In 1580, the Spaniard Raphael Riera, a founder of the Jesuit College of Loreto, wrote of the triumphs of the Society and the extraordinary history of the most important Marian shrine of the Catholic World. His book, which proved unacceptable to the superiors of the Order, was full of miracles and prodigies and was designed to celebrate the conversions made by the Virgin. It became none the less a model for a history by Orazio Torsellini, who plagiarized it in exalting the conversion power of the shrine – directly dependent on Rome – over Protestants, Muslims and apostates. The paper starts from these texts and, through the analysis of the seventeenth century stories, focuses on the relationship between historical writing, miracles and conversion models which often camouflaged violence.
Telling Conversion Stories: Loreto as a World Sacred Space (16th-17th Centuries)
Lavenia V.
2018
Abstract
In 1580, the Spaniard Raphael Riera, a founder of the Jesuit College of Loreto, wrote of the triumphs of the Society and the extraordinary history of the most important Marian shrine of the Catholic World. His book, which proved unacceptable to the superiors of the Order, was full of miracles and prodigies and was designed to celebrate the conversions made by the Virgin. It became none the less a model for a history by Orazio Torsellini, who plagiarized it in exalting the conversion power of the shrine – directly dependent on Rome – over Protestants, Muslims and apostates. The paper starts from these texts and, through the analysis of the seventeenth century stories, focuses on the relationship between historical writing, miracles and conversion models which often camouflaged violence.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
