Page - 193 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

193The North Beckons Hell’s own retrospective, cryptic testimonies in the Observatio transitus Ven- eris (published February 1770) and the drafted introduction to the Expeditio litteraria (written around 1772–73) are thus the only sources to support his al- legation of having received and rejected two invitations for Venus transit observations before receiving the one from Copenhagen, leaving the matter highly obscure. Therefore, there is reason to believe that the invitations are fabricated. As shown above, Hell also misrepresented his connectedness in Denmark—something he normally would have taken pride in. One may sur- mise that both the denial of contact and the assertion of invitations were rhe- torical devices intended to amplify an important aspect of Hell’s meaning in the relevant parts of these two texts, the function of which was to contextual- ize his scientific contribution in terms of his identity as a Jesuit. The invitation conveyed by Ambassador von Bachoff, and the consequent opportunity for him to lead the expedition, is consistently represented by Hell as Deus ex machina: as a demonstration that God had a purpose for him, and that the planned expedition was under providential dispensation. Pretending that no human networking activity (especially on his own side) had prepared it was one way of accentuating this message. Claiming that he had remained firm in his determination not to leave his post in Vienna even in the face of two previ- ous (unspecified) invitations, but grasped the import of the third one, was an- other. Immediately after the vague hint in the introduction to the Expeditio litteraria at the two rejected invitations, and immediately before the claim of not having had any correspondence in Denmark, Hell confesses to have been “overwhelmed by the unexpected proposal presented by His Excellency Count von Bachoff. Confused, I began suspecting that some hidden plan of Divine Providence was behind this experience of mine.”73 His subsequent account of brooding over the restricting conditions despite which he was chosen by the Danish government—like his being a Jesuit, or the severe competition posed by excellent French and British astronomers for such a distinction—is de- scribed by Hell as a conversation with his soul about the ways of providence: a Jesuit-style spiritual exercise: As I rolled over in my mind these and whatever additional dispositions from the part of Divine Providence that may be at work in this summon- ing, I was overcome with doubt concerning what I should answer. At last, however, focusing all my concentration on Divine Providence, I decided 73 “Introductio ad Expeditionem litterariam,” in Aspaas, “Maximilianus Hell,” 408–9.