"Very Superstitious": Benet Perera SJ on Astrology, Dream Interpretation, and Magic

• In Event: Dangerous Stars: Astrology and Magic According to a Prince and a Learned Jesuit

Abstract

Are the magical arts a kind of science? Is astrology predictive? What do dream symbols stand for? Benet Perera (1535­1610), professor of Theology at the Roman college, addressed these questions in De Magia. De Observatione Somniorum, et De Divinatione Astrologica, Libri Tres. Adversus Fallaces, et Superstitiosas Artes (1598). By collecting several disputations and theses he had defended in the course of his long lasting career as Jesuit philosopher and theologian, Perera presents a peculiar epistemological paradigm in which he challenges the concept of magic traditionally accepted among Catholics in the name of nature and science. In particular, this paper will track the reception of Perera’s thought on magic in England, which culminated with the publication of The Astrologer Anatomiz’d, or, The vanity of star-gazing art discovered by Benedictus Pererius (translation by Percy Enderbie, 1661).

Author

• Cristiano Casalini, Boston College