K. I. Dientzenhofer in the service of Society of Jesus Abstract The Diploma Thesis aims to map the famous Jesuit religious buildings arising in the Czech kingdom by the hands of Kilian Ignac Dientzenhofer, as well as some smaller foundations or now-defunct constructions. Firstly it is the rural residences in Liběšice and the completion of the construction in Tuchoměřice or the dispensary in Smíchov, which has been demolished in 1930. Furthermore, the Holy Mountain Steps, which were only partially implemented according to the Dientzenhofer proposal. The Thesis also includes constructions where the architect's authorship is not proven, such as the Chapel of Sts. Archangel Michael in Kozinec and Chapel of Sts. Cross in Středokluky. An important part is also the effort to put these buildings into the context of the work of the younger Dientzenhofer and to get a closer look at the perception of their clients, including the typology of the architectural order within the function. Keywords The Church of St. Francis Xavier, the Church of St. Clement, the Church of St. Nicholas, the Church of St. Bartholomew, Prague, Opařany, Odolena Voda, Lesser Town, Tuchoměřice, Liběšice, radical Baroque, K. I. Dientzenhofer, Jesuits, architecture, rural residences, chapel

This thesis aims to discuss the History of Science in the Modern Age. It is a historical- philosophical reflection on the relationship between Science and Religion in the seventeenth century through the trip, works and life of the Czech mathematician, astronomer and Jesuit priest Valentin Stancel in Moravia, Bohemia, Italy, Portugal and Brazil . This study seeks to redimension the participation of the priests of the Society of Jesus in the development of the modern era by higlighting the activity of the Jesuit priests in the political-religious and scientific transformations that occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, in the Orient and in Portuguese America. The present study aims to reflect on the scientific discoveries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in the fields of mathematics and astronomy; the new conception of man and world that springs from the political and religious transformations of reformist thought and cultural renaissance; the shock of the new scientific theories and experiences with the Sacred Scriptures and consequently with Christian-Aristotelian scholastic theology; besides contesting the lack of participation of priests, or even religion, in contributing for the development of science. The timeframe of the work takes place primarily...

The study addresses from a sociocultural-historical, in particular a missiological and medical perspective the question if Catholic hospitals in Matabeleland, affected by the dramatic down-turn of Zimbabwe’s economy since 2000, did whatever they could to continue offering quality services to their patients. It starts with a portrayal of the emergence of secular modernity in the North-Atlantic World, as regards its view of the world as solely governed by natural laws, and of people as capable of taking destiny into their own hands, unperturbed by spiritual forces. The question is explored how the Christian Occident could end up there, following its development through the Middle Ages, and its expansion by missionary activity, by preaching the Word, but also by military force. Next, the achievements of pre-1900 Western medicine are examined, to identify if/how missionaries in Africa could have benefited. The study describes how professional medicine did not become part of the early Zambesi Mission, not because of its curative shortcomings, but for spiritual reasons, insofar as the Jesuits did not follow the European trend to let worldly well-being take the place of eternal salvation. Vis-à-vis their other-than-modern view of life, suffering, and (self-)sacrifice, the promises of medicine appeared just trivial. Submissiveness to authority, both ecclesiastical and worldly, is identified as the core principle that informed the Jesuits’ educational approach towards Africans in all their efforts at conversions. The missionaries thereby colluded with colonialist thinking, in not attempting to make their pupils grow into self-confident, independent thinkers in their own right. In this educational tradition, grafted onto a pre-modern local culture, the study finds the reason why Zimbabwean medical staff, as managers of their clinics or hospitals, have shown little readiness to proactively prioritise the intrinsic needs of their institutions and push for corrective measures, prepared even to challenge their superiors when encountering aberrations in the health system, locally as well as higher up. The study asks if the Church could have opted for a different educational approach, considering the prevailing socio-economic and cultural framework conditions; finally, which options present-day Zimbabweans have to choose from, regarding their country’s future development. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyze the function of the Jesuit order in the royal city of Jihlava in the years 1625-1682 with special focus on the question how the Jesuit college managed to anchor itself in an environment that was mostly Lutheran for almost a century. The thesis is based on sources of both municipal and Jesuit provenance - i.e. mostly of Latin and German provenance, stored dominantly in the Moravian Land Archive in Brno and in the funds of the State District Archive in Jihlava. Thus, the thesis expands the topic of an already defended bachelor thesis, which focused on the establishment and institutional security of the Jesuit college in the context of the political and religious development of Moravia. The thesis thoroughly describes the relationship between the royal city and its burghers and the Jesuit college. From the viewpoint of the burghers, I follow the relationship on a study of pious gifts given to the Jesuit college by the burghers on ground of their testaments. This allows determining the level of attention paid to the Jesuit college by the burghers and whether they preferred it to other church institutions in the city. The next chapter offers an insight into the interaction on ground of the educational activities of the Jesuit order - it ascertains the...

Il presente elaborato esamina la trasformazione degli assetti istituzionali adottati dalle accademie letterarie milanesi nell’arco cronologico racchiuso fra la comparsa delle adunanze tra le mura cittadine e l’avvicendamento della dinastia regnante conseguente al trattato di Utrecht. La ricostruzione della fisionomia assunta dal fenomeno associativo nel periodo considerato è compiuta attraverso l’individuazione delle personalità che alimentarono gli sforzi eruditi, il riconoscimento dei gruppi che componevano la costellazione delle élite intellettuali attive nella compagine urbana, la contestualizzazione dei progetti culturali, nonché delle frizioni politiche, poste a sostrato delle iniziative intraprese e la definizione dei tratti spiccatamente ambrosiani progressivamente stratificatisi nei recinti accademici. La proposta esegetica dei componimenti ad opera dall’Accademia della Val di Blenio, mossa a partire dai rilievi storici effettuati intorno alla parabola bio-bibliografica del Facchino Cosme de Aldana, precede lo studio documentario relativo alle fondazioni accademiche occorse nei centri scolastici cittadini, frutto della sinergia tra la curia arcivescovile, gli ordini religiosi coinvolti nell’educazione dei giovani e gli organi di rappresentanza patrizia milanesi. I rinvenimenti archivistici relativi alle riunioni degli Inquieti introducono quindi alla disamina del percorso di consolidamento di un “sistema di virtù”, metronomo delle radunanze barocche, nella sua declinazione ambrosiana, che entrerà in crisi allo scadere del XVII secolo. / By adopting a long-term period chronological perspective, this research analyses the institutional frameworks’ development of Milanese literary academies between their appearance in the city area and the beginning of Austrian government’s jurisdiction after the Peace of Utrecht. Key objectives of the phenomenon’s historical reconstruction are: the identification of patrons who promoted the academies’ dissemination; the description of associational networks made up by different intellectual elite groups operating in Milan; the contextualization of cultural projects - and resulting under covered political tensions - that influenced the academical pattern’s expansion process; finally, the gradual constitution of a peculiar Ambrosian identity related with this associations’ typology. The exegesis of the “Badia della Val di Blenio” academy’s literary production, deduced by the historical examine of the “Facchino” Cosme de Aldana’s bio-bibliographical experience, introduces the enquiry on students’ academical foundations, which were the result of the cooperation between the archiepiscopal curia, religious orders involved in the educational programs and representative bodies of Milanese patricians. Archival discoveries on Inquieti’s meetings contribute in depicting the progressive composition of a coherent Ambrosian “system of virtues” (the baroque reference point for academical activities), that got into a substantial crisis at the end of seventeenth century.