Abstract

This essay explores the historiography of the post-restoration Society of Jesus in Latin America. It examines texts by Jesuit (S.J.), religious (bishops, priests, nuns) and lay scholars, taking into consideration variables that may have influenced it. We demonstrate this influence throughout the article but most explicitly in our final remarks. We should note, however, that our interpretation of our sources is conditioned by recent advancements in research and the discovery of new sources that introduce new considerations. In part one, we cover texts that deal with the history of the Society of Jesus in Spain and Latin America, as well as other historiographical essays that refer to more specific aspects, as broader thematic and methodological approaches have opened in history. We also define five ideas that we deem essential for the study of the Society’s history since its restoration sanctioned by the pontificate, and reinstatement in the region allowed by local secular authorities. These five arguments, some of which go back to the times of Pope Pius VII’s pontificate (r.1800–23) and the reign of King Ferdinand VII (r.1808 and 1813–33), are still objects of controversy and open to historiographical debate. In part two, we focus on the general histories of the Society related to Latin America, taking into account their individual or collective authorship, language (Spanish and translated), general and specific objectives and subjects treated, including controversies, education, missions, conferences and congresses on the history of the order and the authors of papers presented at them. Part three consists of a systematic list of publications, related to the Society’s post-restoration return to various regions of Latin America, as well as the history of its colonization. We also provide a detailed account of the historiographical production related to how Jesuits were received, and the administrative divisions created on their return. In this regard, it is worth noting that the settlements took place in the provinces founded by the order during the colonial era, and that, as the provinces consolidated, the administrative divisions accommodated themselves to the newly independent countries. Our conclusion remarks on the Jesuit historiography of the entire region of Latin America during the Society’s post-restoration period.