Constructing a Saint Through Images: The 1609 Illustrated Biography of Ignatius of Loyola - Hardcover

Constructing a Saint Through Images is a facsimile reproduction of the illustrated life of Ignatius of Loyola, Vita beati patris Ignatii Loiolae, published in Rome in 1609 to celebrate his beatification that year by Pope Paul V. The Vita consisted of eighty-one copperplate engravings and was the most elaborate such life produced up to that time. The engraver was Jean-Baptiste Barbe, who enlisted the young Peter Paul Rubens to contribute drawings for the project. The Vita is important for several reasons - the occasion for which it was produced, the influence it had on subsequent Jesuit iconography, the place it held in the Jesuits' campaign for Ignatius' canonization, the role Rubens almost certainly played in its production, and especially for the number and exquisite quality of the engravings. Saint Joseph's University Press has produced this facsimile edition in honor of the 400th anniversary of the original publication. John W. O'Malley wrote the introduction to the volume, and James P. M. Walsh translated the Latin captions.