. His first work, De aeternitate considerationes, concerned various representations of eternity. Another of his works, Heliotropism, discussed man’s recognition of the divine will and conformity to it.

De Backer-Sommervogel vol, III col, 199, no.; Pörnbacher, K. Jeremias Drexel,; p. 186, no. 18

Philosophiae ac mathematicae totius institutio : Cum assertionibus disputatis & vario genere problematum ; ad usum Studiosae Iuventutis.

Cadomi,[Caen] apud Adamum Cavelier et Joannem Cavelier. M.DC.LVI. 1654 $1,700

Octavo, . [8], 360, [20], 359 [i.e. 357, 3] p Bound in full contemporary vellum. The body of the book a bit loose from the spine This books contents are V.1. Logica et moralis ; v.2.Physica universalis ; v.3. Physica particularis ; v.4. Metaphysica ; v.5. Mathematica ; v.6. Idea et summa simulque index universae hujus philosophiae per theses digestae, adjecto… indice theologico. Parte altera ostenduntur scopuli novorum dogmatum philosopho cuique ac theologo vitandi. Each section has its own title page.

Gautruche,a French Jesuit, entered the Society in 1621, after studying in Rennes, he was sent to the College of Mount Caen in 1642, where he taught philosophy two years before (perhaps)he was sent to La Flèche. In 1653 Gautruche returned to college Du Monte as prefect of studies and professor of theology, two charges he held until 1679, two years before his death. From 1668 he also gave the mathematics course, a matter of particular interest to, and it seems also of influenced to the Archbishop of Avranches, Pierre-Daniel Huet ,who developed an enthusiasm for mathematics. Gautruche is the author of the first textbook of philosophy published by a French Jesuit. He remained in this regard the only book of its kind in France until the publication of the manual of another Jesuit, Gaspard Buhon in 1723.

De Backer-Sommervogel vol III col 1286 no.1

77G González ,de Santalla, Tirso. 1624- 1705.

Fundamentum theologiae moralis, id est Tractatus theologicus de recto usu opinionum probabilium, in quo ostenditur, ut quis licite possit sequi opinionem probabilem faventem libertati adversus legem, omnino necessarium esse et sufficere, quod post diligentem veritatis inquisitionem, ex sincero desiderio non offendendi Deum susceptam, opinio illa ipsi appareat, attenta ratione et authoritate, vel unice verisimilis, vel manifesti verisimilior quam opposita, stans pro lege adversus libertatem, ac idcirco ad ipso judicetur vera judicio absoluto, firmo et non fluctuante

Coloniæ Agrippinæ: Köln : sumptibus Aloysii Ghissardi(IS), Ghissardi, Luigi 1694

$900

Quarto, 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches. a8, b6, A-R8, S10

As an ardent adversary of probabilism González had frequently asked his superiors to have some Jesuit write against the doctrine. He himself had composed a work in which he defended probabiliorism, assigning, however, an exaggerated importance to the subjective estimation of the degree of probability. The general revisors of the Society unanimously rendered an unfavorable opinion on the work, and accordingly, in 1674, the Superior General Giovanni Paolo Oliva refused permission for its publication. González received encouragement from Pope Innocent XI and by his order the Holy Office issued a decree, in 1680, ordering the superiors of the Society to allow their subjects to defend probabiliorism, a permission that had never been denied.

González was born in 1622 in Argante a small town in Leon, Spain. He had entered the Society at the age of 20 in 1642 and became a renowned parish-mission preacher in a team with a certain Gabriel Guillén. The two of them were known all over Spain for their Parish missions and worked successfully together from 1665 until 1672.

Then González was appointed to teach Theology at Salamanca and it was there that he became obsessed with the theological opinions known among theologians as probabilism versus probabiliorism, one more rigorous on Moral issues than the other after which there was a falling out of friendship with Guillén. After the death of de Noyelle the 13th General Congregation was called for June 22 until Sept. 7, 1667. The Pope had made it clear that he wanted the Congregation to elect González General and to approve a decree expressly stating that Jesuits were free to defend probabiliorism with a clear conscience. The 65 year old González was elected General as Innocent had requested on July 6, 1687.

When the project of King James II of England to return it to Catholic rule failed, He escaped the forces of William of Orange in December 1688 of Paris. Fearing the dangers of his own court, King Louis XIV then requested the Jesuits provide him safety and hide him in the grounds of the Collège de Clermont in Paris. General González sent Michelangelo Tamburini S.J. to meet with the king at the Collège de Clermont and propose to him a plan to subvert the Protestant nobility and their Freemasonry clubs by “resurrecting” the mythology of the Templars and instituting a higher authority Freemason lodge. King James II agreed and implemented the first 25 rites of the Scottish Rite as written by the Jesuits. In 1696, the 14th, General Congregation was called by González at the request of the Pope. This was done in accord with the decree of Innocent X, which required the Jesuits to have a General Congregation every nine years. González was 80 years old by this time and was failing physically. His Assistants advised him to choose a Vicar General and he chose Michelangelo Tamburini to help him. The next “9 year” General Congregation was coming closer and was called for January 1706. The General insisted on imposing his own moral ideas on the whole Society and the Theologians balked. As the delegates began arriving in Rome for the 15th General Congregation, Thyrsus González was called to eternal reward and a great sigh of relief was heard among the delegates and in Jesuit houses around the world.

After a Generalate of 18 years and 3 months González died on October 27, 1705. He was succeeded as superior general by Michelangelo Tamburini (1706–1730).

De Backer-Sommervogel vol.III col.1595 no.6

503G Hugo, Herman. 1588-1629

Pia Desideria tribus libris Comprehensa.1. Gemitus animæ pænitentis: 2. Vota animæ sanctæ: 3. Suspiria animæ amantis:

Antuerpiæ : apud Lucam de Potter, in candido Lilio, 1676 $1,800 Octavo, 6 x 4 in. Nineth edition. The first was printed in 1624. *8 A-R12 S4. There are 45 full-paged emblems throughout the work and an engraved frontispiece. Two of the emblems, leaves *6 and A4, have been hand colored. This copy is bound in full contemporary calf.

The Pia desideria was the most popular emblem book of the seventeenth century…It gained enormous influence both on the continent and in England through Francis Quarles’ Emblemes. The Pia desideria appeared in over forty-four Latin editions and many other Latin translations. (Summerized from Ratio Studiorum: Jesuit Education, 1540-1773 21-22)
The genre of the emblem book was the particular domain of the Jesuits, they produced more books in this area than did any other identifiable group of writers. One reason for this was that “Jesuit emblematists saw the emblem as the means to a noble end: the spread of the Gospel, God’s Kingdom, the betterment of society – all key concepts in the Spiritual Exercises.”
Before he joined the order of the Jesuits, he received five years of secondary education in the Humaniora (including studies in philosophy and theology). He arrived at the University of Louvain in 1602, and was made ‘Magister Artium’ in 1604. Shortly thereafter he decided to become a Jesuit, entering the novitiate at Doornail in September of 1605. He then spent two years to familiarize himself with the Ignatian method for beginning Jesuits. Due to the increasing demand of trained personel in the order, he probably served as a teacher in the order while continuing his own studies after that. He took his vows in September 1607, and was ordained as a priest in 1613 in Louvain. By 1617 he had completed his studies in Louvain. He then spent one year in Lier, where he served a probationary year – intended to give young priests further experience with Igantius’s Spiritual Exercises. After this year, he was called to Brussels to serve as prefect of studies under the rectorship of Father Antoine Sucquet. In 1621, he accompanied the Duke of Aerschot to Madrid, to express the sympathy of the Flemish nobility to Philips IV, who had just be installed as the new Spanish king. After the trip to Spain, and a brief trip to Rome in 1623, Hugo worked as a chaplain to the Spanish armies in the southern Netherlands. He died in 1629, still serving the armies, in Rheinberg (Germany), after the Spanish armies were defeated at ‘s Hertogenbosch.

The engravings of the Pia desideria were made by the illustrator Boëtius à Bolswert, who was engaged in this project by publisher Hendrick Aertssens. Bolswert produced 45 copperplates that were used again for the Goddelycke wenschen by Justus de Harduwijn, published in 1629. Hugo’s Pia desideria became very popular from the moment it was published. In all it was reprinted 49 times, and 90 translations and adaptations of the Pia desideria were published in all the major European languages. Therefore, the Pia desideria was one of the most widely distributed, most widely translated and imitated religious books (not just emblem books) of the seventeenth century.

Hugo’s Pia desideria contains emblems constructed on the basis of the three stages of mystical life, and filled with references, allusions, and quotations taken from various sources (the Bible, ancient works, hagiography, mystical writings).

Leach, M. C.The Literary and Emblematic Activity of Herman Hugo, S.J. (1588-1629) Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1979

De Backer-Sommervogel vol. IV, cols.514/5. Landwehr, J. Emblem and fable books (3rd ed.) 354

Piæ considerationes ad declinandum à malo et faciendum bonum : cum iconibus Viae vitae aeternae R.P. Antonij Sucquet è Societate Iesu.

Praz, M. Studies in 17th cent. imagery (2nd ed.),; p. 506; Corpus librorum emblematum. Jesuit series,; J.1414; Landwehr, J. German emblem books,; 564; De Backer- Sommervogel,; VI, column 892, no. 2