Glorifying Francis Xavier’s (1506–1552) Good Deeds or Miracles? The Negotiation of Sanctity in Daniello Bartoli’s Asia (1653)

Abstract

Abstract This essay focuses on Francis Xavier (1506–1552), the first saint of the Society of Jesus, canonised with its founder Ignatius of Loyola in 1622, and three differing perceptions of his sanctity, both within his own religious order and outside it. The work of Alessandro Valignano gives a first introduction soon after Xavier’s death, with complaints about how most of the testimonies of the future saint were exaggerated and not particularly edifying (1580s). The second text is the manuscript Relatio Rotae (1619), commissioned by Pope Paul V for Xavier’s canonisation, which contains many pages testifying to the same miracles and prophecies Valignano criticised. The final and main source is the treatise Asia by Daniello Bartoli (1653). The Ferrarese Jesuit dedicated the first half of it to Xavier’s life and death, and drew from multiple sources, always proud of his historical detachment, sobriety, and discretion. The examination of these sources highlights all of the negotiations involved in sanctity, especially in such an important period for the Roman Catholic Church in general, and for the Society of Jesus in particular.