St. Ignatius of Loyola; A Pictorial Biography
Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1956. First edition. Original white paper vellum (9 3/4 inches tall), gilt spine and front board, original photographic dust jacket. Book fine, price crossed out and repriced on inner flap of dust jacket. A near-fine copy. Item #1786
"ALL FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD"
First American edition of this Life of the Founder of the Society of Jesus—"unique among biographies of the Soldier-Saint of the Basque country." Illustrated by Leonard von Matt, a self-taught Swiss photographer, here in collaboration with Hugo Rahner, the German Jesuit (and the older brother of Karl Rahner). Part of a mid-century series of Lives of the Saints published by Regnery.
A 1957 review in The Catholic Historical Review offer praise: "This book is unique among biographies of the soldier-saint of the Basque country. It is sub-titled 'A Pictorial Biography.' But do not be misled. This is no mere popular treatment of a religious leader, no run-of-the mill pictorial affair with a few faded portraits of Ignatius, of the ancestral home, and of a few obscure forebears. These are recent photographs of the beautiful scenery of Spain and Italy, of scenes which remain substantially unchanged since the days when Inigo, as he was generally called, fitted into them. These magnificent black and white photographs are breathtaking. They outdo the most glamorous travel brochures. And there are also reproductions of the standard paintings of Ignatius, four pictures of his death mask, and several fine shots of the decorative details of the principal Jesuit shrines. Two maps of places in Spain associated with St. Ignatius were prepared by Robert Hasler. The text is brief, objective, informative. No scholarly apparatus is provided since none is required in a work of this sort. There are five or six full page photographs for every two or three pages of text. Though the text is brief, there is no over-simplification of the subject, and no effort to coat his figure with the saccharine that has marred so many biographies of saints. Ignatius is presented as he was as a youth, vain, roistering, licentious, and as he was as mature man, humbled, charitable, bursting with zeal for souls and love of God. The frankness with which the early, dissolute years are admitted makes all the more remarkable and edifying the later regeneration of this tremendous soldier of Christ. In presenting a saint as a human being with the darkened intellect and flabby will which are the lot of all of us, but as a human being who was able to rise above his limitations, the hagiographer makes his subject more credible and more imitable for religious and layman alike. Henry Regnery Company of Chicago may be proud of this book which is a superb piece of work in every way" (Bradford Colton). The book concludes with two small maps and an Index of Illustrations. Approbations. Bradford Colton. The Catholic Historical Review Vol. 43, No. 1 (Apr., 1957).
Price: $100.00