Diego Laínez's tenure as Superior-General of the Jesuit order (1556–65) has never secured adequate scholarly attention. Laínez has sometimes been portrayed as, so to speak, holding the fort until more dynamic leaders arrived later in the century. To borrow the phrase famously applied to a lacklustre US president of fairly recent vintage, Laínez can come across as a comma between exclamation points. This hefty volume, with contributions in five languages (German, Italian, Spanish, English and French), goes some way towards setting the record straight. It is true that sustaining the Ignatian legacy was the defining characteristic of Laínez's generalate, though this was hardly a false move from a Jesuit perspective and might have been expected from a man described here as one of Loyola's closest confidants. Nor did fidelity to the founder's vision preclude innovation and advance. A number of chapters home in on Laínez's concrete achievements. Andrea Spiriti credits Laínez with establishing a significant and highly adaptable Jesuit presence in Milan; Franz Brendle covers similar ground in the German context; Lydia Salviucci Insolera positions Laínez as a key figure in the development of Jesuit art and architecture. Some accomplishments were localised and highly specific: fostering the study of canon law at the Roman College, as discussed by Georg Schmidt, for example. Other initiatives would influence the entire Jesuit enterprise: Paul Oberholzer explores how Laínez helped to set the rules and regulations for Jesuit letter-writing around the globe, while Paul Grendler highlights Lainez's contribution to Jesuit education – after his time in office the number of schools in Europe for external students had doubled. The glory days of Jesuit mission were still to come but a series of chapters show Laínez laying the groundwork in East Africa, China, Japan and India.

Alongside context-providing chapters on the broader religious landscapes of Britain and Ireland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands there are glimpses of Lainez's considerable managerial and interpersonal skills. Flavio Rurale traces his relationship with Carlo Borromeo: this was cordial enough to allow Jesuit expansion in Milan but the two men had rather different ecclesiological visions, Borromeo stressing episcopal authority and Laínez pressing for local Jesuit autonomy. This, to be sure, was a theme that would play out many times over the course of the Jesuits' history. Laínez was also capable of calming the waters when a member of the Society ruffled feathers (see Enrique García Hernán's piece on Francisco de Borja) and he cultivated fruitful relationships with other orders. One of the best contributions to the volume, by Niklaus Kuster, looks at the Jesuits' encounter with the Capuchins. These potential rivals frequently became valuable collaborators: the Capuchins did not sponsor schools, so a source of likely friction was removed, and, at this stage, they did not hear confessions of lay people and came to rely on Jesuits for such duties in their popular missions. Kuster's piece ranges considerably beyond Lainez's generalate but Lainez is given credit for establishing cordial relations. Though Lainez is a generally neglected figure, one aspect of his life and legacy has received considerable attention: his Jewish ancestry. This subject is tackled in the pieces by Mariano Delgado and Robert Maryks, with Maryks describing the controversies over the Jewish background of Lainez and other Spanish Jesuits and examining how the ‘converso card became an efficient … weapon of political struggle’ (p. 419) within the Society.

Lainez emerges from these pages as a truly significant figure both before and during his generalate. As one of Ignatius's earliest companions he played a major role in shaping the ethos of the Society of Jesus and, as a leading figure at the Council of Trent (attending all three phases), he helped to define the vision of the post-Reformation Catholic Church. Niccolo Steiner's lengthy chapter on Lainez and Trent is first rate: it shows Lainez (official papal theologian for a spell) influencing votes, preaching and guiding the direction of the Council's decrees. Paul Oberholzer's piece makes excellent use of the letters sent to and from Loyola during the Council. Lainez's legacy was equally fascinating and an aspect of this is captured in the intriguing piece by Sibylle Appuhn-Radtke on artistic portrayals of Lainez: in some portraits he is the amiable, smiling father while in others he is the stern and dominant Superior-General. One imagines that both these sides of his character came in useful during his stint as Jesuit leader. Robert Danieluk's excellent historiographical survey (which includes a detailed bibliography) reveals that Lainez has certainly not been entirely forgotten by historians but a great deal of work remains to be done. This wide-ranging volume sets us on the right track.