ABSTRACT
In 1553, soon after the Society of Jesus had established itself in Naples, the Jesuit chronicler Giovan Francesco Araldo (1522-99) argued confidently that the Jesuits were gaining a growing influence in the troubled but bustling hub of commercial, imperial and religious activity. In a report written for Ignatius Loyola, Araldo celebrates the arrival of the Jesuits in the southern Italian capital. After recounting the initial activities of the small group of twelve Jesuits who had ventured to Naples in early 1552, Araldo suggests that their presence was not only welcomed by the populace, but that they had already made an important contribution to re-establishing piety and a moral order in the city:
While it might be tempting to dismiss Araldo’s words as mere hyperbole, or the aggrandizement of local successes in a bid to win approval from institutional superiors, his comments none the less tell us a great deal
about how the Jesuits viewed themselves and their mission in Naples from the outset.
