The Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu (MHSI) is a collection of scholarly volumes (157 to this day) on critically edited documents on the origin and early years of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, including the life and writings of

St Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the So ...

Origin

Prompted by General Congregation XXIV of 1892, which recommended to the

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

that ''writing the Society of Jesus’ history be resumed'', the newly elected Luis Martin embarked on a vast project of having first published critical editions of documents on the origins of the Society available in the archives of the Order. A team of experts was appointed and a first volume of the MHSI was published in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1894. When the Jesuit Historical Institute was established in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(1930) the work was carried on from there. It could be said that this was also stimulated by the renewal of

historical research Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be draw ...

methods that characterised the end of the 19th century.

Short survey of published volumes

Writings of St Ignatius of Loyola

#''Epistolae et Instructiones'' (Letters and Instructions) : 12 volumes. #''Exercitia spiritualia'' (Text of the Spiritual Exercises and its Directories): 2 volumes. #''Constitutiones et Regulae Soc. Iesu'' (Latin and Spanish text; preparatory documents, various sets of rules and directives): 8 volumes. #''Fontes narrativi de Sancto Ignacio'' (Writings about St Ignatius by his contemporaries): 4 volumes.

Primary sources from Ignatius’ Contemporaries

#''Epistolae mixtae: 1537-1556'' (Letters addressed to St. Ignatius): 5 volumes. #''Litterae quadrimestres: 1546-1562'' (Quarterly reports to the central government of the Society): 7 volumes. #''Epistolae S.Francesci Xaverii: 1535-1552'' (Letters and other writings of St Francis Xavier): 2 volumes. #Documents, letters, etc., of the early companions of St Ignatius: Favre (1 vol.), Salmeron (2 vol.), Broet, Codure, Le Jay,

Rodrigues Rodrigues ( ; Mauritian Creole, Creole: ) is a Autonomous administrative division, autonomous Outer islands of Mauritius, outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Isl ...

(1 vol.), Bobadilla (1 vol.), Ribadeneyra (2 vol.), Polanco (2 vol.) #''Commentarii de Instituto Societatis Iesu'' (Jerome Nadal’s instructions on the Constitutions): 2 volumes.

On Jesuit Education

''Monumenta paedagogica Societatis Iesu'': 1540-1616 (''Ratio Studiorum'' and its preparatory documents): 7 volumes.

'Monumenta' Countrywise

#''Monumenta anticae Hungariae'':1550-1600 (

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

): 4 volumes. #''Catalogi Provinciae Austriae'':1551-1640 (

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

): 2 volumes. #''Monumenta Angliae'':1541-1662 (

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

): 3 volumes. #''Monumenta Peruana'':1565-1604 (

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

): 8 volumes. #''Monumenta mexicanae'':1570-1605 (

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

): 8 volumes. #''Monumenta Brasiliae'': 1538-1565 (

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

): 5 volumes. #''Monumenta Novae Franciae'':1602-1661 ( French Canada): 9 volumes. #''Documenta indica'':1540-1597 (

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

): 18 volumes. #''Monumenta Historiae Japoniae'':1547-1562 (

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

):3 volumes. #''Documenta Malucensia'':1542-1682 (Moluccan islands): 3 volumes. #''Monumenta Proximis Orientis'':1523-1700 (Middle-East): 5 volumes. #''Monumenta Sinica'':1546-1562 (

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

): 1 volume.

Today

Up to 2005 some 157 volumes have been published. The work goes on, and is supplemented by other topical studies published in the ''Bibliotheca instituti historici Societatis Iesu'' (54 volumes). History books about Catholicism Jesuit historiography Jesuit publications {{Catholic-hist-book-stub