The Jesuitica is a Jesuit project at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the KU Leuven, Belgium that facilitates research on the history and spirituality of the Society Jesus.

The project houses an invaluable collection of some precious manuscripts, over three hundred incunabula, more than a hundred and seventy thousand rare books from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, besides other rare books from later years. This collection spans the pre-suppression (1540-1773) as well as the post-suppression (after 1814) periods of the Society of Jesus and deals with as varied topics as the history of the Jesuit order, its mission territories, theology, arts and sciences, literary works besides more general writings.1 These volumes were acquired over several decades from Jesuit communities and colleges located within the Low Countries in Flanders and the Netherlands. The Jesuitica collection now constitutes an important part of the cultural patrimony of this region and is presently housed within the Maurits Sabbe Library of the KU Leuven.2

The Jesuitica project website provides a comprehensive way of accessing, collaborating and researching on the Jesuitica collections.
www.jesuitica.be

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Resources

  • Digital Jesuitica | hosts digitised Jesuitica books printed in the Low Countries during the seventeenth century.
  • Research | includes a citations database on books and articles published in academic journals, magazines and the web
  • Bibliography | includes published bibliographies on Jesuit history and spirituality
  • Links | provides links related to Jesuitica, research centres and programmes, universities, libraries, periodicals and publications, spirituality, and other Jesuit links and miscellanea
  • Lists | contains SJ lists pertaining to Jesuit chronologies, prosopographia, authors, catalogues, etc.
  • Web publish | documents published exclusively online through Jesuitica

Forum

  • Q&A | Ask research-related questions on Jesuits and get replies from the community of scholars.

Updates

  • News | updates on academic conferences and symposia on Jesuit history and spirituality

Newsletter

  • Newsletter | Subscribe and receive (typically every Friday) email updates on the Jesuitica collection, new citations within the Jesuitica bibliography as well as updates on academic conferences and symposia surrounding Jesuit history and spirituality.

Contact

While the Jesuitica project is largely accessible through the Jesuitica website, its collections (especially those uncatalogued as yet) can be physically accessed at the Maurits Sabbe Library.

Maurits Sabbe Library
KU Leuven | Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
Charles Deberiotstraat 26
3000 Leuven
Belgium

Phone: +32-16.323.844
Fax: +32-16.323.862

Prof. Dr. Rob Faesen SJ (Manager)
robertus.faesen@kuleuven.be
+32-16.323.802

Yannick Van Loon (Project coordinator / Collection conservator)
yannick.vanloon@kuleuven.be
+32-16.326.676

 


Rinald D’Souza
25 September 2019


  1. Begheyn, Paul, Bernard Deprez, Rob Faesen, Leo Kenis, Eddy Put, Frans Chanterie, and Lieve Uyttenhove. Jesuit Books in the Low Countries 1540-1773: A Selection from the Maurits Sabbe Library. Leuven: Peeters, 2009. 
  2. “The history of the Jesuit Book Collection”, Jesuitica, https://www.jesuitica.be/about (accessed on 25 September 2019)