Jesuit College, Messina
| Jesuit College, Messina Collegio dei gesuiti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Type | Jesuit, Catholic |
| 1548 | First Jesuit college worldwide |
| 1604 | Rebuilt by Masuccio |
| 1767 | Jesuits expelled |
| 1908 |
Earthquake destroys building U. of Messina incorporates facade Ignatius College on Via Ignatianum |
Jesuit College, Messina, with the adjacent church of San Giovanni Battista of the Society of Jesus had been an important building complex in the city of Messina. It was destroyed by the 1908 earthquake .
The former Jesuit College, with its church of St. John the Baptist, was an institution of Catholic teaching founded in Messina (Sicily) in 1548 by the Jesuits at the initiative of their founder St. Ignatius of Loyola. It was the first college founded by the Jesuits, and it moved to new buildings designed by Natale Masuccio in 1604. These historic buildings lasted until the earthquake of 1908, when they were badly damaged and had to be demolished.
Church of St. John the Baptist
In 1687 the cornerstone for the Church was laid in the district of Fosso, many years after the end of the Jesuit first school. Forty years later on 30 September 1727 the church was opened, and solemnly blessed in 1747 by Monsignor Tommaso de Moncada Archbishop and Patriarch of Jerusalem.
- 17th century, Saint John the Baptist, painted by Murrione on the high altar.
- 17th century, Holy Letter, painted by Giovanni Tuccari.
Jesuit College
Vintage Spanish
The Jesuits were present in the city since 1548, in charge of Saint Nicholas Church.[1] At the insistence of Juan de Vega, Viceroy of Sicily, Ignatius of Loyola agreed to open a college there, the very first college founded by the Jesuits. Since this gave new direction to the apostolic options of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius added solemnity to its founding, requesting the Pope's blessing for the opening team of ten Jesuits which included one of his earliest companions Jerome Nadal. Cornelius Wischaven, a part of this team, opened the first Jesuit novitiate two years later, also in Messina, and for a time it remained attached to the College. Wischaven was thus the first Jesuit master of novices.
The college was called the First Prototype College since It became a model for other Jesuit schools that followed, which numbered 493 worldwide in 2017. Enrollment at the college grew rapidly and in 1608 new buildings were built in the Fosso district, designed by the Jesuit Natale Masuccio. Over time the college became the Messanense Studium generale, the embryo of the University of Messina, at least partially managed by the Jesuits.
The College, designed in 1604 with the model that the Jesuits called "our way", and that derived from the medieval Benedictine cloister, aimed at rendering connected and organized, despite functional autonomy, the three parts of the building, for school, college, and church. It was a model for all the others that were built on the island, characterized by a severe statement, with simple pilasters and string courses, in which the plastic relief is concentrated exclusively in the portal.
In one sense the first Jesuit college was the college of St. Paul in Goa. But that school pre-existed and was taken over (in 1542) by St. Francis Xavier.[2]
Bourbon times
In 1767 the College survived the expulsion of the Jesuits from Naples, Sicily, and Palermo (Bourbon family territory), but without the Jesuits, as "Caroline Academy". After the earthquake of 1783, the church remained but the college buildings had to be restored, and from 1839 were used as a university by Ferdinand I.[2]
Contemporary times
The Italian Jesuits resumed their pedagogical tradition in Messina in 1884, initially with the direction of Maurolico school. Their college is today called Saint Ignatius and is on a different site, on the Via Ignatianum in Messina.
A more serious earthquake in 1908 left the buildings so damaged that they were demolished in 1913.[2] Only the entrance portal with four columns was kept as part of the complex of buildings of the new University of Messina, built on the site of the former college.[3]
Artistic works
The following are all from the sixteenth century:
- Birth, painted on wood, by Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio.
- Jesus Christ depicted as carrying the cross among Jews, painted on wood by Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio.
- The Calling of St. Andrew, painting by Comandè.
- Virgin between St. Peter and St. Paul, painted by Mariano Rizzo.
- Virgin and Child, painted on wood, by Antonello da Messina.
- Jesus Christ laid in the tomb, painting by the Flemish School.
- Virgin and Child, painted by the Carracci school.
- All Saints, painting, work of polidoresca school, Pietro Raffa.
- Pietà glue Maddalena with angels, painted by Lorenzo Calamech.
- St. James, the work of John Paul Fondulli.
- Martyrdom of St. Placido, painting by Giovanni van Houbraken.
- Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, painting by Antonio Catalano the Elder or the Old.
- Naim widow, painting by Mario Minniti.
From the seventeenth century comes the painting Massacre of the Innocents by Alonzo Rodriguez, as well as Jacob at the Well, Saul, and episodes of the Old Testament all be Agostino Scilla, and many other paintings by Giovanni Junket, Domenico Maroli, John Tuccari, Mario Minniti.[3]
References
- ↑ [Abate Francesco Sacco , "Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Sicily", Volume 1, Palermo: Royal Printing, 1800]
- 1 2 3 "Collège des Jésuites de Messine". Wikipédia (in French). 2015-08-24.
- 1 2 Guida per la cittá di Messina (in Italian). G. Fiumara. 1841-01-01.