Product Overview
Francesco Sacchini (1570–1625) was a much-respected rhetorician, biographer, and official historian of the Society of Jesus. At his death, he left behind two priceless essays, intended to be valuable, ever-ready resources for those assigned to teach the younger students in the literary courses in the Society’s schools. The Protrepticon (“exhortation”) and the Paraenesis (“advice”) gave the hard-working instructors consolation and spirit as well as eminently practical teaching pointers. Generations of teachers through the golden age of Jesuit education in the seventeenth century profited from Sacchini’s wisdom. Over time, his insights were absorbed and retransmitted by Joseph de Jouvancy (1643–1719) and many others. Much of what Sacchini has distilled here from his long-considered personal experiences remains quite relevant and useful today. Perhaps no other text ever written presents a more exalted and inspiring professional image of school teachers who seek to be educators in the fullest sense of the word. These essays perfectly complement the bare instructions of the great Ratio studiorum of 1599. They give us privileged access both to the highest aspirations and to the everyday strategies of Jesuit classrooms during the Baroque era. This annotated bilingual edition presents the first English translation of this pedagogical classic.
