I began my talk with two expressions of the philosophy of the Jesuits, one from Brazil and one from El Salvador. I would like to conclude this talk by returning to Brazil. One of the innovative methods the early Jesuits used to communicate the message of Christ was through art and architecture. The Society of Jesus devised a school of interior and exterior ecclesiastical design called the Baroque. It is ornate and embellished.
Some Baroque churches are too elaborate.
I recall one in the city of Salvador in Brazil, the whole interior of which, with few exceptions, is plated with gold. Another church in that city, however, the Church of Sao Ignacio, successfully illustrates the best of Baroque architecture, and, thereby, the best of Ignatius and his educative methods. Like the first structure, it too is elaborate, but in Sao Ignacio, all details guide one's eyes to the high altar, and then to the painting above the altar. In that painting, just one of many in existence entitled The Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius, the saint has died and gone to heaven. But he has not gone alone.