Jezuītu svētie, svētīgie un godināmie Latvijā 17.–19. gadsimtā
Jesuit Saints, Blesseds and Venerables in Latvia in the 17th–19th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to examine the cult of the Jesuit saints, blesseds, and venerables, its scope and first expressions in the territory of Latvia from the 17th to the early 19th century, i.e., in the period when the Society of Jesus was active in the chosen geographical area. Although it was in 1622 that the first members of the Society - Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier – were declared saints, their veneration in the Latvian lands is attested only from the second half of the 17th century, when the Jesuits established their positions in both the Duchy of Courland and so-called Polish Livonia (Latgale). In the mid-1670s the cult of St. Francis Xavier gains popularity in the Catholic Church of Jelgava, a centre of the Jesuit missions to Courland, where a side altar is erected in his honour and a flow of graces in the form of miraculous healings attributed to the saint was reported at that time. In a similar fashion St. Ignatius Loyola was also known as a miracle worker. The Jesuits actively promoted so-called Ignatius water – a form of holy water, which was credited with apotropaic and curative properties. In 1715 alone 274 cases of its successful application were recorded. Feasts of the founder of the Society and his missionary collaborator were duly celebrated with proper sermons and processions in all the Jesuit churches.

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