Balthasar Loyola Mandes Collection
Introduction
The Gregorian Centre for Interreligious Studies in cooperation with the Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University (APUG)started a project to enhance the unpublished writings of Baldassarre Loyola Mandes S.J. (1631-1667).[1] Son of the king of Fez (Marocco), Muley Mohammed el-Attaz a Muslim prince converted to Christianity, after he was capture by the Knights of Malta, while he was travelling to Mecca for pilgrimage. He took the name of Baldassarre Loyola Mandes to honor both the day of his baptism (July 31, 1656, feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola) and the knight who made him prisoner and who was his godfather (Balthasar Mandols). A few years later, the 11th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, gathered in Rome, authorized his admission to the novitiate at Saint Andrew at the Quirinal (1661). Desiring to leave on a mission to the empire of the Great Moghul, he died in Madrid at the beginning of his journey. His life, well known in the first Society, was staged by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and it was played in all the Jesuit colleges. Baldassarre was the only former Muslim admitted to the Society of Jesus until the abolition in 1946 of the decree of the 5th General Congregation (1594), which forbade the admission of net-converts.
Ongoing works
Today APUG holds most of Loyola Mandes's survived manuscripts, containing letters and devotional works, that will be digitalised, transcribed and annotated. This work started in 2017 thanks to the collaboration of dr. Federico Stella during a traineeship within the Torno subito program, funded by the Regione Lazio.
To search within the whole content of the Balthasar Loyola Mandes Collection, use the following search module.
Correspondence Metadata search
Today, the database contains metadata of 260 of about 300 letters.
3.3% completed
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Manuscripts
APUG 1060 IV[2]
- Oratio contra Mahomettem, et eius sectatores. Scripta à Patre Balthassare Loyola Mandes Societatis Jesu 1665 (APUG 1060 IV, pp. 1-44)
- Copia d'una lettera arabica mandata da un Turco Fessano al Padre Baldassare Loyola Mandes della Compagnia di Giesù nell'anno 1664. la qual lettera fù voltata in Italiano dal medesimo Padre nel Collegio di Genova verso il fine d'Agosto 1664 (APUG 1060 IV, pp. 45-51)
- La risposta del Padre Baldassare Loyola Mandes della Compagnia di Giesù alla predetta lettera del Turco fessano (APUG 1060 IV, pp. 52-98)
To search the text of the manuscript APUG 1060 IV, use the following search module.
References
- ↑ For the meaning of the word enhancement, see the Introduction of Monumenta Concilii Tridentini.
- ↑ At the following link you can read the diplomatic transcription of all the manuscripts with call number APUG 1060 IV.