Jesuit Catechisms for Soldiers (XVII-XIX Centuries): Changes and Continuities

This paper proposes a literary journey through the manuals for soldiers written by Jesuits prior to the 20th century. After briefly outlining the debut of these publications, at the hands principally of Antonio Possevino and of Thomas Sailly, who led the first permanent mission of military chaplains in Flanders, our discussion will focus on three historical moments: the second half of the 17th century, when the wars of religion wound down and we begin to see the first manuals where, alongside the desire to impose discipline on armies, a patriotic rhetoric begins to be heard; the middle years of the 18th century, before the French Revolution, when, after the establishment of barracks and a permanent structure for chaplaincies, even texts aimed at the Christian soldier began to admit the vocabulary of the Droit des gens; finally, the 19th century, when the Society of Jesus was restored at a difficult moment for the Roman Church and undertook the religious conversion of the soldiery against the perils of the modern world. In Belgium particularly the establishment of a liberal regime dominated by Catholics encouraged a missionary effort from Jesuit chaplains with a strong patriotic colouring. Later, the mystique of the Nation would infect the majority of texts aimed at combatants and their chaplains during the First World War.