A family tree of the provinces and colleges of the Jesuit order, with horological markings to show the time in each location relative to noon in Rome. Engraving after A. Kircher, 1646.

  • Kircher, Athanasius, 1602-1680.
Date:
[1646]
Reference:
29764i
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About this work

Description

The diagram shows at what hour in Rome each Jesuit college elsewhere in the world is getting up or going to bed, saying mass, reading, dining, supping, etc. It was devised by Kircher, who also devised a clock of a similar kind in the form of a cross, fourteen palms high, kept in his museum (Kircher, loc.. cit.). The tree is an olive tree. Its trunk grows out of the figure of Saint Ignatius Loyola. At the top of the tree is the double-headed eagle containing a dart, labelled "Austri acus", in honour of the Austrian house and its support for the Jesuit order. In the sky above is a dove holding an olive branch, labelled "Pacem te poscimus omnes" (We all ask you for peace)

Publication/Creation

[Rome], [1646]

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 43.5 x 31.6 cm

Lettering

Horoscopium catholicum Societ. Iesu; Sicut oliva fructifera in domo Dei. Eccles. Admodum rev(eren)do atq(ue) religiosiss(i)mo Patri. P. Vincentio Caraffae Soc. Iesu Praeposito Generali Athanasius Kircher(us) eiusde(m) soc. offerebat Romae ipsius electionis die 7 Ian: anno 1646 Bears number: Iconismus XX inserendus folio 553 artis magnae lucis et umbrae In the four corners, winds blow the words "From the rising sun (east) to the setting sun (west), praised be the name of the Lord" (from the Psalms) in the languages of the various Jesuit provinces

Reference

Wellcome Collection 29764i

Language note

Lettering in twenty-nine languages

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