Between Identity and History: Giovanni Antonio Valtrino and His Vocazioni meravigliose alla Compagnia di Gesù

The "Vocazioni meravigliose alla Compagnia di Gesù" by Giovanni Antonio Valtrino is one of the oldest collections authored by a Jesuit specifically on the subject of vocation, written between the generalates of Mercurian and Acquaviva, at a time when the whole Society of Jesus experienced a severe crisis, especially concerning its own identity. Largely unexplored, the topic of Jesuit vocation has been only recently thematized by historians and it is in this renewed historiographical interest that the essay intends to participate and shed some light on the process of Jesuit identity-building in a crucial period of the old Society’s history.