The first Italian indipetae : Jesuit petitions for the Indies (1557-80) / Emanuele Colombo, Irene Gaddo, and Guido Mongini, eds.

"The litterae indipetae (from Latin, petere Indias) are the petitions of Jesuits who yearned to be assigned to foreign missions. While scholars have delved deeply into the nearly sixteen thousand indipetae written between 1581 (at the outset of Claudio Acquaviva's generalate) and 1773 (the date of the Society's suppression), scant attention has been given to the "first" indipetae. These early petitions, composed during the generalates of Diego Laínez (1558-65), Francisco de Borja (1565-72), and Everard Mercurian (1573-80), stand as innovative exemplars of a genre that would burgeon during the seventeenth century and last until the mid-twentieth century. This volume tells the story of ninety-one indipetae. These are displayed alongside their English translations to allow readers to relive the fervor and dreams of early Jesuits."---Publisher's website.