Virtue and Civic Values in Early Modern Jesuit Education

The article suggests that by offering education in the studia humanitatis the Jesuits made an important contribution to early modern political culture. The Jesuit education facilitated the establishment of political rule or administration of civic affairs in harmony with Christian virtues, and produced generations of citizens who, while studying under the Jesuits, learned to identify piety with civic values. In educating such citizens the Jesuit pedagogues relied heavily on classical rhetoric as formulated by Cicero (106-43 bc), Quintilian (35-100), and Aristotle (384-322 bc). The article depicts the Jesuits as civic educators and active members of respublica christiana. In so doing, the article emphasizes the importance of Jesuit education to early modern political life.