Constitutiones societatis Iesu Cum earum Declarationibus.

Fine engraved architectural title with Jesuit device, woodcut initials. 309, (2), (70) pp. 8vo (168 x 113 mm). Early 18th-century brown morocco, spine gilt with gilt lettering, triple gilt fillet around sides, gilt outer and inner dentelles, e.g. (exlibris SJ and small stamp on first flyleaf). Rome, In Collegio eiusdem Societatis, 1583. Bernard Quaritch writes on this edition in his The Society of Jesus 1548-1773, no. 95 (1996):" From the place in Sommervogel's chronological listing we deduce that this edition is the first printing of the authoritative final recension of the Latin text". The present collection in 10 parts contains the rules for the organization, activity and official of the order, prescribed mass celebrations and prayer times, rules for missions and other ministries, and a letter from Ignatius about the virtue of obedience (1553), as well as the oath "Formula votorum simplicium". The Constitutions were primarily the work of Ignatius with the help of his secretary, Juan Alfonso de Polanco. Polanco was almost entirely responsible for the translation of the Constitutions from Spanish into Latin (O'Malley, p. 7). The Society of Jesus was founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), approved by the Church in 1540, and elected him as its first General in 1541.- Slightly browned, mostly at the beginning, otherwise a nice copy. - De Backer/Sommervogel V, 77; cf. Carayon 223; cf. STC, (Italian), 348; Simon, Bibliografia de la literatura hispanica, 486; not in in Adams or Palau. JESUITS ; RELIGION / THEOLOGY ;