ACQUAVIVA, CLAUDIO. — Fifth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, born at Atri on 4 September 1543, of the family of the dukes of A. In 1567, at the age of 24, while serving as secret chamberlain to Pius V, renouncing a career begun with brilliant prospects, he entered the Society of Jesus. His talents attracted the attention of his superiors, who soon proposed him for the government of the provinces of Naples and Rome, until in February 1581, at the age of only 38, he was appointed Superior General, a position he held for 34 years, until his death in 1615. Such a long tenure marked an epoch in the history of the Order, which saw its membership more than double (from 5,000 to over 13,000), provinces increase from 20 to 32, and colleges from 144 to 372. Confronting head-on the problems arising from the very expansion of the Society, A. completed the work of his predecessors by codifying rules for various offices, issuing a series of ordinances, and vigorously maintaining the genuine Ignatian spirit through frequent exhortations to the entire Order. Particularly worthy of mention, for their refined and paternal psychology, are his *Industrie pro Superioribus, ad curandos varios animi morbos* (Florence, 1600).
He promoted the use of the Spiritual Exercises, and to him is chiefly due the drafting of the *Directorium*, a guide for directors of the Exercises (after private drafts, a provisional edition was sent for review to the provinces in 1591; definitive edition, Florence, 1599). He gave great impetus to missionary activity among heretics and infidels, assigning groups of fathers to this work. Alongside missionary activity, he also promoted and directed scientific and educational endeavors, concluding and promulgating (1599) the celebrated *Ratio Studiorum* (provisional or trial editions in 1586 and 1591; definitive edition, Naples, 1599). A. exercised a very effective influence on the flourishing output of the great post-Tridentine Jesuit theologians, as well as on the establishment of a distinctive spiritual literature within the Society. It was he who initiated (1598) the preparation of the general history of the Society (the first volume, by Orlandini, appeared in 1614) and the compilation of the famous annual letters (from 1583 onward). He also skillfully defended the Society’s writers in various controversies; most notable is his defense of the position taken by the Society’s authors on the questions of grace (discussions on the works of Molina and later of Lessius, the *Congregationes de Auxiliis*, 1602–1607).
But where A. truly excelled was in defending the Society’s institution against both internal and external attacks. Small but turbulent groups of discontented religious, mainly Spanish, repeatedly attempted to introduce decentralizing or nationalistic changes into the Society, even going so far as to circumvent the King of Spain and the Pope himself; yet the fifth General Congregation, convened by order of Sixtus V to judge A.’s conduct, could only acknowledge his wisdom (1593–94). There had also been a clash with Sixtus V, who would have changed the name and some constitutions of the Society had he not been forestalled by death (1590). Attempts were made on several occasions to remove the General, either by promoting him to the archbishopric of Naples (1590) or by sending him to Spain (1596). These struggles revealed in A. a great gift of prudence and extraordinary serenity.
The Generalate of A. is further illustrated by the distinguished works of numerous Jesuits then living and now raised to the honors of the altar; among them may be recalled Luigi Gonzaga, Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine, Bernardino Realino, the coadjutor brother Alfonso Rodríguez, the five martyrs of the island of Salsete, including a relative of A.’s (1583), the three Japanese Jesuit martyrs (1597), and the large company of victims of the English schism (1581 and following).