Segneri - Missioni - 1739

RITO, PENITENZA E MUSICA - HOW TO WIN THE MASSES – MANUAL OF POPULAR ELOQUENCE
Interesting seventeenth-century testimony of the great era of Jesuit popular missions, based on the method of Paolo Segneri and continued for twenty-four years by his confrere Fulvio Fontana. Published in Venice by Andrea Poletti in 1739, the work concretely describes the organization of religious missions carried out largely in Italy and beyond the Alps, in Elvezia, Rezia, Vallesia and Tyrol. It is not merely a devotional collection, but a true operational manual of the Jesuit mission: solemn entrance of the missionaries, processions, sermons, confessions, penances, religious instruction, management of the crowds, pacification of communities and public rituality. The volume comprises two parts and collects sermons, discourses, instructions and the method followed in the sacred functions. Particularly interesting is the Laude spirituale placed in the final part, intended for singing during the missions and furnished with musical notation. A significant document for the history of the Society of Jesus, Baroque preaching, popular religiosity and mission practices in Catholic Europe between the XVII and XVIII centuries.

WHY TO BUY
MISSIONI GESUITICHE – Direct source on Paolo Segneri’s method, continued by Fulvio Fontana during twenty-four years of missionary activity.
DOCUMENTO STORICO – Describes from within sermons, processions, confessions, penances, reconciliations and organization of the great popular missions.
MUSICA SACRA – Particularly interesting the final Laude spirituale intended for singing and accompanied by musical notation.
ESEMPLARE ATTRAENTE – Two parts united, great Jesuit emblem IHS, ornaments and illuminated initials in the Venetian edition of 1739.

MARKET VALUE
A work of good antiquarian interest, especially for the combination of Jesuit, mission studies, preaching and sacred music. The presence of the two parts in the same volume and the final musical section increases its collectible appeal. Considering the Venetian edition of 1739, its completeness, the ornamental apparatus and the described conditions, an indicative commercial appraisal may place it in the range of €500–700.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Antique half-leather binding with boards covered in paper, back with a small plaque bearing the title and gilded dividers. Large woodcut vignette with the IHS emblem of the Society of Jesus at the title page; numerous initials and ornamental borders in the text; further large ornaments with Jesuit emblem. The final part contains the Laude spirituale, with musical notation. Some signs of use to the binding; small beetle holes at the lower outer corner of the guard and the first three leaves; light overall staining; beetle hole in the central part of the last five leaves. In ancient books with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp.: (2); 16 nn.; 170; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Paolo Segneri – Pratica delle Missioni. Venice, at Andrea Poletti, 1739. Work related to Paolo Segneri’s missionary method and its continuation by the Jesuit Fulvio Fontana.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
La Pratica delle Missioni is a particularly significant source for understanding the popular missions developed by the Society of Jesus in the era of Counter-Reformation and Baroque. These missions were not aimed at non-European peoples, but at Catholic communities of cities and countryside, where the missionaries sought to reinforce religious practice, promote confessions and conversions, resolve conflicts and systematically transmit Christian doctrine. The volume documents a true methodology of religious communication. The entry into the locality is organized through processions and public rituals; followed by sermons structured around precise moral themes, instructions, confessions, penitential practices and moments of collective devotion. Salvation of the soul, forgiveness of offenses, reconciliation, penance and conversion constitute some of the main topics of the preaching. Of particular historical interest is the geographic diffusion recalled in the title: in addition to Italy, the missions reached Elvezia, Rezia, Vallesia and Tyrol, documenting the transalpine dimension of Jesuit activity. The presence of the Laude spirituale adds an important musical dimension. Collective singing could facilitate memorization of religious content, emotionally involve the faithful and prolong the effect of the preaching through a shared devotional practice.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Paolo Segneri (Nettuno, 1624 – Rome, 1694) was one of the most renowned Italian Jesuit preachers of the seventeenth century. Entering the Society of Jesus at a young age, he gained great fame thanks to popular missions and preaching capable of combining refined rhetoric, dramatic force and effectiveness before audiences. For many years he traversed towns and countryside of central and northern Italy organizing missions aimed at involving entire communities. His fame reached the papal court and in 1692 Innocent XII appointed him apostolic preacher. Segneri was also the author of numerous religious and ascetic works and is considered one of the greatest Italian prose stylists of the Seicento. Fulvio Fontana, also a Jesuit, systematically continued Segneri’s mission method. As stated on the frontispiece of the work, his experience developed over twenty-four years, contributing to the preservation and practical dissemination of that model in the eighteenth century.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The missionary method of Paolo Segneri enjoyed notable fortune within the Society of Jesus and continued to be used after his death. Its transformation into a written manual allowed the transmission of not only the content of the sermons but the entire organization of the missions: entry, processions, discourses, penitential practices, religious instruction, devotions and singing. The Venetian edition of 1739, printed by Andrea Poletti, belongs to this phase of consolidation and eighteenth-century diffusion of the method. The approval by the Riformatori dello Studio di Padova, dated June 9, 1738 and registered June 17 of the same year, documents the regular Venetian censorial process preceding the printing. The presence of Fulvio Fontana is particularly significant because it links Segneri’s original method to its subsequent application. The reference to the twenty-four years of missions thus transforms the volume into a testament to the continuity of Jesuit missionary practice between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Paolo Segneri, Pratica delle Missioni, continued by Fulvio Fontana, Venice, Andrea Poletti, 1739. Sommervogel, Carlos, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus. Backer, Augustin and Alois de, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus. Bibliographic repertoires of Paolo Segneri’s works and of Italian Jesuit production. Studies on Baroque preaching, on popular missions of the Society of Jesus and on Italian religiosity between the XVII and XVIII centuries. Studies on the Laude spirituale, on devotional music and on musical catechesis practices in popular missions.