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885J : Joannes Nádasi, S.J. (Hung.: Nádasi János, 1614–1679

Anni caelestis dies mariani cum aspirationibus ad Deiparam Virginem e propriis cujusque diei gestis concinnati, et jam olim in lucem ed., nunc vero denuo recusi.

Jesu Collegio Graecii pro xenio oblati. Apud Hæredes Graz, Widmanstetter Erben 1677. Price $1,100

Small octavo 12x 7cm.   Signatures:  π¹,)(⁴,A-D¹², E⁶   Second edition. Rare, early edition (only an earlier edition, Olomouc 1676, can be verified via KVK). Bound in contemporary leather with all edges gilt.

There is a striking  frontispiece which displays the entire Marian theology of the book into a single Jesuit emblem. At the top, God the Father and the Holy Spirit radiate grace toward the Virgin, while an angel unfurls the Annunciation scroll “Ave gratia plena,” identifying Mary as the uniquely graced one. Below, she stands illuminated, receiving the heavenly beams that fall upon her alone, while to the left the serpent coils around the tree of Adam’s fall and, beneath it, a skeletal Death presides over humanity’s fate. In the foreground two men struggle helplessly in geometrical cages—literalizations of Psalm 140, “Cadent in retiaculo eius peccatores”—the snares of sin into which all humankind has fallen. Mary, however, “singulariter… transeat”: she alone passes through untouched, the Immaculata exempt from the universal net of original corruption.

Joannes Nádasi Hungarian Jesuit, preacher, teacher, and devotional author, active in the mid-seventeenth century. He belonged to the circle of Jesuit writers who aimed to strengthen Marian devotion within the context of Counter-Reformation spirituality. Nádasi entered the Society of Jesus during the high tide of post-Tridentine Catholic renewal in Central Europe, where the Jesuits served both as defenders of orthodoxy and as cultural brokers. His writings embody a Jesuit pedagogy that combines affective piety, rhetorical polish, and the daily structuring of devotion. This devotional calendar keyed to the days of the liturgical year, each day tied to a Marian theme or episode. To every day is attached a set of “aspirationes” (short ejaculations or meditative prayers) addressed to the Virgin. Works like this epitomize the Jesuit practice of disciplina spiritualis—ordering the whole of life through structured meditation. It reflects the Ignatian method of frequent recollection (repetitiones), now applied in a Marian key. By the mid-1600s, Jesuits promoted Marian cult as a unifying devotional program, especially in contested areas of Central Europe. Nádasi’s text reveals the interplay between liturgical calendar, daily conduct, and affective devotion.

deBacker-Sommervogel, V, col. 1522-1525, nº 7; Identifier Signatures: OCLC : (OCoLC)ocn149990408 { One U.S. copy Boston College }