Ignatius of Loyola’s Exercitia Spiritualia: Spectroscopic Monitoring and Nanomaterials for an Integrated Conservation Methodology on Ink-degraded Manuscripts

This work concerns the analytical investigation and the conservation treatment of the oldest evidence of Ignatius of Loyola’s Exercitia Spiritualia [Spiritual Exercises], which represent the cornerstone of Ignatian spirituality and are still the foundation of the Jesuits’ training program.The paper manuscript, held by the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI) in Rome, includes many autograph annotations by the founder of the Society of Jesus (Fig. 1). Iron gall inks used to write the text induced a severe de-gradation, resulted in discoloration and ink diffusion through the leaves and burn-through. In the first half of the twentieth century, each leaf was lined with silk recto/verso to prevent fragmentation of the paper in the inked areas. Nothing was done to neutralise the chemical aggression, which has continued to cause damage.In winter 2015, a new complex conservation project for the Exercitia Spiritualia was carried out to inhibit the de-gradation catalysed by acidity and to improve the general chemical, physical and aesthetic condition of the volume. The work was conceived as an open project that would be gradually outlined on the basis of data acquired from the analysis performed before, during and after the conservation steps by means of non-destructive and non-invasive spectro-scopic techniques, in order to get information and to plan a swift and suitable intervention procedure.