OLIVA, GIAN PAOLO. - Eleventh general of the Jesuits, b. in Genoa on 4 Oct. 1600, d. in Rome on 26 Nov. 1681. Having entered the Society in 1616, he was rector of the Roman College, apostolic preacher under Innocent X, Alexander VII, Clement IX and Clement X, vicar general, with the right of succession, of Fr. G. Nikel (1661), and general in 1664.
He had a firm hand beneath a kindly manner and showed the utmost skill in those difficult times in removing every cause of dissension between the Society and the other religious orders, which he always surrounded with loving respect; in keeping his subjects firmly on the straight line in the delicate questions raised by the sovereigns of Europe (regalia and Gallican declarations of the clergy in 1682, in France; the more or less political positions of certain fathers in Spain, Portugal, Poland, England), by the struggle for and against probabilism, by the apostolic vicars in the missions. He was consoled above all by the growth and success of the missionaries and by the formation of excellent preachers (Fr. Segneri, G. P. Pinamonti, C. Texier, L. Bourdaloue, V. Huby, J. Maunoir, now blessed, A. Vieira, etc.).
He published: Prediche dette nel Palazzo Apostolico (3 vols., Rome 1659-74); Quaranta sermoni detti in vari sacri luoghi di Roma (ibid. 1670); Sermoni domestici (10 series, ibid. 1670-82). His eloquence indulges the style and mannerism of the time, but it is sound, energetic and effective, and was always received with deep emotion of the souls.
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