Historical sources for the study of Christian-humanistic practices of caring Jesuits about the scholastics in the early modern period

Abstract

The aim of the article is to attribute, systematize and verify the historical sources of the study of the Renaissance and Christian-humanistic context of the Jesuit practices of guardianship over the scholastics of the Order colleges in the countries of early modern Europe. Due to the historiographical controversy in the consideration and evaluation of the socio-cultural activities of the Jesuit order, as well as its religious affiliation, the methodological guidelines of the study are the principles of science, historicism, objectivity, continuity, interdisciplinary, source analysis, religious neutrality and worldview. The study is based on the priorities of internal and external critique of historical sources, which allow a holistic, systematic, comprehensive and integrated consideration of humanistic content, value-oriented strategies and the human role of the Order's experience of educational, spiritual and social care for scholastics in the early modern period.  The scientific novelty of the research is that for the first time according to the integrated criteria (content, purpose and method of recording information) the classification of historical sources of research is presented and ten source corpora are attributed: institutional and legal documents of the Society of Jesus; philosophical and pedagogical treatises of humanists of the European Renaissance; spiritual-religious and homiletic works; biographical and hagiographic primary sources; epistolary; theological treatises of members of the Jesuit order; didactic literature of Jesuit colleges; polemical sources; materials of office documentation; pictorial sights. It is concluded that the integration of these primary sources into historical research, their internal and external criticism, scientific understanding and interpretation provide the necessary grounds for substantiating the thesis on the humanistic relevance of the socio-cultural activities of the Society of Jesus in caring for the younger generation of Europe and the importance of relevant initiatives for the development of modern European civilization. Most of the sources attributed in the article are complex in their content, they contain information about the ideological and semantic and value bases of Jesuit social initiatives, and about the peculiarities of methodological mechanisms, forms and technologies of the Order's care for the youth of Europe in early modern times.