Jesuit Heritage

Armillary Sphere

The Armillary Sphere: A Legacy of Centuries of Jesuit Science

A replica of Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J.’s 17th-Century Design for the Beijing Imperial Court

This armillary sphere replicates a 17th-c. original designed by Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J., a Flemish Jesuit missionary at the Beijing imperial court of the Qing Emperor Kangxi. Verbiest was one of several European Jesuit astronomers, mathematicians, and literati in the court. The fabrication of Loyola Chicago’s replica was negotiated with the Chinese government by Fr. Thomas Lucas, S.J. and installed on the campus in 2013. Its proximity to Cudahy Science Hall’s observatory dome evokes five centuries of Jesuit scientific heritage as well as the building’s cornerstone inscription: “Scientiæ et Religioni” [“Science and Religion”].

Portrait of Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (1914). Painted by unknown artists at the Jesuit orphanage art school at Xujiahui. It is conserved today at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College. Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.

Engraved illustration of the Observatory at Beijing. Published in Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’ Anville, Atlas général de la Chine, de la Tartarie chinoise, et du Tibet (Paris, 1790). Photo: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, DC.

Astronomical observatory dome atop Michael Cudahy Science Hall, Loyola University Chicago. Photo: LUC UMC