In 1980 Father Omer Van de Vyver drew attention to the existence of aJesuit "school of mathematics" in the Flemish province of the Jesuit order. Inrecent years historians of science have constructed a more refined picture ofJesuit science and Jesuit scientific teaching in the different colleges scatteredaround Europe. A reappraisal of the specific conditions and underlyingmotives of the inauguration of the mathematics course in the Flemish provinceshows that this course cannot be reduced to a mere copy of Clavius's Academyin Rome. Nor can the course be considered to be a straightforward implementationof the Ratio Studiorum. The foundation and organisation of the Flemishcourse of mathematics rather responded to characteristic contextual impulses.
