CatholicG33k YouTube channel is currently offline

Catholic Encyclopedia · V

Vincent Caraffa

Historical Article from The Catholic Encyclopedia

Read this historical Catholic Encyclopedia article within the CatholicG33k reference library.

Read Article V Index
V Catholic Encyclopedia Article
← Catholic EncyclopediaV Index →

Catholic Encyclopedia

Complete Catholic Encyclopedia→ V Index→

Historical Context

This article preserves the historical wording and context of the printed encyclopedia. Dates, statistics, terminology, disciplinary descriptions, and civic or ecclesiastical circumstances may reflect the period in which the article was published.

Article Text

Seventh General of the Society of Jesus, born at Naples, 5 May, 1585; died at Rome, 6 June, 1649. He was of the family of the Counts of Montorio and a relative of Pope Paul IV. He entered the Society of Jesus, 4 October, 1604, and was sixty years of age at his election as general. He died four years after. He had taught philosophy and governed the principal house of the Society at Naples, and was provincial at the time of the election to the generalship. In 1635 he had published his “Fascetto di Mirra” (Bundle of Myrrh), which has been translated into several languages. He is the author of several other ascetical works such ascetical works such as

  • Cammino del Cielo,
  • Cittadino del Cielo,
  • Il Peregrino della terra,
  • Idea Christiani hominis, and
Il Serafino, all previous to his election. He wrote under the name of Aloysius Sidereus. His only known writing when general was his encyclical letter: “De mediis conservandi primævum spiritum Societatis” (The means of preserving the primitive spirit of the Society). His short term in office coincided with the beginning of the war of Jansenism on the Society and the troubles with Palafox, Bishop of La Puebla. A great scandal occurred in Spain because of unsuccessful business speculations by a coadjutor brother, and in France on account of the open apostasy to Calvinism of a priest; but the martyrdom of men like Jogues, Brébeuf, Cuthbert Prescott, Neville, and others in Canada and England was an assurance that the Society’s ancient fervour had not relaxed. The well-known Confraternity of the Bona Mors, which is now so universal in the Church, was instituted at the suggestion of Father Caraffa.

Sources

Daurignac, History of the Society of Jesus (Cincinnati, 1865), VI; B.N., The Jesuits, Their Foundation and History (New York, 1879); Feller, Biog. Univ. (Paris, 1819); De Backer, Bibl. de la c. de J. (Liége, 1858).

Source Record

Author
Campbell, Thomas
Publication
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1908.
Nihil Obstat
Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.