I gesuiti nell’età della soppressione e della restaurazione: religione, educazione e società tra antica e nuova Compagnia (1773-1832)

Abstract

The volume collects the contributions presented during the conference The Jesuits between suppression and restoration: education, religion and society between the old and the new Society of Jesus (1773-1832), held at the Department of Education and Human Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, between 20 and 21 December 2023. Since the order of St. Ignatius, from its origins, has been a privileged observatory for investigating more general dynamics, the essays analyse the multiple cultural, educational, political and religious strategies adopted by the Jesuits following the canonical suppression of 1773 and, subsequently, the rebirth of the Society in 1814. Although a deep-rooted historiographical vulgata has maintained that the order resurrected thanks to Pius VII was the same order abolished by Clement XIV, the survival first and then the recomposition of the Jesuit identity were complex processes in which continuities alternated with evident novelties. The volume therefore offers a series of surveys on various groups belonging to the old and the new Society of Jesus with the aim of contributing to the international historiographical debate on this fascinating phase of its history.