Vincenzo Carafa

Who was Vincenzo Carafa?

Very Rev. Vincenzo Carafa, S.J. was an Italian Jesuit priest and spiritual writer, elected the 7th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus. He is a Servant of God.

Carafa was born in Andria Italy, of the family of the Counts of Montorio, and a relative of Pope Paul IV. He entered the Society of Jesus on 4 October, 1604, and was sixty years of age at his election as general. He died four years after.

He had taught philosophy and governed the principal house of the Society at Naples, and was provincial at the time of the election to the generalship. In 1635 he had published his Fascetto di Mirra (Bundle of Myrrh), which has been translated into several languages. He is the author of several other ascetical works, such as Cammino del Cielo, Cittadino del Cielo, Il Peregrino della terra, Idea Christiani hominis, and Il Serafino, all previous to his election. He wrote under the name Aloysius Sidereus.

Besides personal correspondence his only known writing as Superior General was his letter addressed to all Jesuits: De mediis conservandi primævum spiritum Societatis (The means of preserving the primitive spirit of the Society).