Image - Jesuit Missionaries, from the Church of San Pedro in Lima, Peru, ca. 1700

Jesuit Missionaries, from the Church of San Pedro in Lima, Peru, ca. 1700

The Jesuits took great pride in the success of their missionary work. In this early eighteenth century painting from the Church of San Pedro in Lima, Peru, the orders' great sixteenth-century saints are prominently depicted. Flanked by personifciations of the four continents in the foreground, the mythical giant Atlas presents the world to St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. He is flanked by two other Jesuit saints: St. Francis Borja on the left and St. Francis Xavier on the right. Francis Xavier wears Chinese-style vestments, a reminder of the Jesuits strenuous efforts to convert China. Also visible, in the background between Francis Borja and Ignatius Loyola is Matteo Ricci, another prominent Jesuit missionary active in China. Representatives of the peoples the Jesuits converted kneel in prayer.

Source: Courtesy of the Library of Congress