Vincenzo Carafa (5 May 1585 – 6 June 1649) was an Italian Jesuit priest and spiritual writer, elected the seventh

Superior-General of the Society of Jesus The superior general of the Society of Jesus is the leader of the Society of Jesus, the Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. He is generally addressed as Father General. The position sometimes carries the nickname of the Black Po ...

. He is a

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

Biography

Carafa was born in

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia ( southern Italy). It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind Bari, Taranto, and Fogg ...

in the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

(modern day Italy), of the family of the Counts of Montorio, and a relative of

Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pap ...

. He entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

on 4 October 1604, and was sixty years of age at his election as general. He died four years after. He had taught philosophy and governed the principal house of the Society at Naples, and was provincial at the time of the election to the generalship. In 1635 he had published his ''Fascetto di Mirra'' (Bundle of Myrrh), which has been translated into several languages. He is the author of several other

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

al works, such as ''Cammino del Cielo'', ''Cittadino del Cielo'', ''Il Peregrino della terra'', ''Idea Christiani hominis'', and ''Il Serafino'', all previous to his election. He wrote under the name Aloysius Sidereus. Besides personal correspondence his only known writing as Superior General was his letter addressed to all Jesuits: ''De mediis conservandi primævum spiritum Societatis'' (The means of preserving the primitive spirit of the Society). In 1648 Carafa called the forty-year old letterato

Daniello Bartoli Daniello Bartoli, SJ (; 12 February 160813 January 1685) was an Italian Jesuit writer and historiographer, celebrated by the poet Giacomo Leopardi as the "Dante of Italian prose" Ferrara He was born in Ferrara. His father, Tiburzio was a chemis ...

from his itinerant activities as a preacher around Italy to the Casa Professa (Rome) and a permanent position there as the official historian of the Jesuit order. The folio volumes of his Istoria della Compagnia di Gesù began to appear in 1650. Bartoli soon after Carafa's death in 1649 wrote and published the biography of the Neapolitan general. It includes the 1646 episode of Bartoli's shipwreck in a storm off Capri and his recuperation in Naples. His short term in office coincided with the beginning of the controversy with Jansenist theologians and the troubles with Palafox, Bishop of Puebla. A great scandal occurred in Spain because of unsuccessful business speculations by a

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

brother, and in France on account of the open apostasy to

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

of a priest; but the martyrdom of

Isaac Jogues Isaac Jogues, S.J. (10 January 1607 – 18 October 1646) was a French missionary and martyr who traveled and worked among the Iroquois, Huron, and other Native populations in North America. He was the first European to name Lake George, calli ...

, Brébeuf, Neville, and others in Canada and England showed that the Society's ancient fervour had not relaxed. According to St Louis de Montfort in True Devotion to Mary, Carafa would wear an iron band around his feet as a mark of his servitude to Jesus. The

Bona Mors Confraternity The Roman Catholic Bona Mors Confraternity (Bona Mors is Latin for "Good" or "Happy Death") was founded 2 October 1648, in the Church of the Gesu, Rome, by Father Vincenzo Carafa, seventh General of the Society of Jesus. In 1729 it was raised to ...

was instituted at the suggestion of Father Carafa. He died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, aged 64.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carafa, Vincenzo 1585 births 1649 deaths 17th-century Italian Jesuits Superiors General of the Society of Jesus Italian Servants of God