JOHN PAUL

OLIVA

SUPERIOR GENERAL

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, was the influential Catholic religious order to which Athanasius Kircher belonged. John Paul Oliva served as its 11th Superior General.

Since several theologians of our same Society have reviewed the work titled New Phonurgia original: "Phonurgia Nova." The term "Phonurgia" was coined by Kircher from Greek roots meaning "the production of sound.", or, on the prodigious wonders of the properties of sound, created both by nature and by art, written by Father Athanasius Kircher, a priest of our Society, and have approved that it may be published, we grant the authority for it to be sent to the press, if it so seems fit to those to whom it pertains. Given at Rome, December 1, 1672.

original: "Imprimatur." This Latin term is the formal declaration by a Roman Catholic censor that a book is free of doctrinal or moral error and is authorized for printing.

The Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace was the Pope's personal theologian and the primary authority for book licensing in Rome.