Societas Jesu Apostolorum imitatrix

Frontispiece

St Ignatius Loyola

St Peter Faber

Father Sylvester Landinus

From Mathias Tanner, Societas Jesu Apostolorum imitatrix, sive gesta praeclara et virtutes eorum: qui e societate Jesu in procuranda salute animarum, per Apostolicas missiones, Conciones, Sacramentorum Ministeria, Evangelij inter Fideles & Infideles propagationem, ceteráque munia Apostolica, per totum orbem terrarum speciali zelo desudarunt / 1: Societatis Jesu Europaeae

Illustrations by Jan Jiří Heinsch. Engravings based thereon by Kilian, Hafner and others

1694

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Regensberg

Father Mathias Tanner  was born at Pilsen in Bohemia on 28 February, 1630, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1646. 

He spent most of his Jesuit life in Prague and served as provincial of the Bohemian province for six years. 

He was  superior of the house of professed fathers at the Jesuit college of the Universitas Carolo-Ferdinandea in Prague

In 1694 he published Societas Jesu Apostolorum imitatrix, a nearly thousand-page collection of the lives of prominent and noteworthy Jesuits from the beginning of the Order until 1694

The illustrations were by the German-Czech baroque artist Jan Jiří Heinsch (Johann Georg Heinsch; c. 1647 – September 9, 1712)

The engravings were by Wolfgang Philipp Kilian,  Johann Christoph Hafner,  Jeremias Kilian,

Balthasar van Westerhout and Georg Christoph Insbruckner,all connected with the Jesuit order

The aim was to inspire his fellow Jesuits and their followers to imitate the heroic deeds and virtues of the Jesuits who laboured in all parts of the world with extraordinary success for the salvation of souls

There are 197 illustrations or portraits of the Jesuits depicted together with an inspirational biography of their achievements