Nicolaus Avancini's writings are associated with the pinnacle of the development of the Jesuit theater, which coincided with the literary high baroque era of the second half of the seventeenth century. His oeuvre is unfailingly didactic. Self-expression was a minor consideration for him, although late in life he addressed the question of his mission as a dramatist and poet. Avancini viewed his lyrical, dramatic, devotional, and oratorical writings as humble offerings in service to the church and to the state. As a teacher he strove to inculcate in his students a mature knowledge of Latin, and in his dramas, orations, and odes he endeavored to instruct his public in Christian morality and in patriotic dedication to Austria. The dramas further served his order and the church in their campaign to reclaim Saxony. Avancini glorified and adulated the state as embodied in its emperors, especially Ferdinand III and Leopold...