Recent Arrivals: Papal Bull; Satire by Donne

February 2016—Two important rare works have arrived at the Department of Special Collections and University Archives: the original 1773 publication of the Papal Bull that suppressed the Jesuits and a work of satire by John Donne dating from the 1650s. Both will be available to the Marquette community for use in research and teaching.

Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, characters, written by Dr Donne Dean of Pauls: to which is added a book of epigrams: written in Latin by the same author; translated into English by J: Maine, D.D. As also Ignatius his Conclave, a satyr, translated out of the original copy written in Latin by the same author; found lately amongst his own papers. London: printed by T:N: for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince’s Armes in St Pauls Churchyard, 1652. This collection of writings by John Donne features Ignatius His Conclave, a work of satire that colorfully expresses his critical views of the Society of Jesus and its founder, Ignatius Loyola. Its subtitle says much: “Concerning the disposition of the Jesuites, the Creation of a new Hell, the establishing of a Church on the Moon.” The work also contains “Juvenilia,” a collection of prose paradoxes and other short writings. The only known copy of this edition in the United States, it joins several other rare publications by Donne in our collections.

Clemens PP. XIV. ad perpetuam rei memoriam: Dominus ac redemptor noster Jesus Christus. Romae: Ex Typographia Rev. Camerae Apostolicae, 1773. After more than 200 years of good favor and growth among Catholic popes, kings, and peoples, the Society of Jesus had widely become the object of hostility by the mid-18th century. Portugal was the first to act against the Jesuits, banning the order and expelling its adherents from the country and its territories abroad. France and Spain soon followed suit. The hostilities culminated in a papal bull issued by Pope Clement XIV on July 21, 1773, in Rome, officially suppressing the Society of Jesuits. A small bound volume containing an original printing of this document, “Dominus ac Redemptor,” and of an auxiliary decree issued two days later, “Gravissimis ex Causis,” now joins the numerous works on Jesuit history in our rare book collection.

If you have questions about viewing these works or about our collections, please contact Amy Cooper-Cary, head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, at amy.cary@marquette.edu or (414) 288-5901.