Loyola's acts
Subtitle: the rhetoric of the self
By: Majorie O'Rourke Boyle.
Series: The new historicism ;; 36
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
Subjects: Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556.; Christian saints -- Spain -- Biography.; Rhetoric, Renaissance -- Spain.
Description: In this revisionist study of the Acta of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus and a major figure of the Counterreformation, Marjorie O'Rourke Boyle argues that the text - revered by the Jesuits as his autobiography and considered a literal, documentary account - is, rather, epideictic rhetoric, an exemplary mirror of vainglory.

Written in the tradition of renaissance studies on individualism, Loyola's Acts offers a powerful heuristic for interpreting a wide range of texts within the Christian tradition from the patristic to the baroque ages. Boyle's secular treatment of a canonized saint offers revealing insight into how a prestigious sixteenth-century figure like Loyola understood himself.

Thus, Loyola's text becomes a fascinating window through which Boyle interprets and illuminates renaissance culture, rhetoric, and spirituality.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-266) and indexes.